How the Trump Administration Exploited the American People and Failed to Deliver for Working Families in 2025

Re: How the Trump Administration Exploited the American People and Failed to Deliver for Working Families in 2025

To: Interested Parties
From: Laurie Carafone, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice Executive Director

MEMO
January 20, 2026

As an organization founded by Catholic Sisters, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice views today, the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump’s second term, as a time of crisis and great suffering for our country. The President’s record stands starkly against foundational values of our Catholic faith, and the interests of working families in America.

During his campaign, Donald Trump promised to make housing more affordable, lower grocery prices, reduce the overall cost of living, and end forever wars. But his record shows the opposite. Our country has been repeatedly diminished by this administration’s chaos, corruption, and cruelty.

Time and time again, President Trump prioritized himself and the billionaires who put him in office and stood behind him at his inauguration a year ago. President Trump’s economy enriches billionaires while leaving the rest of us behind. Under his leadership and direction, our health care, food, and public services were ripped away in order to pay for lavish billionaire tax giveaways. He has stoked war and violence abroad and unleashed masked deportation forces in communities across the country, disappearing our neighbors and sowing violence and division. President Trump has left us – our families, neighborhoods, schools, hospitals, and more – worse off.

The list below is a small sample of the actions taken by the Trump administration that are in stark contrast to our faith. We call the Administration and its enablers in Congress to change direction for the sake of peace, justice, and a better world for all people living in the United States.

Catholics and all people of faith and goodwill are organizing, educating, and taking action in our communities and joining the millions of people across this country who are tired of the chaos, corruption, and cruelty of the administration and allies in Congress. We are coming together to insist on a government that works for We The People, values human dignity, and builds up a country where all of us can thrive.

To see a full account of the second Trump administration’s executive orders and actions, visit NETWORK’s Executive Action Tracker.

Put Billionaires Over Working Families

Gave the richest 1% of Americans hundreds of billions of dollars, paid for by gutting our food and health care programs – SNAP, Medicaid, Medicare, and ACA health care premium subsidies.
Gutted funding for food banks, school lunch programs, Head Start, Pell Grants, AmeriCorps, K-12 education, and non-profit providers who feed, clothe, educate, house, and care for our communities.
Allowed the wealthiest Americans to avoid paying their fair share by cutting staff and stopping IRS investigations of wealthy corporations and individuals, emboldening rich tax cheats and destabilizing our economy.

Violated Life and Human Dignity

Terminated funding for universities engaged in life-saving medical research on cancer and other illnesses.
Gutted staff and closed offices responsible for protecting public health while spreading misinformation about vaccine safety and replacing scientists with partisans in setting national health policy.
Targeted and scapegoated immigrant communities, terrorizing peaceful neighborhoods and workplaces with numerous masked ICE agents.
Tore families apart and deported our community members, leaving families without financial support, children without parents to care for them, and communities without the workers and small businesses that have sustained them.

Actively Harmed Workers and Jobs

Empowered DOGE to slash federal jobs and cut funding to vital programs that serve our communities, including closing agencies that protect consumers and workers from fraud and corporate abuse.
Made the private information of millions of people vulnerable to misuse by both government agencies and outside hackers.
Gutted worker safety protections, making workplaces more dangerous and letting abusive corporate employers exploit their workers.

Gutted Clean Energy, Air and Water to Benefit Big Oil Friends

Dramatically weakened EPA protections and allowed Big Oil to drill in previously protected land – accelerating the pollution of our air, water, and soil, and exposing our communities to toxins.
Killed clean energy projects and energy assistance programs that make our utility bills more affordable – all to line the pockets of fossil fuel executives.
Reversed national and global initiatives to address climate change, while the country experiences unprecedented heat, drought, fire, and floods, and families face financial catastrophe when their homes are damaged or destroyed.

Violated our Constitutional Freedoms

Ordered harsh restrictions on our right to vote.
Openly undermined our First Amendment freedoms, threatening media companies whose programming criticizes the president and ending all federal support for public media.
Mobilized the military against U.S. civilians exercising their Constitutional freedom to protest by ordering Marines and National Guard members into multiple U.S. cities.
Ignored the rule of law and used the Department of Justice to go after President Trump’s personal political enemies.

Catholics believe each person is created with inherent dignity. Jesus commanded that we love one another and work for peace, mercy, and justice. President Trump’s administration has failed in each of these accounts.

For media interviews, contact Elena Gaona, [email protected], 202-907-9717.