T R U T H

"The Truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off." - Joe Klaas

“Institutionalized economic fragility refers to a system where working households stay productive but lack the financial cushion to withstand everyday disruptions” like an increase in the cost of living, utilities, gas, health care, groceries, etc. “Trump’s administration intensifies this fragility by reducing public protections against income loss and rising costs. This shift of risk further empowers institutions that shape the terms under which families work, borrow, and keep their homes.” (A Substack, The Republican Plan to Erase the Middle Class by 2029”, W.A. Lawrence, August 4^th)

The Trump-sponsored ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ (BBB) is as destructive to American society as Mr. Trump’s dangerous character. Team Zeteo (July 1, 2025) described this legislation by saying, “It’s big, it’s bad, and it’s ‘beautiful’ only for the richest Americans, while screwing over the poor.”

Many Americans still do not realize how much worse their lives may soon become. New data from Priorities USA shows that “nearly half of Americans have not heard of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” and among those who have, only 8% knew it included Medicaid cuts”. (Ibid)

THE LARGEST MEDICAID CUT IN HISTORY

Mr. Trump originally pledged to not touch Medicaid. He lied. “Medicaid provides coverage for more than 75 million Americans, and nearly 17 million would become uninsured over the next 10 years” due to the passage of the BBB. (KFF, a Health Policy Nonprofit)

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will cease to operate in 2026 or soon. This program feeds 16 to 17 million children per month. (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)

IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT (ICE)

ICE is set to become the best-funded federal law enforcement agency in the United States. If Mr. Trump is planning a second coup in 2028, these armed forces will most likely support his efforts. This is not a re-run of the January 2021 violence where 1600 people attacked the Capitol building. ICE currently employs over 22,000 individuals, which is a historic workforce increase of 120%.

And as more immigrants are deported, farmers no longer have a reasonably cost-effective work force. According to Wikipedia, “15,000 agricultural operations were lost in 2025 alone.”

AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTY CULTS

Many Americans in red states view Donald Trump differently because conservative media, local information networks, and community norms often reinforce favorable interpretations of his actions. “When called upon to believe that Barack Obama was really born in Kenya, millions got in line. When encouraged to believe that the 2012 Sandy Hook murder of 20 children and six adults was a hoax, too many stepped up. When urged to believe that Hillary Clinton was trafficking children in the basement of a Washington, D.C., pizza parlor with no basement, they bought it, and one of them showed up in the pizza place with a rifle to protect the kids. The fictions fed the frenzies, and the frenzies shaped the crises of 2020 and 2021. The delusions are legion: Secret Democratic cabals of child abusers, millions of undocumented voters, falsehoods about the Covid-19 pandemic and the vaccine.” (Why Republicans Keep Falling for Trump’s Lies,” NYT, Jan. 5, 2022)

THE TRUTH

“Authoritarians don’t just want to control the government, the economy and the military. They want to control the truth. Truth has its own authority, an authority a strongman must defeat, at least in the minds of his followers, convincing them to abandon fact, the standards of verification, critical thinking and all the rest. Such people become a standing army awaiting their next command.” (Ibid) We experienced such an army on January 6, 2021, and we very well may see the same in 2026 or in 2028 elections.

When people use outrageous, easily disproven beliefs to signal belonging or affirm identity, truths cease to matter. Liz Cheney investigated Donald Trump’s actions and his six-point illegal plan for overthrowing the 2020 election. Wyoming, a majority Republican state, rejected her and truth.

(“Covid and Horse Dewormer Claims,” Artist - Dave Granlun, Courtesy of
Cagle Cartoons for From Democracy to Democrazy)

Donald Trump embodies dishonesty and lies habitually. Republicans who support him have become entangled in that mendacity. He lost the 2020 election by more than seven million votes, yet he continues to claim victory while standing before conferences and cameras. This break from reality has spread through red states and Trump’s supporters, providing a rationale for aggression and threatening to overtake our nation and our federal government.

DEADLY CONSEQUENCES

Many Americans accept claims from others without enough skepticism. Cults exploit this gullibility because it makes people easier to manipulate. But when someone like Trump tells you the “sun orbits the earth,” you know it is false, and you support him anyway, you help enable dangerous—even deadly—consequences such as:

• The closure of USAID is expected to result in 22 million deaths by 2030 in Africa.

• ICE has shot six US citizens, and 84 people have died in ICE custody.

• Trump’s bombings in Venezuela and Iran have killed more than eleven thousand people, mostly civilians and children. These wars were unjustified and unnecessary, yet Iran has cost American citizens $2B per day for six months.

• During or immediately after the January 6, 2021, insurrection, five individuals died.

• Trump’s BBB cut health care for millions of Americans, and the resulting death toll remains unknown.

• Trump’s health director has zero public health expreience, and has rejected vaccines which has contributed to a renewed measles outbreak and several deaths.

• Trump misled Americans about COVID-19, while the pandemic death toll surpassed one million.

I have read numerous articles, books, and Substack posts about how to break through the fabricated wall that keeps the truth from reaching Trump followers, but no one has offered an answer.

Mahatma Gandhi said:

“WHEN I DESPAIR, I REMEMBER THAT ALL THROUGH HISTORY THE WAY OF TRUTH AND LOVE HAVE ALWAYS WON. THERE HAVE BEEN TYRANTS AND MURDERERS, AND FOR A TIME, THEY CAN SEEM INVINCIBLE, BUT IN THE END, THEY ALWAYS FALL. THINK OF IT - ALWAYS.”