Let's see what we've got here:
The rate of uninsured adults has climbed by nearly 3 percentage points since Donald Trump started destroying the Affordable Care Act. That adds up to 7 million more Americans without health insurance. Young people, poor people, and women (and, probably, young, poor women) make up the biggest groups of those who have either chosen to forgo insurance coverage or can't afford it and are in that hideous sweet spot between qualifying for subsidies and qualifying for Medicaid in states that didn't expand the government insurance. In fact, we're heading back to the level things were before the full implementation of the ACA. And we know that lack of insurance leads to more illness and more death. Implementing policies that prevent or discourage people from getting insurance will kill Americans.
The shutdown is making airports and air travel more dangerous for everyone; prison guards at federal penitentiaries are calling in sick at high numbers, making those places more dangerous for the prisoners and the staff; the FBI has stated clearly that investigations are being impeded by lack of funding, including ongoing ones into the MS-13 gang, which, as we've heard, is pretty much going to take over the country; working without pay is going to affect the readiness of things like the Coast Guard because it's pretty damn stressful to not be able to feed your family; people who rely on SNAP for food will be facing those funds being dry next month and food pantries are already stretched thin because of all the unpaid government workers that are using them; and so much more. Essentially, by refusing to re-open the government unless he gets a wall, Trump is literally making this country more unsafe and deadly than the phantom terrorists in a 1000 caravans.
But it keeps going.
The Trump administration changed the definition of "domestic violence" so that it is only "felony or misdemeanor crimes of violence." Under President Obama, it included "a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner." In other words, now, if a woman is a victim of psychological abuse or some other kind of non-physical abuse, services that used to be available to that woman through the federal government may no longer be available. It may also mean fewer women come forward to say they are victims before the physical violence starts.
The Trump administration wants to reclassify some high-level radioactive waste as low-level so that the government doesn't need to spend as much securing it and cleaning it up. Meanwhile, as an epidemic of black lung disease has been revealed in the miners of Appalachia, a terrible situation that goes back before this presidency, the Trump administration wants to roll back more regulations that will affect the safety of miners and, really, everyone, as it allows the release of mercury, arsenic, and other poisons into the air and water. I may be just a simple city blogger, but I'm pretty sure that more radioactive waste in the ground and more mercury in the air are bad for you.
In other words, at this point, it's hard to think that Donald Trump, his administration, and, indeed, all the Republicans who go along with this (and the few awful Democrats who may - lookin' at you, Manchin) don't just want to kill as many Americans as possible while they're in office. We're not just trying to get a terrible president out of there. We're hoping to save our lives.
