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Elliot Benjamin is a philosopher, mathematician, musician, counselor, writer, with Ph.Ds in mathematics and psychology and the author of over 230 published articles in the fields of humanistic and transpersonal psychology, pure mathematics, mathematics education, spirituality & the awareness of cult dangers, art & mental disturbance, and progressive politics. He has also written a number of self-published books, such as: The Creative Artist, Mental Disturbance, and Mental Health. See also: www.benjamin-philosopher.com.

SEE MORE ESSAYS WRITTEN BY ELLIOT BENJAMIN

Aftermath of the U.S. Presidential Election

Part 2

Elliot Benjamin

Donald Trump has now been President of the United States for one month. It is difficult for me to find words to describe the devastated feelings that I have. Suffice it to say that I am in agreement with numerous commentators who describe what Trump, with the assistance of Elon Musk, is doing as a coup to overthrow our democracy and initiate an authoritarian government with himself as “king” [1]. With the exception of sexual predator Matt Gaetz who was pressured into relinquishing his attorney general nomination [2], all of Trump's nominations are going through, no matter how questionable, inexperienced, subversive, and dangerous they may be [3]. With the Republican majorities in both the House and the Senate, Trump has the Republicans in Congress on his side, as well as the Supreme Court [1], [3]. The only vehicle that is presently able to deter Trump at all in his quest to rule over America through the tactics of the vicious but skillful world's richest human being, Elon Musk, are the federal courts, spearheaded by the Public Citizen organization [1]. But what is most concerning to me is that Trump's popularity has actually increased since he has taken office, although there are recent signs that his approval ratings are starting to decrease as Americans are concerned that he is overstepping his bounds of power [4].

Thus I find myself nearly at a loss of words. Some of what I wrote about in my previous Integral World article on this topic [5] no longer applies. I was concerned that Trump could stop the Senate confirmation process by instituting a Recess to get all his cabinet appointments through [5]. But clearly this is not necessary, as the Republicans in the Senate have bent over backwards to give Trump everything he wants [3]. As I mentioned in my previous article, I had gotten reinvolved with the grass roots Indivisible organization [6], and I have continued this involvement the past few months, attending numerous Indivisible meetings, demonstrating in the streets, and speaking to my Maine congressman and senators' staff. I have also been regularly attending meetings related to the dangers of dictators, and whatever meetings I think may be helpful to me to weather this storm [7]. The bottom line is that everything the United States has stood for as a democracy for the past few hundred years is now under attack, from Elon Musk stealing our social security payments to Trump promoting his mass deportations, ordering the firing of federal workers, and gutting the FBI, foreign aid, disaster relief in the U.S., grants, scholarships, scientific research, protections over dangerous consumer products, etc., etc., etc. [8]. Furthermore, the deadly dangers of Trump's presidency certainly reverberate much further then here in the United States [9].

Unsavory Highlights That Have Stayed With Me

There is far too much havoc and destruction and insanity currently going on in the United States for me to go through it all in any kind of detail. But some of the highlights that shave stayed in my consciousness, and unconsciousness as well, are as follows.

• Trump becoming the chairman of the board of the Kennedy Center and firing many of the Center's highest level administrators, as Trump controlling the presentation of culture and arts in the Kennedy Center is the stuff that dictators are made of [10].
• The new director of the Department of Health and Human Services, vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. [3], as a teenager used to “put baby chickens and mice in blenders to feed to his hawks. It was often a perverse scene of despair and violence.” [11]. This graphic image just doesn't leave me, as it reveals something horrendously ugly and disgusting about the person who is now in charge of health and human services in the United Sates.
• The new FBI director, Kash Patel, has clearly stated his mission to destroy the FBI and has promoted his “enemy's list” of 60 people who are “dangerous” to the United States, who are basically people who have been outspoken about their disagreements with President Trump [3],[12].
• The new Director of Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was one of the major contenders for the Democratic nomination to be the President of the United States in the 2024 election, being on prime time television for some of the presidential debates. To me, I just can't shake the feeling that Gabbard is a “traitor” [3], [13].
• The attorney general, Pam Bondi, who I suppose is an improvement over Matt Gaetz though I wonder if she can do more destruction than Gaetz, is in charge of the Department of Justice, who has ordered the lists of thousands of FBI Agents and others who investigated the Jan. 6th insurrection, for possible firing [3], [14].
• The Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Russell Vought, was one of the chief architects of the destructive agenda of Project 2025 and holds hostile views towards reproductive rights, gender affirming care, gender and racial diversity and equity, and dignity and humanity for immigrants; he has the intention of destroying much of the budget of the department that he leads, as Trump has already tried to do with his attempted hiring freezes [3], [15].
• Trump wants and expects his soon to be confirmed Director of the Department of Education, top wrestling administrator Linda McMahon, to gut the Department of Education [3], [16].
• Trump pardoning more than 1500 January 6th insurrectionists—this is totally disgusting to me and I think is very dangerous [17].
• Trump/Musk is in attack mode to end public radio and public television, through gutting NPR (National Public Radio) and PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) [18].

