Well, off we go

essentialsaltes · Dec 15, 2025

‘I Didn’t Vote for This’: A Revolt Against DOGE Cuts, Deep in Trump Country

“This” is the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) deep cuts earlier this year to federal public lands agencies’ funding and to the staff at those agencies who administer that funding and steward public lands and wildlife.

Hunting season had yet to open when we spoke, but Zink was already hearing from fellow hunters who had to cut their own way into trails to hunting camps after Forest Service trail crews were laid off en masse. He worries about wildlife management with agency scientists also terminated.

Starting in February, an estimated 5,200 people have been terminated from the agencies that manage the 640 million acres of federal public lands in the U.S.

In addition to the employees and their families who’ve been impacted, those staffing cuts are also affecting the ways of life and livelihoods that are major economic drivers out here for almost everyone else, too. Ranchers and farmers use public lands for agriculture; outfitters and guides take guests into them; hunters access them regularly to put food in the family freezer; and forestry, timber and sawmill workers fulfill contracts on them for wildfire mitigation and lumber.

Republicans’ attacks on public lands seem to only be ramping up. In his 2026 budget, Trump proposed cutting a program called WaterSMART, which is administered through the Bureau of Reclamation and has historically provided millions for rural communities in Montana to address water security in a region where it is often scarce.

One of the other major sectors in rural Montana reeling from the cuts is forestry: a big umbrella that includes wildfire mitigation specialists, sawmill workers and other timber workers. I spoke to a forester in western Montana who owns a forestry business and employs a hand crew that does wildfire mitigation, thinning projects, service work on timber sales and tree planting. He was granted anonymity due to concerns for his business if he appeared in an article about politics.

When the cuts came down, they hit him hard. “Fifty percent of my income comes from federal dollars,” he said, ... And it wasn’t just him losing out on income; he couldn’t pay his employees, either.

In March, Trump signed an executive order to increase logging on public lands. But DOGE cut many of the agency employees needed to administer the timber sales for logging, and for thinning and fire mitigation. If there’s no one to administer the sales, then private forestry contractors like the forester I spoke to can’t execute those projects. In addition, the U.S. no longer has the infrastructure to process the increased timber mandated by the executive order, and the government doesn’t appear to be investing in resurrecting it.

Valletta · Dec 15, 2025

essentialsaltes said:
‘I Didn’t Vote for This’: A Revolt Against DOGE Cuts, Deep in Trump Country
“This” is the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) deep cuts earlier this year to federal public lands agencies’ funding and to the staff at those agencies who administer that funding and steward public lands and wildlife.

Hunting season had yet to open when we spoke, but Zink was already hearing from fellow hunters who had to cut their own way into trails to hunting camps after Forest Service trail crews were laid off en masse. He worries about wildlife management with agency scientists also terminated.

Starting in February, an estimated 5,200 people have been terminated from the agencies that manage the 640 million acres of federal public lands in the U.S.

In addition to the employees and their families who’ve been impacted, those staffing cuts are also affecting the ways of life and livelihoods that are major economic drivers out here for almost everyone else, too. Ranchers and farmers use public lands for agriculture; outfitters and guides take guests into them; hunters access them regularly to put food in the family freezer; and forestry, timber and sawmill workers fulfill contracts on them for wildfire mitigation and lumber.

Republicans’ attacks on public lands seem to only be ramping up. In his 2026 budget, Trump proposed cutting a program called WaterSMART, which is administered through the Bureau of Reclamation and has historically provided millions for rural communities in Montana to address water security in a region where it is often scarce.

One of the other major sectors in rural Montana reeling from the cuts is forestry: a big umbrella that includes wildfire mitigation specialists, sawmill workers and other timber workers. I spoke to a forester in western Montana who owns a forestry business and employs a hand crew that does wildfire mitigation, thinning projects, service work on timber sales and tree planting. He was granted anonymity due to concerns for his business if he appeared in an article about politics.

When the cuts came down, they hit him hard. “Fifty percent of my income comes from federal dollars,” he said, ... And it wasn’t just him losing out on income; he couldn’t pay his employees, either.

