Introduction: A Nation in Crisis
Over 48 years of my professional career I have consulted with and helped CEOs and C-Suite leaders to allow effective change to occur. No, it was not pleasant a lot of the time; however, it was based on responsible leadership principles and thoughtful ways to build support for the change. There has never been a time that I have seen chaos lead to effective change. Chaos only leads to pain for the people involved. Now, the U.S. has an inadequate person as president, Donald Trump. He is the classic chaos person that blames, blames, blames others and never takes responsibility for what he has done. He did that in his first term as president and the last two weeks have been nothing but one disaster after another. Trump has shown in two weeks his tendency to frame tragedies through his own ideological or political lens, and the facts be damned. Earlier this month, he blamed the Southern California wildfires on Democratic politicians and suggested that illegal immigration was the cause of a terrorist attack in New Orleans, even though the attacker was a U.S. citizen born in Texas.
In this podcast, I am going to cover the tantrum of Trump that lead to the freezing 3 trillion dollars that is not even his money. It is the People’s money of the United States. It is not the Tech oligarchy that Trump has formed, and it is certainly not Elon Musk that has no understanding of a democracy. He grew in South Africa during Apartheid. His father left Canada so he could escape from an investigation of corrupt business dealings and sent to South Africa. Start reading about what Musk has done that would create fear and anxiety, and particularly for his intents in his new position. He has been appointed by Trump; he is not an elected official. As Americans we can rise up against Musk, Trump or any other MAGA Republicans that attempt to create a dictatorial system rather than our democratic system. If you voted for Trump, listen carefully to the facts in this podcast, since you need to know what you voted for when you helped elect him. Stop attempting to deny what Trump is doing and begin to see how it will affect your family and people you care about. The attempted freezing of 3 trillion story CAN Scare you, and I hope it does so you can see what is going on.
Be aware that Trump’s abrupt freeze on all existing communication from the Department of Health and Human Services led to a series of consequences causing the researchers to scrambling. The removal of the U.S from the World Health Organization was insane. We lived through COVID, and we would have lost many more lives if Trump had been president. Scientist all over the world worked together to determine how to stop the deaths from COVID. The removal of the U.S. from the World Health organization now places us in a position where we don’t have the same opportunity to consult with scientist and doctors all over the world. Let me give you a perfect example. I am sure other countries have experience and probably would help our scientist to find a solution to bird flu; yet we are out of organization that could help us.
Food Prices Will Be Soaring: Rural America, Wake Up
Those in rural areas wake up. The lowering of price on food is not coming. Are you upset due to the price of eggs and their availability? Well egg prices are going to rise more than 20%, since we are amid the highly pathogenic bird flu limiting poultry supply. Forbes, dailydozen@emial.forbest.com on behalf of Forbes Daily on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, at 6:52 AM describes the effect of the bird flu. “When avian flu is found, the farmer must kill their entire flock to help limit its spread. Over 145 million chickens and other birds have been killed since the outbreak began. Some stores like Whole Foods and Lidl have started limiting the number of cartons of eggs customers can buy in response to the storage. No president can lower price for food, and he is no different. Due to the Federal Reserve’s concern for the impact of Trump’s tariffs, they are waiting to lower interest rates, since they are concerned about tariffs increasing inflation. Like so many other things he lied about what he could do, and all his dramatic actions in the last two weeks have created chaos and harm.
Trump is president; yet is more interested in getting the Senate to approve his inappropriate choices for positions in our government, since that is his revenge tactic to eliminate anyone to hold him responsible. His actions in the two weeks are no different from his corrupt business practices and his support of Jan. 6, 2020, attack on our capitol. In the previous podcast, I address the disgusting pardoning of the Jan. 6 convicted criminals.
The Health Crisis: Trump’s Attack on Science and Public Safety
Here are the statements from U.S. scientists in the article by The Conversation, on Tuesday, January 28,
2025, 9:18 AM:
“Alarming.’ ‘Devastating.’ ‘Disastrous.’ ‘Uncertainty, fear and panic.’ ‘Completely miserable. These are not exactly the words you want to hear when the nation’s scientists are asked to describe the state of bio research in the U.S.
