Ask A Genius 1533: American Politics in Crisis, Accountability, Shutdowns, and Social Backlash
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner
Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/10/03
How do political impunity, government shutdowns, and regressive policies shape America’s current democratic and social landscape?
Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner discuss the troubling state of American politics, highlighting impunity among leaders, the government shutdown’s threat to 6.7 million reliant on WIC, and the dangers of stochastic terrorism fueled by propaganda. They examine the sentencing of Elizabeth Wolfe for a racially motivated attack on a Palestinian-American child, Apple’s removal of ICE-tracking apps, and economic instability with job reports now relying on private firms like ADP. Positive news includes FDA approval of a generic mifepristone, though legal challenges loom. Broader concerns include U.S. plans to defund international diversity initiatives, reflecting deep cultural and political regression.
American News
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What’s the American news?
Rick Rosner: It’s the same disheartening situation. Carole despairs. I don’t quite despair, but she—and many others—see that the current rulers of our country have no accountability. They act with impunity and show little willingness to limit themselves. They keep testing boundaries and learning they can get away with more. Nothing is stopping them, and that makes people nervous because we’ve seen examples of other countries with leaders like that.
Jacobsen: First item: Apple removed ICE-tracking apps after pressure from the Trump administration. I was an app that let people report and see nearby ICE activity.
Rosner: So it told you if ICE was in your neighborhood. That’s not good.
Stochastic Terrorism
Jacobsen: Another item: A Texas woman, Elizabeth Wolfe, was sentenced to five years for attempting to drown a Palestinian-American Muslim child in May 2024. She pleaded guilty to attempted murder and injury to a child; police said it was motivated by racial bias.
Rosner: The United States has a third of a billion people. Even if one in a thousand is deeply unstable, that’s still a third of a million. When hate is fueled by propaganda, some of those people will act violently—that’s stochastic terrorism. The idea that a five-year-old could deserve what happened is absurd and terrible.
Jacobsen: The U.S. government shutdown is threatening about 6.7 people who rely on WIC—the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.
Rosner: To be precise, WIC is separate from SNAP, though both are nutrition assistance programs. Trump doesn’t care. He’ll cause suffering and try to blame it on the Democrats. Many shutdown agencies have posted on their websites that Democrats caused the shutdown, which violates the Hatch Act. That law prohibits political messages on government web pages. There are penalties under the Hatch Act—ranging from reprimand to removal—but enforcement is often inconsistent.
Jacobsen: U.S. employers announced fewer layoffs in September, but planned hiring is at its lowest since 2009, according to a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Rosner: We’ve lost, in addition to Trump firing the people in charge of compiling inflation and unemployment numbers, the official data couldn’t be released anyway because the government is shut down. So now we’re turning to private companies for their versions. Today’s job numbers, for example, came from ADP, a private firm. But whether the numbers come from the government or from private companies, we’re on the verge of significant increases in unemployment and inflation. Many people distressed about the current leadership hope the repercussions of Trump’s actions arrive sooner rather than later, so perhaps some Republicans in Congress might stand against him. Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC said the cabinet should consider invoking the 25th Amendment—that if two-thirds of the cabinet votes to remove a president who is incapacitated, the vice president takes over. But nobody in the cabinet is openly saying Trump is unfit. Senator Vance is happy to follow his lead. I don’t know what we’re doing with political topics here, because everything’s grim.
Aurobindo Pharma
Jacobsen: There is a win. Next item: the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Aurobindo Pharma’s (through its subsidiary Aurobindo Pharma USA) generic version of mifepristone, the abortion pill used to terminate pregnancies up to 10 weeks. That’s not bad—that’s a good thing.
Rosner: But a judge can still rule it’s not allowed in some states—or even nationwide—under dubious medical claims. We’ll see how that plays out. Approval of a generic might lower the cost, but if the government restricts availability, that won’t matter.
Jacobsen: And it’s having international effects too—not the abortion drug, something else.
Rosner: Plan B, which is emergency contraception, isn’t the same drug as mifepristone. Plan B is levonorgestrel. It hasn’t been terribly expensive in the U.S.—usually around $40 to $60—and cheaper in Canada. A generic might lower that a bit. But this isn’t like Paxlovid, the COVID treatment, which has a retail price of about $1,390 to $2,300 if uninsured. Plan B is nowhere near that. Can we move away from politics? I don’t have special insight, and things are bleak.
Rosner: According to Politico, the administration plans to halt federal funding for any organization or government that supports work overseas related to gender identity and diversity. U.S. officials and nonprofit groups have been informed of the policy changes.
Jacobsen: All I can say is more voters turned out to support this agenda than to oppose it. It’s counterproductive, regressive, and against the tide of history, but it’s where we are, and it will take time to move past it. Someone on Twitter today wrote, “I didn’t know Americans were that bad,” but enough Americans believe misinformation and harbor enough hate to sustain policies like this.
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