This Week and Next: Swimming in Trump’s Swamp
Or: There Is No Dry Land
I had a plan this morning. A good plan. A sensible plan.
After months of diving deep into the fetid waters of Trump’s second term—cataloging the grift, the cruelty, the constitutional vandalism—I woke up exhausted and told myself: “Do less. Stay out of the deep end. Preserve yourself.”
Smart, right? Self-care. Boundaries. All those things your therapist keeps talking about.
So I made coffee. Picked up my iPad. Read the paper like a normal person recharging their batteries.
And then I realized: I’m already wet.
You see, I wasn’t planning to leap into the swamp today. The problem is there’s no dry land anymore. That’s the whole point of Trump times—there’s no respite. You wake up, and the emails are there. The posts are there. The realities of death, war, and poverty engineered by people who think suffering is a policy choice rather than a moral failure.
So here I am, goggles down, diving back in.
What a week it’s been.
Let me tell you what I found in the murky, sulfur-smelling water this week. Consider this your democracy-in-crisis reading list, or as I like to call it, “Five Reasons We Can’t Have Nice Things.”
1. The Rose Garden Club: Let Them Eat... Steak (While You Lose Your SNAP Benefits)
Picture this: Trump and Republican lawmakers gathered in the newly renovated Rose Garden—under cheerful yellow umbrellas, naturally—dining on taxpayer-funded steak while literally celebrating the legislation that will gut food assistance for 42 million Americans.
The optics weren’t just bad. They were Versailles on the eve of revolution bad.
As they toasted their “unity” with chocolate cake, families learned their SNAP benefits were being slashed and their health insurance premiums were about to spike 114%. You know, the kind of details that really bring people together.
The ruling class has forgotten something crucial: they work for us, not the other way around. Though at this point, I’m not sure they ever knew.
2. White House Down: The $300 Million Ballroom That Ate the East Wing
Remember when Trump promised not to touch the historic East Wing—home to First Ladies since Rosalynn Carte?
Yeah, about that.
He demolished it. Took a wrecking ball through Theodore Roosevelt-era walls to build himself a $300 million Mar-a-Lago-style ballroom, funded by defense contractors and tech giants who absolutely, definitely aren’t seeking influence. What are you, paranoid?
The costs ballooned 50% before completion, because of course they did. Trump appointed his own aide to oversee the approval process, neatly bypassing those pesky historic preservation requirements. When asked about the construction noise, he called it “music to my ears” that “reminds me of money.”
At least he’s honest about what he worships.
3. Another Florida Swamp Monster: The Cory Mills Story
Let me introduce you to Representative Cory Mills, because Florida’s congressional delegation apparently has a quota for terrible people they haven’t quite filled yet.
His greatest hits include: a restraining order for threatening an ex-girlfriend with revenge porn, an assault investigation involving a woman with visible bruises, $85,000 in unpaid rent (bootstraps for thee but not for me), and allegations of stolen valor after an Army investigation disputed his Bronze Star claims.
Speaker Mike Johnson’s response to all this? These are just “things outside life” that aren’t “really serious.”
Let me get this straight: threatening women with revenge porn is less serious than, say, policing who people love or what books they read? The party of “family values” has really clarified what values they mean, and spoiler alert: it’s not the ones about human decency.
4. America’s Measles Crisis: How to Lose Disease Elimination Status and Influence Nobody
Here’s a fun fact: We have 1,596 confirmed measles cases. Experts estimate the real number is closer to 5,000. Three people have died—the first measles deaths in a decade.
How did we get here? Oh, just the systematic gutting of public health infrastructure. Waves of CDC layoffs. Key measles response officials terminated. $11.4 billion in state health funding clawed back. Local health departments reporting “there’s nobody to answer the phone” when they call for federal expertise.
We’re on track to lose our measles elimination status, which we’ve held since 2000. Making America Great Again, one preventable disease outbreak at a time.
5. Trump’s Venezuela Gambit: Extrajudicial Killings and the Oil Fields of Tomorrow
Twenty-seven people killed in Caribbean boat strikes. Trump claims they were drug traffickers. Evidence provided: zero. Congressional oversight allowed: also zero.
But let’s connect some dots, shall we? Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves. Venezuela’s opposition leader has promised to privatize them for American companies. America currently has eight warships, F-35s, and 6,500 troops in the region. Trump keeps invoking “manifest destiny” like it’s a perfectly normal thing to say in the 21st century.
What could possibly be the connection?
We’ve now established the precedent that America can kill anyone, anywhere, based on claims we refuse to substantiate. I’m sure this won’t have any concerning implications for the future.
The Water’s Rising
Here’s what these five stories have in common: they’re not dramatic. There’s no tanks-in-the-streets coup, no single catastrophic moment. Democracy isn’t collapsing with a bang.
It’s collapsing through normalized corruption. Through extrajudicial violence no one questions. Through the systematic destruction of institutions we thought were permanent. Through a ruling class so divorced from the people they govern that chocolate cake while cutting food stamps seems like good politics.
The water’s rising, and there’s nowhere dry to stand.
So tomorrow morning, I’ll probably try again. Tell myself to take a break, preserve my mental health, stay in the shallow end.
And then I’ll read the news, realize I’m already wet, and dive back in.
Someone has to remember what happened here. Someone has to chronicle how a nation became unrecognizable, not through invasion or natural disaster, but through choices made by people who forgot they were supposed to serve something larger than themselves.
I was a lifeguard once. I know how to handle currents.
But I’m starting to worry about what happens when everyone forgets how to swim.
JDP
Note: All articles can be read by clicking on titles.
Josh Powell is a healthcare writer, consultant, and former CEO of a leading multidisciplinary surgical center in New York. Most recently, he served as Project Manager for Columbia University’s NIH-funded HEALing Communities Study, addressing the opioid epidemic through evidence-based interventions.
His book, “AIDS and HIV Related Diseases,” published by Hachette Book Group, established him as an authoritative voice in healthcare. Powell’s insights have appeared in prestigious publications including Politico and The New England Journal of Medicine. As a recognized expert, he has been featured on major media outlets including CBS, NBC, NPR, and PBS.
Copyright Notice
Get some rest. It’s hell on wheels out there. I think all of us greatly appreciate your commitment!