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“What is happening now is not normal politics. We’re seeing an assault on the fundamental institutions of our civic life, things we should all swear loyalty to – Democrat, independent or Republican... It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising.” David Brooks, journalist and conservative commentator for the New York Times (“What’s Happening Is Not Normal. America Needs an Uprising That Is Not Normal,” April 17, 2025).   

“It is the first responsibility of every citizen to defy authority when that authority is illegitimate.” Elliott Negin, journalist and author (“How to Respond to Trump’s Attacks? Band Together,” Common Dreams,  August 23, 2025).

The list of illegitimate actions by Trump to implement his authoritarian agenda is extensive and growing daily. He is acting like a dictator; ruling by decree with executive orders, breaking laws, ignoring court rulings and threatening opponents with prosecution. He is using lawsuits, funding cuts and withholding of federal grants or contracts to bully people, private organizations, businesses, states and cities into submission to his “agenda.” 

Trump’s “agenda” is increasingly totalitarian in scope. Nothing seems too insignificant or too far outside his responsibility or authority as president to escape his meddling. He has tried to force private law firms, universities and other businesses to abandon accepted, successful, beneficial policies on equality in hiring practices. He has tried to control the activities of independent organizations like the Smithsonian Institution and the Kennedy Center For the Performing  Arts. 

As examples, he has fired the national archivist, the head of the Library of Congress, the director of the National Portrait Gallery. He insists these private or independent organizations must be  “ensuring alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism” and remove any “improper ideology” from their activities. 

He has ordered that public agencies like the National Park Service and the Department of Defense purge historically accurate information that doesn’t align with his ignorant, bigoted beliefs. 

But Trump’s self-serving political, ideological agenda is not the agenda of the country. We have democratically established laws and norms that are suppose to guide our society. 

A president can influence our civic life, but does not have the authority to demand compliance with his personal beliefs or “agenda.” No president gets to set what is proper or “improper ideology” for the rest of us. 

Neither does Trump have the authority to demand the federal government adhere to his “agenda.” Congress has created agencies and programs to accomplish specific tasks for the  public good. The president’s job is to “faithfully execute” these laws (Article II Section 3 of the Constitution). He does not have power subvert or abolish what Congress has enacted and has been signed into law by prior presidents. 

Federal civil service employees also do not exist to advance the president’s political or ideological agenda. Most are hired using competitive, merit-based criteria and not political considerations. Many have significant technical, scientific, medical or administrative expertise. They perform their jobs in an unbiased, nonpolitical manner and, in fact, are prohibited from engaging in political activities at work. They are the people who actually run the government and they are public servants, not the president’s servants. 

In the past we had the kind of political control over public employees that Trump is trying to recreate. It was called the “spoils” system (as in “to the victor belongs the spoils”) and it was noted for inefficient, incompetent and corrupt government administration. 

In 1883 people forced the passage of civil service reform and political patronage was replaced with a system of merit based, nonpartisan civil service employees. 

So when Trump fires masses of federal employees because he (and his billionaire cronies) don’t like what they do, he is wrong. 

When he demands that government scientists ignore the accepted science on climate change or immunizations or environmental damage, he is wrong. 

When he demands that factual information be removed from government websites  because it does not “align with his vision” he is wrong. 

Worse than being wrong, he is endangering the health, safety and well being of all Americans. 

The latest outrageous example is Trump’s attacks on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Physicians for Social Responsibility says under Trump the CDC, “has plunged into chaos. Senior health officials have been fired or resigned in protest because they refused to bend to political pressure and compromise the scientific integrity of their work...The erosion of trust in our leading health institutions puts us all at risk, jeopardizing our ability to fight ongoing crises like climate change and environmental health threats.” 

The CDC fiasco is typical Trump bungling, inconsistency and incompetence. Dr. Susan Monarez was appointed by Trump as acting CDC Director in January, was confirmed by the Senate in July and forced out as director in August. She has a doctorate in microbiology and significant experience in the field and in government (including in the first Trump administration). 

She was a rare Trump appointee with real qualifications for the job. Her lawyers say she was forced out illegally because she “refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and [to] fire dedicated health experts.”

This week HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy appointed Jim O’Neill as acting CDC Director in addition to his current assistant secretary job at HHS. He is totally unqualified to head the CDC. He has no scientific or medical background. We was a speech writer for HHS in the G.W. Bush administration. His work history is primarily in stock market investing (with connections to Peter Thiel, the patron of J.D. Vance). His is a libertarian who has been critical of the FDA and, in 2014, advocated that new drugs be approved and “prove efficacy after they’ve been legalized.” 

The recently passed Trump budget cuts the CDC budget $5 billion (50%), eliminates 600 employees and limits its work to what the administration deems “true science” or the functions of infectious disease surveillance and outbreak response. Research into the health issues like smoking, environmental impacts and women’s health was canceled.

As of this writing, four top officials of he CDC have resigned in protest. 

David Brooks, a Republican writer and commentator, says “It’s time for Americans...[to] form one coordinated mass movement. Trump is about power. The only way he’s going to be stopped is if he’s confronted by some movement that possesses rival power.” 

We all must join together now and take action to end the chaos. The damage being done is too great to ignore.