Let it Begin
The first couple of weeks of Trumps Presidency
Let it begin
Hello, everyone. Welcome to a new episode and year. It is also a new beginning for our nation. As of the time of writing this the once 45th presidents of these United States are now also the 47th. We stand upon the precipice of the fall of our democracy. Why do I say this? Well, as someone who has been watching politics closely since 2016. This, I use this term loosely, President has been proven in a court of law to have “committed 34 counts in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who said the two had sex,” according to the Associated Press.
He has also been convicted of sexual assault and defamation. According to the Associated Press from May 9, 2023, “A jury found Donald Trump liable Tuesday for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996, awarding her $5 million in a judgment that could haunt the former president as he campaigns to regain the White House.
The verdict was split Jurors rejected Carroll’s claim that she was raped, finding Trump responsible for a lesser degree of sexual abuse. The judgment adds to Trump’s legal woes and offers vindication to Carroll, whose allegations had been mocked and dismissed by Trump for years.”
Which he defamed her again shortly after this verdict. Now he has also been charged with the possession classified documents, Election interference on a federal and in the state Georgia. Which after his conviction on the “Hush Money Case” he is the first Felon President. I could go into more discussion on just these cases. However, it is important to state that there is an overwhelming amount of content out there about these cases. I am painting with a very wide brush for the sake of time and my own understanding of the cases.
Now, as of day one of his Presidency what has said he would do? Again, I am going to give a wide view of this stuff, because each of these issues could be their own hour+ episode.
First up and Mass deportation of immigrants as well as ending birth right citizenship. Why is this bad? Because he can use his power to forcibly remove undocumented immigrants and their native-born children. He could also target migrant workers who are here on work visas. He has also implied he would declare a national emergency and deploy the military to remove said undocumented immigrants. I would like to say this hasn’t been done before; however, history has been full of cases where than has been.
I do believe that our immigration system needs tons of work. It needs a long overdue overhaul. However, ignoring the obvious flaws in the system, the GOP has decided to double down and lean into racism to blame the people who work our fields and pick most of our crops. This is going to increase the cost of food. If you are a small business tyrant you and are somehow listening to this episode, thanks and welcome, you are going to lose profits to pay an American to pick your fields. Instead of paying migrants to do it. I do not agree that this should be the case, I feel you should pay everyone a living wadge and (gasp) pay your fucking taxes.
I know radical stuff.
He also is looking to end Biden-era boarder policies, claiming to close the “open boarder policies.” Which if you paid the slightest attention, we have two racist departments that handle our boarders, United states Border Patrol and ICE (United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement) a division of Homeland security. According to Human Rights Watch, “Article 5 of ICE RD guarantees equality before the law. Yet, at the federal level, the US government uses criminal provisions punishing illegal entry into the US that were enacted with racially discriminatory intent and have racially disparate impacts. ICE disproportionately places Black migrants in solitary confinement (as documented in a 2020 study) and according to a 2021 study in Louisiana, Black migrants experience disproportionately long periods in ICE detention. At the state level, in Texas, Operation Lone-star continues to target people based on their perceived ethnic and racial background for disparate and abusive treatment, including lengthy periods of pretrial detention.” (Human Rights Watch, 2025)
The next thing is the Jan 6th perpetrators.
Mango Mussolini has stated that he wants to issue pardons for his fellow insurrectionist. Several of these people have already been tried, sentenced, and subsequently served their sentences. There are several who are being held until trial by federal judges or are still being held due to appeals they have filed for other charges in addition to the ones they gained from January 6th insurrection riots. 1580 people were charged for crimes related to Jan 6th, with 1270 convicted. According to NBC news, as of Jan 20th, 2025.
No one has had the balls to file criminal charges against any of the swarm of the MAGA Congrestional sycophants who with their lord and savior rallied the mob into committing acts of violence, election interference, and Insurrection. Which is a major failure of the DOJ and the Biden administration. This proves if you have money and are in congress or senate you can say what you want and the consequences be damned. If someone who was a protester for say BLM, Antifa, or any other left leaning group. The police officers would have been ordered to open fire and or all parties involved would have seen the harshest punishments possible.
It is extremely frustrating that these assholes get pardoned when weed dealers get multiple years in prison. That you can receive multiple fines, court charges for parking tickets, and arrestable infractions. Whereas insurrectionists get a sweeping pardon, and treated like heroes.
The next big issue is the economy.