In March, Trump signed an executive order to increase logging on public lands. But DOGE cut many of the agency employees needed to administer the timber sales for logging, and for thinning and fire mitigation. If there’s no one to administer the sales, then private forestry contractors like the forester I spoke to can’t execute those projects. In addition, the U.S. no longer has the infrastructure to process the increased timber mandated by the executive order, and the government doesn’t appear to be investing in resurrecting it.

"Republican attacks on public land?" Talk about propaganda.

essentialsaltes · Dec 28, 2025

essentialsaltes said:
Reuters: This construction project was on time and on budget. Then came ICE.
Rawstory version

"The contractor world is full of Republicans," explained [construction company CEO] Harrison in an interview with Reuters. "I'm not anti-ICE. We're supportive of what the president is trying to do. But the reality of it is our industry has to have the Hispanic immigrant-based workers in it."

“Construction can’t continue”: South Texas builders say ICE arrests have upended industry

More than 300 people attended an impromptu meeting that industry leaders in the Rio Grande Valley hosted to draw attention to the chilling effect ICE arrests have had on construction.

Without enough workers, construction has slowed, sending a ripple effect throughout the economy. Economists suggest that this will drive housing costs up — even as Texas officials focus on bringing such costs down.

When the day of the meeting arrived, more than 380 people filled the room at the Brookhaven Event Center in Pharr. It was packed with people who worked in nearly every facet of construction and development, including concrete, lumber, real estate, and lending. A handful of elected officials also attended.

During the roughly hour and a half that they met, those industry representatives took turns to discuss the hits their businesses had taken because workers were too frightened that ICE would show up at construction sites. They also warned of how the larger Rio Grande Valley economy would suffer if the ICE arrests didn’t stop.

Isaac Smith, a co-owner of Matt’s Building Materials, said his family’s stores were struggling to get lumber out the door.

Smith said his sales had seen a rate of decline in the double digits since the ICE operations began. He’s also seen an increase in late payments from customers with a credit line from the store.

For the January meeting, [Guerrero] has invited more elected officials at all levels of government. He hopes these ongoing public gatherings will bring greater awareness to their plight.

“People maybe don’t understand the magnitude of what’s happening,” Guererro said. “But that’s where we have to come together as human beings, and we need to be a little cognizant about the real situation that we’re facing.”

South Texas homebuilders say ICE arrests have slowed work

More than 380 people attended an impromptu meeting that industry leaders in the Rio Grande Valley hosted to draw attention to the chilling effect ICE arrests have had on construction.

www.texastribune.org

Valletta · Dec 28, 2025

essentialsaltes said:
“Construction can’t continue”: South Texas builders say ICE arrests have upended industry
More than 300 people attended an impromptu meeting that industry leaders in the Rio Grande Valley hosted to draw attention to the chilling effect ICE arrests have had on construction.

Without enough workers, construction has slowed, sending a ripple effect throughout the economy. Economists suggest that this will drive housing costs up — even as Texas officials focus on bringing such costs down.

When the day of the meeting arrived, more than 380 people filled the room at the Brookhaven Event Center in Pharr. It was packed with people who worked in nearly every facet of construction and development, including concrete, lumber, real estate, and lending. A handful of elected officials also attended.

During the roughly hour and a half that they met, those industry representatives took turns to discuss the hits their businesses had taken because workers were too frightened that ICE would show up at construction sites. They also warned of how the larger Rio Grande Valley economy would suffer if the ICE arrests didn’t stop.

Isaac Smith, a co-owner of Matt’s Building Materials, said his family’s stores were struggling to get lumber out the door.

Smith said his sales had seen a rate of decline in the double digits since the ICE operations began. He’s also seen an increase in late payments from customers with a credit line from the store.

For the January meeting, [Guerrero] has invited more elected officials at all levels of government. He hopes these ongoing public gatherings will bring greater awareness to their plight.

“People maybe don’t understand the magnitude of what’s happening,” Guererro said. “But that’s where we have to come together as human beings, and we need to be a little cognizant about the real situation that we’re facing.”

South Texas homebuilders say ICE arrests have slowed work

More than 380 people attended an impromptu meeting that industry leaders in the Rio Grande Valley hosted to draw attention to the chilling effect ICE arrests have had on construction.

www.texastribune.org

Now the stores that obey the law and don't hire illegals will be able to compete.

