What did my family ever do to Trump? | Opinion

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T

That we - through our chosen professions - have been targeted is indicative of why a majority of Americans say the president has gone too far.

Richard Wolf

President Donald Trump's determination to get back at his perceived enemies has somehow incorporated my entire family. What did we ever do to him?

I'm a journalist. My wife is a recreation therapist. My daughter is a lawyer. Sisters: social worker, psychologist. Brothers-in-law: psychiatrist, psychologist. Nieces, nephews: mostly educators. And my son is autistic, though he, too, works and pays taxes.

That we - through our chosen professions - have made the president's "enemies list" is indicative of why a majority of Americans say he's gone too far.

Trump targeting everything from schools, scientific research to freedom of the press

Perhaps it's not surprising that Trump has gone after journalists. He did that in his first administration, too. Still, it's striking that he went so far as to ban The Associated Press from routine media events because it refused to use the term "Gulf of America."

I covered the White House for USA TODAY, where I reported freely on Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. That has become a privilege of the past in the Trump administration, which bases press access on ideology.

The highlight of my wife's public service career was running community service programs for the federal agency that supports AmeriCorps. She supervised teens and young adults with and without disabilities who planned and performed service projects. Just in April, the administration placed most of AmeriCorps' staff on administrative leave.

My daughter is a senior associate at an international law firm, many of which have been threatened with the loss of federal contracts and access to federal buildings, including courthouses, unless they agree to work for free on some of the president's pet causes.

One brother-in-law spent his career at the National Institutes of Health, where he became a leading expert on bipolar disorder. Within weeks of taking office, Trump ordered sweeping cuts to NIH scientific research grants; his upcoming 2026 budget would cut its funding nearly in half.

The other brother-in-law spent the bulk of his career at Harvard University, where he became a leading expert on adult learning and development. Trump has all but declared war on Harvard and other elite universities, seeking to change what is taught and by whom and threatening to cut billions of dollars in grants.

Three of my four nieces and nephews teach at the K-12 level, where the federal Department of Education serves, according to its own website, "nearly 18,200 school districts and over 50 million students."

Not for long, apparently: Trump wants to eliminate the entire department.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vs. my son, solidly on the autism spectrum

None of these policies are as insulting as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s crusade against what he sees as the scourge of autism. Kennedy wants to determine its cause because, in his opinion, many people with autism "will never pay taxes, they'll never hold a job, they'll never play baseball" or even "use a toilet unassisted."

Tell that to my 39-year-old son, who is solidly on the autism spectrum but does all those things. He's a pretty good golfer, too. He and I were selected in 2022 to represent Special Olympics Virginia in golf at the national organization's USA Games in Florida.

For the entire Wolf family, this has gotten personal, and for no logical reason.

Trump's illusory election "mandate" was built mostly on immigration crackdowns and protectionist trade policies. His enemies list didn't include estimable enterprises such as public health, which saves millions of lives around the world, or higher education, the envy of that world, or the legal profession, built on the concept of social justice.

At this rate, it won't be long before Trump's wrath is visited on my 1- and 2-year-old grandsons, whether by eliminating fluoride from their drinking water or removing books from their libraries.

Why should we be living this way? What have we and those like us done in the course of our careers other than seek to inform, educate, heal, defend and otherwise help our fellow citizens?

We did not create or exacerbate the national debt or the budget and trade deficits. We did not enter the country illegally, though we sympathize with those being deported and denied their civil rights now. We did not contribute to the "carnage" in our cities that Trump vows to clean up; where we live in the greater Boston, San Francisco and Washington, DC, areas, crime is on the decline, not the rise.

There may be two ways out of this revolving door of retribution. Trump told The Atlantic on April 24 that he's not seeking retribution but that "a lot of people in the administration" are doing so. If that's the case, perhaps he could tell them to stop, or fire them.

Without such a change of heart, we will look forward to the 2026 midterm elections, when a majority of Americans can reject retribution in favor of liberation.

Then, noble causes such as those my family has always embraced - education, health care, civil rights, social justice, a free press - will be allowed to flourish once again.

Richard Wolf reported on the Supreme Court, the White House and Congress during a 45-year career in journalism.

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