- Welcome to Forum.

I'm Mina Kim.

As we look back on President Trump's first 100 days and the administration's actions we've covered on the show tariffs, mass firings of federal workers, the immigration and free speech crackdowns, the attacks on universities, law firms, or the press.

We wanna know how all of this has affected you.

Both critics and supporters of the president say they've felt this administration's presence in their daily lives in ways unlike any administration in recent memory.

How about you tell us by calling 8 6 6 7 3 3 6 7 8 6, posting on our social channels at KQED forum or by emailing forum@kqe.org.

Vij writes that he thinks a better question would be how we live through four years of biden's mismanagement.

Elena writes, these 100 days are causing me lots of extreme anxiety.

I've stopped listening to the news to reduce my anxiety.

I'm very scared of what's going on.

We need to speak up.

And Noel says, I went and bought a bottle of Canadian Club Whiskey.

Joining me this hour to help assess the president's performance and its impact on you are Michelle Singletary personal finance columnist for the Washington Post, who writes the nationally syndicated column, the Color of Money.

Michelle, welcome to Forum.

- Thank you for having me.

- Also with us is Jocelyn z, psychologist and clinical professor at uc Berkeley.

So glad to have you here with us, Jocelyn.

- So glad to be here.

Thanks so much.

- And in studios, Marisa Lagos politics correspondent and co-host of political breakdown for K-Q-E-D-A.

Marisa.

Hey Mina.

So start us off, Marisa, you have been all over the state.

You've talked to a lot of people.

What would you say is the overall mood and assessment of the Trump administration's first 100 days among Californians?

- Well, I think like a lot of things in politics, it really depends on what political perspective you're coming from.

I think that, you know, there is some, some anxiety across the board because of the sort of, you know, whole cloth changes we've made to things like tariffs.

I think there's some consternation, even among some more conservative pockets around things like immigration raids, because there's a lot of uncertainty about how this is gonna affect things like agriculture and other, you know, business communities.

But I think that broadly, you know, probably the letter next year, voter registration is going to be a big factor in deciding how you feel about this president at this point.

I think there's a lot of anxiety among folks who voted against Trump, the polling shows, even among some independents who might have voted for him.

And I think that that is what we're seeing really, you know, I mean, this is a very democratic state so that it's not fair to say everybody feels in one way ever.

But I think that that anxiety, that concern is very pervasive, especially in the big cities like San Francisco and LA - Especially.

But I am also struck by the fact that you're saying you are hearing a little bit of that in rural areas or places, red counties that went for Trump.

- I mean I, you know, I think that I, I should say a lot of my reporting so far has been focused on the policy areas because of the fact that there's just so much coming so quick.

Yeah, and, and you know, a lot of what I intend to do in the next a hundred days is, is sort of be on the ground more and, and engage some of the impacts of a lot of the changes that have been made.

But Mina, I do think that when I talk to folks, say even in law enforcement, you know, in sort of more traditional conservative sectors, I, I notice that even if they don't want to talk against the president, there is a lot of concern about what he's doing and there's also concern that speaking out would sort of put a mark on them.

And so to me that is fascinating.

You know, one of the areas I've been covering a lot is this question of sanctuary cities and the state and, and the sort of tension between the federal government and their desire to essentially force.

If you ask the locals local police and sheriffs into helping them with immigration enforcement, we should say that's because there just aren't enough ice officers and, and and DHS officers to do the job that Trump wants.

So they need help.

And I think that, you know, when you look at how that's playing out around the state, you do have some more conservative sheriffs and others saying, Hey, we're not gonna stand in the way.

But even there, it's not as if we've seen, you know, a wholesale sort of push back on the state law, which does prevent a lot of handoffs.

I think that that is an area where I, I'm gonna be watching closely because, you know, a Riverside County and Amador County, they may, their sheriff may have voted for Trump and like Trump, but they are still bound by the laws of the state.

And so I think there's a lot of tension developing between the aggressiveness of how Trump is going about this, and especially the fact that many of the things that he's done are not things that Congress has authorized.

So there's a lot of legal questions that are, that are out there.

- Well, this is Ner Kelly from San Jose writes, I retired a year ago having yet started getting social security, but plan to within two years.

I started Medicare in October.

But with Trump's wrecking the government and economy things are uncertain.

His tariff and Doge debacle has caused my savings to drop significantly.

Some have come back recently, but less than half my portfolio is diversified.

But is it helping how incompetent must one be to break the bond market?

I'm also worried about social security and Medicare being there now that I'll need them.

Michelle, I'm guessing you have heard concerns like this and it sounds like the finance questions have been coming to you nonstop these last few months.

- Yeah, just about every day I get an email or as I'm in church, I get tugged as I'm leaving service or going to service from people very worried about their retirement savings, worried about whether they should start social security early, which comes with some financial downside.

The earlier you start, the less you get.

