One month since inauguration day, we’re already getting a taste of what President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are delivering — and even for folks who voted for Trump, it may not be the change they expected.

Medicaid will be raided to fund tax cuts for billionaires, 19-year-old DOGE kids have access to our most sensitive information and are slashing programs we rely on, and egg prices are still going up. While many Americans clearly desire a more secure border, they probably didn’t expect Trump to pursue immigration raids in their own churches and schools.

So, as the president prepares to address the nation, we need to look past his rhetoric and ask tough questions about where he’s taking us.

Change is overdue. It’s been a shared failure of elected officials over decades that many pressing issues have been left unaddressed, either because they wouldn’t listen or because Congress was dysfunctional. Too much deference was given to norms and “the way we’ve always done things.” It’s no surprise that the change Trump promised was alluring.

But before we cheer on the sledgehammer, let’s understand what’s at stake.

Our government and its dedicated career civil servants do a lot of heavy lifting to make our daily lives safer. Still, it’s often behind the scenes and taken for granted. For instance, when a plane tragically collided with a Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport, it was the first deadly commercial plane crash in 25 years. The number of workers killed or injured on the job has decreased dramatically. And while we continue to see occasional food-borne illness outbreaks or the rare instances of tainted eye drops, robust monitoring and recalls keep us safe.

From the outside, the government can seem massive and opaque, and when someone says they’re going to take a wrecking ball to it in the name of efficiency, it might sound like a good deal. Less taxes, right?

In business, Trump and Musk are used to moving fast and breaking things. You can take big risks in Silicon Valley and in real estate: Trump’s companies have filed for bankruptcy at least six times, and Twitter/X is worth almost 80 percent less than when Musk purchased it.

With the government, the stakes are your family’s health and safety. In recent days, we’ve seen massive government layoffs affecting people who oversee our nuclear arsenal, protect us from bird flu, and produce air traffic navigation maps. When the government makes a mistake by firing the wrong people or cutting the wrong programs, people can die in plane crashes or at their jobs.

When the government isn’t on the beat, faceless corporations can dump toxic waste into our water with impunity or cut corners in manufacturing food or drugs that then make us sick. When the government is too focused on firing FBI agents and looking for “internal enemies,” the real external ones will see an opening and attack.

As Trump addresses the nation, we’ve come to a fork in the road. Should we allow congressional Republicans to gut Medicaid — hurting 72 million Americans across red and blue states — to give themselves and their billionaire donors like Musk even more? Should we bring a wrecking ball to the scientists, air traffic controllers and other experts who keep us safe?

Should we allow billionaires to mine our data and payment systems, looking for competitive advantages to benefit their businesses? Should we allow our president to run roughshod over the Constitution, leaving our fundamental rights at risk?

When the president speaks, whether you align with MAGA or want to live your life free from politics, it’s your obligation to ask questions about his plans. And don’t believe everything you’re told. Trump recently told Fox News that “Medicare, Medicaid — none of that stuff is going to be touched,” then the very next day endorsed a budget that would almost certainly cut billions from Medicaid.

While you may not have been in his crosshairs when he targeted immigrants or diversity programs, your rights and benefits may be next on the chopping block.

Yes, we need to make our government more responsive to its citizens. Yes, we need to address Americans’ legitimate concerns about fentanyl and the border.

However, Trump and MAGA Republicans are making a grave mistake by conducting a hostile takeover of our government and stripping it for parts. Sometimes, with a bargain-basement deal, you get precisely what you pay for.

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ABOUT THE WRITER

Ben Olinsky is the senior vice president for Structural Reform and Governance at the Center for American Progress. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.

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