It’s Halloween. The candy is stale, the fake blood is drying, and the country is nine months into its latest horror sequel: President Donald J. Trump’s second term.
We’ve seen enough to know the jump scares aren’t over. But this isn’t a movie and we don’t get to leave the theater (unless they kick us out). From ghosted protections to zombie policies, the Trump administration’s greatest hits have clawed their way out of the grave, and they’re coming for your rights, your future, and your wallet.
Here are some of the spookiest policies stalking the nation this fall:
Tariffs: taxing the middle while pretending to save it
The White House calls them “tariffs.” Let’s call them what they are: a tax dressed in red, white, and blue. Since returning to office, Trump has re-upped trade wars with China and slapped 15% tariffs on imports from Mexico and the EU, all in the name of “protecting American workers.”
But there’s nothing protective about paying more for food, clothes, or the laptop you need for class. These tariffs hit everyone who doesn’t own a multinational company. They trickle down fast: from shipping containers to store shelves to student wallets. Prices rise, paychecks shrink, and somehow the billionaires still cash in.
Deportation nation
Yes, they’re back. Trump’s immigration policies have returned in full force under a sweeping executive order signed on Jan. 20, titled Securing Our Borders. The order authorizes mass detention, eliminates humanitarian parole programs, revives the Migrant Protection Protocols, and ramps up expedited removals.
It frames immigration as a “large-scale invasion” and directs federal agencies to act with “urgency and strength” to detain and deport as many people as possible, often without due process. From banning the CBP One app to proposing DNA collection from migrant families, the policies read less like governance and more like a dystopian screenplay. If cruelty is the point, this is the director’s cut.
Banshee bills in the classroom
In early 2025, the Trump administration’s Department of Education issued new directives emphasizing “patriotic education” and limiting diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in schools.
A February letter from the Office for Civil Rights warned that federal funding could be reviewed for institutions teaching content the department deems “divisive” or inconsistent with national values. This policy could discourage instruction on topics such as slavery, civil rights, and LGBTQ+ history. For colleges, this opens the door to curriculum censorship and political interference, especially for ethnic studies and gender-focused programs.
Vanishing public media
This summer, NPR lost all federal funding. The White House called it a “budget correction.” But we must call it what it was: an attack on accessible truth. NPR and PBS have long been lifelines for underserved communities, students, and independent thinkers.
“Which viewpoints NPR and PBS promote does not matter. What does matter is that neither entity presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens,” the executive order reads.
Now, in the age of AI-generated news and deepfakes, we’ve pulled the plug on one of the few remaining platforms with journalistic integrity.
So here we are. Nine months in, and the Trumpening is fully underway.
Forget the masks, the haunted houses, the jump scares. The real American horror is happening in plain sight, written in law, signed by executive order, and felt by students, families, and voters who are too exhausted to scream.
The scariest part? We’ve still got three years left.
