No Big Deal, Right?
Nothing going on here. Just the federal government, now entirely controlled by true believers in Trump falsehoods, preventing Harvard University from enrolling any international students—and international students make up one quarter of Harvard’s student body. This is apparently punishment for the university failing to produce information on the politics of all those students, so their politics can be judged by the Trump administration.
And, no, this isn’t like the Nazis. They are trying to root out people whom they say are anti-Israel. They are not, apparently, after the Jews. So far. So, no big deal.
No worries. But the president of the United States, who is not supposed to accept personal gifts from foreign leaders valued at more than $480 without consulting Congress, has just been gifted by the sheiks of Qatar, without consulting Congress, with a $400-million luxury 747, which would serve as the new Air Force One—after the U.S. would spend billions outfitting it. This with the understanding that the plane would later be used by Trump’s presidential library.
He denies that it would then then, in essence, be his personal jet. (But Trump also denied that he knew anything about Project 2025.)
Trump who was critical of Qatar during his first term has been positive recently. But surely there is no connection.
Chill. Although the gifts from well-off foreigners—and well-off Americans—keep pouring in: most in the form of purchases of the Trump family’s memecoin, a form of cryptocurrency backed by, well, nothing. The ones who have purchased the most got a dinner “with the president.” And “several” of the dinner guests admitted to the New York Times that “they attended the event with the explicit intent of influencing Mr. Trump and U.S. financial regulations.”
But not to worry. The new tax cut passed by Republicans in the House and now going to the Republican-controlled Senate is just business as usual for Republicans. Sure, it will fund, in part, continued tax cuts for deserving rich Americans by driving 8.6 million undeserving poor Americans off Medicaid. And, sure, it would, according to the Congressional Budget Office, increase the already huge U.S. debt by $3.8 trillion.
It is true that the desire of non-Americans to park their money in U.S. dollars has decreased since our president started playing tariff roulette. So that debt is sure starting to look a bit burdensome.
And, tucked into that House budget bill, by Rep. Jim Jordan and others, is a provision that, according to the New York Times, would “limit the power of federal judges to hold people in contempt, potentially shielding President Trump and members of his administration from the consequences of violating court orders.” It would also limit the number of class-action suits by requiring those who file such suits to post bond. And such provisions would apply retroactively.
Nope, nothing to lose sleep over. Although that fellow who was not an illegal alien is still, despite what the Supreme Court said, in a prison in El Salvador. And federal officials, who reportedly refuse to identify themselves, our colleague and friend, Jerry Lanson, writes, are still arresting immigrants.
So, we all should just continue to go about our business as if this is just another conservative administration and politics as usual. We should let our president—that noted humanitarian; that unrivaled deal maker, who only went bankrupt six times; that economic tinkerer with some 19th-century ideas on tariffs; and that self-proclaimed patriot who demonstrates little understanding of or support for the Constitution—do whatever he feels is best.
When they said back in the 1930s that “it can’t happen here,” they were right. It didn’t. And maybe those who think Trump and the Republicans would cede power after a loss in the midterms or in 2028 will prove right. However, Donald Trump did encourage an insurrection at the Capitol last time he lost an election.
I am by nature an optimist. But, as I’ve written here, my optimism is rapidly fading.
It is all no big deal. Until it is.
There is reason to believe we are the frogs, and the water in our pan is about to boil.