Life After Trump
Trump’s volatility, malignant narcissism, and governing incompetence, enabled by an ethically compromised Roberts Court and a feckless, GOP-controlled Congress, will leave lasting damage on the United States and the world. Trump voters, along with those who opted out under the comforting fiction that “both sides are the same,” effectively handed him the taxpayer treasury and the nation’s credit card. He is now managing public funds exactly as he managed his own ventures, through recklessness, self-dealing, fraud, corruption, and failure, repeating the pattern that led to multiple bankruptcies and the dissolution of his so-called charitable foundation.
His core campaign promises to end Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, slash energy costs, address affordability, repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act with a “much better” alternative, and bring efficiency to government have not merely fallen short. They have collapsed entirely, revealing an administration defined not by governance, but by cruelty, corruption, and profound incompetence.
As his second term approaches its first anniversary, the incompetence, cruelty, and corruption of Trump’s administration have become undeniable, even to segments of his MAGA base. This is especially true for those who can no longer afford healthcare or must devote an ever-larger share of their income simply to stay warm through the winter as energy costs continue to outpace inflation. At the same time, his central economic priority, extending tax cuts for his wealthiest enablers including Musk, Bezos, Adelson, Ellison, Zuckerberg, Thiel, Mellon, and the Uihleins, has added more than $2 trillion to the national debt, a burden that will be paid not by them, but by us, our children, and our grandchildren.
Instead of working to balance the national budget, Trump has prioritized militarized enforcement and vanity projects while taxpayer needs go unmet. Federally deployed immigration agents, often heavily armed and inadequately trained, have been implicated in multiple deadly encounters with civilians, including the killing of Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis and the fatal shooting of Keith Porter Jr. by an off-duty ICE officer in Los Angeles, sparking nationwide protests and legal challenges demanding accountability. At the same time, billions have been allocated to pet projects that do not serve the public interest, such as a proposed “Trump Arch -monument to himself” a lavish golden ballroom (the Epstein/Trump ballroom) at the White House, and the costly retrofitting of the controversial Qatari-gifted 747 jet with roughly $1 billion of taxpayer funds. At the same time, corruption now defines how taxpayer dollars are spent, benefiting Trump’s circle while ethics, oversight. and accountability are blocked at every turn. Federal prosecutors had developed evidence that Tom Homan, a top Trump border official, accepted a $50,000 cash payment from undercover agents seeking government contracts, only to have that bribery probe shut down by the administration rather than pursued to indictment, raising serious questions about political influence and favoritism at the highest levels of Homeland Security. Taxpayer money has also flowed toward his Cabinet members, political allies, and enablers while the public pays the price for services that go underfunded or politicized, even as federal leadership continues to defend egregious actions by ICE agents.
The continued naval deployment in the Caribbean, including attacks on Venezuelan vessels, the killing of Venezuelans on the pretext of drug interdiction, and the extrajudicial kidnapping of the Maduros, has likely cost taxpayers another $2 billion. These actions have escalated regional instability, violated international norms, and delivered no measurable benefit to American security or prosperity, while draining public resources that are urgently needed at home.
And even this figure understates the damage. It does not account for the vast taxpayer funds consumed by Trump’s vanity projects and revenge tour, including Musk’s failed DOGE initiative, the systematic demoralization and hollowing out of the federal workforce, the renaming of military bases and departments for ideological spectacle, and the weaponization of the Department of Justice to pursue perceived enemies and political opponents. These expenditures and abuses serve no public purpose. They exist solely to gratify ego, reward loyalty, and entrench power at the expense of democratic governance.
Beyond the domestic chaos and failure, U.S. foreign policy under Trump and Rubio has been a sustained and consequential disaster. The administration has launched economic wars against allies, withdrawn from critical international agreements and treaties, slashed funding for USAID and other essential global initiatives, while simultaneously funneling $40 billion to Argentina’s Javier Milei, and pushed formerly close partners such as Canada toward deeper economic engagement with China. The result has been predictably perverse: a strengthened Chinese economy and a weakened American one.
