More and more of our Vermont news space is taken up with the local/state ramifications of Donald Trump’s attacks on democracy, the rule of law, and the government itself. So much so that unrelated stories are sometimes getting short shrift. More on that in my next post, or at least that’s the plan. In the meantime, please enjoy the panoply of bad news that Phil Scott thinks we should stop fretting about.

Counting the Trump damage done. Going to start with not a story, but an ongoing data collection effort. Vermont Public is tracking federal funding losses in our state in an easily digestible list. This is not the “rhetoric” that our governor insists we’re wasting time on; these are actual cutbacks with tangible effects. You’ve read about most of these if you follow the news, but it’s good to have them all in one place. The most recent entry is a lost federal grant for a local history training program, which was mentioned in a recent post and will make another appearance later in this missive.

Environmental Law Center “threatened on two fronts.” From the University of Vermont’s Center for Community News, a story about concern at the Vermont Law and Graduate School about potential Trump threats to the school’s Environmental Law Center. They’re feeling the heat, between Trump’s attacks on major law firms and educational institutions and his assault on anything that smacks of climate change or other inconvenient truths.

Two national voices with Vermont ties reflect on the Trump assault. Radio host and podcaster Kevin Ellis has two interviews worthy of your consumption. On his own podcast “Conflict of Interest,” Ellis recently interviewed Faiz Shakir, who managed Sen. Bernie Sanders; 2020 presidential campaign. Shakir said that the Democrats generally don’t get what Bernie has long understood: that the real fault lines in our politics are not left versus right, but top versus bottom. To Shakir, the Dems’ dependence on large donors has made them pull their punches on economic issues — and given Donald Trump a populist opening.

And in one of his recent Friday mornings on Radio Vermont’s “Vermont Viewpoint,” Ellis interviewed Luke Albee, former chief of staff to Patrick Leahy. Albee painted a stark picture of the danger ahead; would the aftermath of Trump be like Dresden, the city firebombed in World War II and then rebuilt, or would it be like Carthage, where the victorious Romans salted the earth so no civilization could be re-established on the site? Yes, in Albee’s mind, Dresden is the happy scenario. He counseled Democratic and progressive activists to concentrate on the threat of major cuts to the Medicaid program, which could devastate millions of Americans and cause a collapse of rural health care.

Both of these interviews were conducted in late March (the Albee program aired March 21 so you’ll have to scroll down the “Vermont Viewpoint” list to find it), but they’re still timely and well worth a listen if you haven’t caught them already.

Local librarians grapple with the age of Trump. The Other Paper in South Burlington visited public libraries in its service area, and found them worried about the potential impact of cuts in federal funding to libraries. The biggest threat is to interlibrary loan services, which our many small libraries depend upon. One bright note: in a clapback worthy of a library professional, Michael Hibben of the Pierson Library in Shelburne has scheduled a community read of Timothy Snyder’s excellent book “On Tyranny.”

Historical Society staffer reflects on federal cutback. Andrew Liptak, published author and VHS staffer, took to his blog “Transfer Orbit” (which usually concerns itself with science fiction, not grim reality) to offer his own thoughts on the “stupid” federal cutback that will end a program of helping local historical societies do their jobs better — and cost one of his colleagues their job. “It’s really tragic,” Liptak wrote. “She’s a talented, enthusiastic individual who is taking this much, much better than I would have.”

In the grand scheme, this is a small thing. But Liptak’s essay shows how much damage can be done by a single, senseless cutback. Multiply that times a few million, and see what you’ve got. And if Elon cripples Social Security and the Republicans slash Medicaid, multiply that by tens or even hundreds of millions. Perhaps the governor will one day soon favor us with a furrow of his brow.

Belated notice for a great April Fools Day bit. After all of that,we need a palate cleanser. And I’m dipping into last week to get us one, courtesy of the Vermont Cynic, the student newspaper at the University of Vermont. As it happened, April 1 was the day after interim UVM president Patricia Prelock was hired as provost at the University of Arizona, following two other top UVM officials, Suresh Garimella and Richard Cate. The Cynic pounced, and produced an April Fools Day announcement that it is also relocating to Arizona. The fabricated quotes were fabulous, but here’s the best of the bunch:

“I knew Suresh couldn’t go long without his favorite paper,” said news editor Noah Diedrich. “I know he loves our stuff. He was always so quick to reply to our emails and open to interviews.”  

Hopefully next week’s “News You Should View” won’t be so Trump-heavy. But you know, I wouldn’t count on it.