Happy Easter or Resurrection Sunday! I pray all those pseudo-Christians like Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, remember that Jesus is the Prince of Peace, not the God of War; the One who commands us to love our neighbor, to pursue truth, to welcome the stranger, to care for the poor, sick and imprisoned, and to forgo wealth and earthly power in favor of everlasting life. Now on to the content of my post today.
This past Friday, I told my husband that I was convinced that an email he received from “Costco” was a scam. So, he didn’t open it, but while we were at Costco, he showed it to a representative at the customer service desk. The email invited him to click and win a Costco prize. The representative confirmed that it wasn’t from Costco and another woman in line quickly acknowledged that it was a scam and that she too had received that same email. I applauded him for not falling prey to it.
The fact is, there are so many more scams circulating than usual because this president pardons people convicted of major fraud while also gutting government protection agencies like the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Department of Justice (DOJ). So many career employees and prosecutors have been fired or resigned under DOGE that criminals are having a field day. No one is protecting us.
In fact, our situation is becoming more precarious on multiple fronts. For example, the vast amount of quack medicine and fake remedies found on Instagram and Face Book reflects his appointment of snake oil salesman, Dr. Mehmet Oz to run Medicare and Medicaid and conspiracy theorist, Robert Kennedy, Jr. to the position of Secretary of Health and Human Services. In January 2026, this administration removed us from the World Health Organization, and they have defunded a lot of critical medical research and disabled the operations of the Center for Disease Control (CDC). And just as worrisome, the Big Beautiful Bill will result in approximately 16 million people losing healthcare coverage by 2034 according to the Congressional Budget Office (CDO).
Even the clean air and water we rely on is under attack with fewer career staff left in place to monitor environmental threats and with significant rollbacks in environmental regulations. Allowing companies to pollute our air and water in favor of financial gain doesn’t make long term sense. Don’t they realize that dead and dying customers can’t buy products? In addition, this administration is allowing AI data centers to deplete access to clean water and electricity while also contributing to noise pollution in unsuspecting poor communities around the country.
Most people are disheartened by the high cost of food and gasoline these days. First, the tariffs raised our prices and now Trump’s senseless war in Iran has raised the cost of gasoline, airline flights, shipping costs, and basic goods. Almost 20% of our fertilizer has to travel through the Strait of Hormuz, so this will create a shortage of fertilizer that farmers rely on. We are going to experience even higher food costs as farmers plant fewer crops.
It’s disheartening to consider, too, the job losses being threatened by AI. No one in our government is having a serious conversation about what to do about the millions of people whose lives that will be disrupted by job losses to AI robots and AI agents. Just recently, Melania Trump walked onto stage with a robot by her side to sell the idea of robot teachers in every classroom as a step forward in education. Replacing humans with robots without finding a meaningful role for humans is a disaster in the making. And who among us wants our children to be taught by a robot?
And finally, Americans are being bombarded with lies, AI slop, revisionist history, and so much misinformation that it is becoming increasingly difficult to know what and whom to believe. My husband discovered that one of his favorite new singers wasn’t even a real person, but an AI character. The reality is that we could never trust anything coming from Trump’s mouth, but now our corporate media are complicit either echoing his lies or remaining silent about the truth for fear of retribution. The state takeover of news is upon us, making us no different from Russia, North Korea or China.
In my opinion, we are quickly heading towards a failed state. Before our eyes, this government is losing its ability to effectively govern, protect us, and provide basic services to us. In fact, Trump just admitted that his only priority for the federal government is funding the military. He is completely neglecting the other two roles given to the federal government by the Constitution beyond providing for the common defense. It is tasked with promoting the general welfare and ensuring the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity. Instead, he wants to recruit our young people to be the might behind his bullying.
If we do not stop him, we will not only become a poor and sickly nation, but an isolated one. We will devolve into a country like North Korea where the people are hungry, sick, silenced, and lack information and an innovative spirit. Before our eyes, the things that made the United States prosperous are quickly being stripped away. Our diversity has been the key to our innovation. Instead of welcoming the best brains and hardest workers, we are deporting them or denying them entry. Our freedom to speak, to innovate, to pursue education, to love whom we want, to be who we are, to make decisions about our health, and even our freedom to worship are being challenged. We are no longer investing in the health and education of our population, but instead the very wealthy are pocketing our tax-payer dollars for self-gratifying pet projects.
It’s a sign of decay when those in positions of power were promoted not based on merit, but based whiteness, maleness and loyalty to a thug. Just look at the military under Pete Hegseth. He just fired experienced generals. He removed more than a dozen women and black men from a military promotion list based solely on their race and gender. He also announced that there would only be a protestant Good Friday Easter Service for the military. Such blatant displays of discrimination against women, people of color and now Catholics, portends the coming failure of our nation if we do nothing. Competence, expertise, and experience in leadership roles matter. When those are absent, bad decisions are inevitable.
However, we do not have to sit by helplessly as our country slides into failure. Now is the time to protest, to support more lawsuits, to pressure our representatives, to cast our votes, and to loudly demand that our Constitution and the rule of law be restored. We can take it as a sign of our resolve that Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem were fired but notice that he replaced them with white male loyalist who are equally unqualified. We must remind ourselves that our tax dollars are paying for every cruel and reckless decision. Perhaps states can begin to withhold the dollars they send to the federal government in collective protest while also providing the healthcare, education, and social safety net we need.
The reality is that if we do nothing, we will no longer be a nation dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal and endowed by the creator with a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Without a fight, this country will join the list of failed states where it is every man for himself. My prayer is that the current fight for our nation remains peaceful.
On this Easter Sunday, may the Prince of Peace guard, strengthen and give us the wisdom to pursue and obtain transformation by peaceful means.