A terrible storm is brewing. It threatens the economic welfare and safety of all Americans and the existence of our Democracy.

The Office of Budget and Management (OMB) drives the implementation of every President’s policy agenda. Now that a Republican party-line vote has confirmed Russ Vought, co-author of the dystopian Project 2025, as director of the OMB, it is easy to see where Trump and his power mongers want to take us. This reality includes Trump’s and Vought’s efforts to control government spending, a critical departure from the House of Representative’s Constitutional “power of the purse.” Also, the March 15 deadline for passing a 2025 Federal budget, passing another continuing resolution to extend Federal funding of the government, or initiating a partial shutdown is looming.

Meanwhile Pam Bondi, Attorney General of the United States, has been busy issuing a flurry of orders. One of these ends the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force charged with among other things, preventing foreign influence in our elections. Russia, China, and other actors are drooling with anticipation as we draw closer to our mid-term elections. Those of us who are hoping that Republican incompetence and their inhumane mismanagement of our government will enable Democrats to retake the House majority in 2026 may be sadly surprised that foreign tampering with our politics and elections produces a different result.

A second Bondi order is also troubling. It directs the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) to shift its priorities from comprehensive violent crime reduction to immigration enforcement, human trafficking, and transnational gangs. Those who were pardoned for their violent attempt to stop the peaceful transition of power along with the leaders and members of the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, Bugaloo Boys, Christian Nationalists, and other far-right extremists are ready to lock and load.

Compounding the above are the highly negative repercussions of Elon Musk’s attacks on USAID and the Department of Education, the likely confirmation of Kash Patel as Director of the FBI, and the potential confirmation of Tulsi gabbard as Director of National intelligence. Patel seems more interested in retribution against his list of political enemies than investigating domestic terrorism, and Gabbard has publicly extolled the virtues of the likes of Syria’s Assad and Russia’s Putin.

It is not difficult to see the destructive path that is unfolding before our eyes. The question remains: Are we paying close enough attention?

Ron Rubin

Middlebury