At the same time, the State Department has been hollowed out. Career diplomats with decades of experience building trust, stability, and strategic relationships have been sidelined or forced out, replaced by major campaign donors and political loyalists with little to no diplomatic experience. This dismantling of professional diplomacy has left the United States isolated, less credible, and dangerously diminished on the world stage.
As the clock ticks toward the 2026 midterm elections and the Trump Administration continues to work with leadership in GOP-controlled states to gerrymander, disenfranchise voters, and attempt to maintain control of Congress in 2026 by any means necessary. If the elections are held and votes are properly counted, the only legal mechanism voters have is to elect House and Senate members who abide by their Oath of Office, with the courage to defend the Constitution and rule of law, commit to investigate and pursue every criminal and corrupt act of this Administration and its enablers, and stop the blatant incompetence, crime, and corruption and bring an end to the incompetence, corruption, and abuse of power that are actively weakening the United States.
What Now? -Defend, Protest, Build
Defend
Much of my recent writing and public speaking has centered around what “We the People” must do now. The overarching guide is to defend, protest, and build. Defending those most vulnerable to the cruel, illegal, and often unconstitutional actions of this Administration. We defend by acting as witnesses -citizen journalists, chronicling the illegal actions of Trump/Noem’s ICE stormtroopers, support of front line organizations like the ACLU, the National Immigration Law Center, RAICES (Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services), and United We Dream (more frontline organizations are noted an updated at https://civ.works/defend. Furthermore, supporting independent journalism and media is vital to disseminate factual information as it unfolds in places like Minneapolis, Portland, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC, and other “Blue” cities and states singled out for Trump revenge. Without citizen journalists and independent media -the lie told by Kristi Noem, Vance, and Trump, about the murder of Renee Good would not have been exposed.
Protest
Protest is of great significance. When candidates running for election or re-election view the growing unpopularity and failures of Trump’s acts, some will stop enabling him, supporting him, and apologizing for him. The GOP controls Congress, however, their House majority is razor-thin. As “No Kings” protests grow, “ICE Out for Good Weekend of Action” is well-attended -in Blue AND Red areas, and with the upcoming Free America Walkout on January 20, and any upcoming national protest -our participation is vital. Any substantial decrease in attendance will signal acquiescence to Trump/Vance/GOP authoritarianism, racism, misogyny, and exacerbation of inequality.
Free America Walkout, January 20, 2026
Build
It doesn’t matter if your politics are Republican, Independent, Democratic, Green, or are registered as a non-affiliated voter, make sure your registration is valid and active (see https://civ.works/defend). Register new voters and make sure your family and friends are registered and have a plan to vote. Know how the USPS has changed the rules around postmark dating -and if voting by mail -request a hand-stamped postmark at the post office -or better, drop your ballot off in an official ballot box or local election offices. Support candidates for office that will abide by their Oath of Office and defend the Constitution (against all enemies foreign AND domestic) and will make the rule of law a priority -regardless of their party affiliation.
Life After Trump
If We Succeed in the Midterms — The Work Is Just Beginning
If we succeed in the midterms, the work is just beginning. Winning a congressional majority committed to the Constitution and the rule of law is not resolution; it is survival. There is no institutional backstop left. No court, no agency, no tradition will compensate for a Congress that refuses to act against a tyrant, his co-conspirators and enablers. If we fail, accountability dies, corruption hardens into precedent, and the freefall into corrupt authoritarianism becomes irreversible.
Winning the midterms, therefore, is not victory it is the first lap in the “Democracy 500”. Elections can temporarily halt the freefall, but they cannot, on their own, repair institutions that have been deliberately hollowed out. A post-midterm Congress worthy of its oath must recognize its mandate clearly: voters are not demanding symbolism, restraint, or reconciliation theater. They are demanding justice and constitutional enforcement.
There is no shortcut around justice. If the midterms succeed, the work that follows will be difficult, prolonged, and deeply unpopular among those who benefited from lawlessness -including a massive trove of onshore and offshore wealth. Rebuilding accountability, restoring democratic guardrails, and repairing public trust will take years, likely a generation. But without this first step, none of that work can begin.