And, and so people are not sure what to do.

And this is the same with businesses.

The uncertainty is causing people to make decisions that may not be in their best interest and could cost them a lot of money long term.

- And how would you characterize the level of worry that you're seeing, Michelle?

- I haven't seen this level of worry since the great recession.

People are, they are so scared.

That's the one of the second mo most popular questions I get is, should I pull my money out of the bank, an FDIC insured wow institution, should I have a lot of money at my house?

That is very concerning to me, that people are so unsure about how this administration is following the rules of law, that they feel that their money, their cash is better in their home under the mattress than in a insured institution.

- That's, and do just wanna say quickly what you tell people who have that level of fear.

- Well, first of all, I said tell me where you live.

'cause you know, I got some people, no, I'm just kidding.

I, I don't keep a stockpile of money in your house.

It's just there's too much risk to loss to being stolen in California, need not say more about fires and floods, and then also the risk of losing earnings, all that money.

And a high yield savings account, you can get four to 5%.

The bond market is kind of a little crazy, but nonetheless, you're still gonna get more than keeping it at your house.

So I tell them, please don't do that.

- Jocelyn, in terms of your clients, have they been bringing up the president or this administration in your sessions with them?

- You know, I've been a therapist for 19 years and there's only been two times where 100% of my client base has brought in a global event.

One was March, 2020 pandemic lockdown, and this this year right now.

So I would say across the board it's coming up in terms of increased anxiety symptoms, depression, insomnia across a lot of different walks of life.

- And so is it just sort of general anxiety and the effects of that?

Or is it also direct impacts?

Are people directly impacted by the president's actions?

- It's a great question.

I think I really am seeing these two buckets of threats.

I'm involved with a nonprofit, the Bay Area Trauma Recovery Clinic, which we primarily serve a low income population.

And in that clinic we're really seeing these survival threats, just threats to job security, to a feeling of safety.

If you're in a targeted group, just feeling physically safe is increasing certain symptoms such as PTSD and then also seeing this bucket of existential threats, kind of these bigger attacks to things like due process and basic constitutional rights are really creating a feeling of being quite unsettled in a, in a lot of folks right now.

- And what do you try to say?

I, I know there's very specific advice that you give to people based on what it is they're experiencing, but in terms of just a generalized set of advice.

- Yeah, you know, I think first is, is is just that recognition that you are not alone, right?

That, that we're all in this, this, this big soup together.

And I think number one, it's to not isolate right now, withdrawing is a really common and human response to distress, right?

That urge to crawl under a rock and stay there until all the bad things go away.

You know, therapists really talk about this thing called opposite action where you're resisting the urge to withdraw or disappear into your phone right now.

And instead connect in little and big ways.

- Let me go to caller Paul in San Francisco.

Hi Paul.

Thanks for joining us.

You're on.

- Yes, thank you.

Excuse me.

As a lifelong San Franciscan Democrat, now I feel more enabled to actually be more of a moderate and even sometimes conservative on certain issues.

The University of California, Berkeley recently since Mr. Trump got elected, has a, has inaugurated a course where people actually can discuss different opinions without being shouted down or actually have demonstrations against them.

So maybe that's one good thing Mr. Trump has done, maybe promote actually the idea that a college campus can actually be a place of exchange of ideas.

- Well, Paul, thanks for sharing that.

And and I do think that students, I'm really curious because you are Jocelyn, a professor at uc, Berkeley, what do you hear from students?

Do they express to you a greater sense of an ability to be able to speak more freely on campus?

- You know, I think it will depend on a few factors.

So our international students are the ones that are expressing much more concern and worry.

So if there's any concern about citizenship status, you know, that's a, that's a very real concern that we as in the kind of teaching mentorship roles are, are hearing from the students.

So I think it's student specific in terms of those fears around freedom of speech right now.

- How about you, Marisa?

What do you hear?

- Yeah, it, it's interesting.

I mean, I haven't really heard that point of view on campuses specifically.

I think, you know, it's not, you know, this, this may be something that, that folks on the left and right can agree on, but that, you know, campuses do tend to be more liberal and that that has been sort of a hallmark of both faculty but also the student bodies.

And so I think that mostly what I'm hearing is consternation about, you know, their ability to speak out, about their ability to protest, about the way things have been handled.

You know, when you get into the sort of nuance of some of the debates over some of the Palestine protests and, and, and, you know, the way that the universities have handled that, I think there, there is more sort of layers to that conversation.

But, you know, I, I really haven't yeah, heard that particular perspective from students themselves.

- We are assessing President Trump's first 100 days in office and hearing how you've been affected.

Tell us at 8 6, 6, 7, 3, 3, 6, 7, 8, 6 at the email address forum at KQE d.org or by posting on our social channels.

We'll have more after the break.

I'm Mina Kim, welcome back to forum.

I'm Mina Kim.