He has shifted his stance on doing a 10% tariff on imports, which he has changed to 25% tariff on imported goods from Mexico and Canada. This was one of his big stances saying it would help our economy. Or rather, help his wealthy business donors. In an article from PBS on the subject from back in September 2024, “He has proposed a 60% tariff on goods from China — and a tariff of up to 20% on everything else the United States imports” (PBS, 2024). He also threatened to punish John Deere if they moved out of country by imposing a 200% tax on their products. As well as imposing a 100% tax on goods from Mexico.
So how do tariffs work? Again, from the PBS article, “Trump insists that tariffs are paid for by foreign countries. In fact, it is importers — American companies — that pay tariffs, and the money goes to U.S. Treasury. Those companies, in turn, typically pass their higher costs on to their customers in the form of higher prices. That’s why economists say consumers usually end up footing the bill for tariffs.
Still, tariffs can hurt foreign countries by making their products pricier and harder to sell abroad. Yang Zhou, an economist at Shanghai’s Fudan University, concluded in a study that Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods inflicted more than three times as much damage to the Chinese economy as they did to the U.S. economy” (PBS,2024).
The Article goes on to say, “By raising the price of imports, tariffs can protect home-grown manufacturers. They may also serve to punish foreign countries for committing unfair trade practices, like subsidizing their exporters or dumping products at unfairly low prices.
Before the federal income tax was established in 1913, tariffs were a major revenue driver for the government. From 1790 to 1860, tariffs accounted for 90% of federal revenue, according to Douglas Irwin, a Dartmouth College economist who has studied the history of trade policy.
Tariffs fell out of favor as global trade grew after World War II. The government needed vastly bigger revenue streams to finance its operations.
In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the government is expected to collect $81.4 billion in tariffs and fees. That is a trifle next to the $2.5 trillion that’s expected to come from individual income taxes and the $1.7 trillion from Social Security and Medicare taxes” (PBS, 2024).
I know that is a large explanation and I made generous use of quotaion marks, however, I feel it is important to hit home what tariffs do.
This will more than likely cost the average America hundreds of dollars or more in the long term. It could also cause increased inflation, which will increase prices across the board on a lot of goods. If he goes through with it, he is going to pound the average American right in the butt, again.
The last promise of Trumps, I want to look at, is Trans rights.
Now this one is scary. I personally have had shifting opinions on this topic since it came from the forefront in 2016’s and on. I had at first had a more closed-minded stance and had spoken from a place of ignorance, about Trans individuals in the military. For that I want to apologize, However, I've grown older and wiser. I have learned and educated myself more on some of the issues of Trans and non-Binary communities. With that said let us move onto Trump and his Group base.
The first one is limiting trans athletes in women's sports. Which has already been implemented in a bill that passed the House back on Jan 14th, 2025. This bill bar’s Trans athletes from participating in school sports. Which is being called by Democrats as “Child Predator Empowerment Act,” (New York times, Jan 2025). This bill is just the first in what I am sure is going to be a slew of bills that will try and restrict the rights of LGBTQ community. He also plans to cut federal funding to schools who “pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content to our beautiful children” he stated in an October speech.
All of his pearl clutching and pushing a point of view from a closed-minded religious point of view. Same old bigotry just in a new package. The number of people who they are focusing such hate towards only makes up 1.6% on the American population. Globally it's even less. But this is not the only threat to the trans community. They also want end gender affirming care such as hormone treatment. This is a huge issue, not only is it a spit in the face of all civil liberties as well as an overreach of government. They are trying to dictate what medical services you can receive. You know the thing they all screamed and kicked about when the Covid-19 lock-downs happened.
So, with all these promises what has he done so far? Well, his biggest supporter and business ghoul Elon Musk, did the Nazi salute twice during his own speech on inauguration day. Which has opened some eyes to the coming four years. Some still insist on chocking hard on the GOPeePee. Stating that Elon had an Autistic moment, or it was the roman salute. The Nazi Salute also known as the Roman Salute has been attributed to many people over the years but one of the big names who brought it to fascism was, one of my favorite historic pieces of shit, Gabriele D'Annunzio.
I will quote from Wikipedia now, “The extended arm saluting gesture was alleged to be based on an ancient Roman custom, but no known Roman work of art depicts it, nor does any extant Roman text describe it. Historians have instead determined that the gesture originated from Jacques-Louis David's 1784 painting Oath of the Horatii, which displayed a raised arm salutatory gesture in an ancient Roman setting. The gesture and its identification with ancient Rome was advanced in other French neoclassic art.