Trump’s abrupt freeze on all existing communication from the Department of Health and Human Services led to a series of serious and detrimental consequences. Researchers were scrambling since meetings ended mid-session; travel is indefinitely banned; job offers were summarily rescinded. Scientist could no longer order materials necessary for day-to-day lab work, and recruit patients into clinical studies results for publication in science journals.
The winding wheel of U.S. biomedical research has essentially ground to a halt – at least until Feb. 1, the date to which the communication ban currently extends. Coming starkly to the fore from the confusion is the essential role the federal government plays in supporting research – and the intricate process of convincing federal agencies to fund it.
Aliasger K. Salem, a pharmaceutical science researcher at the University of Iowa, is a longtime member of one of the federal grant review panels that determine which studies are funded. He’s also a scientist whose own work has undergone the review process. He walks readers through the National Institute of Health’s lengthy and rigorous process of selecting the most innovative and impactful research to support.
‘The pause underscores the fragility of the research funding pipeline and the cascading effects of administrative uncertainty,’” Salem writes.
Now, let’s look at Trump’s dangerous action and how they can affect you, me and other we care about.
The Washington Post, in it’s “The 5-Minute Fix,” by Amber Phillips, Wednesday, January 29, 2025, 4:29 PM, gives us lots concerns. When the White House froze research grants, stopped federal public health communications and halted work with global health groups, experts let us know that it would make it difficult to keep Americans healthy in the short term. This could continue well after Trump’s administration ends. Alexandra Phelan, an expert in global health law and senior scholar at Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Health Security said, “it’s an agenda that is intent on threatening the health of Americans.”
The United States is known for our innovative medical treatment, and the federal government has been a huge funder of this research. When Trump stopped communication and the funding “new clinical trials for cancer—which can be a patient’s last hope—stopped and no research on rare diseases is occurring. Trump’s actions have threatened real lives of people that are dependent on research. We also cannot plan for the next major health crisis. Do not assume states that are now the front line for public health can combat disease without federal funding.
The freezing of funds had a massive impact on programs that range from climate mitigation to after-school funding. This impacts public health. Thank goodness a Federal judge blocked the order immediately. Trump must hate children of American, since this could stop Head Start programs and other childcare services. The confusion of this order created a cascade that affects someone’s health, “such as whether a state can reliably fund seniors’ health insurance so someone can get medical care.” Let me remind you that withdrawing us from the World Health Organization (WHO) will make it a lot harder for the world to discover and respond to the next pandemic. “The United States has been a major contributor for the world’s top health organization, and the WHO is tasked with helping countries and communities fight everything from the pandemics to malaria—and bird flu here in the U.S.” BE VERY CLEAR WHAT TRUMP’S ACTION OF FREEZING 3 TRILLION DOLLARS has done.
Trump’s Dangerous Tantrum: The $3 Trillion Freeze
When the freeze of federal money occurred, Trump failed to realize that it was not his money. The Washington Post, describes in its “Early Brief”, “Democrats’ ‘small victory’ in a ‘long war,’ by Meryl Kornfield and Patrick Syitek with research by Alex Dent was updated January 30, 2025. The Democrats claim a victory when Trump’s administration had his order to freeze federal grants was rescinded. The Democrats banded together and let the American people know what was going on. Here are some of the quotes from the article:
In the chaotic aftermath of a vague White House budget office memo instituting the freeze, Democrats highlighted stories of disruptions to programs that Americans rely on, such as Medicaid and Head Start. They also took the opportunity to underscore their argument that Trump was grabbing power without any checks on his authority.
Several Democratic state attorneys general requested a restraining order on the federal aid pause in courts, and Democratic members of Congress said Republicans need to step up and retain the Hill’s power of the purse. Senate Democrats spent last night delivering floor speeches about how Trump’s freeze hurt their states, filling the hours of time left before another confirmation vote.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) told us that the White House is clearly still freezing federal funds. Duckworth said she’s still hearing from organizations and individuals affected by it, highlighting a Chicago-based nonprofit that serves homeless youths. Those stories led to the order’s reversal but haven’t stopped the problem, she said. ‘It came from the pressure campaign,’ she said of the reversal. And for me, when I got calls from people who are in red congressional districts, I’m like, ‘Call your congressman. I’ll fight for this, but you need to call your Republican congressman or congresswoman in Illinois and tell them this is a problem.’
