By Robert Dean
Guest Columnist
My coffee was a little more expensive today. The ICE agents standing around the New Orleans airport were an unwelcome sight, with most people cringing as they walked past, doing nothing but chatting among themselves or staring at their phones. Gas prices affected the cost of my Ubers around New Orleans. The prices of goods and services were also up everywhere. I know that because, yes, I’m visiting, but I also used to live in this city. I know what things should set me back.
While my timeline is photos of my old stomping grounds, of po-boys dripping with roast beef debris, or shrimp piled on a plate, my friends all over the country are posting photos of their groceries, of how much their gas is costing; and some people welcome this?
I need you to finally admit that things aren’t going well for Trump. He’s a horrible president. I’m so tired of writing about it, about him, about how there’s always some new thing he’s been doing, and literally none of it benefits the American people. Did those ICE raids make anything better? No. They only stoked fear in people, and who made money? Not your community.
Usually, hollow politicians use their sleight of hand to distract us away from one issue (right now, it’s the Epstein files) and double down into other territories. Still, King Trump doesn’t even bother — he lets you know his friends and donors are the ruling class and that your survival on minimum wage is your cross to bear, not his. Consider those ICE raids: did that guy trying to make a living affect your life? He didn’t.
Private prison giants are raking it in: GEO Group pulled in about $2.6 billion in 2025, while CoreCivic topped $2.2 billion — both boosted by expanding ICE contracts. For each company, immigration detention alone now generates over $1 billion a year, with new deals and facility expansions driving even bigger projections ahead. This isn’t just enforcement — it’s a multibillion-dollar business model where detention translates into profit. Guess who these companies donate to?
The war with Iran is Trump’s final act of incompetence. He’s a long-standing, horrific businessman and nothing but a cancer to the American people, its future, and its legacy. He’s made us a cautionary tale, and these seats ain’t getting any softer.
Iran has been preparing for this for forty years. This war isn’t a ground offensive with guns and missiles, but instead a tactical day-by-day plan to dismantle the United States’ dominance as a world power. As we’re walking into a quagmire that will do nothing but show how unsuited we are, led by a team of people who belong on reality television, here’s what China has been doing for the last twenty years: China has poured more than $1 trillion into its Belt and Road Initiative across 150+ countries, locking in trade routes, ports, and political leverage while the U.S. burns capital on endless conflicts. It now produces roughly 30% of the world’s manufacturing output — more than the U.S., Japan, and Germany combined — and controls over 80% of the global solar supply chain, positioning itself at the center of the next energy economy. Meanwhile, China has invested heavily in strategic infrastructure such as ports, rare earth minerals (accounting for roughly 90% of global supply), and digital networks, quietly building the backbone of 21st-century power. At the same time, Americans pay insane rents, deal with broken insurance systems, are continually broke, and consistently wonder who’s leading us further into calamity.
One of the reasons I left New Orleans is that it was hard to make a living as a working writer. It’s a city that’s always been historically poor. And even twenty-one years after Hurricane Katrina, it’s still recovering. A city so special that people from all over come to visit and enjoy its excesses, but the infrastructure is still failing, the plane tickets to visit are still high — we don’t invest where it matters, but instead in how to kill more people.
New Orleans survives on the margins. It’s always been beautiful and broken. It’s generationally overlooked by people in power who show up when there’s money to extract or a photo op with a beignet to take. Sound familiar? The city isn’t a metaphor — it’s a preview. What happens when you chronically underinvest in people, infrastructure, and dignity isn’t abstract. It’s here. It has a second line, a flood line, and a menu that’ll make you weep. What happens when your town has nothing to offer? They’ve at least got jazz — you ain’t even got a decent radio station. (Editor’s note: Our contributor is unfamiliar with how blessed we are with WGOH/WUGO, so we’re going to forgive and let him slide on this last point. The rest of it, we’d love to hear your feedback on.)
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