With the midterms coming up this year, the Trump/Project 2025 administration has realized it must do more than bust norms, start wars and persecute increasing numbers of people.
An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs poll taken earlier this month showed disapproval ratings of 59% for Donald Trump, 62% for his handling of the economy and 61% for both his immigration and foreign policies.
Someone must have decided it’s time to throw us a bone or two.
On Thursday, Trump unveiled his concept of a health care plan that would include payments – we don’t know how much — for people – we don’t know exactly who – to use toward buying their insurance.
Whether this would make a meaningful dent in monthly premium costs also remains to be seen. Filling in those blanks is up to the GOP Congress, whose refusal to extend enhanced subsidies for Affordable Care Act policies has caused those costs to skyrocket and policyholders to drop their coverage.
Data centers
Artificial intelligence has become a hot topic, and not always in a good way. The data centers that make it possible for companies to bestow – or inflict – it on us require lots of water and energy, so few people want them nearby.
Back in August, state Sen. Dave Argall said nine centers are under consideration for our district, which consists of Schuylkill County, Carbon County and part of Luzerne.
Municipalities in our area and elsewhere are trying to be proactive by designating where these monstrosities are allowed and setting rules for how they operate.
Gov. Josh Shapiro said on Thursday that his administration will soon announce standards to help communities evaluate data center proposals.
And on Friday, the Department of Energy announced Shapiro and 12 other governors’ support for a proposed “emergency” auction by mid-Atlantic grid operator PJM Interconnection for tech companies to bid on 15-year contracts to build new power plants.
The plan also calls for data centers to pay for new generation built on their behalf and would continue capping what existing power plants can be paid in the PJM capacity market.
The moves were a tacit acknowledgement of the problems data centers pose, but in Trump/Project 2025 fashion, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum couldn’t resist blaming higher electricity prices on the Biden administration’s anti-pollution rules and support for renewable energy.
The current administration is pushing AI hard, but I wonder if anyone there looked at how much we need.
For example, I don’t need bots to tell me how to reply to an email or summarize Google search results. Although I don’t ask for help, it’s foisted on me constantly.
I can’t help thinking of the wasted water and electricity. Or the workers AI is likely to displace.
Immigrant roundups
Approval of how Trump’s handling immigration has declined even among Republicans (to 76% from 88% in May, the AP/NORC poll said.
While defending ICE and blaming the victims for the Gestapo-like police force’s brutality, Trump has backed away from deploying the National Guard in Chicago, LA and Portland, Ore., the AP reported. And he softened his threat to invoke the Insurrection Act and send troops to Minneapolis, where ICE’s shootings, assaults and threats against immigrants and protesters have sparked outrage nationally.
His “Justice” Department, however, is investigating Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey because they spoke out against this “occupation.”
And a Washington Post report indicates Trump is planning to transform warehouse spaces across the country into detention facilities, potentially including a spot here in Schuylkill County.
WNEP reported earlier this month that the Department of Homeland Security didn’t announce new facilities but said: “These are not warehouses–they are detention facilities … Thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill, ICE has new funding to expand detention space.”
Pennsylvania already has four such spaces, and we don’t need any more for people whom ICE has kidnapped, regardless of their immigration status or lack of criminal records, to meet the arbitrary quotas set by Trump Deputy Chief of Staff/chief xenophobe Stephen Miller.
We do need a system that provides a path to citizenship for immigrants who have contributed to their communities and frees ICE to pursue the violent criminals whom Trump campaigned on deporting.
Shapiro said he hopes that there won’t be a Tremont center. With Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem undermining communities’ trust in law enforcement, he added, “we’re going to continue to work hard to bolster that trust here in Pennsylvania and try and stop ICE from coming in and undermining that.”
Even as Trump and his Project 2025ers continue their march toward authoritarianism, they still seem to want public support.
That’s why we must keep voicing our opposition. If we don’t, they’ll just do worse.
Canary note: Opinions expressed in any Op-Ed column appearing on this site are the views of the writer and are not necessarily the opinions of Coal Region Canary.
Want to be a columnist with Coal Region Canary? Contact us at newscanary@gmail.com.
Image: Nano Banana
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