The tipping point for this post was a required online training for work. It was a refresher on Title IX and the Clery Act. Two things stood out from last time I took the training. The first was an advisory to clear my browsing history afterward. The second was the “safety exit” button present on every page.
I suspect these warnings were meant for my colleagues on their work computers. (I took the training on my personal laptop.) The company administering the class is a contractor which probably operates in states other than my own. What this tells me is that we are now at a point where workers have to be warned to cover their tracks after receiving DEI training.
The last ten weeks have been surreal. I originally meant to write about Signalgate, then the deportations to hellhole prisons in El Salvador, then the economic whipsaw of the tariffs. Now I’m left trying to take it all in.
Like millions of people, I have seen a good portion of my net worth vanish into the ether over the past two weeks. After a lifetime following the conventional financial wisdom of saving for retirement by investing in equities, it’s likely that none of us will fully recoup our losses. I’m rethinking my summer travels over concerns over being able to leave the country or return to it. More than before, I am self-censoring.
One thing I’ve noticed is the lessened prominence of rank-and-file MAGA in media coverage. Sure, you still see plenty of red trucker hats in the wild, but you see more reporting about Elon and RFK Jr.’s antics or the obsequiousness of public officials and media when appearing in public with the president. (On the other hand, a student told me about an incident she saw at one of last weekend’s “Hands Off” demonstrations. She related that a man driving a pickup truck with the obligatory Trump flag flying from the bed came to a sudden halt. He then got out and punched the first protestor he came to before getting back in and speeding off.)
I think I can say with certainty that the “flooding the zone” approach is working. Meanwhile, the apologists look at the pointless chaos and tell us to “trust the plan,” and that Trump is playing 4-D chess. (Honestly, I think tiddlywinks would be too complicated for him.) They don’t notice or acknowledge that real people are being hurt, some of whom voted for Trump last November.
I think back on the last ten years as unimaginable at their onset. I grapple with how to explain this moment when it’s my job to do just that. And I ponder what the world after will look like.
©
2025 The Unassuming Scholar
