Saveitforparts

I generally avoid overt politics on my website and YouTube channel. But I feel that the current situation in the United States has gone beyond politics. I’m aware that many won’t like what I have to say, and may stop reading right here. They might unfollow or unsubscribe. They might try to cancel or otherwise harass me. I might lose income or face other repercussions for speaking out. But I know that I have something of a platform and a following, and I feel that I need to use it for something more important than entertainment or income. Something that’s too important to stay quiet about. Something that’s important enough to risk the negativity of certain people and groups.

I am saddened and disgusted by what America has become. I had hoped we were growing as a nation and a culture over the last few decades. I saw a lot of social progress, especially from young people, and we seemed to be moving towards a kinder, more accepting culture. Sadly, and tragically, there are still backwards-looking people clinging to obsolete ideas like hatred and racism. Those people have gained control of the Federal government, and are trying as hard as possible to erase the progress and freedoms that Americans have been working towards. Trump and ICE are trying to drag America back to the 1950s, or maybe the 1850s. They’re too incompetent to solve the country’s real problems, so they’re scapegoating and distracting and hurting people instead. They’re treating the Bill of Rights like a checklist, seeing how many amendments they can break or ignore. The things you hear about from distant 3rd-world dictatorships are becoming standard operating procedure in American politics. Ethnic cleansing, killing protesters, blatant corruption, private armies, justice for certain groups over others, laws that don’t apply to the rich and famous. Those are no longer things that happen “somewhere else”, they’re standard operating procedure right here. Most of my friends know all this already. I imagine some people will have stopped reading by now, and anyone who can’t form their own opinion will be copy-pasting something about socialist paid protesters into the comments. But I still feel that I need to say something.

Yes, the US has problems. Cost of living, quality of life, housing, jobs, medical care, education, and so many other things. But all you need to do is look around and see who’s trying to fix those problems, who’s profiting from the problems, and who’s trying to blame them on others. If your personal situation is bad, is the minimum wage immigrant or the billionaire CEO the one benefitting from that? Are the people calling for better services or the ones cutting those services really looking out for others? Is some possible welfare fraud the issue, or is blatant fraud and corruption at the top the issue? Is the CEO whose parents paid for everything the bootstrappy one, or is it the person who fled their home country to start over?

We’ve made our own problems through decades of catering to the rich and powerful. The American Dream has always benefitted banks, insurance companies, and investors instead of real people. Those responsible have always tried to blame the problems on immigrants, minorities, socialists, the poor, whoever is a convenient distraction. Other countries have figured out how to provide their citizens with better healthcare, better education, and better job opportunities than us, while also welcoming immigrants and refugees. It’s possible to do both, the US is not a poor country. Even with the problems I mentioned, we’re still wealthier and better off than a lot of the world. Is it really that bad to share some of it? I’m a small business owner and I still vote for higher taxes because I like government services. I like healthcare that doesn’t bankrupt people. I like social safety nets to keep people off the street. I don’t have kids and I still vote for school tax increases, because I’d like other people’s kids to be smarter. I am not a “highly paid agitator”. I would rather spend my money in the hopes that it improves something. And it shouldn’t be about money, or how nice your house is, or how many boats and RVs you have, or whatever the mortgage company wants you to believe. It’s about what’s right for everyone, citizens or not.

To Republicans still bothering to read this, and who still don’t believe some of this, LOOK around. Don’t just look at Fox, or Facebook, or X. Look at international news. Look at a variety of news sources. Look at a variety of social media. TALK to actual people from outside your demographic, or outside the country (and not just the Russian trolls on X). I tend to get a lot of my news from the BBC since they’re outside the US and in the center of most media fairness charts. But I also look at PBS and Fox and I notice how things are spun and which things look like good old-fashioned reporting. My most important takeaways from journalism classes were integrity and honesty. Some news outlets still believe in that, others discovered it’s more profitable to go a different route. It’s not too hard to figure out which ones are in it for profits vs truth.

