I’m From the United States of Power and Prejudice

Where the Fourteenth Amendment is treated like a technicality.

Where the words "any person" depend on who the president likes and doesn't like at that moment in time. Where humanity ends at a checkpoint, and rights are rationed like privileges.

Where the president brags about removing people by the hundreds, and his supporters cheer because they’ve convinced themselves these aren’t people. They’re "illegals." They’re threats. They’re excuses to unleash cruelty.

Where the MAGA base will look you in the eye, see someone being dragged off the street without charges or lawyers, and say, “They had it coming.” Where they’ve trained themselves not to feel. Not to question. Not to blink.

Where you ask, “Isn’t that unconstitutional?” and they say, “Not if you’re illegal.”

But the Constitution doesn’t say that.

“any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Any person. Not any citizen. Not any voter. Not anyone with the right documents.

If you are here, you are protected. That’s not up for debate. That’s not new. That’s 1868.

And it’s been tested. In Zadvydas v. Davis (2001), the Supreme Court ruled that even undocumented immigrants can’t be held indefinitely. In Plyler v. Doe (1982), they said Texas couldn’t deny education to children based on immigration status. Over and over, the Court affirmed that "person" means person. No asterisk. No fine print.

But this is the United States of Power and Prejudice. If they call you the right thing, "alien," "invader," "criminal," they think they can take anything from you. Even your right to exist in peace.

And they sleep just fine. Because they’ve rewritten the story in their heads.

They say they care about law and order. But what they really care about is control. They say they support freedom, but only for the chosen people.

Let me tell you something I hate admitting: I was not Obama's biggest fan when he was in office.

But I look back now, and I know this: I should have been, and he tried to help people. Obamacare wasn’t perfect. It raised the cost of health insurance for companies and those who purchased it directly. It made things harder in the short term. But it gave health insurance access to so many people who struggled to get insurance in the past. It was a very good thing.

One other thing, it didn’t make Obama rich. He never benefited from it. It didn’t silence the press. It didn’t jail the vulnerable.

It helped people.

Now ask yourself: who benefits from Trump’s policies?

Not you. Not your neighbors. Not your kids.

Trump does. His billionaire friends do.

If we compare what Obama did to what Trump is doing to see who really has or had the best interests of the people in mind, there is no comparison. They are not the same.

And you know who else benefits from Trump's policies, the people designing Project 2025 do.

Paul Dans helped write that plan, and now he’s running for Senate in South Carolina. Why does that matter? Because if one of the architects of a plan to dismantle our democratic institutions gets a Senate seat, the playbook becomes law. His job won’t just be writing the script, it’ll be enforcing it.

Project 2025 is already reshaping the country:

Political appointees at the EPA have pushed out staff from environmental justice and climate-focused offices.

The Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Education has seen sharp rollbacks in compliance investigations.

DOJ prosecutors overseeing public integrity cases and civil rights enforcement were either reassigned or left amid pressure to downplay what appears to be political corruption.

Religious liberty guidance now allows supervisors to initiate voluntary prayer events, and Bibles might soon return to public display in some federal agency lobbies.

This is not Project 2025's wish list. It’s their checklist, and we’re already implementing it all quickly.

These aren’t policies. They’re punishments. They’re restructuring the government to serve a small, extremist core, while silencing everyone else.

What’s Already Happening

Right now:

Migrant families are being detained in reopened for-profit detention centers

LGBTQ+ health resources are being stripped from HHS sites

Book bans are spreading across districts tied to Trump-endorsed school boards

Public school funding is being redirected to private institutions

Civil rights offices are being hollowed out by attrition

The Economic Impact; You Will Pay for This

Trump wants global tariffs of 15 to 20 percent. That means food, clothing, electronics, auto parts, medicine, all more expensive. For you.

Lower-income households spend a higher percentage of their income on these essentials. For them, a 20 percent increase could mean skipping prescriptions or groceries. Historically, protectionist tariffs like this have tanked consumer confidence and slowed economic growth, just ask anyone who lived through the Smoot-Hawley Act.

Meanwhile, housing costs continue to rise, and the ACA’s enhanced premium subsidies, passed in the American Rescue Plan, are set to expire if Congress doesn’t act. That could mean monthly premium increases of several hundred dollars for millions of families.

At the same time, Trump’s corporate tax cuts remain untouched. The top 1 percent saw the biggest gains. You got higher prices. They got tax breaks.

The Cruelty They’ve Been Waiting For

This was never just about policy. It’s about permission.

Permission to call a student with immigrant parents a "problem."

Permission to tell a colleague they don’t belong.

Permission to ignore a sick neighbor because they "drain the system."

We’re watching cruelty move from the comment section to the kitchen table.

Parents teaching their kids that some families deserve less.

Pastors preaching that suffering is deserved.

Bosses hinting that certain workers aren’t worth keeping.

It’s not a fringe movement anymore. It’s normalization.

And if you call it out? You’re the problem.

So what do we do?

We keep asking MAGA questions.

What has Trump actually done for you?

Are you paying less for healthcare?

Is your rent lower? Your mortgage?

Are your grocery bills down?

Has your small business gotten help?

Can you name one promise he made that he kept?

Do you feel proud of what this country has become?

Do you believe your kids are safer? Freer?

Are your rights more protected?

Or do you just like that he makes you feel in control?

And then we do something even harder: we keep feeling.

Because if you feel angry right now, good.

If you feel scared, good.

If your stomach turns when you see the videos, the detentions, the lies, good.

This is your daily reminder that this means you haven’t gone numb. It means you haven’t joined them.

And if you’ve ever asked yourself what you would have done in the face of injustice, this is it. This is what you’re doing.

You’re speaking. You’re standing. You’re still here.

This may be the United States of Power and Prejudice. But it’s still our country. And if we speak up, if we refuse to let the Constitution be redefined by those who only see power, we can still fix this.

Here is some good news. They haven't completely broken the system.

Judges across the country are still showing that the law matters.

Just this week, a U.S. judge blocked Trump-backed Medicaid cuts that would have stripped Planned Parenthood of funding. This ruling not only protects access to reproductive care, but it also reinforces that extremist agendas still face legal resistance.

It reminds us that the Constitution is still there. That checks and balances are still working. And that we are not alone in this fight.

The more we say out loud, the harder it is for them to silence us.

I know times are tough and the days seem darker than any summer day ever has in the past. But I still have hope for America, and you should too.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

— Heather

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