And these are all just some of the highlights that have stayed with me, aside from all of Trump's horrendous publicized deportations inclusive of using the military to make this happen through his alcoholic sexual predator/Fox News Commentator/Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth [3], [19], firing of numerous government employees including inspectors general [20], insane threats/plans of putting tariffs on Mexico and Canada in addition to the tariffs he has already put on China [9], insisting on buying Greenland from Denmark and renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America [9], and of course the world's richest person, Elon Musk, being in the forefront of slashing and burning much of America and in effect serving as the unelected President of the United States [8], etc., etc., etc.

Republican Concerns About Trump's Policies Starting to Emerge

In spite of all the successful lawsuits that have thus far been brought up against Trump which have delayed a number of his most destructive actions, there are very real concerns that Trump could decide to ignore these judicial decisions and still pursue his slash and burn government operations [1]. The Supreme Court giving Trump presidential immunity is essentially a message to Trump that he can decide to ignore whatever the courts say and that there is nothing that can be done to punish him. However, the one thing that perhaps can have an impact on Trump is if public concerns are unleashed about some of his policies, inclusive of ignoring the court's decisions when this has direct bearing on the public's economic welfare [1]. And this appears to now be happening for some MAGA voters in relation to Trump's enactment of tariffs and his attempts to freeze NIH grants and USAID to foreign countries; the freezing of USAID directly impacts farmers who sell these products [21]. It is encouraging for me to see a number of Republicans in the Senate and House taking issue with Trump over these policies [22]. And the negative reactions to some of Trump's actions apparently are going beyond just economic concerns. The top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, a staunch Republican appointed by Trump, as well as a number of other Department of Justice officials, have resigned over an order they were given to dismiss their case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, for what they claimed were “political” reasons to help Trump [22]. Evangelical leaders, who represent one of Trump's key support groups, have voiced their moral concerns about Trump's policies in regard to both immigration and international aid [23]. And some Republican senators have voiced their disagreement with Trump stating the “Ukraine started the war” and “Zelensky is a dictator” [24]. Thus the cracks in Trump's increased positive approval ratings [4] may be starting to appear.

And all of this has an impact for me in regard to thinking about trying to reengage with Trump voters. Before the November 2024 presidential election I had held six monthly meetings in my local library, facilitating a discussion/support group entitled The Preservation of Democracy/Republic and the United States 2024 Presidential Election [25]. My group ended a month before the election, and I am planning on restarting my group, changing “and” to “after” (the United States 2024 Presidential Election). My group meetings attracted some Trump voters in addition to Democratic, Independent, and 3rd Party voters, and were promoted on the bipartisan pro-democracy Zoom meetings of The Union, inclusive of my presenting at and facilitating two of these meetings [26]. The director of The Union offered to once again promote my meetings if I were ready to continue them, and given the above cracks that are starting to happen in Trump voters, I finally am ready to try this again. And the forceful sarcastic video by Rick Wilson, one of the founders of the Republicans against Trump Lincoln Project, in which he chastises Trump MAGA voters and says they are getting what they deserved, makes me realize that this feeling of blaming Trump MAGA voters is not constructive to save our country, and that my attempts at constructive communication with these voters may be important to once again resume [27].

