My wife and I were among the thousands of Utahns who filled the grounds in front of the Capitol on April 5 to protest the already excessive abuses of power by the Trump Administration. The creativity of the people carrying their own hand-made signs was impressive. I was particularly struck by the sign that proclaimed that “I Have E-Books with More Spine Than the GOP.”
The Republicans in Congress have indeed lost their spine by failing to exercise their constitutional power — and responsibility — to check the rash, ill-considered actions of the Trump Administration in implementing tariffs and attempting to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse. The country is suffering as a result.
As events have played out, it is clear that the Trump Administration was neither ready nor took aim before it launched its tariff and DOGE initiatives. It just started to fire. Not surprisingly, the result has been chaos. The Trump Administration reminds me of the phrase “the gang that couldn’t shoot straight.”
There is widespread agreement on both sides of the political aisle that tariffs can be an effective tool — if selectively used to achieve specific, narrowly targeted goals. President Trump’s on again, off again scattershot approach to tariffs has shattered consumer confidence.
The stock market has dropped roughly 9 percent since President Trump took office. And we don’t even know whether the worst is over yet. Even if the worst is over, we don’t know whether that 9 percent loss will be recovered.
People on both sides of the aisle recognize that there is fraud, waste and abuse in the operation of the federal government. But is it so widespread that it requires Elon Musk’s chainsaw approach?
Many of DOGE’s claimed savings have been disproved. The federal government has had to rehire some employees fired at DOGE’s direction after the harm to the public caused by DOGE’s lack of caution became apparent. Musk’s original claim of $2 trillion savings is looking more and more ridiculous.
In contrast, the patient, carefully thought-through approach of the National Partnership for Reinventing Government led by Vice President Gore saved taxpayers well over $100 billion without causing chaos.
Leading financial analysts have raised their assessment of the risk of a recession this year. Gov. Cox has just directed state administrators to prepare plans for a possible recession. I certainly hope the chaos caused by the Trump Administration does not lead to recession. But if there is a recession, it will be clear who is responsible.
It wouldn’t be just a Trump recession. It would be a spineless Republican recession because the Republicans in both houses of Congress — including the Utah delegation — are just sitting by and watching rather than taking action to protect their constituents from the chaos caused by the Trump Administration.
Ed Rutan
Pinebrook