A purpose to the chaos

For most humans, chaos is unsettling, even disturbing, but for those with unpopular agendas, it provides opportunity — and that is why President Trump and his South African sidekick are so focused on keeping Americans off-balance with their daily dose of policy whiplash and abuses of federal law.
For the thousands of federal workers in Minnesota, the last two-and-a-half months have been like living under a guillotine, with no control at all over when the blade might fall.
If you’re an Iron Range family that’s relied on the Low Income Heating Assistance Program to heat your home in winter, you live with the uncertainty that you won’t be able to rely on this financial lifeline starting later this year.
If you’re a family with young children who has relied on the SNAP program, formerly known as Food Stamps, to keep decent food on the table, you live with the daily worry that the job of feeding your kids will become that much tougher. Add to that the likelihood of brutal cuts to the Medicaid program and there’s a very real chance your kids won’t be able to see their doctor or get the dental care they need.
If you’re a teacher or school administrator, you live with the uncertainty that federal funds that help your school provide extra support to students from poor or dysfunctional families, or students with mental or physical disabilities, will disappear, leaving students to fall through the cracks.
We all live with the uncertainty that if our governor stands up to President Trump, a whole range of federal funds allocated to our state will simply disappear with an imperious wave of Trump’s hand. He’s already threatened as much to the state of Maine because their governor refused to kowtow to Trump’s threats.
For the millions of legal immigrants in the U.S., those with active work or student visas, or green card holders, who work and pay taxes in our country, life now holds the daily uncertainty that they can be snatched off the street by masked men and disappeared without due process into some horrific detention facility for something they once wrote or said. This is now happening in Minnesota and every state in the country.
Families across the U.S. live with the uncertainty that their jobs could be lost from the economic disaster most economists expect will result from President Trump’s global trade war. The higher costs for everyday items, from bananas to shoes, which most analysts say will add nearly $4,000 annually to the average family’s bill for basic items, will create further uncertainty about the future. The Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index has plunged in recent weeks as most Americans now live in real fear over the effects of the trade war on their daily lives.
In the midst of the endless uncertainty, it’s easy for the public to overlook the fundamental dysfunction behind the chaos — namely the overturning of the rule of law in America. The rule of law has been a bedrock of the American system, premised on the idea that when we govern ourselves by a set of rules that apply to all, we enjoy the predictability and stability that makes it possible for all of us to plan our lives. The rule of law protects us from arbitrary governmental action.
When the president and his administration is allowed to act outside the law, which this administration does on a daily basis, it robs us of the stability we used to enjoy. We may not recognize that at first as we focus on the endless chaos of an administration that operates by random daily decrees. The randomness is intentional because it keeps the public focused on the disorder, rather than what’s happening behind the scenes, which is the systematic dismantling of the U.S. Constitution through Trump’s repeated violations.
While some Trump supporters may be relishing the destruction of the federal government, the demise of America’s global reputation, the destruction of our important alliances, and Trump’s cozying up to Vladimir Putin, that’s certainly not why many voters opted for Trump last November.
Many felt he was better suited to run the economy and bring inflation down. Instead, he’s running the economy into the ground and enacting tariffs guaranteed to push inflation higher.
Trump’s first term was tempered by the so-called adults in the room, those staff members who came with experience, a sense of duty to the country, and loyalty to the Constitution. Those individuals are now gone, replaced this time by sycophants, incompetents, and the complicit, who facilitate, rather than temper, Trump’s worst impulses.
America, as a result, is beginning to recognize what autocracy feels like, because we’ve gotten a taste over the last seven weeks. It’s an unsettling feeling in the pit of your stomach, a recognition that it can happen here. Will Americans be able to see through the clutter before it’s too late?