Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

I'm catching my breath under Trump 2.0, doing some housekeeping, and thinking about what's next

I am a self-described news junkie, and I am more than willing to pay for quality journalism and opinion writing to the tune of thousands of dollars a year. That said, I confess the rush of news generated by the Trump administration since January 20th has been overwhelming. Every time something happens that motivates me to write, something else comes up almost immediately to take its place. I’ve had just enough time to express myself about discrete events through Substack Notes, but that seems inadequate to the moment in history where we find ourselves, and it’s frustrating not to have the time to “think Christianly” about these events as I committed to doing in the wake of Trump’s victory.

It’s worth pointing out that this isn’t an accident; as far back as 2018, former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, who fancies himself as the intellectual leader of the modern “America First” movement, said the way to overwhelm the opposition to Trump’s agenda was to “flood the zone” and keep them off-balance:

The media can only—because they're dumb and they're lazy—they can only focus on one thing at a time. And all we have to do is flood the zone. Every day we hit them with three things, they'll bite on one, and we'll get all of our stuff done. Bang, bang, bang. These guys will never—will never be able to recover. But we've got to start with muzzle velocity. So it's got to start, and it's got to hammer.

Indeed, this strategy has proven successful beyond anyone’s imagination, including mine. Privately, I warned friends who thought that since we survived Trump 1.0, we could endure Trump 2.0, that this time would be different. The first time, Trump was still viewed with skepticism by the GOP, and he hadn’t built a bench of allies beholden only to him. Many of the senior officials in his administration saw their duty not as serving his every impulse but as keeping him in check to minimize the damage he could cause. That is why many of his appointees, including his own Vice President, eventually went against him. In the wake of what he viewed as their betrayal, he was determined to build a team whose first and only allegiance was to him.

He also set out to use his base in the electorate to force his opponents out of the GOP and install loyalists, effectively co-opting a 171-year-old political party into his personal fiefdom, a cult of personality that has taken on his petulance, grievances, and thirst for retribution against those he believes wronged him. His political appointments thus far, with few exceptions, are notable not only for their relative lack of qualifications for the positions they hold but for their willingness, at least in public, to see the world as he does, even if his claims are empirically untrue.

Add to that the number of formerly principled men and women throughout government, particularly the U.S. Senate, who have surrendered their agency to him because they fear incurring his wrath and having his electoral mob sicced on them, and he is positioned to act practically without restraint.

And he has.

Not only is he “flooding the zone” with the speed and volume of his actions, aided significantly by Elon Musk’s technology-driven hostile takeover of government agencies, he is institutionalizing his false narratives of significant events like the 2020 election, January 6th, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and more, exhausting fact checkers who may as well be lambs bleating into a hurricane, “That’s not true!”, for all the effect they are having. He has made his racially-charged definition of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the sense that it implies all non-white, non-male hires are unqualified for their positions, the rationale behind, among other things, removing female and Black flag officers who have served our nation with honor and distinction for decades.

He is removing all administrative guardrails that strive to ensure ethical and legal behavior in government - for example, inspectors general, the head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, and the judge advocate generals of the armed forces. He is shaping what press outlets cover his actions, substituting friendly networks, podcasts, and new media allies for independent media organizations wherever possible, and determining which media members can access the Oval Office and White House press room.

He also lied about his fidelity to Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s manifesto for remaking our democracy.

Incidentally, for all who like to proclaim, loudly and aggressively, that we are not a democracy but a constitutional republic, a constitutional republic is a form of democracy, a representative democracy as opposed to a direct democracy. It’s simple civics. But I digress.

Project 2025 is perhaps the most visible blueprint of what a second Trump term could look like, although it’s not the only one. However, it is representative of the other reason why Trump 2.0 is dramatically different from the first term: He and his acolytes have had four years to put a plan together.

Trump embraced the efforts of the Heritage Foundation in writing Project 2025 before it became a political hot potato that he thought could lose him the election. At that point, he distanced himself from it, berated its authors, and said that none of them would hold positions in his administration. However, since he took office, he has appointed several Project 2025 authors to prominent positions in government, including his director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, widely regarded as a co-author and architect of Project 2025. The agencies that are being gutted by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) through mass firings, information technology system lockouts, and terminated building leases are ones that Project 2025 targeted for closure, and one would have to be incredibly naive to assume that is just a coincidence.

Of course, this would be one of tens of thousands of lies this president has told since he descended that golden escalator in 2015 to announce his pursuit of the White House. By now, it’s safe to conclude that his followers have chosen to believe everything he says without questioning or doing independent research, or they know he’s lying and don’t care.

One method that Trump has used to significant effect to ensure his followers believe only him is constantly attacking the credibility of the press. As a result, they have lost the public's trust. I would never say they didn’t have a hand in their diminished standing because the motivations to build audiences and generate profits distort how the media presents itself. However, I will never understand why people expect the press to report only positive things about their preferred candidate to be considered credible. That isn’t journalism - it’s propaganda.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read outright falsehoods presented by friends and followers on social media to which I’m tempted to respond with facts and links to independent resources, only to have a voice inside my head say, “What’s the point?” It’s a waste of time to engage someone who only wants their viewpoint validated and has no intellectual curiosity whatsoever about an alternative point of view.

So what is the potential outcome of Trump’s “shock and awe” governance strategy? I think that by the time the courts can intervene and declare many, if not most, of his actions unconstitutional, the horse will already be out of the barn. Federal agencies will be decimated by firings and forced retirements, federal contracts will be canceled, building leases will be terminated and offices shuttered, and nothing will be left to restore. All this talk about a “constitutional crisis” will be meaningless because while these cases are working their way to the Supreme Court, where they will inevitably end up, the damage will already have been done. I don’t know how long it will take for the consequences of their slashing and burning of government to reach the American people, but there will be pain, and we will all feel it in some form or fashion. We will learn the hard way and much too late how much we benefit as a functioning society from having a robust federal government.