We're talking this hour about how Trump's first 100 days in office have affected you and getting your assessment of the president's performance.

We're talking about it with Michelle Singletary personal finance columnist for the Washington Post.

Marisa Lagos politics correspondent for KQED and co-host of political breakdown and with Jocelyn z, psychologist and clinical professor at uc, Berkeley.

You can post on our social channels, blue Sky, Facebook, Instagram, and threads at KQ EED forum.

You can give us a call at (866) 733-6786.

You can email your comments and questions to forum@kqed.org and ahead of the show.

We got this voicemail from a listener in Florida.

- Trump's first hundred days approximately has been a disaster for me.

My work involves steel through recovery and recovery and clean house gas management and, and sea.

And everything he represents is hundred percent opposite of my work.

Further, those that are building these plans or developing these projects, the investors, et cetera, have all essentially gone away or, or become very stuck.

And I'm, I'm afraid it's gonna be that way for the entire term that have around.

- Hmm.

Marie, Marissa, the president's approval ratings have dropped since he took office.

I think to the point where even the president is saying he wants to investigate the pollsters, pew has it around 40%, which I think a times poll called historically low for this point in an administration.

So, so what's driving these low ratings do you think?

- Yeah, I mean it's really interesting.

He still has very high approval ratings among his base, but he is losing independence.

He is slipping very significantly among younger voters.

He has a very high disapproval rating from Democrats.

No surprise there.

But I do think when you sort of dig down into some of the cross tabs, it's really fascinating.

I mean, even Fox News has him underwater on everything other than border security, which they pulled out separate from immigration.

And so I do think that what sort of taken all together these polls really seem to show is that a lot of the concern is really breaking through about not just what Trump is doing, but the way he is doing it.

Right.

We see these numbers, you know, concerns about the tariffs and what it is doing to people's finances.

And if there is a plan there, you know, this is somebody who really campaigned on this idea of bringing down the cost of groceries and everyday things.

And now you have like Amazon listing the tariff price next to, you know, as part of the breakdown of, of a price of something.

The, you know, cases like Kimmel Abrego Garcia, the Maryland undocumented immigrant who was, you know, mistakenly sent to El Salvador, the news over the weekend about the young children who are citizens but were deported with their mothers.

Yes.

Back to places like Honduras.

I mean, it does seem like a lot of these stories are really breaking through and I think when you look at, you know, the numbers across the board on issues like foreign policy, the economy taxes, it, it is not good news for this president.

And I think it raises interesting questions about how he will sort of react because I, I don't see a world in sight where, you know, the tariffs are suddenly abandoned.

It doesn't seem like his administration is really listening to public opinion or hearing the concerns people have about the way he is approaching this immigration stuff.

And so I do think it, you know, it sort of, it it it all of this taken with some of the protests we've seen some of the pushback from democratic members of Congress, the tours that folks like Bernie Sanders and a OC have been on.

It does seem like there's sort, sort some signs of life of an opposition which has taken a bet.

- Well, I wanna go deep on both of those things, whether or not he's gonna change and signs of life, I guess in the opposition to use your words.

But yeah, it is very interesting.

We had Nick Moff on with regard to immigration and he was basically saying that he felt like yes, people were supportive of greater border security, but when you started deporting people, people who mistakenly or with legal status, then that was going to probably show up in terms of dissatisfaction among your voters.

- And the court looks very secure.

So I think people are a little bit maybe confused about why then this aggressive, you know, sort of deportation effort is playing out the way it is, right?

Yeah, I think there's a lot of support for deporting folks who have been convicted of crimes and things like that, not so much for families and other folks - Who, right.

- We've seen, - And, and while immigration has been a strongest issue, it has not been incredibly high.

I think the latest Washington Post poll was basically saying that it was at like 46% and that there were more people disapproving of the way that he was carrying out his immigration policy.

Which makes me wonder, Michelle, if the general economic mood has actually been driving down some of his other numbers to, I, I guess Michelle, the, the argument that the administration is making in terms of short-term pain for long-term gain or the ideal of bringing manufacturing back to the US is not resonating with the people that you are hearing from.

- Well, absolutely not.

I mean, you know, individuals are looking at their micro situation, not the macro as they should.

And you know, many economists are saying this idea that gonna bring back all these manufacturing jobs the way he, the, the president has laid out is just not gonna happen.

And, and one of the reasons that's gonna happen is because he flip flops so much, he changes as much as he might change his underwear.

And as a result, people don't know what to do.

If I were a business, I'm not gonna invest in a new building or manufacturing if I don't know what's gonna be the policy tomorrow.

And so, and how does that relate to individuals?

Well, individuals work for small businesses.

And so if a small business says, you know what, I've got a little bit more customers, I'd like to hire another person, but I don't wanna hire a person who then I didn't have to fire, they, you know, they're concerned about the people that they employ and they don't wanna do that and be that position.

