I am not a journalist. I am an American writer stupefied and saddened by the outcome of the 2025 election, invited by Bylines Scotland to write from the heart about the first week of President Donald Trump’s administration.
Shock and awe
Imagine you are in a log cabin that’s on fire; the roof is beginning to crack and blazing timbers are falling all around you. You can’t open the door. It’s stuck and the handle’s too hot. Outside, firemen, neighbours and strangers are yelling instructions. The podcast on your melting smartphone is still blaring smug words of wisdom. You can barely decipher what people are shouting:
“Drench yourself in water from the sink! Put towels all over you and lie down. Meditate. It’ll be over soon. Go to your happy place. Self-care first! Like on an aeroplane! Put on the masks!”
“It’s not really a fire. It’s just a nightmare inspired by the CGI effects on that film you streamed last night. Wake up! You’re not in real danger!”
“Say good-bye to the world you used to know. You’ll never own a house again. You’re going to be scarred for life and Medicare doesn’t cover plastic surgery.”
“It’s all just performative, destabilising spaghetti-on-the-wall. The courts will shoot him down. You can’t sidestep the Constitution with an Executive Order. Chill out. Wait and see.”
“The American Experiment is over. Global politics are trending right-wing. Wake up and smell the AI. We had a good run but it’s over.”
“Why should anyone run into a burning building and save you when millions all over the world have it so much worse with local wars and famines and droughts and pandemics… You Americans have exploited everyone with your greed and energy consumption – time for you to suffer a bit, eh? Boohoo to you.”
Who’s pushing back?
That’s how it feels right now. Is anyone pushing back? Yes! Notably, some brave women. Two Republican Senators, Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) voted No in the confirmation hearing for Pete Hegseth, the less than admirable candidate for Secretary of Defense. And a shout out to former Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell for his No vote. Let’s see how Mitch, who had polio as a child, weighs in on anti-vaxxer Robert F Kennedy Jr’s nomination as US Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). One more Republican No and Hegseth would not have made it, but Vice President JD Vance was the tie-breaking vote that ushered him in. I tremble.
Who refused to accept their shocking pardon, issued for all participants in the 6 January 2021 violent attack on our Capitol by Trump supporters in an attempt to overturn the results of a fair and free election? Pamela Hemphill, 71, the so-called ‘maga granny’ who declared that she and the others were wrong and deserved the punishment she received. Hemphill served a 60-day prison sentence but parted ways with what she now calls the MAGA cult in 2023.
Who made headlines with her sermon at a prayer service at the National Cathedral in Washington a day after the inauguration, with Trump in attendance, rolling his eyes and trading glances with Vance? Episcopal Bishop Mariann E Budde. Her words asking for “mercy for the stranger in our midst” fell on deaf ears, of course. Trump later commented in a social media post that Bishop Budde was a “Radical Left hard line Trump hater”. I hope her action will shine forth in history books long after Trump is relegated to the ash heap of despots, bigots and con men who were willing to risk the health and well-being of millions of their own countrymen to gain a few billion pounds of silver cyber coins. Bishop Budde’s most recent book, How We Learn to Be Brave, was listed as temporarily out of stock on Amazon Friday afternoon. Budde’s book is No 4 on the site’s list of best-sellers, 11 spots above JD Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy.
Why did they vote for him?
Why are Trump and his MAGA goons and tech billionaires willing to risk the survival of the planet and humanity – hello pandemics, bonjour climate chaos – for power and money? Don’t they have children? Do they truly not understand the stakes? What transpires in their little, shrivelled brains? I wish I knew.
And what about the 50 million plus who voted for Trump? It should be noted that he didn’t receive a mandate, it wasn’t a landslide. More voted for someone else than voted for Trump if you count Harris and 3rd party voters. Sadly, it seems that 30% of eligible voters didn’t vote at all. I don’t want to believe that his supporters are all racist, misogynist, bitter souls. What policies did they think they were voting for? Lower prices for eggs?
Manipulated by mainstream media and right-wing podcasts, they voted against ’woke’ politics, against diversity, equity and inclusion, and a fair shake for all Americans. But the sad irony is, what his voters really do want is to be included – and I do fault the Democrats for being in a bubble about what concerns most Americans. It’s not the value of the Dow-Jones – it’s safe schools, affordable housing, day care, elderly care, a decent health care system overall.
Most Americans are not reading David Brooks in the NY Times or listening to an Ezra Klein podcast. Bernie Sanders, to my mind, is correct – MAGA has been ramping up a culture war as a distraction when what has really been happening is a class war. In the coming period of serious retrenchment and reflection on the part of the Democrats, I hope Sanders is given a prominent role. As far as I’m concerned, he’s been right on every issue from Iraq to Israel.
I decided to ask people in my own personal circle, from Maine to Florida, for their thoughts and feelings about this first week of the new administration. Here are some direct quotes:
Rebecca from Florida (travel agent): “As bad as anticipated; first week was like a firehose of nasty. Torn between doing nothing and trying to enjoy life or spending time unsuccessfully trying to make a difference.”
Sara (retired florist, landscaper): “It’s a disaster! He’s cruel, vindictive and greedy. Counting on his ADHD not to complete half his threats.”
Peggy: “It’s worse than I thought.”
Howard from Florida (retired Adult Ed/ESOL teacher): “An unimagined horror.”
Andy (writer, mother) from upstate New York: “I am numb, like being given a second cancer diagnosis.”
Secundino (Architect, naturalised citizen from Cuba): “Disaster!”
Ken from Maine (printmaker, tour guide): “I find his pardons for the Jan 6th insurrectionists really chilling. I fear violence is in our future.”
K. from Maine (artist, teacher): “In a word, I am anxious! I didn’t vote for the first time since I was 18 as I felt let down by both candidates even though I prayed Trump would not get in.”
So, Scotland, keep an eye on us and wish us well. We need your goodwill and your support until sanity reigns once more in my troubled land. I believe that America will survive. As I repeatedly said to the visitors to the Florida Holocaust Museum when I was a docent there, Hitler lost.
More in world.
