No.Nonsense.

I have received a ton of pushback regarding my recent columns and social media posts that are critical of the president, the actions he has taken and the decisions he has made since returning for his second term. I was a little stunned when I most recently was accused of Trump Derangement Syndrome. For those not in the know, that’s a label given to those who are militantly against Trump.

It’s a bit disconcerting to consider that those who know me could think I have so changed my views in a matter of a year. That kind of change in such a short period of time would be indicative of some serious mental illness or a traumatic brain injury. I truly appreciate that my evolution is not believed to be a well thought-out change but a reactionary event.

So I want to take a few paragraphs to outline the reasons for my feelings. As you read these points, consider that I, in fact, voted three times for Trump, but oh how far he’s fallen in only 15 months.

1. Through DOGE Trump and Elon promised efficiency in government, a reduction in the federal workforce to save money while making it work better. I was with a federal employee on a weekend vacation just one month after the inauguration when she received an email at 6 pm on Saturday telling her to justify her job by replying to the email before 8 am on Monday morning. The email said if a response was not received it would be considered a voluntary termination of employment. Even though they didn’t follow through on that threat they still oversaw 310,000 people leaving their federal jobs in 2025. Some were offered retirement and some given severance. Many were left with a foot in the backside and no option for unemployment benefits because of the way the departure was classified.

After all of this happened, I tried to call a federal office for some assistance and waited on hold for an hour and 20 minutes to speak to a human being. This isn’t efficiency, it’s lunacy. If the offices that remain aren’t adequately responding to the needs of the populace, they aren’t working. Period.

2. Under this administration, DEI has become a curse word, being used as an excuse for an unqualified person to be in a position of power. In reality, it’s become a cudgel to justify sweeping changes in the rules that protect those in the minority from being trampled by prejudice. I have never believed in any types of quotas- I believe in merit. By removing the rules that ensure that we treat others fairly, you diminish those who have their positions based on their merit, chalking it up to a quota and not their abilities. This is shortsighted and bigoted.

3. Trump said he would protect women’s sports and stop gender affirming care for minors, both positions I support. What he did was stop all gender-affirming care from any medical facility receiving federal funding. Those facilities are even prevented from asking a person’s sexual orientation. Let me say this knowledge is essential in a person’s scope of care just as knowledge of sexual activity because of potential healthcare challenges certain activities can bring.

In addition, adults who are in the midst of gender transition have had their healthcare summarily stopped and left them scrambling for the medications and therapy they need to thrive. I am fully in support of not allowing this treatment for children because of the lasting psychological and physical complications resulting from such therapy. But to take that choice from adult is creating a nanny state where the government has the power to say what is best for your health and wellbeing.

4. Earlier this year, we had the whole Obama as apes video controversy. Before anyone points out that video was from last year and was mistakenly tacked on at the end of another video posted by a staffer, let me say one thing. I don’t care. That video should have never been created or released in the first place. When it was mistakenly reposted, the proper response from our president on whose social media it ran should have been to apologize and promise it wouldn’t happen again and then to fire the staffer who created it as well as the one who reposted. Instead we got a dismissal and a redirect. This depiction was a racist trope that should have never even been designed in the first place. There is obviously an atmosphere within the staff that says such a depiction is okay. Trump’s unwillingness to accept any responsibility for anything is narcissistic and, frankly, immature. And his lack of acknowledgment of the atmosphere he created that would allow this post is, quite frankly, disappointing.

5. Now we mustn’t forget his actions with the Kennedy Center. In an unprecedented move, Trump dismissed the entire ruling board of the iconic arts venue and replaced them with his loyalists. They then voted to add his name to the venue, thus trampling on the legacy of John F Kennedy whose assassination while in office rocked the world.

6. Next up, we find the Epstein files. Let me preface my statements here by saying that though mentioned, I have seen no evidence that Trump engaged in any illegal activities. He may be a sex-crazed individual who sees women as objects for his enjoyment but I don’t think he’s a pedophile. Association is not evidence of a crime. My problem with this one is that he said he was about transparency and would release everything. Then when he got into office he said there was nothing to see there. He tried to gaslight the American public, requiring a literal act of Congress for us to see those files.

But let’s move on to the most recent events in Iran.

7. Last June, we were told that we had decimated their nuclear capabilities. Nine months later we are going to war because they are weeks away from a nuclear bomb. The justification is that they told our negotiators that they had enough weaponized material for ten bombs. Common sense would say someone is lying, either the president then or the Iranians now.

We initiated this war with no backing from our allies and no exit strategy. We took out all of the top officials of the government, leaving a power vacuum that was filled by the son who is more radical than the father and who now has nothing to lose. We bombed a school on bad intel and killed 160 children. And our leaders refuse to accept any accountability for those dead children. This is not who we are.

Trump promised us peace. Instead he has ordered more military actions than any other president in recent memory. Those who support his actions like to point to Obama’s record as Commander in Chief where he initiated nine campaigns- in eight years. Biden ordered 13 in four years. Trump has ordered eight- in one.

A really skilled litigator could argue that he’s doing everything he promised. I will argue that he redirected the entire country to believe he would lead one way, only to pivot to a more radical position that is unhealthy for the overall wellbeing of the country.

I am still an independent thinker. I am still right of center on my political ideology. I still believe in opportunity, fiscal responsibility, and national security. And Donald Trump no longer represents me as he has moved to the far right agenda he is living. He lied to me- and that I cannot forgive.