And now we're finding out that all the cuts to the federal government, guess what, that impacts other people too.

Contractors, the businesses that serve the contractors non-profits, you know.

And so all of us are tied together and I think the way we vote, we sometimes don't think that way.

That this is, you know, sort of like my issue.

But now we're saying, well, wait a minute.

I know he was gonna deport them people, but I didn't know he was gonna deport the person that cleans my house or does my lawn or, or washes the dishes at my favorite restaurant.

And so now we're realizing how interconnected we are and the inhumanity of the decisions is what is causing all this angst.

We all agree we want a smaller government, we want the, the, the federal budget balance.

We want to make sure that social security is secure, but we also want to be careful about how we go about that so we don't further damage people's lives.

And I think that's where we all are united and that's what's showing up in the polls that people are saying, hold up, wait a minute, this is not smart and it's impacting my retirement account and, and if it impacts my retirement account, even if you are not invested in the market, if people are pulling back and not shopping and not going on vacation and not doing things, that's gonna impact your business if you sell souvenirs at the shop next to the bus station or the, or in in the, in the city.

- I'm so curious, Michelle, what do you tell people with regard to tariffs?

Just because that's been one of the things that has pulled so poorly or the trade war about the degree to which they should let the uncertainty around the trade war affect their decision making?

- So I've tried to put it in different buckets.

If you are gonna make a major purchase a car and you were already in the market, you had the money, you knew that you could afford it, go ahead and do it at like yesterday because the, the studies are showing that, you know, any cars are gonna go up as much as 10 to $20,000.

It's like for the average family, that's crazy.

So go ahead and pull that, however, don't jump and buy a car that you are not ready for, just so that you could save that $10,000 that makes no sense.

So you don't need to buy that, hold onto that hoopty that you have that clunker, get it fixed.

'cause $1,500 car pair is a lot less than a $40,000 new car and don't stockpile toilet paper and, and, and, and paper towels.

You can't pay your rent with toilet paper.

So it may cost you a little bit more down the road, but you need to make sure you're stockpiling cash not goods.

- Michelle was talking about Jocelyn, you know, just the recognition that there's a certain inhumanity right now that's happening with the deportations.

I'm wondering if you could just help me understand the psychological effect of living in sort of this level of constant fear, whether low level or not.

- Yeah, you know, I think when we're talking about just the aggression and the speed, and as Michelle said, the flip-flopping for me as a psychologist, when I look at this, it really feels like the administration honestly just kind of pulled a paid straight of the playbook for narcissistic abuse.

That is a form of emotional control that uses tactics like manufacturing, what's called volatile uncertainty.

So that's uncertainty.

That's not just that future outcomes are unknown, but they are also unpredictable and constantly changing.

What that does to a person, or in this case a people, is that it amplifies anxiety by overwhelming the brain's ability to prepare and anticipate.

So a this the volatile uncertainty that so many of us are experiencing and and talking about is tremendously dysregulating to our nervous systems.

And it is really paramount, I think that we start to recognize that collectively with each other and figure out how to build resilience that the good news about the playbook is it's a playbook.

It's actually very predictable.

It's very consistent.

And so we can get out of reactivity mode and and move more into proactive unity, you know, as, as so many people have been.

- Can I ask describing - Sure, of course.

Can - Like I'm just curious then how you talk to your patients and, and folks who are, who are, you know, expressing this type of anxiety about staying engaged versus checking out, right?

Yes.

Because it's such, you know, and, and obviously in our jobs, Mina and I don't have a choice, but you know, I've also found myself putting guardrails on some of just like the time that I spend like engaging in the news and it's, you know, it's not just the US news, it's the news can be very upsetting, but it's like you also don't wanna tell people, okay, just like step back and don't be involved civically, right?

Yeah, - That's right.

I mean those guard guardrails are essential right now we call those in therapy world boundaries, right?

Boundaries are something that everyone needs to be exercising right now as much as they, but I also educate my clients just on what is nervous system dysregulation.

It really falls into these five modes we know about fight and flight, but we also will see freeze response that inaction and paralysis and we'll see fawn, that's things like complying or preemptive obedience and then there's flop, which is giving up in hopelessness and despair.

And so just being able to name that these are really normal human responses to the chaos that a lot of people are experiencing right now and sharing with others about what you're experiencing in your bodies and in your brains right now.

And then taking that breath and, and and, and coming together on, okay, if, if we don't wanna just stay stuck in those survival modes, what, what next?

And so I think it is that combination of absolutely keep setting those guardrails.

I'm telling 100% of my clients to start storing their phones, charging their phones outside of their bedroom at night.

Just incredible amounts of sleep disruption and folks checking the news at 3:00 AM 5:00 AM And so those guardrails are, are essential, but then the action is, is one of the best things for your mental health right now coming together in collective action.

