It’s Time to End Our Silence
U. S. Foreign and Domestic Issues
The warnings from President Trump and his leadership team about the radical changes the president intends to make in our country’s democratic structure have made his political agenda painfully clear to see. Trump’s use of the words “retribution” and “revenge” is notable; these are terms rarely, if ever, used by presidents as they enter the Oval Office – in Trump’s case for his second term. This time, Trump is supported by significant majorities at the polls.
One of the most dramatic initiatives involves the combined efforts of Donald Trump and Elon Musk to dismantle the world’s largest provider of global humanitarian aid – the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Pete Wehner’s essay in The Atlantic entitled “The Cruel Attack on USAID” (February 11, 2025) describes “the speed of the cruelty” as “stunning,” especially when we realize that USAID has worked in more than 100 countries since 1961. Its employees and foreign partners work endlessly to respond to epidemics and starvation, resettling refugees, and the pressing needs for support with maternal and child health issues.
Even though USAID accounts take up less than 1 percent of the federal budget as of March 12, 2025, Musk has taken the lead in terminating 5,000 USAID grants and contracts. These cancellations include programs to fight diseases like malaria, provide access to food and clean water, and offer opportunity for education to the poorest of poor.
Trump and Musk have made decisions that will bring death and suffering to millions of the most vulnerable in our world’s poorest countries. Musk has called USAID “evil” and a “criminal organization,” and said it is time for this agency “to die.” This attitude is shared with President Trump, who said USAID is a “tremendous fraud” that is full of “radical left lunatics.” The cries of pain and tears from those who just lost their support from the United States will never be heard by Trump and Musk. Empathy for the vulnerable is not a concern of either of these two leaders.
The attack on USAID is only one part of President Trump’s plan. Aided by his un-elected partner Elon Musk, he has declared economic war on the world – targeted at both allies and enemies of the United States. On March 2, Trump described his views on the history of our country as one that has been “looted, pillaged, raped, and plundered” by other countries for more than fifty years. In anger, Trump used imagined financial arguments to justify his proposed slate of tariffs. This is designed to destroy a long history of difficult negotiations to build a peaceful and prosperous global economic order. Foreign Policy columnist Edward Alden made the case that the word “conservative” should never again be attached to his name: “[H]e is a revolutionary, tearing down the old order and watching from the comfortable perch of his wealth and power to see where the pieces land.”
What is striking to me is the silence of most Americans. Evangelical Christians make up a large share of Trump’s support at the polls, and are responsible for significant financial support of his presidential run, but remain silent in the face of his actions. Many conservative churches make no mention of these decisions, and prayers for justice are rarely heard from the pulpit. Even the labeling of USAID officials as “radical left lunatics” and other false accusations are rarely contested by people of faith.
I worked in the Soviet Union and later the Russian Federation for 25 years. While commuting back and forth between Moscow and Washington, D.C., I was constantly troubled by the fact that Russians never spoke up against the injustices and corruption that was so much a part of their daily lives. Andrei Kolesnikov, a Russian journalist, came up with a helpful phrase to describe the way most Russians have survived 23 years of Putin’s presidency: “learned indifference.” Putin’s leadership team has put in place an unwritten social contract in Russia that Kolesnikov says works like this: “Be quiet, be good citizens, be patriotic citizens. But at the same time, you can return to work. You can return to your everyday life. . . You must go to the polling stations, you must vote for Putin. But at the same time, after that, you can go to the cinema, you can go home, you can concentrate on your private problems.”
In the United States, “learned indifference” is not caused by a repressive government, but by people focused on pursuing wealth and advancement, being distracted in a celebrity culture, or getting addicted to sports, gambling or other forms of recreation – in other words, by developing a life that is driven by personal interest or gain. Combined with these cultural factors is a general lack of interest in what is happening in our world, a form of isolation nurtured by our media and fueled by “compassion fatigue.”
America’s enemies work hard to encourage people to mind their own business, stay out of politics, and accept that all leaders are corrupt and so refrain from getting involved. People who want to live in a democracy, especially people of faith, need to be reminded that God wants his followers to care for the oppressed, to work against unjust political leaders, and to speak the truth about the challenges we face in our country and in those of our friends.
It’s time to end our silence. All of us need to speak up as citizens of a free country and to work against those who are actively undermining democracy. We need to become the “opposition” that is willing to value and nurture those leaders who are people of integrity and compassion.
SPEAK UP!
Most of the college students and adult learners who have attended my classes have never been in contact with their political representatives or the president they voted for. Let me encourage you to become engaged in our country’s political life. Here are two suggestions:
Go to your local library and ask the staff to help you identify your local congressional representative or the president’s White House staff. Tell them your concerns.
Research and use resources provided by nonprofit organizations that have prepared helpful “How To” materials on contacting key officials. One excellent resource from Refugees International is accessible online: “Tell Your Member of Congress: Save USAID, Save Lives.”
Dr. John A. Bernbaum
Writer and Educator
Co-Author:
What Went Wrong?: Russia's Lost Opportunity and the Path to Ukraine