Accountability — Prosecutions, Indictments, and the Rule of Law
Accountability is not vengeance. It is the enforcement mechanism of democracy. A society that refuses to investigate and prosecute criminal abuse of power invites repetition. Had Nixon been imprisoned for his crimes, had the Iran-Contra affair been fully investigated, future corrupt and lawless regimes may not have been elevated to the Presidency. The crimes of this Administration and its enablers, the betrayal of public trust, abandoning international agreements and our allies, abuse of federal authority, civil rights violations, corruption, obstruction, and even murder -must be treated as what they are: treasonous high crimes against the constitutional order.
This means indictments where evidence warrants them. Trials where facts demand them. Imprisonment and asset forfeiture where guilt is proven. It also means tearing through the Roberts Court shield of corruption that protected the criminal elect and his cabal. Every pardon, nomination, appointment, policy decision, contract award, halted investigation, and tax benefit granted to donors and enablers must be reviewed in full, and potentially -retroactively voided. Illicit gains must be clawed back to the public treasury. No pardon issued by a criminal can be allowed to erase accountability. Those released under such protection must be returned to the reach of the law, their sentences imposed and carried through without exception. Anything less teaches future authoritarians that power buys immunity, that crimes committed from the Oval Office expire with applause, and that justice is optional for the well-connected. No one can be above the law without the law becoming a lie.
Rebuild the Guardrails
The guardrails failed because they depended upon the “checks and balances” requiring a Congress that would uphold their Oaths of Office and defend the rule of law, an ethical and non-partisan judicial system, and political system norms and traditions. The current corrupt and criminal regime, combined with the ethically-challenged Roberts Court, and a feckless Congress have provided clarity on the vulnerability of our present system. Executive power must be narrowed, emergency authorities constrained, the independence of the DOJ codified, and Congress’s oversight authority reinforced with enforceable penalties for defiance.
Rebuilding guardrails is not about restraining one man; it is about designing institutions that assume bad actors will arrive. Democracy must be engineered for pragmatic resilience, not optimistic hope.
A Worker-First Agenda — With Dignity for All
Democracy cannot survive when work no longer guarantees dignity. A worker-first agenda is not socialism -it is stabilizing infrastructure. Affordable high-quality healthcare decoupled from employment. Wages that keep pace with productivity. Housing treated as necessity, not a speculative asset for private equity. Labor protections enforced, not negotiated away.
When people are economically desperate, tyranny finds fertile ground. When workers are respected, protected, and secure, democracy regains legitimacy. This is not wealth redistribution for its own sake, it is democratic self-preservation. There are two fundamental rules in any meaningful democracy.
Any meaningful attempt at democracy requires an educated, informed, and engaged society; and
The extreme concentration of wealth and policies leading to the extreme concentration of wealth are direct attacks on democracy and self-governance.
Reagan "trickle down" economic policies, favoring extreme wealth concentration was a blatant attack on democracy.
Patience — This Is Generational Work
The damage inflicted by the criminal regime will not be undone in a single Congress or administration. Authoritarian erosion took decades to build, financed by greed and apathy. Repair will require the political will and sustained civic discipline across generations.
Patience does not mean passivity. It means committing to the long arc of institutional reform even when headlines move on, even when progress feels incremental, even when cynicism is easier than hope.
The Future We Can Have — Toward a More Perfect Union
A more perfect union is not a myth -it is a direction. It is a country where power answers to law, where truth is not optional, where rights are not contingent on race, wealth, or geography, and where government once again serves the public rather than preying upon it. It is our societal commitment and effort toward equality, justice, and democracy -to fulfill the Dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. he powerfully and eloquently described to us over sixty years ago.
The Future Is Unwritten — Let’s Write a New Chapter
History does not move on its own. It is written by those who show up, who organize, who refuse to normalize cruelty, corruption, and lies. The past year has shown us how fragile democracy can be. The years ahead will show whether we are willing to defend it.
The future is unwritten.
Let’s write a chapter for our children, grandchildren, and generations yet to come.
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Liz Oyer, Former DOJ Pardon Attorney
George: An excellent piece with insight into the damages & a path to recovery…Thank you.
Leaving just one heart is not enough. You lay out the necessary steps for building true democracy. You even touch on how this can be implemented and how many years, generations(?), this could take. I may be 74, and I may only be able to impact my little corner of the world, but I am signing on to do this.