- I don't know if I could ever not charge my phone right next to my bed, but I can totally see how that would be really, really helpful.

We're talking with you listeners about how the first 100 days of Trump's administration are affecting you, how they've affected you maybe on the financial level but also on the psychological level as well.

Polls are suggesting that a lot of people are not very happy with the way it has affected them as we've seen poll numbers sink as we close in on these first 100 days.

Let me go to caller Jennifer in San Francisco.

Hi Jennifer, you're on.

- Good morning.

This subject I would like for everybody for me is so personal in particular Medicare and Medicaid.

It sends chills down my spine.

I have a dear friend who relies on Medicaid for her very existence.

I have a mother who has part of Medicare and we are sitting here holding our breath or rather trying not to hold our breath and wondering what we should and should not do.

Mind you, I have a whole team around me that is helping, but Jesus, what about the people who, who don't, what about the people who are, are just alone in their house apartments going, what do I do?

- Yeah, what do I do?

Jennifer, you are underscoring.

I think what you said earlier, Marisa, about when you go around the state, one of the things you really do hear about is concerns about Medicaid and the kind of funding that it's being given by the federal government or lack thereof.

- Yeah, I mean this is like a very real possibility and unlike a lot of the things that the president has done, it does look like he's trying to go through Congress for this.

And so if they succeed in cutting, you know, $800 million or billion for Medicaid million billions, it will, I mean, very much affect a state like California, which has such a huge number of folks on that.

I mean, on the other hand, this is also an area where folks do have some agency.

We saw someone like David Val, Republican from a very purple district in the Central Valley vote against the Medicaid cuts.

And I think that that is, you know, someplace where there is a lot of sort of consternation among demo Republicans in Congress, especially in these swing districts about whether that's something they wanna do.

I think some of that like again, like those are easy things to focus on.

I think, you know, the other concern I hear is like what is happening to social security?

Yeah.

Are these cuts and changes at the agency a pretext to sort of pave the way for privatization?

And I think again, that's a place where folks can be, you know, proactive in terms of talking to their members of congress, the senators that represent them, really sort of underscoring how important these things are.

But yeah, these are people's lives, these are, this is their healthcare and we know from the last 20 years what a potent issue that is.

And I think it's really gonna be an interesting political question for a lot of these Republicans.

- Yeah.

And in answer to your question, it is that it's more than 800 billion with a be Yes.

Yes.

Let go to GI A - Trillion - And that is most of it.

Let me go to Gisette in Half Moon Bay High Gisette you Joran.

- Thank you for taking my call.

Yeah, I was gonna say one way in which the funding cuts have really impacted my life is that I have a daughter who's about to graduate this June in bioengineering and was hoping to pursue a career in science.

And graduate programs are all but canceled because so many grants have lost funding and there's so much uncertainty about being able to accept students that there's a lot of young people that have interest in pursuing careers in science that are now looking at going abroad.

- Yeah, well Gisette, you know, definitely research funding cuts, students are feeling those and then graduating students are also Michelle feeling the concerns around the fact that they are now on the hook to pay back their student loans at the very beginning of this year, after a five year pause of not penalizing borrower borrowers that has started, what are you telling student loan borrowers, Michelle?

- So the first call you have to make is to your lender or lenders, if you've got federal and private loans, and talk to them about your options.

We're not sure where the income based payment plans are going to end the save program, which I thought was a great way to help people, particularly if you had a payment that didn't cover all your interests, the interest would go away.

And I know a lot of people are like, well, where's it going?

But the fact of the matter is it did help a lot of people who just couldn't afford those payments.

And so I, if I were have student loans graduating, I'm thinking I gotta pay this.

If you can go back home and live with your parents, find a relative, a friend, if you've got five roommates, you're going to keep five roommates to get those, get that debt off your books.

So turning to some sort of debt forgiveness that was there as the, you know, because of the, it started with the pandemic and then it followed it afterwards, it's just not gonna be there.

It's a different landscape.

So don't look for help from the federal government and that means that you gotta figure out how to incorporate that student loan payment into your budget.

- Critics of the Trump administration, as well as supporters of the Trump administration are describing these first 100 days as being has as having touched a corner of their life in a way that no previous administration, at least in recent memory has for a long time.

And you, our listeners are telling us how at 8 6, 6, 7, 3, 3, 6, 7, 8 6 at the email address forum@kqd.org on Blue Sky, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

You're doing it with Jocelyn Z, a psychologist at uc, Berkeley, Michelle Singletary, a fi, a personal finance columnist for the Washington Post.

The color of Money is her column.

Marissa Lagos politics correspondent for KQED.

This listener on Discord writes, I'm trans and rushed to get an updated passport before Trump took office.

Who knows if that's even good at this point.

I was hoping to travel to my sister's wedding later in the year across the country, but that seems less and less safe.

I'm also worried about my access to gender affirming care.