Indivisible told members to call Democratic senators to urge them to “grind Senate activity to a halt until this freeze is lifted.” Another liberal organizing group, Our Revolution, demanded that Democratic senators “refuse to advance or confirm any of Trump’s nominees” until the freezeends.
Some Democratic senators got the message. Twenty-two members of the Senate Democratic caucus — nearly half — voted Tuesday to oppose Sean P. Duffy’s nomination to be transportation secretary, despite voting to advance his nomination before the news of the freeze.
‘Donald Trump needs to know that if he’s going to use the levers of government to harm working families, we’re going to stand in his way,’ Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim, both New Jersey Democrats, said in a statement on their votes against Duffy.”
In The Washington Post on Tuesday, January 18, 2025, 5:28 PM in “The Five Minute Fix—what’s happening with Trump’s Spending Freeze” by Amber Phillips they build the case that this is a violation of the Impounding Control Act, and many legal authorities make it clear that Trump’s actions in freezing the funds was “unconstitutional and “illegal.”
Public Citizen in its persident@citizen.org newsletter on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, at 6:20 PM, outlines Trump’s actions and supports the Democrats win that was vital to preserve “funding for countless essentials programs and services across the country. The funding freeze would have devasted families and communities. And it is also crucial because it shows the lie of the onslaught that Donald Trump, Elon musk, and the Trump minions are inflicting on us.” They applaud stopping Trump’s illusion that he has unlimited power and will lead to inevitable results. Public Citizen says, “We just showed that is not the case at all, and this a lesson to keep in mind and act on constantly.”
“This will not be the last fight over Trump’s effort to freeze or divert spending Congress has already directed. Aw we will soon face massive fights over spending cuts for poor and vulnerable, tax cuts for billionaires and Big Business, more money for the military industrial complex, and more handouts to Big Oil.
Tell Congress: The victory on Trump’s illegal and dangerous funding freeze shows the power of standing up. Trump’s policies are dangerous and unpopular. If you confront Trump, the American people will side with you and defeat his authoritarianism, his cruelty, and his giveaways to the billionaire class.”
The Atlantic, Wednesday, January 29, 2025, at 4:09 PM by David Graham, “There is a Strategy Behind the Chaos,” in their daily newsletter give more details on the freezing of money action, which is described in Project 2025. They say, “the strategy is to seize power and dare both Congress and the courts to stop it. The administration want to see what they can get away with, and if it doesn’t work, so be it.
The administration is attempting to use the U.S. people’s money to use it for their political agenda—watch who they attack, since Trump is stuck on financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.” This order was not thought out and it created pain for Americans.
I encourage you to read The Atlantic, article entitled “The Problem with $TRUMP—Democracy is for ‘we, the people’—not them, the owners of memecoins,” January 29, 2025, 7 AM ET, by Danielle Allen. I think there are some shocking realties that we all need to know about:
“Americans have been yielding sovereignty to tech magnates and their money for years. The milestones are sometimes startling. ‘I was astonished and alarmed when I learned, in the summer of 2023, that Elon Musk had, within a span of five years, built an orbital network comprising more than half of the world’s active satellites. His share has now risen to more than 60 percent. Already in 2023, he controlled battlefield communication infrastructure used in the war between Ukraine and Russia. Musk is currently the head of Donald Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, which is taking over the U.S. Digital Service.”
At the same time, Musk is making a bid to buy TikTok. Here is another quote from this article, “In December, the Romanian elections were canceled in the middle of voting because of fears that propaganda from Russia, by means of TikTok, was driving the election results.”
