To the Editor:
Let’s not waste time talking about morality, criminality, human rights, the U.S. Constitution, empirical truth, science, or election tampering — arguments that interested Donald Trump’s voters less than did the proverbial price of eggs. It came down to numbers, they told us.
OK, fine. So let’s talk about numbers. Math is pure and absolute, and metrics matter. Any look at numbers must begin with his cabinet appointments, which are so bizarre that even Insane Clown Posse couldn’t dream them up. But with these uniquely unqualified people, Trump has made Juggalos of us all, so let’s just focus on the voters’ stated priorities: the economy, safety, efficiency, immigration and healthcare.
The Economy
$90 billion and $1,200: That’s how much economists predict Trump’s tariffs will cost the nation as a whole, and the individual family, respectively.
Trump has promised to levy a 25% tariff on our trade partners to the north (Canada) and the south (Mexico), and as much as 60% on products imported from China. Folks who cited eggs as a big deal might crack when they pay an average of $213 more for a new smartphone, which the Budget Lab at Yale predicts is the price increase consumers will have to pay.
And what about the effects these proposed tariffs will have on our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which measures the goods and services we produce annually? No fewer than 16 leading analysts predict the tariffs will reduce GDP by at least 5% (the non-partisan Tax Foundation) and by as much as 3.61% (Moody’s).
Do you feel richer? I don’t.
Safety
17.5% and 21.6%: That’s the percentage of women serving in the U.S. Armed Forces in active duty and in the reserves, respectively. Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, has said if confirmed he will first attack the U.S. military’s “woke” agenda. His radical manifesto has already proclaimed women should not be in active service.
Since there are approximately 1.29 million active U.S. troops, Hegseth would reduce our defense force by 225,750 people, simply because they are female.
And since “anti-woke” also targets people of color, if he goes there next, nearly one-third (31.2%) of our Armed Forces will no longer defend us, as 407,380 people of color will be ousted.
“It is time to rip the woke out of the military, and return it to its core mission,” Hegseth said in July, 2023, overturning the legal precedent set for women in 1948 by the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act; men of color have fought in armed conflicts since the Revolutionary War (and an estimated 400 women fought in the Civil War, disguised as men).
Do you feel safer? I don’t.
Efficiency
75% of 2.1 million: That’s the percentage of federal employees out of the total employed whom Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) would fire. If they prevail over lawsuits already being filed, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the two DOGE brainchildren, will lay off tens of thousands of grey-suited bureaucrats many of us agree are “government bloat.” But they will also strip out workers from such key functions as air traffic controllers (currently 19,440) and corrections officers (13,730). Will planes start crashing and criminals escape? Who knows? Elon Musk says he wants to “send shockwaves through the system.”
And what will be their rationale for who goes and who stays? Ramaswamy recently proposed cutting half the federal workforce by letting go everyone with a Social Security number ending in an odd number. His reasoning? Apparently, Trump hasn’t asked. But surely among those with an unlucky number are, for example, meat and poultry inspectors at the federal Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) who protect us all from such food-borne illnesses as Salmonella, E.Coli, and Botulism. Even with the FSIS’s current ranks of 7,600 inspectors, about 48 million of us get sick from food-borne diseases each year and 3,000 of us die. So let’s hope those cheaper eggs Trump promises aren’t contaminated with Salmonella.
Feel relieved? I don’t.
Immigration
‘100,000 and $400 million: For these numbers, we need to zoom our numbers lens in on Connecticut, specifically. There are an estimated 100,000 undocumented workers in our state who together pay $400 million in federal, state and local taxes, according to the non-partisan Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy. Booting them out of the country would put a big dent in the state’s economy.
And while we’re talking about Connecticut, let’s talk about the 19,900 international students currently studying in Connecticut colleges on F-1 and J-1 student visas. Together they pump $777 million into the state’s economy and support 6,650 jobs. However, their value to our economy (not to mention our colleges’ intellectual life) is currently overshadowed by the fear they might not be allowed back into this country after visiting their homelands on the holiday break. Colleges across the country and here in Connecticut are urging these students to adjust travel plans so they can re-enter the States before Trump is sworn in on January 19th.
Feel smarter? I don’t.
Healthcare
And finally, let’s look at some healthcare numbers: 45 million and 21.3 million. The Affordable Care Act, enacted in 2010 by President Barack Obama, insures 45 million Americans. In 2024 alone, 21.3 million joined the ACA in its “Open Enrollment” period. Compare this with 2.3 million, which is the number of Americans who actually lost health insurance during Trump’s first term in office.
Trump tried repeatedly to overturn the ACA — which many of his supporters still do not realize is also known as “Obamacare” — calling it “a disaster” and saying, in his typical unpresidential way, “Obamacare sucks!”
Still, people wanted it. And while the ACA/Obamacare is not the universal healthcare virtually every other industrialized nation has had for decades, it does continue to save lives every day.
Feel protected? I do.
But here’s the thing about numbers: they can change. The ACA was retained through citizen action. Starting in 2017, community activists, led by chapters of the progressive group Indivisible, mobilized voters in red states throughout the country to urge their Congressional representatives not to kill the ACA. And they prevailed.
In this same way, individual voters (known to elected officials as “constituents”) can move the needle. Barring complete decimation of the natural environment, most of Trump’s actions can be reversed. Action on a state level, through state legislatures, will be more important than ever. So whether or not you voted for Trump, you can help make some of these numbers change. It’s just math, after all.
Feel empowered? I hope so.
—
Palm is state representative for the towns of Chester, Deep River, Essex and Haddam.