I’ve tried to be respectful and open-minded about other people’s political choices. The first time Trump got elected, people didn’t *know* how bad he was. I’ll admit I laughed it off the first time. I figured he’d just be an amusing clown for a while and then some adults in Congress or the courts would step in. After a while he wasn’t so amusing, and it turned out there weren’t many adults in the room. The second time, everyone knew he was a multiply-impeached convicted felon and sex offender. But people still voted for him and all the adults left. I tried to be charitable and not just assume every Trump voter is a white supremacist. Maybe some really thought he’d improve the economy, even with his history of mismanaging businesses. Maybe some thought he would protect gun rights, even though he banned bump stocks in his first term. Maybe they thought he’d uphold their favorite religion, even when the actual Pope criticized him. Maybe they truly believed that minimum wage immigrants were somehow more responsible than billionaires for holding them back in life. Maybe they were really invested in what high school athletes had in their pants. Or maybe they were just cool with Trump fumbling everything else as long as he got the racism part right.

And here we are in Trump 2.0. Where he’s not only destroying the country within and without, but systematically betraying everyone who supported him. Trump supporters waiting for the Epstein files got a rugpull. Farmers got international crop boycotts and funding cuts to weather and research. Families struggling with grocery costs got tariffs. Rural residents lost their hospitals and clinics. Open carry advocates got to watch one of them executed in the street. He’s crippled every agency in the name of anti-woke, which really means firing anyone competent. Republicans were so eager to show that “government doesn’t’ work”, they had to make it true by ruining the government themselves. Federal law enforcement has become fractured and ineffective. Actual terrorists and criminals probably love that the Feds are busy fumbling sandwich-related prosecutions. It would be a great joke if he wasn’t doing the same with important departments like health and education. ICE can’t figure out when a suspect they’re after is already in jail. They can’t find their way from downtown Minneapolis to the federal building without asking detainees for directions. They can just about handle arresting a 5-year-old, or a grandpa in his underwear. They can manage to surround a car and shoot an unarmed woman. They can manage to shoot a nurse if 7 agents are holding him down. It would be a great joke if real people weren’t being hurt.

America is not only losing our own values and culture, we’ve become an international laughingstock around the world. We’ve alienated NATO and weakened alliances that took decades to build. We’ve broken international laws and norms that took decades to develop, eroding America’s reputation and credibility around the world. We’re losing rank everywhere from disease-free status to international traveler safety. We’re losing relevance and influence on all fronts. China probably loves it, they’re already beating us in most scientific and industrial fields, and now smaller countries are turning to them as the more stable and reliable partner. Russia definitely loves it, Trump can’t even stay on-message about Ukraine for more than a few days.

Sadly, the checks and balances we were taught in school don’t seem to exist in real life. Congress is mostly geriatric career politicians whose only skill is collecting donor money. Lower courts are completely ignored, and the Supreme Court does what Trump wants as long as the vacations keep coming. Republican lawmakers are content to follow the cult of personality, even when it means giving up their own power. Many Democrat lawmakers have also been remarkably quiet. I can only imagine that a lot of politicians, on both sides, actually love what Trump is doing. He’s made corruption mainstream with free jets and crypto scams. He’s created and shrugged off every scandal in the book from sex to money to treason. He’s escaped all consequences for his actions. He’s done everything a career politician could ever dream of. The Democrats currently sitting on their hands are probably thrilled to try the same things when (if) it’s their turn in power.

Why anyone would support Trump, or ICE, or any Republican politician at this point, I can only assume. And at this point I can only assume the worst. We’ve all had plenty of chances to see what’s going on if we’re actually willing to look. To the people cheering Trump and ICE on, if you’re still reading, please go ahead and unsubscribe. But maybe also think carefully about the examples and standards being set for future administrations that you may not agree with.

To the people still fighting to make the world a better place, thank you. Don’t give up, keep pushing for progress and demanding positive change and growth. Fight for a real future free from mistakes of the past. Fight for the future that everyone deserves.