Trump and the Wars in Russia/Ukraine and Israel/Gaza

Shifting gears to a discussion of Trump's policies and activities in relation to the wars in Russia/Ukraine and Israel/Gaza, in an attempt at an integrative perspective [28] I must once ask myself the following question [5]: could Trump actually end the wars in Russia/Ukraine and Israel/Gaza? As I wrote about in my previous essay [5], I forced myself to entertain an integrative perspective on what I thought about Trump being able to end the Russia/Ukraine war. I had been very disturbed about some of Biden's decisions that I believe have escalated the war, and I begrudgingly had to admit that I welcomed Trump's perspective of “making a deal” to end the war [5]. Yes I was concerned that Trump would give too much support to Russia at the expense of Ukraine [5], [29], but at the same time I believed, and believe, that the reality is such that Ukraine needs to come to terms with some hard facts for the war to ever end, and that they are now starting to do this [5]. The war has not ended in “24 hours” as Trump had promised would happen after he became President, but the situation currently appears to be much closer to an end than it ever was under Biden's presidency, although an end that now looks like it will be a victory for Russia and a loss for Ukraine [29]. Initially Trump had been walking a fine line between talking tough with Russia and pressuring Ukraine to make concessions, and had gone back and forth about including Ukraine along with Russia in peace negotiations [30]. However, at the present time (February 20, 2025), Trump is planning on talking with Russia about a peace plan without Ukraine or Europe included [29]. I am glad that Trump is not promoting Ukraine dropping bombs deeper into Russia territory the way Biden was doing, and I think that aside from making a “peace deal” with Russia that excludes Ukraine, Trump talking with Russian President Putin and consequently ending the stalemate of Biden refusing to talk with Putin for 3 years is a good thing [30]. But deciding with Russia what the “peace deal” will look like before Ukraine even enters the picture, coupled with the condescending insults that Trump has recently leveled upon Ukrainian President Zelensky [24], is part and parcel of all the concerns that I have previously voiced in my Integral World Trump essays about how Trump's irrational and impulsive behaviors could lead to world disasters, including World War III [5].

And now let's shift to the Israel/Gaza war. As I am writing, there is still a relative temporary truce in the war, but one that is very tenuous and can end at any time [31]. However, I must begrudgingly admit that Trump's presidency was largely responsible for this temporary truce taking place [32]. But as I wrote about my concerns in my previous Integral World article [5], Trump's support of Israel at the expense of Palestinians is extreme, in fact so extreme that he actually wants to deport all the Palestinians in Gaza to neighboring Arab countries and build real estate in Gaza [33]. Totally discounting the strong feelings of native people to remain in land that is sacred to them in their religious beliefs is part and parcel of what Trump is about. I don't know how this will all play out, just as I didn't know what would happen with Trump's threats that “let all hell break out” if Hamas did not release “all” the hostages within the next few days [34]. The Israeli prime minister Netanyahu and the Israeli far right were all ready to resume the bombing of hordes of innocent Palestinians in Gaza, and Trump was escalating them doing this if he didn't get what he wanted [34]. Nevertheless, I must admit that Trump's threats appears to have had the effect of the release of some hostages, upholding the ceasefire agreement at least temporarily, and that the ceasefire continued even though Trump's demand that “all” the hostages be released did not happen [31]. But the situation is certainly very precarious and the horrific war may very well resume [31], as much as I hope this can somehow be avoided.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I am extremely alarmed that the United States is currently in the midst of an attempted coup to destroy our democracy, spearheaded by Donald Trump and Elon Musk, and assisted by all of Trump's cabinet appointments. However, I feel relieved that there is a Resistance movement starting to happen, that is rapidly growing in strength and numbers. The extensive dangers and destruction that Trump is enacting spreads much wider than just in the United States, and at the present time how exactly this will play out in the Russia/Ukraine and Israel/Gaza wars is not known. My own way of dealing with all these deadly challenges is to be proactive politically with progressive grass roots political organizations, along with participating in demonstrations and facilitating an in-person small group community discussion/support group that welcomes Trump voters for dialogue.

Notes and References

1) See for example Robert B. Hubbell (February, 2025), Backstopping the Courts! roberthubbell.substack.com; see also Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (August, 2024), U.S. Senators Introduce “No Kings Act” to Restore Checks on Presidential Immunity. www.whitehouse.senate.gov; and I find a glimmer of hope in the successful law suits that the Public Citizen organization has brought forth to at least temporarily stop some of the worst of the Trump/Musk destruction (see the Public Citizen website at www.citizen.org). It should also be noted that boycotts and strikes are now starting to be discussed as another vehicle to thwart the TrumpMusk attempted coup of United States democracy; see for example the People Power United website at www.peoplepowerunited.org

2) See Elena Moore, Deirdre Walsh, & Lexie Schapiti (November, 2024), Former Rep. Matt Gaetz Withdraws as Trump's Attorney General Pick. www.npr.org

