First Week of the New Regime

Grim but all is not lost

A fallen tree creates nutrients and foundation for new life.

We’re nearly at the end of the first week of the new Trump regime. They promised to “rain shock and awe” down on all of us at the start of this term and that’s exactly what they set out to do.

Here’s a brief summary:

· Rolled back environmental protections and pulled out of the Paris Climate agreement again;

· Signed an executive order declaring citizenship does not automatically extend to people born in the U.S.;

· Ended diversity, inclusion, and equity programs within the federal government;

· Pulled security details from political opponents including Dr. Anthony Fauci and former National Security Advisor, John Bolton, despite countless threats of violence to both people;

· Began targeting LGBTQ and gender diversity rights;

· Ordered ICE to beginning raids on illegal immigrants without legally-required warrants (now, bear in mind I’m not opposed to violent criminals being removed but I am opposed to that happening outside of legal procedures that protect non-offenders);

· Pardoned 1,500 of the Jan. 6^th rioters including those who had inflicted tremendous violence against police officers. There is already evidence these people are even more radicalized and are forming into a personal militia for Trump;

· And much more.

Meanwhile, as evidenced by republicans confirming as head of the Defense Department a person with a history of excessive drinking and sexual aggression toward women, and virtually no related experience, it’s clear very few republican lawmakers are going to mount any opposition to their president’s wishes, even the most dangerous.

Above all, these people want to maintain their positions of power. If they oppose, the regime will select loyalist candidates to challenge them in the next primary and the right-wing billionaire oligarchs will pour unlimited money into the hand-picked candidates’ campaigns. It’s a no-win situation for Republicans who are more concerned about holding onto their positions than making wise, courageous choices for the American people and democracy.

I want to give a shout out to the courage of the three republicans who did vote no on Hegseth – Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Susan Collins (Maine), and Mitch McConnell (Kentucky). Collins’ vote was especially courageous as she’ll be up for reelection in 2026.

The sober truth is, functionally, we are all now living under an autocratic regime. But that does not mean democracy is dead. Consider some other events that took place this week:

· The Supreme Court blocked Trump’s effort to prevent granting citizenship to certain people being born in the U.S.;

· States are continuing to rally to protect the environment and people in their jurisdictions. I’ll do a separate follow-up piece about this because when I was serving as First Lady of Oregon our administration led a powerful multi-state climate action initiative that was an active part of the Paris climate talks among other things. States can do a lot.

· People are organizing and engaging to stand up to what is taking place. I’ve been on a number of organizing calls and planning sessions. The Indivisible effort is the one I’m finding most useful since it is an organizing hub that supports Indivisible efforts at the local and state levels. Where I live we have several local Indivisible groups as well as an Indivisible Oregon group. And again, states and environmental and social justice groups are working on strategies to block the bad and build something better.

It is important to remember, that the new regime is currently at the peak of its power. It is power-drunk on the early actions that can be taken early in a new term. And it is already overreaching. Current polling shows only 20% of Americans approved of the Jan. 6^th pardons. A lot of law enforcement interests are asking these people, “What happened to ‘Back the Blue?’” At some point hypocrisy gets called to the carpet. The push-back will grow.

Finally, I’ll leave you with this. Recently I was criticized by someone who felt that a Unity minister should not be speaking up about or getting engaged in political issues. I explained that I do not believe spirituality and politics are mutually exclusive and, in fact, this country has a rich heritage of spiritual leaders being politically-engaged on behalf of greater justice and peace. The key is coming to that task with a consciousness of kindness and spiritual poise even as we’re saying no to destructive policies and egregious actions.

One such spiritual leader did something beautifully brave this week. Episcopal bishop, Rev. Mariann Budde, oversaw the inaugural service at the National Cathedral in Washington. She called for unity across differences and humbly but strongly directly addressed Trump who was in the audience.

If you haven’t yet seen this yet here are two video clips. This first clip is just a couple minutes long and shows the end of her talk and Trump, Vance and their families’ uncomfortable response. This second vid is of her full 15-minute talk.

It took conviction and courage for bishop Budde to take this action. Not surprisingly she has faced backlash with some radical republicans ridiculously calling for her to be deported even though she’s a U.S. citizen. Trump accused her of being a hater and demanded an apology to which she replied, "I don't hate the president, and I pray for him, …. I don't feel there's a need to apologize for a request for mercy."

All over this country right now there are people demonstrating acts of courage and a consciousness of a better way forward for all of us. This will gain momentum. One of the most important reasons autocracies fail is that the people step up and say “no more.” It is possible we’ll reach that point much sooner than the handful of people benefitting from things as they are right now see coming.

Here's to holding hope that these will go down as transcendent and evolutionary times just like a tree that dies in the forest provides nutrients for new life to come.

Cylvia

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