I'm really starting to feel like my life was on track and this has really unsettled that more after the break.

I'm Mina Kim, you're listening to Vora.

I'm Mina Kim.

We are assessing Trump's first 100 days in office and how it has affected you.

Our listeners, we're talking with Marisa Lagos of KQED, Michelle Singletary of the Washington Post, who does a personal finance column, the color of money there.

And with psychologist and clinical professor at uc, Berkeley, Jocelyn Z you are listeners are sharing how Trump's first 100 days have affected your daily life, your community, your finances, the direct impacts that you have faced.

And listener Noel writes, I try to boost my sister-in-law's morale as she fears for her job at the va. At least she's been going to protest, so that helps with her anxiety.

I even applied for a job at the Palo Alto va despite all the uncertainty.

Jocelyn, didn't you work at the VA at some point?

Are you in touch with your colleagues?

- I am in touch with my colleagues and gosh, they really are on the frontline right now and there's just a tremendous amount of anxiety and stress due to the ongoing week to week changes in bureaucracy and policies in terms of just - What to do after a job loss like this in a lot of cases.

Very, or just that constant concern that you are gonna lose your job, especially if you have a federal role.

What are you hearing from clients and what are you trying to tell them?

- Gosh, I mean, I think first just, it is, it's just devastating.

I think below all the anxiety, there's just so much grief.

I think the grief is a little bit even harder for us to make space for, you know, this is a fast-paced experience for everyone and grief requires slowing down.

So I think just, just naming that there are just tremendous levels of loss happening within the VA system and a million other systems right now.

And, and sometimes, you know, just being able to share those stories and name that together, at least it can take that second level of anxiety off if we can just sit with the real feelings underneath.

- Let me go to caller Adam in San Francisco next.

Hi Adam, you're on.

- Hi, good morning.

I'd like to speak about social security for many, for decades, the Republican party have been trying to steal the fact is social security owned and paid by the American people from the first day they go to work, to the day they retire or die.

Employer like myself won't.

Big company for decades paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to security money fund in the fund.

It's really sad.

These are a bunch of Robert and thi trying to steal the country.

Another point, very important point.

The word thematic belonged to group of language, Arabic, Hebrew or America and few others.

It has only to do with race, religion, whatever.

John Hopkins University made a DNA study in Palestinian and Israelis came 2% DNA from old Hebrew Palestinians came 78%.

We need education, we need to people because what's happening now, one of the darkest history in northern America, in the whole world, these are very dangerous group of people have taken over.

Thank you very much, - Adam.

I I hear your concern.

Let me go next to Patricia and Los Altos.

Hi Patricia, you're on.

- Hi.

I was really surprised at the earlier comments about students at universities potentially feeling more free to discuss things because of all the rhetoric that's going on.

That's not what I've seen or experienced.

I just imagine a parent particulars international students who saved their whole life to send their kids to a top university only to find out that their student visa was revoked or worse yet they were picked up and detained in some detention center, also known as a prisoner.

I, I don't think international students are opening their mouth to peep and I think other students are concerned also because if you can do this to a student who isn't a citizen who should be protected by the constitution, you can do it to a student who is a citizen.

You know, it starts with one and it goes, it becomes worse.

So I think people are scared to death.

I see people in my daily life that are in the middle.

I have a friend that's in the middle of the process of gaining her citizenship, but she's not there yet and she is scared to death.

She won't take the bus to work and she, she won't open the door at her house.

You know, people are are afraid all over the country.

- They are.

Patricia, this listener writes, after the first 100 days, I find myself untrusting of strangers around me.

We are planning a road trip towards this.

Sierra is in a month, and I'm apprehensive of driving through some of the communities.

I mean, for me it is a fact that these places may be brimming with hate.

You know, Marisa, you, you mentioned this before and I wanna address it in terms of if you think there will be any adjustments, maybe not from Trump himself, because yes, he does seem, you know, like he wants to follow a particular track and likes to double down even when things look like they're not going in the direction.

But, but from other people with swaying the administration as well, like, do you see the, the assessment at this stage in his presidency having any effect in terms of pivoting, changing course at all or just making some adjustments?

- You know, not yet, but this is a president who is not immune to public opinion, right?

Right.

He does care about the markets, he cares about public opinion polls.

I think that the difference between this administration and the last one is just the fact of who he surrounded himself with.

I mean, these are very sort of hardliner folks.

I'm thinking about on the immigration front.

You have Tom Holman Hisar, you have Christine Nome, department of Homeland Security, you know, they are all in on this sort of, not just the policy, but the way that Trump wants to carry it out.

So do I think something's gonna change overnight?

I don't, but I do think that, you know, the public pressure will matter and I think that a lot of these numbers will matter.

I also wanna acknowledge when we talk about his base, you know, supporting him, it's over 80% approval.

