It was a day weather cooperated allowing several thousand protestors to gather at the state Capitol before working their way through Downtown Denver streets last Wednesday. Emotions were brimming and not just over one thing, but many.
It might one day take historians to say exactly when Americans were as angry about a new presidency as they seem to be today. But to say,‘they’re pissed,’ would be an understatement. And what’s moving them to a boiling point is President Trump’s almost surreal reordering of the federal government.
Trump is assembling a cabinet, critics say, with a shocking array of candidates considered wholly unqualified. He’s also targeting entire departments and agencies, immigrants, LGBQT Americans, decades old federal programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, veterans and a litany of other pillars of government.
But Wednesday’s protestors, along with elected officials, are also angry with the man Trump’s put in charge of this massive overhaul, Elon Musk.
Musk has assembled a core group of tech whiz acolytes, none older than 25, to cull agencies, scour citizen’s private information and, otherwise, skeletonize federal workforce levels. The only firewall from delaying or stopping them has been federal judges who have, for now, put temporary holds on the duo’s efforts.
“This is a moment,” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser told MSNBC’s Ali Velshi, “when we need to protect our republic and make sure we operate faithfully to the laws.”
Th Trump/Musk march through the bureaucracy has also placed a sharp focus on reducing the size of the entire federal workforce. Slimming has become an exercise in buyouts or, in other cases, simple job eliminations, many of which are in the ‘resign or be fired’ mode.
The undertaking has also targeted the CIA and FBI. The Trump-Musk team has ordered the agency to name any FBI employee who worked on the January 6th investigation, another way, many say, is clumsy prelude to termination.
“President Trump is creating chaos, confusion, and causing harm to Coloradans. His sloppy executive orders and actions are hurting families, children, and our communities,” said Congressman Jason Crow, (D-Colorado). “Just look at the pause on all federal grants,” Crow said.
Trump’s march through the bureaucracy has been blocked a number of times by federal judges allowing continuation of funding for, among other things, community health centers which provide health care for as many as 850,000 Coloradans.
One of the loudest outcries to the new administration’s efforts to slim down government was the targeting of USAID, an agency that provides food, healthcare and other services to nations around the world.
American agriculture sends more than $2 billion in grain, rice and medicine to the underdeveloped world each year. The Trump-Musk edict to erase USAID from the government was unmistakable late last week when the sign on its Washington headquarters was taken down.
It remains unknown if or how much Colorado agriculture is invested in the USAID program. A spokesperson for the state’s Department of Agriculture said only that Colorado does not “track this information.”
The Denver protesters, which included all ages and skin tones, carried signs critical of Trump’s and Musk’s plan to round up and deport undocumented immigrants. In fact, it was just a day later when immigration authorities dressed in full riot gear and using flash grenades conducted early morning raids in Denver and Aurora. The roundup fell dreadfully short of what Trump’s immigration czar had promised. ICE did not disclose final numbers.
“Trump has reanimated the racism that has plagued our country,” said Denver Clerk and Recorder, Paul Lopez. “It is not OK,” Lopez said, “to act in a way that is racist toward people. I want to be loud and clear on that. Democracy means all of us.”
Denver police said the protest, which blocked and slowed traffic, did not result in any arrests. There was, however, one incident of a motorcycle officer seriously injured when he was struck by a vehicle near 13th and Elati. Police say the incident was not intentional and the driver of the vehicle stuck around and cooperated with police.
Denver was not the only Colorado city where demonstrators shared their displeasure with the Trump-Musk plan to remake government. Colorado Springs also had a similar protest. But there were also protests in all 50 states.
“The one thing we have as a community is our voice and it is a powerful voice,” said veteran civil rights attorney and former state legislator, Joe Salazar. “We won’t give it up for anyone, including a self-declared dictator.”
The array of signs expressing anger carried by Denver protestors addressed many of the targets the new President is taking aim at. But by week’s end, searches for official government information on them often resulted in the always frustrating “404 error page not found” message. Scores of official U.S. government acronyms also went missing.
Researchers looking for official government information that was available just days ago providing information on everything from critical health and science information to American history addressing individuals like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rosa Parks to National Institute of Health information with data on sexual and minority research had simply vanished.
But as the President and Musk’s effort to scrub agencies, historic information and fundamental data from U.S. government the White House was posting on its official webpage, “PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP PROTECTS CIVIL RIGHTS AND MERIT-BASED OPPORTUNITY BY ENDING ILLEGAL DEI.’
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said the price of a dozen eggs, a consistent Trump campaign refrain and promise to lower overall food prices, has risen 20 percent since December to a national average of $4.15. The CDC has said with the return of the bird flu, it expects egg prices to continue climbing through the year.
Gaza and personalization of Trump agenda
President Trump has gone out of his way to suggest that ownership of Gaza, a strip of land some 25 miles long and 3.7 to 7.5 miles wide involved in the Hamas/Israeli war, be transferred to the United States. This tiny territory holding 2.1 million Palestinians under the Hamas banner was the source of the October 7, 2023 attack that killed at least 1,300 people in Israel and took 251 hostages.
Gaza is located along the Mediterranean Sea and is surrounded by Israeli and Egyptian territories. The drastic solution advanced to eradicate Hamas and its war-making ability is to expel all the Palestinian living there and turn the strip into a vacation resort.
Just like Greenland, the Panama Canal, Canada and even Mexico, the Trump comments about their future is to advocate for American ownership. The difference between Gaza and the other countries and lands however, is the tone of the discussion.
The reference to Gaza seems to allude to the idea that it would become a new “Trump World.” The way the President describes “ownership” of Gaza tends to encourage one to visualize Trump towers, hotels, golf courses and resorts along the beautiful beaches of a new holiday spot.
On a summer many years ago, I made the mistake of taking a group of students to visit pre-Colombian Mayan cities in the Yucatan Peninsula. It was so hot that we could not complete our work because we had to keep the visitations very short and with less effect.
On that trip we also visited Puerto Juarez, Cancun and Isla Mujeres which is just off the Caribbean coast. At that time Cancun island was under construction and there were very few completed buildings that we could observe other than the Hotel Presidente, one of the less than a handful that were finished and operating.
After that first visit to Cancun, we returned almost every January and were able to see the steady progress in the building of the Maya Riviera. Today, it is anchored in the north by Cancun and extends to Bacalar on the southern end close to the border with Belize.
In following the history of tourism development in Mexico, I discovered the extensive involvement of the Mexican government especially at the presidential level. I discovered that Acapulco, for example, was an initiative of President Miguel Aleman Valdez (1946-1952) who was most responsible for making it a world vacation resort.
I discovered the role of President Luis Echeverria Alvarez (1970-1976) as a primary mover of the development of Cancun. I also discovered that both Presidents and their families did and have done very well economically as a result of their involvement.
When I heard the suggestions about a Gaza Riviera, the parallel came to life exposing a personal agenda projecting an initiative to make a profit. In Gaza, however, the profit also comes at the expense of 2.1 million Palestinians that have no where else to go.
The role of both Presidents Aleman and Echeverria form part of the story of corruption in the Mexican political scene. It is a story that has been too common place in the history of the country.
But what does Gaza say about the United States and its political leadership at the highest levels? The issue is to help solve an intractable situation that presents a community isolated even from its own national territory.
Gaza is destroyed and its people are being held to account. At the same time, one does not make a profit from someone’s misery.
The views expressed by David Conde are not necessarily the views of LaVozColorado. Comments and responses may be directed to News@lavozcolorado.com.