On everything from immigration policy and national security to our personal freedom, the first six months of the second Trump administration has unleashed a wrecking crew of chaos and dysfunction across our country (and the world). At the same time, it reveals the rank hypocrisy from Trump and members of his party.
WELCOME TO BIG GOVERNMENT, TRUMP-STYLE
Many of us may remember how many figures from Trump’s party have run on hating “Big Government,” which actually does things lots of people like. Think of Medicaid, FEMA (when it’s actually being backed with resources), libraries, fire departments, you get the picture. Ronald Reagan built a whole career out of demonizing public service, once stating that “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” The notorious Project 2025 claimed it desired “a smaller government.” But under the current administration, we’re seeing the opposite: Big Trump Government is violating confidential Social Security information and impeding some of our most sacred rights, including due process and freedom of speech. Under Trump’s mass deportation agenda, immigration agents are even demanding tenant information.
The unprecedented Big Brother demand for personal IRS information alone should put fear in every American concerned about their privacy. It will have repercussions that go far beyond undocumented communities. How exactly is Big Trump Government going to figure out which taxpayers have legal immigration status and which ones don’t? Probably through racial profiling, thus putting non-white U.S. citizens and green card-holders in the crosshairs. “With access to confidential information about finances, taxes, residential addresses, and even medical records, does anyone believe that the Trump administration will limit itself to undocumented immigrants? Of course not,” respected columnist Maribel Hastings wrote in a recent piece. “Organizations and individuals that Trump considers ‘enemies’ will be next on his list.”
GOODBYE TAX CONTRIBUTIONS, HELLO DEFICIT
The Trump administration and its allies claim they want to lower the deficit and carry out more responsible spending. What a joke: the big, ugly budget bill they passed will increase deficits by $3.4 trillion over the next decade in order to give tax cuts to the super-rich like Elon Musk while also deporting hardworking immigrants who diligently pay their taxes. Yup, contrary to the right’s years of lies and tired myths about undocumented immigrants, these workers actually do pay taxes, to the tune of nearly $100 billion annually, helping keep federal programs like Social Security and Medicare viable for Americans.
The big, ugly bill turbo-charges mass deportation with an infusion of $170 billion – which means you can now kiss those immigrant tax contributions goodbye. Hey America, say hello to higher deficits and increased pain for working families, because the bill will “cause widespread harm with more than $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and ACA marketplaces and higher costs for families trying to afford healthcare and groceries,” said Sarah Lueck, vice president for health policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Oh, some members, like Reps. David Valadao (CA-22) and Juan Ciscomani (AZ-06), got some nice headlines after claiming they opposed such cuts. But in the end, when it really mattered, they voted to cut care for millions of Americans.
A MASK FOR ME, NOT FOR THEE!
Speaking of mass deportation, armed and masked ICE agents kidnapping undocumented neighbors and U.S. citizens is apparently now the norm. But who can forget that just a couple years ago, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, members of Trump’s party decried wearing PPE in order to help save lives as an infringement on personal freedoms. “Bullying, Controlling, Unconstitutional, Threats to Liberty,” Rep. Jody Hice (GA-10) said in one example. Trump himself mocked face masks as a safety measure, “continuing to do so despite promising he would — and against the advice of public health officials that everyone should wear them to save thousands of lives,” ABC News reported in 2020.
U.S. Reps. Robert Garcia and Summer Lee have been among top voices to condemn ICE’s anonymous arrests, saying that its mass deportation agents “are operating like a secret police force on U.S. soil” in targeting Dreamers, long-settled undocumented immigrants, and individuals with permission to live and work in the U.S. They note that actual safety threats have been attracted to ICE’s anonymity like a moth to a flame, with bad actors exploiting the agency’s secretive tactics in order to impersonate agents and commit serious crimes, including sexual assault and robbery. Rep. Valadao was also among Trump allies to get some headlines for pushing back on some of ICE’s chaotic abductions. But in the end, once again, he voted for more of them.
GOTTA LOVE THAT RELIGIOUS PIETY: ‘THEY TOOK THE BIBLE I HAD’
“Let’s bring religion back,” Trump stated at the National Prayer Breakfast last February. “Let’s bring God back into our lives.” But just this week his administration is facing yet another lawsuit over its disgraceful rescission of a policy that largely barred immigration raids at houses of worship. “As people of faith, we cannot abide losing the basic right to provide care and compassion,” said Bishop Brenda Bos of the ELCA’s Southwest California Synod. “Our call is love our neighbor, and we have been denied the ability to live out that call.” Just look at what’s happening on the ground. In what have been described as “extraordinary decrees,” several Catholic bishops have excused their congregations from the obligation to attend Mass due to ICE raids, including in California, which has been an epicenter of the federal government’s chaotic and unsparing sweeps.
In another example of the administration’s attack on religious freedom, a man jailed at the Everglades detention camp said officials confiscated his Bible. “They took the Bible I had and they said here there is no right to religion,” he said. “And my Bible is the one thing that keeps my faith, and now I’m losing my faith.”
FEAR OF DEPORTATION ISN’T THE ONLY THING THAT’S UP: SKY-HIGH PRICES
And as Trump claimed he’d lower food prices with some magic wand “starting on day one,” he’s now deporting the workers who put food on America’s table and keep the agricultural industry alive (in addition to paying their taxes every single year). Without their skilled labor, crops will rot on the field, food costs will skyrocket, and many working families will have a hard time paying for groceries – or finding some in the first place. “Inflation would rise — by as much as 3 percentage points — and tax collections would go down by $100 billion a year,” Carsey School of Public Policy founding director Michael Ettlinger wrote last year about the mass deportation of essential workers.
And, they’re essential workers, alright. Just take it from the first Trump administration, which declared these immigrants “essential workers” during the pandemic in order to keep them picking crops, working in slaughterhouses, and keeping food on store shelves. Now it wants to deport them all. Many are now living in fear as they try to support their families. “We’re scared,” said Lupe, a single mom and farmworker. “When we go to the store to get groceries, we have the feeling that someone is following us. Sometimes we don’t want to go to the doctor or dentist.” But apparently, Trump’s people have it all figured out.
