Hypocrisy. Duplicity. Stupidity. Incompetence. Words that barely begin to describe the actions of so many appointees in the Trump Administration in recent days.  Add chutzpah, gall, nerve, insolence, and effrontery to the list and you have a vocabulary of behaviors that every parent fears for their children. That’s appropriate since there doesn’t seem to be an adult in the bunch! 

Dubbing it “Signalgate” may be an overreach, but the use of a non-secure communications system app for Vice President Vance, Defense Secretary Hegseth, CIA Director Waltz, and others to discuss sensitive military information certainly demonstrated a lack of care for the nation’s security mission.  It was exacerbated, of course, by the addition of a noted journalist to the chat; otherwise, the public probably would not be aware of such a potentially dangerous, and embarrassing, breach of security.  Fortunately, that same journalist, Jeff Goldberg, is a serious reporter who understood the sensitivity of the issues discussed and left the chat before it ended.  In any other administration, one or more of the people on the call would have resigned or been fired.  The approach of the Trump Administration, however, was one of “nothing here to see, folks; just move along.”  But this wasn’t a traffic accident; it was an international incident, leading to our allies re-evaluating whether they can trust America with their shared intelligence.  Looks like Messrs. Vance and Hegseth forgot their history classes about World War II that “loose lips sink ships.”  

Now Mr. Vance has been tasked with eliminating “improper” information at the Smithsonian Institution and its museums and facilities, including the National Zoo!  What in the world will he find “improper” about the pandas?  That they’re visiting from China? The Trump Administration’s zeal to rewrite history and erase important aspects of our diverse culture smacks of censorship and propaganda that have been hallmarks of despotic rule for centuries.  In his first term, Trump’s advisors relied on “alternative facts” to defend the many false claims emanating from the White House. Sounds like not much has changed.  Falsehoods, misinformation, and disinformation worked for MAGA in the first Trump term, so why not just continue it in the second?    

Another embarrassment last week was Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem’s visit to the El Salvador maximum security prison where two hundred Venezuelan men were deported as suspected gang members. Her carefully staged photo op had Noem, styled hair cascading down her white tee shirt, standing in front of a cell block crammed with shirtless prisoners as props for the set piece.  Noem thought it signaled strength.  No, it was pathetic and cruel, placing America on the international list of human rights abusers.  The first hundred days of a new administration can provide an idea of what the next four years will be like.  Will America and our democracy survive the next 46 months?  

For a man lusting after the Nobel Peace Prize – remember he promised to end the war in Ukraine on his first day in office – Trump’s idea of peace is bizarre.  Trade wars against our closest allies. Saber rattling about wresting Greenland from NATO ally Denmark. Cuddling ever closer to Putin. Injecting fear into millions of immigrants who now are afraid to venture even to church or the grocery store. A better word for it is despotism, especially if our institutional guardrails fail.  

Eggs are still six dollars a dozen, an avocado at Whole Foods was $1.69 on Sunday, a gallon of gas increased by ten cents or more in the past few days, and what does Trump do about these kitchen table issues?  He announces a scheme to win a third term in 2028!  Megalomaniac.  Oligarch.  Despot. Narcissist.  Those should be spelling bee words, not descriptions of the President of the United States.