My name is Frank Schaeffer, and I’m standing in front of one of my favorite places on earth—Massachusetts General Hospital. And I want to talk about the moment we are in, what I call, “The Trump Moment.” We are here because American liberals have failed to recognize the class divide that has fueled resentment among ordinary Americans. The very educated, the very wealthy—those who hold power in academia, science, and culture—have treated the rest of the country as an afterthought. The reaction to this snobbery has been massive, and the result? Donald Trump is back in the White House. I didn’t vote for him, but I understand why others did. The liberal elite have spent decades lecturing, condescending, and virtue signaling instead of addressing real economic and social concerns. And now, after years of prioritizing culture war battles over working-class struggles, liberals are faced with the consequences: the presidency, Congress, and the Supreme Court in the hands of a movement that was largely fueled by their arrogance.
But let me be clear—standing here at Massachusetts General Hospital, a beacon of elite education and cutting-edge science, I know firsthand that expertise matters. I am alive today because of real medical science, not conspiracy theories or alternative medicine. The cancer on my forehead was removed because of trained specialists. The polyps that could have killed me were found early because of rigorous medical screenings. My wife is alive because early detection saved her, too. So, while I understand the frustration that led to Trump’s election, I also see the danger in the right-wing backlash that seeks to defund the very institutions that make America great—its hospitals, its scientific research, its education. Rejecting elitist condescension doesn’t mean embracing ignorance. The answer is not to dismantle expertise but to make it accessible and accountable to everyone, not just the privileged few.
And here’s the real tragedy of the Trump moment: the pushback against liberal elitism was justified, but it has been hijacked by a man driven by vindictiveness and incompetence. Trump is not the answer. His administration is gutting scientific funding, stacking agencies with unqualified loyalists, and turning every national crisis into a political circus. This is not governance—it’s chaos. And the people who voted for him, many of whom are my friends and neighbors, will be the ones to suffer the most when vital programs are slashed, when farmers lose labor, when essential healthcare services are gutted. The left must learn its lesson—stop preaching, stop patronizing, and start listening. But the right must also wake up to the fact that Trump is not their savior; he is a reckless, self-serving opportunist. When this storm passes, when the damage is done, we have to come together—liberals, conservatives, centrists—to rebuild something worth believing in. Reality matters. Science matters. And if we don’t course-correct, the price will be paid in lives, in livelihoods, in the very fabric of what makes America great. Let’s survive this chaos together and ensure that when history looks back on The Trump Moment, we can say we learned something from it.
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