2025 Was a Negative Year #369
Commentary
Here we are at the end of one of the most tumultuous years in U.S. history. 2025 has been a turning point.
The year has been Trump, Trump and more Trump, but we need to look closer at what has been done to our country while Trump distracted us with smoke, mirrors and insults.
When Donald Trump took office last January 20th, the unemployment rate was just over 4%. In November it was 4.6%.
The inflation rate for November was 2.7%, exactly the same as it was in November of 2024, and much of this year's inflation was fueled by tariffs.
At the same time, the nation's debt went up from $33 trillion a year ago to over $38.5 trillion now.
The numbers are not staggering, but the economy is not doing as well as the administration suggests.
Second: foreign policy
The tariffs imposed by the President, without consent from Congress and still under judicial review, have alienated even our close allies like Canada and much of Europe, while raising prices at home.
The war in Ukraine rages on, with all peace efforts stalled because the U.S. has done little to pressure the aggressor in that war, Russia, to seek peace. In fact, the pressure has been put on Ukraine to cede territory to Russia, giving Vladimir Putin just what he wants, a smaller, weaker Ukraine.
Trump's envoys can take some credit for the fragile ceasefire that is holding in Gaza, but they have pretty much failed at advancing any long-term solution. To be fair, none of Trump's predecessors could do that either.
And then there's the nonsense with Greenland. Trump continues to pursue a notion that somehow Denmark will simply sell us the resource-rich province.
And finally, there's the aggression towards Venezuela. True, the leader there, Nicolas Maduro, is terrible. But Trump's attacks on small boats allegedly carrying drugs, and big oil tankers allegedly violating sanctions on exports to certain countries, won't force Maduro out. The bombing of those small boats with no real evidence of drug running, could be illegal.
Third: government function
The U.S. government has been ravaged.
From the CDC to the FDA to the EPA, regulations and advisories which have helped move our country forward on health care and the environment for the last 50 years, have been gutted so much that they have ceased to be an accurate source of information and progress. We can not even trust the Bureau of Labor Statistics to give us an accurate number on the jobless rate because it's being manipulated. Independent agencies like the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission have become political tools for attacks on the media. The Smithsonian and the National Park Service has been under pressure to purify historical events, purging anything that is negative.
Finally there's immigration, probably the most divisive policy of them all.
In August of 2024, while Joe Biden was still in office, a poll found 56% of registered voters were strongly, or somewhat in favor of, mass deportations of illegal immigrants.
A poll taken this past November after ICE started to round up people, dropped the approval rating down to 34%.
The idea of masked men with guns and no badges just showing up on our streets and arresting people who look like they don't belong, has angered millions of people across the country. Illegal immigration has slowed at the border, but a significant number of American citizens have been swiped off the street in these raids negating any legality of the deportation policy and further alienating many communities from law enforcement in general. In the first nine months of this policy, 170 U.S. citizens, including 20 children, have been unlawfully arrested in these raids, and many of them had to spent time in detention centers before being released.
These items just touch on the past 12 months. Expect 2026, with the midterm elections looming, to be even more chaotic.
News You May Have Missed
There is growing concern about President Trump's health after the resignation of the White House doctor. Dr. Sean Conley, who has been Trump's official doctor since his first term, has left his post.
Another doctor was immediately hired, and apparently signed the document without reading it or Conley's notes or doing his own exam. None of this has been confirmed, but it comes after some reports from a recent cabinet meeting that Mr. Trump had frozen in midsentence and did not speak for a full two minutes before resuming right where he left off. Other reports say that he sometimes forgets what event he is attending.
Again, none of this has been confirmed, but it has raised national security concerns.
Ironically, these reports are very similar to those told about former President Biden right before Biden was convinced to drop out of a run for re-election in 2023.
Who Is Getting Arrested By ICE?
New statistics indicate that the current ICE raids across the country are NOT focusing on illegal immigrants who have committed other crimes, but rather are more random.
An analysis of the arrests by The Washington Post shows 60% of those arrested have no criminal convictions or pending charges. The largest spike of arrests was in the District of Columbia. This comes as ICE plans to convert huge warehouses in several states to hold as many as 80,000 detainees. They include Stafford, Virginia, Hutchins, Texas, Hammond, Indiana and facilities in Arizona, Georgia and Missouri. Local officials have not been notified of this.
In Stafford County, Virginia, for example, local supervisor Pamela Yeung told the Post that such a facility would need to comply with zoning and building codes and could not strain infrastructure, public safety and social services. But there's been no approach by the federal government about meeting those local regulations.
https://san.com/cc/ice-drafts-warehouse-network-to-detain-80000-immigrants-report/
Dumbest Quote of The YEAR!
This week, I have gone back to find the dumbest quote of the entire year. It comes from Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, and it's a doozy. Back in February he was asked in an interview about the future of Social Security, and the loud complaints by the public over any possible cuts. He said it would be the people committing fraud who would yell the loudest.
“Let's say Social Security didn't send out their checks this month. My mother who’s 94, she wouldn’t call and complain. She'd think something got messed up, and she'll get it next month. A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling and complaining.”
Of course his mother is not going to complain. Her son is a billionaire who can help take care of her.
Happy New Year!!!!
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