In 1892, Francis Bellamy introduced the American Pledge of Allegiance, which was to be accompanied by a visually similar saluting gesture, referred to as the Bellamy salute. A raised arm gesture was then used in the 1899 American stage production of Ben-Hur, and its 1907 film adaptation. The gesture was further elaborated upon in several early Italian films. Of special note was the 1914 silent film Cabiria, whose screenplay had contributions from the Italian ultra-nationalist Gabriele D'Annunzio, a forerunner of Italian Fascism. In 1919, when he led the occupation of Fiume, D'Annunzio used the style of salute depicted in the film as a neo-Imperialist ritual and the Italian Fascist Party quickly adopted it.
By autumn 1923, or as early as 1921, some members of the Nazi Party were using the rigid, outstretched right arm salute to greet Hitler, who responded by raising his own right hand crooked back at the elbow, palm opened upwards, in a gesture of acceptance. In 1926, the Nazi salute was made compulsory for all party members. It functioned as a display of commitment to the Party and a declaration of principle to the outside world. Gregor Strasser wrote in 1927 that the greeting in and of itself was a pledge of loyalty to Hitler, as well as a symbol of personal dependence on the Führer. Even so, the drive to gain acceptance did not go unchallenged” (Wikipedia, 2025).
They have no concern of retaliation, even the ADL said it was not a Nazi Salute. They stated, “In this moment, all sides should give one another a bit of grace, perhaps even the benefit of the doubt, and take a breath,” (New York Post, 2025). Seriously, What the fuck ADL? In November of 2024, The Nation released an article, pointing out a lack of criticism against then Presidential Candidate Trump, about a hateful Rally at the Madison Square Garden. That was filled of racist, homophobic, transphobic, Islamophobic, and antisemitism rants by speakers and other members of the GOP. This article sums up the response of the ADL,
“This response—or lack thereof—should have been surprising. But it’s merely the latest evidence that the ADL has completely abandoned the civil rights part of its mission, which has long been in tension with its Israel advocacy—a contradiction that movements have pointed out for years. These days, the organization, under CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, appears to have one primary objective: demonizing those of us in the movement for Palestinian human rights. Neither the ADL nor Greenblatt saw fit to offer so much as a word of denunciation for Trump’s praise of Hitler’s generals. When President Trump said he would blame American Jews if Harris wins the election, the ADL stumbled over itself to laud Trump before offering a mealy-mouthed critique of the former president’s phrasing. In recent years, Greenblatt has praised Elon Musk, given an award to Jared Kushner, and continued to insist that students on college campuses are just as big a threat as torch-carrying white nationalists.
To be clear, the ADL is far from alone in this regard. Many center-right and right-wing organizations have long chosen to stay silent about, or even join forces with, MAGA extremists because of their alignment over Israel. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee has welcomed Trump—and his top donors—with open arms, while refusing to condemn his blatantly antisemitic remarks. A review of recent press releases by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations shows none containing condemnations of Trump’s antisemitism. The group did see fit to call out even the most milquetoast critiques of the Israeli government by public figures like Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, as well as attack those who dare to speak out against the Gaza genocide,” (Borgwardt,2024).
Now after reading this, it is easy to see that 1.) The Zionists state is not a friend of Judaism. 2.) The ADL has become an ally to fascism. So, for them to try a shrug off an obvious Nazi reference is still appalling but not shocking. When I heard and saw this, I was disgusted but not shocked. This was only a few hours into the Trump Presidency.
Now that we have the Elon incident out of the way. Trump also did not swear in on a bible. He stood next to them but did not actually swear in on a book. Now I would rather a politician be sworn in on the book of law. However, the fact he did not choose a book at all is telling. Means he has every plan to shuck his oath. If you are religious, this should worry you as well. It means he lied to you openly to your face while you sucked him off as your new myesia.
He also went after a Bishop publicly for her asking him to give mercy to immigrants and LGBTQ individuals. This giant orange Fanta snowflake being triggered by a Female bishop doing her duty to push peace for all peoples. The GOP called her a Radical leftist, who berated him and his white house during a prayer service. Again, if you are religious in any forum or fashion, this should be alarming. If you believe in the teachings of Jesus, this should shake your belief in Trump and the GOP.
I digress, here is what Trumpy Foreskin did on his first day and some of his first executive orders. I pulled this information from the Associated Press.
Pardons were first up, pardoning people involved in the January 16th capitol attack. He also ordered an end of case of the “political opponents” of former president Biden. Aka, Trump’s supporters, and backers. Which Trump called the “weaponization” of the federal law enforcement. This should come as no surprise for the last part. However, I am little shocked that he did pardon the total of the Jan 6th rioters. Since he had a chance too the last few days before Biden took office. This time however he has issued a sweeping pardon to all suspects and individuals involved in the January 6th attack on the Capitol.
