By Tom Burke / Herald Columnist
Let’s admit that what Donald Trump, Elon Musk, the Republican Congress, Cabinet, and MAGA-world is doing to our country is not at all good. It’s very bad in fact by any objective measure. (Tariffs, the economy, the deficit, our world standing, the fabric and fiber of the federal government, the Justice Department as a tool of Trump’s revenge, our nation’s health, dead kids from the USAID debacle, the administration’s chaos, confusion and corruption, etc.)
There’s no shortage of honest reporting or honest opinion detailing what’s happening. Even rock stars such as Bruce Springsteen are chiming in, saying, “In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration.”
But whether it’s a $400 million Boeing-747 bribe from the Qatari royal family (that will never be Air Force One for Trump; but could be his personal, post-presidential ride with upgrades paid for by you); the gutting of the federal workforce by Musk’s DOGE; the implementation of a Christian-right/MAGA dictatorship via Project 2025; Trump’s insanely ignorant, economy-killing tariff scheme; or the attack on immigrants by nativist bigots, there’s a widespread pundit-opinion that no matter what gets written or reported the Trump faithful will never abandon the master grifter-in-chief and “liberal” scribes such as myself are just wasting newsprint by preaching to the choir.
However, the pundits also allow that when MAGA crowd are finally personally affected by Trump’s policies and actions (like Wal-Mart raising prices due to tariffs, they become one of the 9 million who lose their Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for billionaires, have a problem with Social Security that they can’t get fixed because of Musk firings, or their child falls ill to a disease that wasn’t prevented due to the anti-vax head of Trump’s Health and Human Services) they might change their minds and political persuasions.
OK, I get that. And I can live with it until the midterms.
But, gentle reader, it’s not just what Trump and his minions are doing, it’s how they are doing it.
And “how” is that you ask?
No comment.
Wadda ya mean, Burke? “No comment?” This is the Opinion page; you’re supposed to have comments!”
No. No.
What I mean is “No comment” is how Trump & Co. are doing what they’re doing.
“No comment,” is designed to keep us oblivious, ignorant, and in-the-dark about something they’ve done, everything they’ve doing, and anything they plan to do.
Like Attorney General Pam Bondi saying we can’t bring back Abrego Garcia to the U.S. from prison in El Salvador; and then Trump saying he could bring him back, and then the White House responding “No comment,” when asked about the contradiction.
Or when Trump fired hundreds of scientists compiling the National Climate Assessment (required by Congress) detailing how global warming is affecting the country; and those firings putting that critical data in serious jeopardy; and the White House saying “No comment.”
Or when Trump burns Washington state by denying $500 million in already-authorized funding for a fish-passage project on the Green River/Howard Hanson Dam (what Sen. Patty Murray called a “staggering betrayal and … an unacceptable setback in the important work to safeguard our water supply, protect our communities from dangerous flooding, and save our salmon”); and the Seattle district office of the Army Corps of Engineers not responding to a request for comment about the money.
Or when Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson was asked about Trump’s $400 million dollar plane and he replied “No comment.”
Or when Trump abruptly fired the director of the National Security Agency, and the White House, the NSA, and the Pentagon would provide no reason for the axing, again saying, “No comment.”
Or after Cabinet secretaries discussed ongoing military operations on the public, open-to-hacking app “Signal,” (and not noticing a journalist on the call) a Pentagon spokesperson replied after being asked about it, “Well, I have two very short things to say to you. First is that we will not comment on the secretary’s deliberative conversations; and secondly, that you should contact the White House.” The White House was contacted and had “No comment.”
Or Trump cancelling Harvard University federal contracts involving veterans suicide prevention, toxic particle exposure and prostate cancer screening which would result in “more veteran suicides that could have been prevented,” according to Seth Custer, an official in the Veterans Administration’s Office of Research and Development. A White House spokeswoman declined to comment.
Or the Trump administration’s push to ramp-up logging and drilling across public lands, and their plan to shrink up to six national monuments via a DOGE “Valentine’s Day massacre” firing of 1,000 National Park Service employees and 3,400 from the U.S. Forest Service and a budget slashed by 40 percent.
When queried about these plans because the Trump agencies have not yet released the details, the response was, “No comment.”
Unfortunately for democracy, the Trump administration’s stonewalling “No comment” tactics reach far beyond media inquiries.
They extend to Congressional appearances, Senate confirmation hearings, specific queries posed by folks like Patty Murray, and interaction with the courts at all levels.
And while Trump would like us quake in fear of his administration appearing to be some giant tidal wave of his will, washing over the world landscape, we ain’t. Quaking.
Because he’s caved, backed down, reversed course and chickened out enough for everyone to see he’s a hollow bully.
And it’s up to us to keep him caving, and not accept “No comment” as his answer to anything. He’s supposed to work for us.
Slava Ukraini.
Tom Burke’s email address is t.burke.column@gmail.com.
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