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While the Trump regime's frenetic pace has thrown many of us off balance, we don’t have to stay that way. I have determined to reset myself a bit to offer perspectives on current events worth your time and investment and, most importantly, speak to how Christians should respond to “such a time as this” (Esther 4:14).

As a dear friend and I were lamenting the events of the past several weeks, I said, “It makes one wonder what God’s purpose is for us to be alive and alert during such times.” She found encouragement in that statement, and as I've reflected on it, I’m reminded of what Paul said, “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands” (Acts 17:26). There is a part of me that never imagined living through a time like this in America, and as a student of history and politics, it’s a unique opportunity to see if we are capable of learning from history or if we’re doomed to repeat it. My generation used to observe authoritarian regimes in other parts of the world and proclaim with a not-inconsiderable amount of pride, “It can’t happen here!” Now we’re faced with the question, “Is it happening here?” There are a lot of opinions about that, but as an educated person who strives to think before he speaks or acts, I have some reflections to share - pardon the play on my moniker! - that might be helpful.

As a former federal employee, I have something to say about the purge of the federal workforce and the cruelty and contempt with which it’s being executed. Their actions have nothing whatsoever to do with “fraud, waste, and abuse,” which has about as much substance coming from this administration as “DEI,” which to them is anything that doesn’t recognize the preeminence of white men. This blanket condemnation of anyone who works for the federal government is a smokescreen to dismantle it altogether and replace it with something smaller, less protective of the people, especially those not in the majority, indifferent to the machinations of the wealthy, and wholly incapable of meeting the needs of a secular, pluralistic nation of 330 million-plus people.

As a former senior information technology executive, I have something to say about how Elon Musk and his crew of young technology workers are using IT to upend government operations. I was part of an effort in the Bush administration to modernize and streamline federal IT to better serve the American people. However, that is not what Musk is doing here. A systematic approach would have been the prudent thing to do, and I think in different hands, this could have been a boon for a more efficient, effective federal government. However, Musk is weaving a path of destruction through the government, and it’s always easier to destroy than build.

As a former military intelligence officer, I have something to say about the blatant disrespect we are showing to our friends and allies, our radical realignment as an ally of Russia, which has been an adversary for over 100 years, and our vote in the United Nations where we sided with Russia, North Korea, and Iran against the democratic nations of Europe, an action none of my colleagues during my active-duty service would have believed if I were to go back in time and tell them about it.

As a Black man, I have something to say about the administration’s intentionally vague directives on DEI, and how they are using that ambiguity to accomplish an entirely different objective than simply “restoring meritocracy.” Diversity is not exclusive of merit, and the trope of the “unqualified DEI hire” is another use of coded language to disguise one’s true intentions. When one uses that phrase to describe a woman or person of color in a position of responsibility, they are not making an evaluation based on a review of their credentials for the position; the chances are better than even that they haven’t even looked at their resume or curriculum vitae. The person they are targeting with that insult didn’t pass the eye test - it’s that simple. The far right in the United States has for decades found words and phrases that are useful to advance a racially-charged agenda without explicitly calling it as such.

Are there legitimate concerns about DEI in practice? Multiple studies suggest that there are. Is the solution to eliminate diversity as a political, economic, and cultural objective, particularly since we are perhaps the most diverse nation on the planet? Is it to erase history if it’s not focused on or praiseworthy of the dominant culture?

As someone raised to “put away childish things” (1 Corinthians 13:11), as I grew from a boy to a man, I have something to say about the immaturity in public discourse emanating from our leaders. Playground insults and taunting, bullying, and other public displays of infantile behavior aren’t just the domain of Internet trolls, social media keyboard warriors, and backbenchers in Congress but are coming from our President, Vice President, and members of the Cabinet. The public once demanded decorum of our elected and appointed officials, and the lack thereof was disqualifying. Not only are those days over but coarse behavior is now considered a sign of authenticity or virility.

Despite all the things I want to write about, I need time to think about them in the context of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. A lot of what is put out there in His name is just authoritarianism with a veneer of spirituality to provide cover for people of faith to embrace worldly aims unrelated to Christ’s Kingdom. When I talk about “thinking Christianly,” it not only means keeping my faith pure and unadulterated by the world so that I may be a light in the darkness. It also means governing my behavior so I do not respond to the actions and behaviors noted previously in an un-Christian manner. Part of the reason I moved away from politics is because it was causing me to divide my devotion between God and the world, and God can’t use a divided saint to unite others under Him. I must take care that in responding to the forces that once divided me, I do not mimic them in their ways.

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With that, I have a brief housekeeping note.

I’ve reduced the monthly subscription cost for Ron’s Reflections from $8 to $5 and an annual subscription from $80 to $50. I have also added a Founding Member subscription for $80, although you can select any amount above $50 for the subscription. I am still working out what to offer for the Founding Member subscription, so please bear with me.

Anyone can read my articles at no cost; I want my thoughts to be read and shared as widely as possible. A regular subscription, whether monthly or annually, allows you to comment on my articles. I read every comment, and I try to respond to them, although I’m not always successful in that endeavor.

However, for those of you who’ve paid to subscribe, please know I am grateful to you for finding my writing worthwhile enough to part with your hard-earned cash. And to my free subscribers, thank you for reading! I will continue to write as long as you give me a reason to do so.