In whom do we trust?

In whom do we trust? God, I wish I knew, it certainly isn’t in each other. And, it’s most unfortunate, because trust is the secret sauce of a representative democracy. When the sauce turns toxic, it eats away at the underpinnings of the republic.

The drama playing out in Washington over the government shutdown is all the proof anyone needs of the tribal mistrust in our society. Strip away the demands for the extension of the Obamacare subsidies and undoing the cuts to Medicaid contained in Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB), and it boils down to the Democrats not believing the word of Republican congressional leaders.

House Speaker Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Thune have indicated they’d be willing to discuss the healthcare issues with the Democrats, but only after they vote to support the short-term funding resolution. The Democrats are mistrustful of both the promise to undertake discussions and the likelihood that they would be undertaken in good faith.

In some respects, it’s hard to blame the Democrats for their suspicions. Even if the Republican congressional leaders were to keep their word about having a good-faith negotiation on the healthcare issues, President Trump has made it a habit of ignoring the will of Congress.

Since beginning his second term, the president has summarily chosen to ignore Congress on multiple occasions, including: a unilateral funding freeze at the beginning of his term; withholding foreign assistance; freezing infrastructure funds; and stopping grant payments. When he’s been unable to halt federal funding in its tracks, the administration has fired most of the personnel responsible for the administration of federal programs. The reduction in force of programs deemed “Democratic” continues through the current shuttering of the federal government.

As the federal government has turned feral under Trump’s administration, it has lost credibility in myriad ways. The single guidepost of this administration is that whatever Trump is thinking must be the thinking of the government. Anything that contradicts what the president says his agenda is is incinerated. This includes the findings of mainstream scientists and economists, anything considered unaesthetic to the president’s eye, e.g., windmills, solar panels, anything not gold-plated, or which might be defined as “woke”.

Trump has made a habit of purging scientific and policy research that disagrees with his positions. He fires the inspectors general responsible for keeping federal agencies on the up-and-up and the ethicists charged with doing the same for political appointees and career professionals.

Trump and his administrators have filled critical advisory committees meant to be nonpartisan and science-based with loyalists willing to contort or simply dismiss the facts. The purges have made it easier for Health Secretary Kennedy to prevail in the debate about immunization and autism.

The Department of Energy’s Climate Working Group (CWG) consisted of four scientists and one economist who have all questioned the scientific consensus that climate change poses enormous threats to people and ecosystems and who sometimes framed global warming as beneficial. The CWG’s report was drafted to support a Trump administration effort to “stop regulating climate pollution.” The work of the group was the basis of EPA’s proposed rescission of the 2009 endangerment finding, which is the foundation of much of the agency’s air and water regulation this century.

The administration asks us not only to disbelieve science but our own eyes. Consider the video of fewer than a dozen – mostly reporters – and some guy in a chicken costume. The video was posted by a conservative influencer on X with the preface: “DHS Secretary Kristi Noem stares down army of Antifa” (emphasis added).

To be clear, I’m not saying the Democrats are without fault. President Biden’s pardoning of his son undermined his reputation and that of the presidency. Not everything the Democrats say means what they say it means.

I can say from experience that nearly all politicians and lobbyists – whatever their cause – shade the truth, i.e., lie, at one time or another. It’s only natural for advocates to offer as positive a case for their position as possible – at times crossing the line between fact and fiction. I include the climate and clean energy communities in this sweeping generalization.

What distinguishes Trump and his administration is the absence of any limits. Rather than ever admitting any error or bias, they double down on the lie. It’s never the fault of Trump or his minions. How long can you keep blaming former presidents?

Trump’s ad hominem attacks are meant to undermine the credibility of individuals and their institutions. Trump not only dictates the terms of engagement, but he also seeks to be the single “trusted” source of information.

Trump’s tribal politics are directed at all branches of government, along with the media and the military. He labels anything or anyone who disagrees with his casting of the truth as biased, fake, or unpatriotic. What is it that Samuel Johnson wrote?

A (Republican-appointed) federal judge recently began a ruling against the Trump administration, with a scanned handwritten note he received. It read:

The answer to that question is trust in our democratic system. However, trust is a commodity becoming almost as scarce as the rare earth minerals needed to power the modern economy.

Trump will be out of office in a bit more than three years. But the mistrust he leaves behind has a long half-life. Rebuilding trust in the federal government will come neither easily nor quickly. Until it’s restored, America’s constitutional democracy will remain at risk.

This article is also published on the author's blog. illuminem Voices is a democratic space presenting the thoughts and opinions of leading Sustainability & Energy writers, their opinions do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.

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