January 24, 2025
Dear Interested Readers,
A Wild Week Makes Me Wonder About What Comes Next
I didn’t watch Trump’s inauguration. From the reviews I have read of his speech and the event that replaced the parade where he was signing executive orders and throwing pens to his cheering crowd, I am happy that I chose to focus on the antics of my grandson who loves to play with balls and spin “fidgets.” Even more entertaining were the performances of his father and mother who are a well-honed duo attempting to keep him on schedule and anticipate and prevent every potential problem. It was fun to watch him eat bananas and avocados. The “baby tech” available in this era amazes me. Moving all the gear for a two-night visit requires more effort than preparations for a military invasion. I am already looking forward to the week following the Presidents’ Day Holiday when he will return to visit his older California cousins who will be visiting during their February school vacation.
Even though I did not watch the Inauguration Day celebrations of the president and his loyal MAGA followers and cadre of billionaire sycophants, our new American oligarchs, I have paid close attention to what did happen and the tsunami of executive orders in the aftermath of the coronation. Is there some message in the fact that Governor Greg Abbott of Texas and Governor Ron Desantis of Florida were relegated to the “overflow” room? With President Trump, you can be part of the in-crowd today, and be on the outside looking in tomorrow. He once was against TikTok, and now perhaps following some transaction, he is going to save it. The ground is always shifting when it is all about making deals.
I have had plenty of time to cringe at the reports of his signings of executive orders that have dominated the news cycle. I am also disappointed to hear that enough Republican senators fear the wrath of Trump that today Pete Hegseth, who has no managerial, moral, or experiential qualifications for office other than his secondary roles on Fox News, will be confirmed by a hair-thin margin to be our next Secretary of Defense.
I am trying to prepare myself emotionally for the tenure of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as the next Secretary of Health and Human Services and for Dr. Oz to be the administrator of CMS. It is hard to fully anticipate what that combo will do to the future of health in America. I don’t expect that this duo will lead a charge to improve the social determinants of health, lower medical expenses, or expand coverage for those without access to care or those who have inadequate coverage. Any chances of movement toward the Triple Aim are now on hold.
You may have missed it, but this week HHS went silent by command not long after the president pulled us out of the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Accords. What disasters lie ahead? Will we succumb to the next emerging lethal virus which goes undetected until it has escaped some less developed part of the world, or will we be washed away or incinerated by the geometrically increasing horrors of global warming? Trump likes to chant “Drill baby drill!” but a more likely scenario is “Burn baby burn!” Deporting millions of people who came here looking for a better life will not solve any of our real problems nor will it lower the cost of eggs.
And then there are the proposed tariffs, the attack on birthright citizenship as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment, the renaming of Denali, the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, threats to Canada and Mexico, and the announcement that we should annex Greenland, and really should own the Panama Canal. It must be a relief for many disadvantaged people that on day one Trump put an end to the government’s efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion as policy. Fully undermining democracy and the Constitution may take a few weeks, but day one was an impressive start at unwinding decades of progress to improve the climate, increase equality and opportunity for everyone, and act as the leader of the “Free World,” if that is still a viable national objective. It’s easy to see that the real winners of the presidential election of 2024 will soon be those who want lower taxes to multiply their billions. I fear that in time even Zuckerberg, Bezos, and Musk will discover losses other than money that they won’t be able to “write off.”
We don’t have “Brown shirted Nazis” but the 1500 “political hostages” from the January 6th, 2021 event at the Capital are now free to plan their next event or respond to the next call to action from their leader who believes that he has been protected from assassination by God so that he can shape a greater and whiter America. It may be decades before we can adequately catalog and connect all the pieces of the future that were launched during the first few days of Mr Trump’s second administration. What do you think the historians of fifty years from now will say about what follows this week? I guess the answer to that question is, “It depends…”
The one bright moment for me in the political week was the courageous sermon delivered by Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde at the Innagural Service at the National Cathedral which was attended by the returning president and his new Vice President. During her plea for mercy, our president was scowling and fidgeting. Later he erupted, but in the moment he had to listen to her gentle plea that he temper the cruelty of his actions and show a little mercy. If he is indeed anointed by God, he should know that in Matthew 22;37-39 we read:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ (New International Version)
Perhaps he doesn’t understand that most theologians agree that “neighbor” is meant to be inclusive of all humankind and not just those who swear loyalty to him and like to wear red hats with MAGA in big letters.
As I write to you, I keep reminding myself that I need to return to writing letters that are more oriented to the day-to-day and decade-to-decade challenges facing providers and recipients of care. I will try harder next week because I know that there is little that we can do as individuals in this moment to defend against the plans for our collective future that are being rapidly revealed to us. But, I believe that soon we will be able to see that like Bishop Budde we have an opportunity to make a difference. We should be thinking now about what we want to do to create those opportunities and many of them.
What Do You Do When It Is So Cold?
The header for today’s letter shows a lot of ice. When I took the picture last Sunday the temperature was below ten degrees. If you look closely you will see two fishing tents. In years past ice fishermen would move wooden houses out onto the lake. One year, a fisherman failed to get his “icehouse” completely off the ice before it began to melt. He eventually got it to shore but it was a struggle when the structure sunk partially in shallow water near a narrow sandy section of the shore near my house. I don’t expect to see a repeat of that event because most ice fishermen are now opting for lighter tent-like structures like the two that you see in the picture.
Before he was “outed” for bad behavior during the era of “hashtag me too,” one of my favorite stories from Garrison Keiller was about ice fishing. In Garrison’s story, one of the more innovative inhabitants of Lake Woebegon had his ice fishing house fitted with a telephone line. The fellow would tie his fishing line to the phone receiver and then depart for the “Sidetrack Tap” to enjoy visiting and drinking with his friends. From time to time he would go to the payphone in the bar and call the number of the phone in his ice house. If he got a busy signal, he would rush down to the lake and pull in his catch. I wonder how that story translates to a digital age.
Sometimes, my wife and I walk out on the ice and visit the fishermen in their lairs. Occasionally we see campfires on the ice in front of the little shelters. On one such visit, we were having a conversation with a group of fishermen who were lounging by a fire in front of their ice fishing house when we heard a baby crying. One of the fishermen spoke up and said his son must be waking up from his nap. The dad seemed responsible. I think he considered his afternoon of ice fishing as quality time with his infant child. Maybe his wife just needed to get both of them out of the house to enjoy a moment of peace.
I was off the road from Sunday until yesterday when I was able to walk two miles in twenty-degree weather because there was finally no wind. to enhance the cold. For several nights this week, the low was below zero with daytime temps in the single digits and teens. The cold is predicted to continue into next week, but mercifully, it will not be quite as cold as it has been. In the coming week, I am looking forward to balmy weather in the mid-twenties most days and maybe even a couple of days with a high of thirty.
Maybe soon there will be more for us to discuss than bizarre politics and challenging weather. I hope that wherever you are and whatever you are doing this weekend you will be able to forget what is coming at us. I hope that the sky above you will be clear, and the temp will be conducive to a good walk.
Be well,
Gene