Oh, it does not end there. There is more to this shitty iceberg.
Let us go ahead and look at trans rights.
In a complete stupid ass (and dangerous) executive order, the white house has defined that there are two genders, Male and female. As defined by if you are born producing eggs or sperm. 1.) Men are not born producing sperm; sperm is not produced till puberty. 2.) Women do produce a set number of eggs at birth which is all they will ever produce. Now, according to the order, men are not men until puberty? I guess. Also, the order will not allow funding for gender affirming care, in prisons, migrant, or rape victim shelters. Furthermore, these shelters and prisons will be segregated by sex as defined by the order.
Next, I will cover the growing atrocity that is immigration.
Along with trying to end birth right citizenship, which is part of the constitution, I might add. He has declared a national emergency at the southern border with Mexico. He has also suspended the U.S. Refugee Admission Program, pending a review to assess the program’s “public safety and national security” implications. He also ended CBP-one app. The app if you are unaware is an app that helps migrants. I will read now from the CBP one government site on how it worked; “CBP One™ is a mobile application that grants you access to a variety of services provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). This includes checking border Wait Times, applying for a provisional I-94 entry, requesting an inspection of agriculture or biological products, and submitting a traveler's manifest for bus operators” (CBP one.gov, Jan 21, 2025).
Now, with the ending of this app it ends an app that helped one million immigrants gain legal entry. Let me say that again, it ended a LEGAL ENTRY PROGRAM. Not cracking down on quote unquote “illegal migrants” but hinders and denies LEGAL entry. Which will more than likely increase the amount of people trying to enter illegally. COUNTER FUCKING PRODUCTIVE. I agree that our immigration system is shit and needs to be overhauled. However, just shutting the boarder down is reckless, xenophobic, and asinine.
Now let us add to this that ICE has been running around like a coked-out toddler with a nail gun. Going after every brown person who may or may not have a Spanish sounding name. They (meaning ICE) are going after anyone and everyone brown. Armed Gestapo have been showing up to schools; to capture the harden immigrant criminals, we all know them as children. To use them as leverage to obtain their parents. WHICH IS FUCKING SICK. I wish this wasnt true, but it is sadly. If you are on the right and you believe children are sacred you should be fucking furious! Because the rest of us are!
If you think, “well they broke the law, they get what they get.” Well, you are wrong, but also you obviously do not understand the law. According to the United States Civil Liberties Union; “No. The act of being present in the United States in violation of the immigration laws is not, standing alone, a crime. While federal immigration law does criminalize some actions that may be related to undocumented presence in the United States, undocumented presence alone is not a violation of federal criminal law. Thus, many believe that the term “illegal alien,” which may suggest a criminal violation, is inaccurate or misleading” (ACLU, 2010).
It has taken me some time to write this script because of the sheer evil of this new Presidential term. It makes me sad, and I have had to spend a few days walking away and give myself some space. As someone who is a student of history and has been warning people that this second term for Trump would be much more violent. We have brown shirts hiding behind badges of ICE and Border Patrol. It has been a soul crushing event for me, friends, and family. Yet, the hits keep coming.
We have had several deadly plane crashes in the last week as well as ICE still doing there racists best to remove brown people and have deputized lesser police forces and agencies in their attempt to ethnically cleanse America.
I will read from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) websites Statement from Acting DHS Secretary Benjamine Huffman. “This action empowers the brave men and women in CBP and ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens—including murders and rapists—who have illegally come into our country. Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement and instead trusts them to use common sense.” (DHS.gov, 2025)
He goes on to say.
“The Biden-Harris Administration abused the humanitarian parole program to indiscriminately allow 1.5 million migrants to enter our country. This was all stopped on day one of the Trump Administration. This action will return the humanitarian parole program to its original purpose of looking at migrants on a case-by-case basis.” (DHS.gov,2025)
If you still believe this is not some Nazi shit, then you are intentionally burring your head in the sand or you are a Nazi yourself. I also do not use the Nazi word lightly. Also, most of what he says is incorrect. Biden’s immigration policy was very convoluted to say the least, mostly rolling back Trumps fumbling of it in his first term.
This is just the beginning of this bullshit roller-coaster. This is an existential crisis for our country. We need to be active in pushing back politically against these fascist policies. Through Protest and exercising our freedoms to push against these ideas.
I will leave you with some lines from two of my favorite Rage Against the Machines songs.
“Guerilla Radio” of the Battle of Los Angeles album
It has to start somewhere
It must start sometime
What better place than here?
What better time than now?
