Not a Normal Time
Allison Silberberg's Plain Talk
Not a Normal Time
By Allison Silberberg
October 25, 2025
This is not a normal time. We should not and cannot look away in despair. We owe it to ourselves, our loved ones, and even to our forebears to stay engaged, alert, and strong. This is anything but a normal time.
Decades from now, historians will look back at our time with bewilderment and sorrow, perhaps disgust. They will not look back and pat President Trump on the proverbial back as if he had been a jolly good fellow. Historians will be very harsh toward Trump. It is tragic what is happening here. There is no other way to say it.
In the blink of an eye, Trump has destroyed or is destroying our nation much like the wrecking machinery on the White House lawn.
Did we take our Constitution, White House, protocols, and standard national policies for granted? Perhaps. How were “We the People” to know that everything was there for the taking? But that is exactly what has happened. And no doubt, things will get far worse.
Not even a week ago, the East Wing stood as part of the White House complex. While it was a later edition to the original White House, the East Wing was built to totally fit in, gleaming in what I call White House white paint with windows and arches that match the White House. The East Wing has stood for over a century and has been an important part of this historic and august building.
Trump had stated publicly that the East Wing would not be touched as he added his ballroom. He lied. He knows no bounds of decency.
In less than five days, the East Wing was destroyed without any discussion, debate, hearings, or media scrutiny. Nothing. Trump is a one-man wrecking ball.
The East Wing was historic and should have been protected by historic preservation rules and procedures and protocols. But where are the protocols? Is the White House exempt from such oversight? There has been no public engagement nor any transparency about this project. All standard processes have been cast aside and seem to mean nothing to Trump and his enablers.
Trump should be honored to serve as the president and to reside in a place that dignitaries and members of the public visit every day, but he has shown contempt toward the office and the government itself. Where is the reverence? To add insult to injury, the large, old magnolia trees near the East Wing have also been ripped out of the White House lawn. Trump doesn’t care. He is serving as if a mad king and not a president.
So now the East Wing has been DOGE’d. In addition to the smoldering dust of what used to be the East Wing of the White House, there is far more occurring.
Much like his approach to the destruction of the East Wing, Trump has dismantled various government agencies and fired tens of thousands of federal workers with the help of Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Trump and his administration have destroyed long-established entities such as USAID and in the process destroyed lives here and around the world. By the time everyone caught on to what was happening, the USAID sign on the outside of the Reagan building was being taken down, and longtime employees were carrying their belongings out in a sad procession.
The next consequence of Trump’s destructive legislative record will start on November 1st when SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps, will be slashed, and over 42 million Americans will be affected. It’s not as if an American with SNAP benefits can eat steak every night. After all, it’s only about $187 a month in assistance for a family of four, but those families need that food assistance. SNAP has been supported in a bipartisan way for decades. Many Republicans have grumbled at times, but it was never on the chopping block like it is right now. Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill slashed SNAP without concern about those folks and instead granted a big tax cut for the super wealthy and corporations. This is not normal to throw tens of millions of Americans into hunger. Despite the fact that the USDA has $6 billion in a reserve fund that could be used to fund SNAP during this crisis, the Trump administration is insisting on blocking that option.
Think of it. We are a nation of about 340 million, and over 42 million will lose their SNAP benefits in a week if the Democrats don’t prevail in the Congress. Trump doesn’t care. This is not normal.
And while 22 million Americans are currently getting their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA), all of them are about to see their premiums skyrocket, and then millions of them will be forced to drop their health care coverage. This is exactly why the Democrats are trying to force the Republicans back to the table to work out a plan to extend the subsidies for the ACA premiums, but Trump and the Republicans won’t even sit down with the Democrats.
In fact, the House Republicans have not been in their offices for many weeks. Ironically, all members of Congress are still getting paid while most federal employees are not. The people’s business has been shut down, as dictated by Speaker Mike Johnson’s intransigence, which follows his instructions from Trump, who has joked that he is both the president and the speaker.
All of this is happening while there are incredibly long lines of fired and furloughed federal workers at local food banks around the DC region as they struggle to make ends meet. Federal workers live and work all across our nation and are watching the destruction of their lives and their life’s work.
The public will see and feel the shutdown’s impact as government services begin to seriously crater and when lives are threatened. We need only look at the current situation at our airports to see what the future holds in terms of public safety and reliable air travel. The air traffic controllers and many federal employees are working without pay, but how long will they be able to continue to serve?
Where has the Congress been in this whole process of destruction? After all, the Congress is supposed to be in charge of the purse. According to Trump, just because the Congress debates and votes to appropriate funds, it doesn’t mean anything, at least not to him. He has taken over and is daring anyone to stand up to him. His own Republican Party in the Congress should be outraged as their power is usurped and the Constitution is trampled.
Lest we take our eye off the ball, Trump is on the verge of getting our country into a war with Venezuela and perhaps other South American nations, and yet, he has not consulted Congress at all, as required by the War Powers Act. He has proudly killed dozens of men in boats in open ocean without provocation or proof, claiming they are drug smugglers and upending international law and standard warning practices.
Trump has just opened up massive pristine lands to oil exploration in Alaska.
The Epstein files have still not been released.
For over a month, there has been a newly elected member of Congress from Arizona, Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva, but Speaker Johnson has not sworn her in yet and refuses to do so. Johnson is literally disenfranchising all residents in that Congressional district.
This is all not normal.
The list is far longer. I will add only one more. A few days ago, Steve Bannon was interviewed and stated that Trump will be the president in 2028 and that there is a plan to have Trump serve a third term even though the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution prohibits anyone to serve more than two terms. Bannon said the public better understand this, implying that the public better accept this. But what about the 22nd Amendment? The language in the amendment is clear, but Bannon said there were scenarios where a third term was a viable option, and further, he indicated there is a plan to make it happen. He stated, “There is already a plan in motion.” Is that a promise or a threat? Either way, it threatens our 250 years as a nation.
This is not normal, not ethical, and not Constitutional – as with so many of Trump’s actions. Will our democracy soon be like the East Wing, simply a memory?
Allison Silberberg is a writer and public affairs/public policy consultant. She served as mayor of Alexandria, Virginia, 2016-2019. Her work includes working on staff on Capitol Hill for Senator Lloyd M. Bentsen (D-TX). She is the author of “Visionaries In Our Midst: Ordinary People who are Changing our World,” which hit #1 on Amazon’s List for Philanthropy & Charity. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Dallas Morning News, on PBS.org. To learn more, please visit: www.allisonsilberberg.com