You also need to read this article for the detail about the meme crypto coin, known as $TRUMP. “It is a form of cryptocurrency that has no value-creating function in the crypto ecosystem. Instead, it references some popular phenomenon and gains its value only because of people’s interest in that popular phenomenon. Typically, memecoins also lack the security that could render them a stable part of the crypto financial infrastructure. There are serious questions for Trump to benefit from this. One, no one seems to know who the eventual beneficial owners are are—this started in China, Iran, North Korea, Russia and the platforms are controlled by Gate and Binance. Second, past presidents and senior executive-branch officials have sold off their investments or placed them in blind for the duration of their term. The warning from Allen is “For years we’ve watched the problem of money in politics get worse and worse, but the Trump coin takes the matter to another level. It provides the technical means for enabling the vision of total capture of governance institutions by tech communities.
For the first time in my life, I will admit that Bannon’s comments in this article are something I can read and appreciate. Bannon on NPR used “the term techno-feudalism” again and went on to explain, “These oligarchs in Silicon Valley, they have a very different view of how people should govern themselves. They don’t believe in the underlying tenets of self-governance.” Musk’s agency has his own favorite memecoins.
Allen continues with “the principles of popular sovereignty were hard won principles that vest the ownership in we, the people, not they, the owners of memecoins. Maybe it’s time to dump Dogecoin.
Conclusion: America Must Act Now
The warning signs are flashing red. Trump’s actions—from freezing critical funding, sabotaging public health efforts, and prioritizing personal vendettas over national stability—are pushing America toward the brink. If you voted for Trump, it is time to face the reality of what he is doing to this country. Denial is no longer an option.
Americans must rise up, reject chaos, and demand responsible leadership. Our democracy depends on it.
References for Podcast 118:
- Forbes, dailydozen@emial.forbest.com on behalf of Forbes Daily on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, at 6:52 AM (If you want a copy suggest write to email included here.)
- The Conversation, on Tuesday, January 28, 2025, 9:18 AM (Comments from U.S. scientists about Trump’s 3 trillion freeze—health crisis)—This is an excellent newsletter so here is where you can sign up or I will send you a copy of this article—jackalyn@dtpleadership.com. The Conversations <us.newsletter@the conversations.com.
- The Washington Post, “The 5-Minute Fix,” by Amber Phillips, Wednesday, January 29, 2025, 4:29 PM. (Gives us lots of concerns.) If you are interested “The 5-Minute Fix, you can find on https://www.washingtonpost.com/newsletters/the-5-minute-fix/. Unfortunately, they do not do by the title, which talks about impact of frozen research grants—I have provided you the information in this podcast.
- The Washington Post, “Early Brief”, “Democrats’ ‘small victory’ in a ‘long war,’ by Meryl Kornfield and Patrick Syitek with research by Alex Dent, January 30, 2025. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/01/30/democrats-small-victory-long-war/.
- The Washington Post, Tuesday, January 18, 2025, 5:28 PM, “The Five Minute Fix—what’s happening with Trump’s Spending Freeze” by Amber Phillips, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/01/28/trump-first-white-house-press-briefing-karoline-leavitt/.
- Public Citizen in its persident@citizen.org newsletter on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, at 6:20 PM. (You can find out about the Public Citizen through their website. They do not have single copies of each day. https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?hspart=mnet&hsimp=yhs-001&type=type9099612-spa-3503-84593¶m1=3503¶m2=84593&p=%E2%80%A2+Public+Citizen+in+its+persident%40citizen.org+newsletter+on+Wednesday%2C+January+29%2C+2025%2C+at+6%3A20+PM.+%E2%80%A2%09Public+Citizen+in+its+persident%40citizen.org+newsletter+on+Wednesday%2C+January+29%2C+2025%2C+at+6%3A20+PM.+)
- The Atlantic, Wednesday, January 29, 2025, at 4:09 PM by David A. Graham, “There Is a Strategy Behind the Chaos. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/01/trump-federal-grants-pause/681501/
- The Atlantic, “The Problem with $TRUMP—Democracy is for ‘we, the people’—not them, the owners of memecoins,” January 29, 2025, 7 AM ET, Danielle Allen. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/01/trump-meme-coin/681452/