Bradskii · Dec 28, 2025

Valletta said:
Now the stores that obey the law and don't hire illegals will be able to compete.

Whatever the situation was with immigrants working in this industry, there'd always be companies that had none on their books. They were still always competing. What the members of the industry are trying to tell you is that now there are now less people to do the work because immigrants, again - whatever their situation is, are too afraid to risk going to work. So the owner of Matt’s Building Materials might not hire any immigrants at all. But if there are less houses being built because there are less workers turning up to build them then ol' Matt is going to take a hit to his bottom line. And less houses mean that those that are built will be more expensive.

This was explained to you in some detail well before this happened. That immigrants form a significant percentage of jobs that other Americans aren't interested in doing. Primarily it was farm work. That took a hit. Now it's the turn of the building industry.

It's not that Matt's business can now compete on what you seem to imply is a more level playing field. He's doing less business. Period.

essentialsaltes · Jan 11, 2026

'It's not going well': More Trump supporters now regretting their vote

This included one North Carolina woman who admitted: “I heard a lot of why I shouldn't vote for [Trump]. And that thought process was definitely in my head at the time. But since doing so, it's almost like every single thing that they told me is happening.”

Another Trump voter admitted that, on the economy, things were “not going well.”

“I was looking yesterday and, you know, Americans have lost over $1 trillion in their wealth in the last year, while the top 1 percent has gained over $10 trillion. And it's like, that's not exactly what was supposed to be happening,” said the unnamed man. “There's this bifurcation where the stock market seems to be doing well, but people aren't."

Another Trump swing voter said: “The sole reason I voted for him last time was because, as a Jewish person, I felt unsafe, and I felt the Democrats were incredibly weak in combating antisemitism.”

“I felt that [the Democratic] party had become infected with antisemitism, and that was incredibly scary to me. [But given Trump's win,] I actually feel less safe. … You know, every single decisive conversation seems to have some sort of undertones of, you know, ‘the Jews control the media or the Jews do this, the Jews do that.’”

essentialsaltes · Wednesday at 3:41 PM

essentialsaltes said:
Somali American Republican Rebukes Trump's Xenophobic Attack: ‘My Children Are Not Garbage’

A cloud of fear hangs over Minnesota immigrant communities

Even citizens are afraid to go outside

[Sahra] Sharif, the Madina Mall shop owner...

“Would you believe if I told you I voted for this man?” she said, referring to Trump.

Sharif is not politically active, but in 2024, some campaigners came to her shop and told her that Trump would be good for business and against the LGBTQ agenda.

“I was immediately hooked,” she said. She voted Republican for the first time.

Now, chagrined, she said, “I never thought the man I put in office would come for my family, make me financially struggle and cause me so much fear that I carry my passport when I go to the bathroom,” she said, pointing at the mall’s bathrooms.

“I feel as though the weapon I built is coming to kill me and my people,” she said.

A2SG · Wednesday at 10:51 PM

essentialsaltes said:
“I feel as though the weapon I built is coming to kill me and my people,” she said.

-- A2SG, a tale as old as time....

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Well, off we go

Fact-Based Lifeform

‘I Didn’t Vote for This’: A Revolt Against DOGE Cuts, Deep in Trump Country​

Well-Known Member

‘I Didn’t Vote for This’: A Revolt Against DOGE Cuts, Deep in Trump Country​

Fact-Based Lifeform

Reuters: This construction project was on time and on budget. Then came ICE.​

“Construction can’t continue”: South Texas builders say ICE arrests have upended industry​

Well-Known Member

“Construction can’t continue”: South Texas builders say ICE arrests have upended industry​

Under the Southern Cross I stand...

Fact-Based Lifeform

'It's not going well': More Trump supporters now regretting their vote​

Fact-Based Lifeform

Somali American Republican Rebukes Trump's Xenophobic Attack: ‘My Children Are Not Garbage’​

A cloud of fear hangs over Minnesota immigrant communities​

Even citizens are afraid to go outside​

Gumby

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‘I Didn’t Vote for This’: A Revolt Against DOGE Cuts, Deep in Trump Country

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