You know, there are a lot of people, and I know our, my colleague Izzy Bloom, our colleague Mina, has been talking to a lot of Trump voters and a lot of them are still very pleased with what he's doing.

They feel that he is carrying out the promises he made.

Yes.

They feel that, you know, the, you know, border crossings have dropped close to zero.

That is, you know, to them very paramount to the, what he campaigned on.

And I do think that, you know, if you are not dependent on these safety net programs, if you are not running a business, you know, there are a lot of people sort of more in the middle who maybe have not been personally affected by what is happening.

And so, you know, we're hearing obviously from, you know, folks who are, you know, going to a Bay Area University and expressing concern.

But I do think there are a lot of people out there who are very pleased with the way he's going about this.

And, and I think that, you know, back to your original question, like the pressure that we're seeing and, and the decline among some of the voters who were independent, who Republicans were able to bring over.

I I I think it's going to sort of take a little bit more time and as we approach the midterms, perhaps we'll see more adjustments from this White House, but maybe - Not.

Yeah, I mean, there is a lag time still for some of the policies that they put in place too, to feel their full effects right.

As well.

- And a lot of the things that they've done are just being held up in court.

And so that is where you don't really know the outcome of these threats to not just Medicaid funding, but you know, all law enforcement funding for California because of sanctuary policies.

You know, again, the, those are some of the stories I'm trying to get out there and, and understand better.

Because part of the problem here with covering this administration is a lot of what they've been doing is it, it's not clear like they made threats and then they were stalled by a court, but then in some cases they followed through on those threats.

You know, we had that color earlier about a graduate, you know, a mother of a graduate student or student to be graduate students.

This is something I'm hearing from, from folks in San Francisco whose kids are applying to college right now.

They just don't have any idea whether the FAFSA application, you know, the student loan application will even be processed if there will be that availability, what, you know, things will look like on college campuses who are standing to lose millions or billions of dollars in research and other funds that help sort of support the overall infrastructure.

And so I think like uncertainty is really a, a big thing right now, regardless of your political, you know, - Exactly.

- Stripe, - You, you brought up the midterms too.

What I find interesting is in some of these polls, Democrats aren't doing very well either.

And I'm wondering if, is this just a lot of Democrats who are very critical of the people in their party not showing enough resistance to this particular administration?

Or is it just that, you know, they really haven't been able to find, find footing even with the fact that it seems that this president's activities are not broadly popular?

- I think both.

I mean, you know, Trump was able to really sweep the battleground states by bringing over a lot of groups of voters that historically have supported Democrats, independents, young people, even voters of color.

And so I think that, you know, Democrats need to make an actual case here.

What we, and we've seen I think, signs of life, as I said before, but really, you know, we are only a hundred days in.

I think those cases are beginning to sort of be developed.

And I think, you know, the question is going to be like, who the Democratic party does not have a natural leader right now.

And that makes it really hard because every time Trump steps in front of a camera or microphone, it becomes a global story.

There's no one who really has that power at this moment on in the opposition.

And so, you know, developing that, figuring out who are going to be the leaders, I think is gonna be a really big political question.

But I do think we're seeing, you know, JB Pritzker, the governor of Illinois has been getting a lot of attention for his really fiery sort of rhetoric.

Yeah.

Bernie Sanders and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez have attracted tens of thousands of people even in, you know, purple and red areas of places like California to these rallies.

And so I think that there's a burgeoning movement, but, but you know, again, we're, we're three months in and the election for the midterms will not be until fall of 26.

- And, and though as you're right, that Trump's approval is very much based on what party affiliation you have, one thing that you have also seen across the board as being very unpopular is defying court orders.

And that is something that survey respondents have been very clear on, that they think is a level of lawlessness that at least this stage across party, they're not willing to tolerate.

- And I do think like your level, if like, especially if you're a Republican who supported Trump, like perhaps your level of approval for the president is also directly related to how engaged you are.

Because I think a lot of the sort of details of some of, you know, the response to court orders the way they have proceeded with these immigration deportations, I think the more you dig in, the more troubling it is to some people.

- Let me go to caller Lynn in Pleasant Hill.

Hi Lynn, you're on.

- Hi.

Thank you so much for taking my call.

You know, like others who have shared, I've been really hurt in the stock market just because after 27 years of work and saving as a social worker, I've already lost a hundred thousand dollars and I just retired.

So I'm the one who's gonna be hurt so much.

But beyond other things that people have said, I feel like in these hundred days my values are assaulted every day by this administration.

This administration focuses on what we can give the rich and take it from the poor.

Medicaid is a program for the poor, and that's their plan to take for, give this money to wealthy people.

I feel like as they talk Christianity, Christianity of which I love and follow, I feel like they're interested in Christian jewelry.

Make sure you wear your cross, but don't live out Christian values.

- Let me thanks - Right now Cent saying, saying something like this is strategic uncertainty, the only people that's good for people who are insider traders.