“Settle for Nothing” of Self-Titled album
A jail cell is freedom from the pain in my home
Hatred passed on, passed on, and passed on
A world of violent rage but it is one that I can recognize
Having never seen the color of my father's eyes
Yes, I dwell in hell, but it is a hell that I can grip
I tried to grip my family, but I slipped
To escape from the pain in an existence mundane
I got a nine, a sign, a set, and now I got a name
Read my writing on the wall
No one's here to catch me when I fall
Caught between my culture and the system
Genocide
Read my writing on the wall
No one's here to catch me when I fall
If ignorance is bliss
Then knock the smile off my face, yeah!
If we don't take action now
We'll settle for nothing later
Sources and Citation
Neumeister, Larry, et al. “Jury Finds Trump Liable for Sexual Abuse, Awards Accuser $5M.” AP News, 10 May 2023, apnews.com/article/trump-rape-carroll-trial-fe68259a4b98bb3947d42af9ec83d7db.
https://www.thenation.com/authors. “Let’s Call the ADL What It Is: An Ally of Fascists.” The Nation, Nov. 2024, www.thenation.com/article/politics/adl-trump-rally-fascism/. Accessed 4 Feb. 2025.
“Nazi Salute.” Wikipedia, 15 Sept. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_salute.
Nava, Victor. “ADL Defends Elon Musk over “Awkward Gesture” at Trump Inauguration: “Not a Nazi Salute.”” New York Post, 21 Jan. 2025, nypost.com/2025/01/20/us-news/adl-says-elon-musks-awkward-gesture-at-trump-inauguration-was-not-a-nazi-salute/. Accessed 4 Feb. 2025.
Karni, Annie. “House Passes Bill to Bar Trans Athletes from Female School Sports Teams.” Nytimes.com, The New York Times, 14 Jan. 2025, www.nytimes.com/2025/01/14/us/politics/house-trans-athletes.html.
Wiseman, Paul. “Trump Favors Huge New Tariffs. How Do They Work?” PBS News, 27 Sept. 2024, www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/trump-favors-huge-new-tariffs-how-do-they-work.
Politico Staff. “Tracking the Trump Criminal Cases.” Politico.com, Politico, 13 June 2023, www.politico.com/interactives/2023/trump-criminal-investigations-cases-tracker-list/.
Sisak, Michael R., et al. “Guilty: Trump Becomes First Former US President Convicted of Felony Crimes.” AP News, 30 May 2024, apnews.com/article/trump-trial-deliberations-jury-testimony-verdict-85558c6d08efb434d05b694364470aa0.
“How Global Business Leaders Are Responding to Trump’s Tariff Threats.” PBS News, 23 Jan. 2025, www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-global-business-leaders-are-responding-to-trumps-tariff-threats. Accessed 4 Feb. 2025.
MILLER, ZEKE, and JOSH BOAK. “Takeaways from the Donald Trump’s First Week in Office.” AP News, 25 Jan. 2025, apnews.com/article/trump-takeaways-inauguration-pardons-first-week-b153c325399ede1cc7044bf41f9a9e1e.
LONG, COLLEEN, et al. “Trump Signed Slew of Executive Orders on Day 1. What Are His Priorities?” AP News, 20 Jan. 2025, apnews.com/article/trump-day-1-executive-orders-3a035a0bbd37b5c12630b92c8c8a9625.
“CBP OneTM Mobile Application | U.S. Customs and Border Protection.” Www.cbp.gov, www.cbp.gov/about/mobile-apps-directory/cbpone.
American Civil Liberties Union. “ACLU IRP Issue Brief: Criminalizing Undocumented Immigrants February 2010 1 ISSUE BRIEF Criminalizing Undocumented Immigrants.” American Civil Liberties Union, American Civil Liberties Union, Feb. 2010, www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/FINAL_criminalizing_undocumented_immigrants_issue_brief_PUBLIC_VERSION.pdf. Accessed 3 Feb. 2025.
“Statement from a DHS Spokesperson on Directives Expanding Law Enforcement and Ending the Abuse of Humanitarian Parole | Homeland Security.” U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2024, www.dhs.gov/news/2025/01/21/statement-dhs-spokesperson-directives-expanding-law-enforcement-and-ending-abuse.
“Rage against the Machine - Settle for Nothing Lyrics | AZLyrics.com.” Azlyrics.com, 2025, www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/rageagainstthemachine/settlefornothing.html. Accessed 4 Feb. 2025.
“Rage against the Machine - Guerrilla Radio Lyrics | AZLyrics.com.” Azlyrics.com, 2025, www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/rageagainstthemachine/guerrillaradio.html. Accessed 4 Feb. 2025.