A word with Republican politicians and operatives...

FU

I just want to take a moment to say “Fuck you” to all the Republican politicians and political professionals out there who decided that tax cuts and deregulation were worth the gamble of putting a deranged narcissist back into the White House. In just over two months, Donald Trump has lost our standing in the world. He’s surrendered our already dwindling moral authority. He’s crashed the world economy. And all of it was egged on by a right-wing media that you enabled and supported. You knew better. I hope you’re happy–or living your delusion that he’s making America great by crushing what is good.

As we start this week, world markets are in free fall. Trump’s tariffs are not going to bring jobs or investment to the country. They are going to cause the economy to crash. Trump inherited a strong economy that was on the verge of booming as inflation cooled, but he drove it into the gutter. We are likely headed into a recession or depression because of self-inflicted wounds. It’s almost inconceivable and you own it.

The administration seems to have no plan whatsoever. Cabinet members spread out across Sunday morning talk shows to give conflicting stories about why we’re implementing a massive tariff regime. One version says Trump is just putting pressure on countries to reduce trade deficits and that tariffs will disappear or decrease with cooperation. Another version says the tariffs will bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States that were lost to either NAFTA or trade agreements. Their appearances created more uncertainty, showing that even top members of the administration don’t know what they are doing or why. All of them downplayed the losses that people have suffered over the past few days and will likely suffer over the coming months.

Our relationships with NATO and the European Union are probably irreparably broken. Europe has lost all trust in us, not just because of what Trump has done, but because we would elect a guy like him in the first place. The Canadian Prime Minister said their 200 year relationship with the United States based on respect and mutual objectives is over. I get a dose of the daily rage the Europeans are feeling when my daughter calls to let me know what the Swedes and Scandinavians are saying. Your hubris cost us the title of Leader of the Free World.

You twiddle your thumbs as Donald Trump empowered dictators, giving Vladimir Putin win after win in the war with Ukraine and in broader international relations. He even exempted Russia from the tariffs he imposed on our closest allies. I don’t know if Trump is a Russian asset or just a Putin fanboy trying to curry favor, but watching you Republicans follow him down this dark path has been one of the most disheartening things I’ve ever witnessed. It just proves that you have no moral compass or ideological foundation. You’ll just follow the whims of a conman for the tax cuts.

You are cheering as we usher in police state tactics, snatching people off the streets and sending them to foreign gulags with no due process. You can smile smugly as “illegals” get deported, but quit pretending you give a rat’s ass about the Constitution or the rule of law. Videos of hooded men with no visible identification surrounding a student and putting her into a van is something we used to watch in movies about the Gestapo or the Stazi, not what we do in America.

I realize DOGE is a fantasy come to life for you, but it’s reckless and will have real-life consequences. We will lose our place in the world as a leader in scientific research. Diseases will not be cured. People who might have been saved will die. Cuts to foreign aid have probably already cost children their lives and certainly cost the United States its credibility in developing countries. China and other bad actors, including terrorist organizations, will fill the void. You’re cheering unconstitutional actions to satisfy your unproven premise that the government is full of waste and fraud.

You put cranks and conspiracy theorists in Cabinet level positions because keeping Trump happy is more important than offering the American people good government. As we saw with Signalgate, the tariff rollout, and now the measles outbreak, we have a government that is so incompetent that it literally boggles the mind. Except your mind. You’ll either latch on to some false equivalency or believe your own stupid spin.

And it’s not just national politics. Here in North Carolina, you are cheering upending democracy with a judicial coup that is changing the rules of the election after the fact. It’s hard to wrap my head around the disjointed opinion of judges who are clearly looking more for a political win than administering justice. There’s no legitimate scenario that supports disenfranchising voters who have already proven their viability to vote with a valid voter ID. Your support for this ruling makes you a true threat to democracy.

You’ve rejected the aspirations of the Declaration of Independence, the checks and balances of the Constitution, and the hope of Ronald Reagan’s “Shining City on a hill” to embrace a dark, cynical view of our country because tax cuts are more important than liberty.

If you have seen the light and reject this authoritarianism and tyranny, welcome to the fight. But if you are still standing with the miscreants who steal elections, upend prosperity, deny freedom, and undermine our leadership in the world, then may your 401(k) sink lower than the rest of us and may some climate-related disaster destroy your home. You don’t deserve anything but our scorn and derision.