3) At this point in time (February 15, 2025), through Senate Republicans for the most part supporting Trump's nominations, all of Trump's nominations who came before a Senate vote have thus far been confirmed, inclusive of Trump's most contentious nominations: Hegseth, Gabbard, Kennedy, Patel, and Vought. See for example Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali, & Patricia Zengerle (January, 2025), Hegseth Narrowly Wins Confirmation to Become US Defense Secretary. www.reuters.com; Amy Mackinon (February, 2025), Tulsi Gabbard Confirmed as Director of National Intelligence. www.politico.com; Lauren Weber & Rachel Roubein (February, 2025), RFK Jr. Confirmed, Elevating Anti-Vaccine Activist to Nation's Top Health Post, www.washingtonpost.com; Alexander Hutzler & Allison Pecorin (February, 2025), Kash Patel Confirmed by Senate to be Trump's FBI Director. abcnews.go.com; and Ellen Morrissey (February, 2025), Russell Vought Confirmed as Director of the Office of Management and Budget. news.ballotpedia.org

It is very clear to me that with the one exception of Gaetz who withdrew, Trump is going to get 100% of his nominations confirmed, and the Supreme Court has given Trump a tremendous gift with their presidential immunity decision.

4) See for example the YouTube video: How Americans Feel About Trump's First Weeks Back in Office (February 11, 2025), www.youtube.com; and Jennifer Agiesta (February, 2025), CNN Poll: Americans Worried By Trump's Push to Expand Power. www.cnn.com

5) See Elliot Benjamin (November, 2024), Aftermath of the U.S. 2024 Presidential Election: My Personal Integrative Perspective. www.integralworld.net; see all my Integral World Trump essays at www.integralworld.net

6) See the Indivisible organization website at www.indivisible.org

7) See in particular the website of Ruth Ben-Giat at lucid.substack.com, who wrote the book Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present (2021), W.W. Norton & Co.; and see the Worth Fighting For organization website at weareworthfightingfor.org and the People Power United website at www.peoplepowerunited.org

8) See Lisa Mascard (February, 2025), Trump and Musk's Dismantling of Government is Shaking the Foundations of US Democracy. abcnews.go.com; and Mike Wendling (February, 2025), Musk's Doge Takes Aim at US Consumer Protection Agency. www.bbc.com

9) See Ewan Palmer (February, 2025), Donald Trump's Threats Are Already Getting Results. www.newsweek.com; and Georgie Hewson (January, 2025), Trump Wants to Take Back Control and Rename the Panama Canal. Can He Actually Do That?, www.abc.net.au

10) See Javier C. Hernandez & Robin Pogrebin (February, 2025), Trump Made Chair of Kennedy Center as Its President Is Fired. www.nytimes.com

11) See Amanda Seitz & Lisa Mascaro (January, 2025), Caroline Kennedy Calls Cousin RFK Jr. a ”Predator” in Warning Letter to Senators. www.pbs.org

12) See U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary (January, 2025), Radical Extremist Kash Patel Would Weaponize the FBI to Target Enemies of Trump, Not Enemies of America. www.judiciary.senate.gov

13) See Wikipedia (February, 2025), Tulsi Gabbard 2020 Presidential Campaign. en.wikipedia.org

14) See Evan Perez, Josh Campbell, & Hannah Rabinowits (January, 2025), Trump DOJ Demands List of Thousands of FBI Agents, Others Who Worked On Jan. 6 and Trump Investigators for Possible Firing. www.cnn.com

15) See (Margie Delao, January, 20250, Russell Vought: The Project 2025 Architect and OMB Nominee Coming for Our Democracy. nwlc.org

16) See (Associated Press, February, 2025), Trump's Education Secretary May Be Asked to Dismantle the Education Department. Here's What It Does. news.wttw.com

17) See Mike Wendling (January, 2025), Trump Pardons Give Jan 6 Defendants Nearly Everything They Wanted. www.bbc.com

18) See Senator Jeff Merkley (February, 2025), Donald Trump Has Renewed Calls to Defund NPR and PBS. www.jeffmerkley.com

19) See Jane Mayer (December, 2024), Pete Hegseth's Secret History. www.newyorker.com

20) See Maya Yang (February, 2025), US Inspectors General Fired by Trump Sue to Win Jobs Back. www.theguardian.com

21) See Sahil Kapur (February, 2025), When the Pain Hits Home, Republicans Balk at Trump's Spending Cuts and Tariffs. www.nbcnews.com

22) See Katherine Faulders, Alexander Mallin, Aaron Katersky, & Ivan Perera (February, 2025), NY's Top Federal Prosecutor, Several DOJ Officials Resign Over Mayor Eric Adams' Case. abcnews.go.com

