Ray Mariano: Down the rabbit hole into Trump's Wonderland

USA Today

07-02-2025

Ray Mariano: Down the rabbit hole into Trump's Wonderland
I loved watching Disney's "Alice in Wonderland" with my children and more recently "Alice Through the Looking Glass" with my grandchildren. These movies are full of goofy characters who say things like 'Oh, you can't help that. We're all mad here.'
Everything in these movies is the opposite of what you'd expect it to be. Up is down and big is small. But when you're watching the movies with little children, it's just silly fun.
Recently, as I watched the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter and listened to the tributes offered about that good and decent man, I couldn't help feeling that I was on the other side of the looking glass — the Mad Hatter's side, where, as Alice said, 'nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't.'
There in the church was a president and four former presidents. For better or worse, as men and as presidents, four of the five tried to conduct themselves in a dignified manner. They didn't always succeed. But when they failed, they were contrite and resolved to do better.
And then there's Donald Trump.
The Red Queen and the bully
Much like the Red Queen in the movie, Trump loves to bully and scream at people. Try and imagine any of the other four presidents calling the governor of California 'Newscum.' If they ever did anything like that, the public and media reaction would have been swift and blisteringly harsh. Yet as we now linger on the other side of the looking glass, this disgraceful behavior is somehow acceptable.
And it's 'off with their heads' for anyone who has the courage to stand against Trump. In this strange, nonsensical world, 'all ways are my (Trump's) way.' Anyone who says otherwise, including career federal employees, is put on an enemies list and faces firing, investigation and prosecution.
Once prided for their independence, now to avoid the Red Queen's wrath, newspapers pull political editorials and satirical cartoons disparaging Trump. Prominent anti-Trump media personalities are being removed or demoted. Trump has even called for certain cable news channels, who offer opposing views, to be shut down.
Previously, you would expect a president to console and support victims of catastrophic wildfires that touched tens of thousands. Now, because some of them didn't support Trump on Election Day, what they get are ridicule, threats and lies.
Trump's cast of bizarre characters
Only in Trump's Wonderland would our current rouges' gallery of unqualified Cabinet nominees be acceptable.
It wouldn't be so bad if Trump had just nominated a group of Tweedledees and Tweedledums. But his nomination of Robert Kennedy Jr., a man who has admitted to having a portion of his brain eaten by a worm, threatens the health of every American.
The nominations of Matt Gaetz, Pete Hegseth, Dr. Oz and Tulsi Gabbard are distinguished by their misconduct and total lack of anything resembling reasonable qualifications for their respective offices. The single overriding qualification for all of Trump's nominees is that they are blindly loyal to the Red Queen
And then we have the Mad Hatter, Elon Musk, appointed to lead an imaginary department that doesn't exist. Only in Trump's Wonderland would you expect a man whose company holds nearly 100 different government contracts with 17 federal agencies totaling $3 billion to be an objective adviser.
Only in Trump's Wonderland would Rocky Balboa and two others be appointed as imaginary 'Special Ambassadors' to Hollywood to help bring back 'the Golden Age of Hollywood.'
Day 1 and beyond
On the very first day of the Red Queen's reign, we saw a dizzying list of pronouncements and actions that defy what we used to call reality. Of all of them, Trump's pardon and commutation of sentences for men who attacked and brutally beat police officers on Jan. 6 is the most troubling. Trump calls these criminals the real victims. His unthinkable action is frighteningly similar to Hitler's pardoning of all Nazis including those involved in a failed insurrection.
Trump revoked an executive order put in place in 1965 that bars discrimination in hiring in the federal government.
He ordered health agencies to pause warning Americans about serious illness like bird flu and had critical data on disease transmission scrubbed from government websites.
In action that the Red Queen would envy, Trump is conducting an unprecedented retribution campaign looking to purge thousands of FBI field agents, leaving America vulnerable to terrorist attacks.
Musk wants to put the U.S. Treasury on a blockchain, the technology that underpins bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, including Musk's dogecoin, jeopardizing our entire monetary system.
In a bizarre and dangerous pronouncement, Trump told the world that the people of Gaza should permanently leave their homeland and that the U.S. would take over and own Gaza, putting Americans directly in the line of fire.
And as unthinkable as it may seem, in Trump's dystopian Wonderland, the Ku Klux Klan walks freely around town posting flyers for their meetings.
To pay for tax cuts for the richest Americans, the Queen's loyal guards now plot to remove health insurance from millions of vulnerable Americans while also plotting to cut Social Security— both unthinkable before we passed through the looking glass.
Defying reality, every day Trump and Musk brazenly and publicly break new laws knowing that Republicans in Congress, much like the terrified guards who got caught painting the roses red, will do whatever the Queen commands.
In Wonderland, while Trump is burning down government institutions, most Democratic leaders, afraid to anger the Queen, sit silently and limit their opposition to meaningless posts on social media.
All this and more because of a man who called the violent attacks on Jan. 6 'a day of love.' Up is down and big is small.
Watching the animated movie "Alice in Wonderland" with little children can be harmless fun. But in 2025 America, as we peer through the looking glass, what we see is a horror film, with real-life consequences. And the movie is just beginning.
Email Raymond V. Mariano at [e-mail]. He served four terms as mayor of Worcester and previously served on the City Council and School Committee. He grew up in Great Brook Valley and holds degrees from Worcester State College and Clark University. He was most recently executive director of the Worcester Housing Authority. His endorsements do not necessarily reflect the position of the Telegram & Gazette.