American progress has been suspended until further notice

We won’t see it again until there’s a lasting break from the Trump regime and the MAGA Republicans now in power.

It should be obvious to every American by now — if it wasn’t before Trump started his tragic second term — that Republicans stand for regressive government that serves the wealthy while Democrats try in just about every way possible to make life better for much broader segments of society.

This doesn’t mean Republicans always wrong, Democrats always right.

But it’s close to that.

This difference is more glaring than ever right now, pushed into overdrive by Trump and Project 2025. The evidence of the regressive Republican approach — more tax cuts for the rich, gleeful retreat from subsidies for people of median and lower income — builds every day. The latest news regards student loan debt. Rather than find a way to ease the burden of higher education for those who went to college, Republicans fight Democratic efforts to lower monthly payments and provide a faster path to loan cancellation.

A deal is afoot to settle a red-states lawsuit against a program to ease the burdens of paying back big debt for a college education. Rather than support the effort to foster a more educated citizenry — and one that might be able to afford a house someday — Republicans have turned their hostile Trumpish resentment of higher education into persistent litigation against it.

That is not the mark of a progressive nation preparing the next generation to contribute to a great society and face the challenges of a complex world. That is the mark of a regressive regime trying in every way possible to repeal the progress achieved domestically since World War II.

There are so many other examples — the Republican desire to end Obamacare subsidies, for instance; the general retreat from effective governance and scientific progress that has taken place with the draconian implementation of Project 2025; and the regressive nature of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill.

In light of where the Trump regime and MAGA Republicans have taken this nation this year, it’s hard to imagine that anything approaching progress will happen.

The other day, a bipartisan group of Attorneys General from 36 states wrote a letter urging Congress to pass the Workforce Reentry Act, an effort to help adults leaving prison reintegrate into society, find a job and avoid future incarceration.

The idea is to reduce the nation’s recidivism rate — that is, the rate at which paroled inmates return to prison within three years of their release. Lower that rate — now at 68 percent nationally, according to federal data cited by the AGs — and you reduce crime by repeat offenders and, ultimately, reduce prison populations and costs to taxpayers.

The Workforce Reentry Act would permanently fund grants available for recidivism-reducing programs.

Twenty years ago, I started writing about the need to give returning inmates a second chance. As a columnist for The Baltimore Sun, I interviewed a few thousand men and women who could not find jobs after prison because of their criminal records. I found, however, that support for second chances was bipartisan; both conservatives and liberals saw its value.

There has been progress in some states.

But, if the recidivism rate is 68 percent nationally, the system is still failing. Not enough is being done to prepare offenders for release from prison, and not enough is being done to help with re-entry.

“Currently,” the AGs said in their appeal to Congress, “funding for programs that bolster skills and opportunities is in flux and oftentimes not available at all. The Workforce Reentry Act would make permanent grant funding streams to stabilize resources related to successful reentry. Communities that have embraced reentry programs have seen significant decreases in recidivism rates and prison populations.”

It all makes sense, right? It’s downright progressive. Here are public officials recognizing a problem and proposing a logical solution that would help some individuals while helping American society generally — sort of like what happens when we give college graduates a break in paying off their loans. Therefore, it is doomed.

We won’t see American progress again until there’s a lasting break from the Trump regime and MAGA Republicans.