23) See Nicole Acevedo (February, 2025). Evangelical Leaders At Odds Over Trump's Crackdown on Immigration, International Aid. www.yahoo.com

24) See Riley Beggin (February, 2025), Some Republican Senators Say Zelenskyy Is Not a "Dictator" In Response to Trump Comments. www.usatoday.com

25) See Elliot Benjamin (December, 2024), Facilitating U.S. 2024 Presidential Election Discussion/Support Groups to Ease Political Strife and Polarity: My Experience. Society for Humanistic Psychology Newsletter, pp. 10-14. www.apadivisions.org

26) See The Union website at https://jointheunion.us/

27) See Rick Wilson's video "If You Voted for Trump, You're NOT Allowed to Act SURPRISED!", www.youtube.com; see the work of Braver Angels at www.braverangels.org in regard to facilitating discussions between political adversaries, including Democrats and Trump supporters; for a reinforcement of talking directly and constructively in-person with people in our communities who had voted for Trump, see Theda Skocpol (January, 2025), How to Take Heart From What Really Worked in the First Resistance. newrepublic.com; and to further reinforce this, inclusive of advocating for boycotts and strikes, see the People Power United website at www.peoplepowerunited.org

28) See a number of my Integral World articles at www.integralworld.net where I describe “integrative” as an integration of diverse perspectives, inclusive of mymost recent Integral World article in [5].

29) Trump giving too much support to Russia at the expense of Ukraine has now become the harsh reality of the situation. See Stephen Collison (February, 2025), Trump Delivers Another Blow to Ukraine and a New Boost to Putin. www.cnn.com; Astha Rajvanshi & Richard Engel (February, 2025), European Leaders Gather for Emergency Meeting After Trump Shuts Them Out of Ukraine Talks. www.nbcnews.com; and Quaoar (February, 2025), Russian Stuff Blowing Up: US Weapons Deliveries to Ukraine Have Reportedly Halted. www.dailykos.com

30) See ZolanKanno-Young & Jeanna Smialek (February, 2025), Trump Says Ukraine Will Not be Sidelined in Peace Talks with Russia. www.nytimes.com; André Rhoden-Paul & Jaroslav Lukiv (February, 2025), Zelensky Says No Peace Deal Without Ukraine Involvement. www.bbc.com; Deva Lee, Antoinette Radford, Maureen Chowdbury, & Elise Hammond (February,2025), Trump Pushes Russia to End War With Ukraine as Government Overhaul Takes Shape in the US. www.cnn.com/; and Matthew Lee & Dasha Litninova (February, 2025), Russia and US Agree to Work Toward Ending Ukraine War in a Remarkable Diplomatic Shift. apnews.com

31) See Jeremy Diamond, Sarah Sirgany, Nadeen Ebrahim, & IbrahimDahman, Hamas Says It Will Release Hostages As Planned, Potentially Resolving Ceasefire Spat With Israel. www.cnn.com; Mohammad Jahjough, MelanieLidman, & Jalal Bwaitel (February, 2025), Israel and Hamas Complete Their Latest Exchange As Ceasefire's First Phase Has Just 2 Weeks Left. apnews.com; and Nadeen Ebraham (February, 2025), Hamas Rejects Disarmament, Vows to Fight Israel's "Agents" in Gaza After the War. www.cnn.com; and The Telegraph (February, 2025), Israel Enraged by Hamas Monster's After Coffin Parade, Says Netanyahu. www.telegraph.co.uk

32) See AssafOrion (January, 2025), Opening the Floodgates: The Gaza Deal and Trump's Presidency. www.washingtoninstitute.org

33) See Michael D.Shear, Peter Baker, & Isabel Kershner (February, 2025), Trump Proposes U.S. Takeover of Gaza and Says All Palestinians Should Leave. www.nytimes.com; and Pesha Magid, Samia Nakhoul,Suleiman Al-Khalidi, & Ahmed Mohamed Hassan (February, 2025), Arab Countries Scramble to Offer Trump an Alternate Proposal for Post-War Gaza. www.timesofisrael.com

34) See Andrew Feinberg (February, 2025), Trump Says "Let All Hell Break Out" If All Israeli Hostages Are Not Freed By Weekend. www.yahoo.com; see Tia Goldenberg (February, 2025), Israel Threatens "All Hell Will Break Loose" on Hamas in Latest Gaza Ceasefire Crisis. www.rockymounttelegram.com