by Sarah Yves-Baloucoune

When politics starts touching social life, it doesn’t always turn out well.

From his Jan. 20 Inauguration to the writing of this article, Donald Trump has signed 75 executive orders, primarily focusing on government reform, immigration, border security, and more. 

His policies started with the legal recognition of only male and female genders by signing executive orders proclaiming that only birth assigned sex matters. Ever since the beginning, he had the idea and opened a manhunt for immigrants, even citizens if they have no proof of citizenship on them at the moment, but also Native Americans because the tribal IDs don’t count as proofs to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

His actions were questionable, like firing and un-firing nuclear workers, but in this article, let me present to you one of the lesser known but still present realities of people being put at risk due to the cutting of funds. 

 In a society built on money, we will always find a group in need of support. In a world built on international relations, we will always find a country that is overlooked, such as the less rich and popular developing countries like mine, Senegal, but also more famous ones like Argentina.

The funds given by the government were financing non-profit organizations like Child Protective Services, as well as scholarships and grants.

Cultural grant students are students chosen by the host country to share their cultures and impact their local communities in order to create bonds and make friends and families around the world. 

However, exchange students are in great dread. 

The funding cuts have affected the lives of thousands of students in high schools and colleges. The system of grants for students depends on government funds.

They create bridges between countries and communities, opening people’s minds to diversity and helping people know and discover the unity of each culture and take the best of each to make life better.

What if these bridges didn’t exist? 

The world would be doomed. In a world like ours, making peace with everyone is the only way to survive. 

What if a country with a lot of resources decided to collaborate with a country that has a lot of knowledge? Two spirits making one strong body is the best way to improve and make life easier. 

The development of the world would have been pretty much slower if the relations between countries weren’t as good as they are now. As an example, people around the world have access to plastic, which was created in Belgium, or petroleum, which is from Saudi Arabia.  

Without these diplomatic exchanges between them all, there would be no long and cheap conservation of products with plastic containers, no fuel for the cars and machines with petroleum, nor a lot of small objects we all have in our lives like scissors, gardening tools and sewing equipment.

But with the new policies, nothing is sure. The kids who were supposed to be connections between two lands and create a friendly bond between the two countries might never come.

As a result, the home country and host country might not work together again and, even worse, stop acknowledging the existence of one another. 

Until today, the future of the grant student programs is unknown, and this may be the last time we will see grant students in the U.S.

by Tyler Anthony

There is an oligarchical, absurd, and distinctly American phenomenon that has been plaguing this country. U.S. Fascism is the biggest danger to societal freedoms and signifies the fraudulence of “The American Dream.” We must recognize this. This is the road our leaders have walked us down, but by letting go of their guidance we can forge a path to far more individual freedoms and real liberty.    

The U.S. Empire was built on the back of exploitation. The moment the pilgrims began their slaughter of the Native Americans, the spirit of U.S. Fascism was born. The pilgrims needed a class to oppress to contribute to the British Imperial machine.

120 years after that, slaves were brought in from Africa for the first time. 160 years after that the U.S. invaded Mexico. 15 years after that the country was so split on slavery that they warred over it. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives because the rich didn’t want to give up their free laborers. The rich couldn’t stop themselves from engaging in the cruelest of human behavior in exchange for the gain of capital. 

The one institution that separated the power of capital from the power of politics was democracy. That separation has become smaller and smaller with every passing year, and now we’ve found ourselves fully submerged in a Fascist Oligarchy. A country that once revolted against the powers of imperialism now stands as the biggest imperial force on the face of the planet. Our ruler is a venture capitalist who conned himself into the presidential role, then was bought out by Elon Musk.

Over $250,000,000 was donated to the Trump campaign. To the average person, that money would completely change the course of their and their families’ lives. To Elon this was just .07% of his wealth. How could you be the single most powerful man in America and still be for the people. The answer? Elon is not. Trump is not. 

Feux-Populist rhetoric has elevated the status of Elon Musk and Donald Trump among Republicans to working class heroes. They have an iron grip on the government and culture and are inching us closer to World War III. This is a scary thought, yes, but it’s time to consider the fact that this may really be the road we’ve gone down. 

In fact, during the creation of this column there have been two major events that have dipped us further into fascism — Trump’s trapping of Zelenskyy and his aggression against Greenland. Inviting Zelenskyy to be disrespected at the White House was anything but a subtle tell of whose side he’s on. Nor is his praise of Russian Oligarchs as “Very nice people.” 

This poses the NATO question. What does Europe do if America leaves NATO? Europe has been very vocal in support of Ukraine. If America secedes from NATO then nothing stands in its way. Trump has been very open in his imperialist rhetoric. His talk of taking Greenland “One way or another “ should strike fear into the hearts of our politicians, but as long as the heavy wealth of the lobbyists lines their pockets, no one will take a stand. 

We can’t rely on politicians; we have to rely on the community. We need to take America back from the ground up.  Put aside our grievances with each other and fight fascism. Politics has become far too much of a popularity competition. It’s time to retake it as the people’s voice. 

Become involved in your community. Write articles for it. Get involved in homeless shelters, even run for office — anything to have some real populist control in this country.

The rapid escalation of Trump’s presidency into a fascist oligarchy has happened at such an incredible rate that we have got to put away social differences to fight this or we will all pay. Except the ones who have the money.