Oh, and what that really means is insider cheaters.

- Lynn, thanks for calling.

And let me remind listeners, you are listening to forum.

I'm Mina Kim, Michelle.

I feel for Lynn, just listening to the state that she's at in her life and the losses she's experiencing.

I mean, are these market swings?

Are they at least starting to stop?

- I they're not stopping.

They slowed a little bit and I think when the bond market kind of took a hit, they were like, wait a minute.

Because that talks about how secure people feel in the, the US government.

I mean bonds, you know, treasuries, it's like they've never defaulted.

But if that is impacted, ho hold on, wait a minute.

And I would say if, if people's listening and looking at the portfolio, unless you're gonna pull out all that money, you don't lock in those losses until you do pull out that money.

But that's just an academic phrase when I say that because people are like, look, I'm looking at this return and it's down a hundred thousand dollars and I'm not happy about that.

And all I can say is feel what you need to feel.

I think it's very important in this discussion that we talk about people getting mental health help to deal with this.

And even especially as investors, you know, I've been talking to my counselor like, how do I stay calm as I'm trying to help other people?

And these are real feelings.

This is real money, at least on paper until you pull it out.

And I'm hoping that at some point someone in the administration will see that this does not help long term.

Because if people pull out, we know that a lot of them won't get back in.

And the biggest threat to your financial future is inflation.

So that means your money needs to grow and it's not gonna grow in the mattress and it's not gonna grow in a low yield bank account to the point which you are going to need that money in retirement to pay for healthcare.

And the other things that you need as you age.

- Steve, on discord rights, I have a smallish investment, about 40 to 50,000 that I inherited from my mother.

It lost about 15% of the value in the first half of April.

Presumably fallout from the tariffs at that rate.

It'll be essentially valueless after three more years.

David on Discord writes, Trump's Liberation Day liberated me from my 401k mm.

Chris writes, I have three grandkids looking at college too.

Clearly on the academic track, we are carefully looking at universities abroad, wondering if they'd be able to get back into the US if they go.

We're hearing about how the first a hundred days of the Trump administration have affected you, your finances, your state of mind.

Let me go to caller Chris next in San Francisco.

Hi Chris, you're on.

- Hey, thank you so much for dealing with this.

I am also a psychologist and what I have been doing for myself and for women I've lived this professionally is recommending, don't - Recommending what?

I'm sorry, Chris.

- Find a support group.

Find a community.

- Find a community.

I'm so sorry.

I think the, the, the line is just a little bit unclear, but I get your point.

Kristen actually underscores your point, Jocelyn, earlier about don't isolate, don't isolate in this time.

Like even if you fear certain things, you can find people who - You can find people - Totally trust - 100.

- Be with them, even if - Absolutely.

I mean in all this I joined a woman non-binary, trans TaeKwonDo school that is volunteer run.

And what we do together is we just practice staying grounded and feeling physically safe in our bodies when we are literally under direct physical attack because we spar each other.

And to me, I agree with this call that it is tremendously co-regulating to find your spaces where you can just feel safe and strong.

- Yeah.

- In yourself, - We're coming up on the end of the hour, but would that be your key recommendation - In - Terms of how to approach - The next few months?

Yeah.

Communities and, and you'll be amazed what's out there.

I think if you start seeking it out right now, you're gonna, you're gonna find what you need.

- Michelle, gimme one s step of sort of financial resilience for the uncertainty and the, that appears to be continuing at least for the next few months.

- I think acknowledge your fear, but don't act on that fear right away when it comes to your financial decisions.

Really think through it with the help of professionals so that you make the, the best decision for yourself long-term.

These are short-term things happening right now and I really am worried about people making short-term decisions that could cost them a lot of money down the road.

- Yeah.

Maurice, I know we don't usually talk shop, but you know, one of the things that we constantly talk about here is making sure that we're putting our own boundaries on how much we cover and what we feel like our listeners need to know versus covering everything that may not end up going anywhere and just causing a lot of stress and fear for people.

But how have you put boundaries on, on trying to determine for listeners, you know, what they should listen to and what you should focus your own reporting on?

- Yeah, I mean I feel like the beat I have developed this year is really this sort of Trump versus California because that's how a lot of the politics and policy have played out.

And then, you know, i, I co-host political breakdown, which I think like forum I really see as an opportunity to, to give people context.

Yeah.

And to be a place where if you listen to our show three times a week, hopefully you have a pretty good sense of what's happening in your state and nation.

And you don't have to be like, mainlining news 24 7.

And then, yeah, for me, like I said, like I think I really try to think about what matters to folks and what is gonna impact their lives directly.

- Thank you listeners for sharing what matters to you.

And thank you Marisa, Michelle and Jocelyn and Tess Paoli for producing this segment.

This is Forum, I'm Mina Kim.