<
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/12/united-states-trump-destruction>
"The United States is being murdered, and it’s an inside job. Every department,
every branch, every bureau and function of the federal government is being
fatally corrupted or altogether dismantled or disabled. All this is common
knowledge, but because it dribbles out in news stories about this specific
incident or department, the reports never adequately describe an administration
sabotaging the functioning of the federal government and also trashing the
global economy, international alliances and relationships, and the national and
global environment in ways that will have downstream consequences for decades
and perhaps, especially when it comes to climate, centuries.
Across the branches of government, the services that are supposed to protect us
– nuclear stockpile monitoring, cybersecurity, counter-terrorism – are being
undermined, understaffed or trashed. A different kind of protection that
consists of public health, vaccination programs, food safety, clean air and
water, social services, civil rights and the rule of law is also under attack.
The federal government that serves us is being starved while the federal
government that serves the Trump agenda and the oligarchy is glutting itself on
taxpayer money, including the grotesque sums dumped on the Department of
Homeland Security and the US military now being warped into Pete Hegseth’s
twisted vision of a ruthless mercenary force. Hegseth has reportedly stood in
the way of promotions for more than a dozen Black and female officers.
It is striking that the Trump team’s constant refrain is that we cannot afford
to protect the vulnerable or provide for the people, which is why the richest
person in the world, Elon Musk, atop Doge, destroyed USAID last year, which has
already resulted in tens of thousands of deaths from starvation and preventable
disease. The Iran war is creating a fertilizer crisis in Europe, Africa and
Asia that may also result in widespread famine. Meanwhile, the former head of
homeland security Kristi Noem spent more than $200m on an ad campaign starring
herself before she was fired.
Although there are far worse things about the utterly gratuitous and literally
unjustified war on Iran, the fact that it burns through billions a day is
striking, given that huge cuts are being made to environmental protection and
national parks, and the forest service is being effectively sabotaged, while
public lands are being offered up to fossil fuel companies and mining
interests. The forest service headquarters are being moved across the country,
which will probably cause many resignations, like the similar move of the
Bureau of Land Management in Trump’s first term. More than 50 forest service
research stations are being cut, meaning more loss of irreplaceable ongoing
research, data, facilities and staff.
Trump said in his droning dullard speech last week: “We can’t take care of
daycare. We’re a big country ... We’re fighting wars ... It’s not possible for
us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things.”
Your money, our money, our public lands, our kids. Trump even bribed the
builders of offshore windfarms almost a billion dollars to stop, just because
he has a personal vendetta against the clean energy systems. The US used to
lead the world in scientific research, including medical research, which had
led to important breakthroughs in disease treatment and health, but all that
has been slashed to the bone and beyond. This is murder."
Via Kenny Chaffin.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
