Other Eggs to Fry

CRAFTSBURY – “Arbitrary power depends on the acquiescence of everyone subjected to it.” – Robert Reich, former secretary of labor, Educator, Patriot

Donald Trump has been in office three whole weeks and grocery store eggs are up to $8 a dozen. One would think someone with his ego and self-proclaimed talent for deal making could have at least gotten lower egg prices done in 21 days. 

Apparently he’s had other eggs to fry.

While Trump was on the main stage bloviating about imperial conquest of sovereign nations, declaring tariffs on trade partners, rounding up people who are the backbone of the nation’s food systems, and naming himself board chair of the D.C. Kennedy Center (for music and arts), his new pal Elon Musk pulled off a heist that makes the Watergate break-in seem as benign as a tea party with dolls. Trump’s amoral billionaire buddy entered and broke into governmental systems vacuuming up all kinds of personal data. Musk knows that data is modern day gold, and how he plans to use our info remains to be seen but I for one did not sign a release entitling him to access mine. I suspect this will go down as one of the gravest illegal thefts in history. Because the richest man in the world helped himself to personal data like social security numbers, bank account info and tax returns, nonprofits like Public Citizen, operating like public guardians, filed lawsuits. But how this breach gets contained is uncertain. We now have a python in the plumbing.

Kudos to members of congress including Congresswoman Becca Balint who attempted to enter and investigate Musk’s Treasury Department data grabbing early last week, but she and other members of Congress were denied entry. Balint appeared with Congressional members later in the week in front of the Department of Education to tell us what the current and planned plundering inside those buildings means to everyday Americans. 

Meanwhile last week Russell Vought was confirmed by the Republican Senate majority to head the Office of Management and Budget. If you thought Medicare for the seniors in your midst and Social Security for people who have worked and payed in to the system all their working years were an understood guarantee of a small bit of financial security for Americans in their twilight years, stay tuned. Check out Project 2025, Vought’s master plan for dismantling government. You will conclude the plan is not about “draining” any swamps. It is displacing the colonies of worker bees that keep essential systems running, replacing them with people who care nothing about our constitutional form of governance. The replacements certainly have other plans for our tax dollars besides their Congressionally-appropriated use for the public good. With corpulent crocodiles like Musk and billionaire “yes-men” fronting Trump: there may soon be a notice instead of a check in the mail for gram and gramps. The notice may read “government under construction (and underneath in very fine print- “due to an unconstrained pathology of greed your money has been grabbed for billionaires in need”).

The founders of the nation created a three- branch system of government-to provide “checks and balances” on the power of the other two branches and they were very clear in their intention to prevent what has happened in the past three weeks. At this point the Legislative (Congress) and the Executive (presidential) branches are held by a party that has given over its power to Trump. The 3rd branch, the court system, has not been fully infected with Trumpism and is now our bulwark. May they protect us from further smashing melees.

Next week, Kash Patel, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard appointments will be up for Senate confirmation votes. I am following Robert Reich’s lead: He writes “We are in a constitutional crisis. The president has usurped Congress’s authority, including freezing the use of appropriated funds. It is time to act now. Keep calling your Senator’s office (get connected through the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121) and insist they not cooperate with any  of Trump’s agenda.” Join me in urging our Senators to delay, obstruct and deny further confirmations of any of Trump’s appointments. 

Another action item from Reich: “Contact your state’s attorney general and urge them to file complaints, injunctions and restraining orders against Elon Musk and his tech goons for committing identity theft, violating the Privacy Act and riding roughshod over Congress’ spending power in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution.”

Throughout history people afflicted with the pathology of greed have grabbed what they wanted. We must use our voices and our representatives to say a collective and resounding-“no!”

Anne Hanson is a resident of Craftsbury

Editor’s note: National Public Radio reported early Saturday that a federal judge has blocked Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing U.S. Treasury records that contain essential financial data such as Social Security and bank account numbers. A hearing is set for February 14. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Sunday acknowledged that Elon Musk’s government efficiency team . . . has access to her agency’s data, including that of federal disaster aid recipients’ personal information, as part of an “audit” she welcomes, reported CNN.

Anne Hanson