Explosive Diarrhea, Screwworms, and Gutted Election Security: Welcome to MAGA America

A Crisis Buffet, Curated by DOGE

Let's just take a moment to appreciate the full menu here. The Guardian reports that Americans are currently contending with: a parasitic gut illness tied to Taco Bell lettuce, measles cases on track to be the worst in over three decades, screwworms marching north into cattle country, election security offices stripped to the bone, and an administration that just appointed a climate science skeptic to oversee the government's flagship climate report. All at the same time.

This is not bad luck. It is not a string of coincidences. It is what happens when you spend 18 months firing the people whose entire job is to prevent exactly this kind of cascading disaster.

The 'Explosive Diarrhea' Section (Yes, Really)

Public health officials in five states, including hard-hit Michigan, are dealing with one of the country's largest outbreaks of cyclospora, a parasitic illness that causes watery, 'explosive' diarrhea that can last for weeks. The Guardian reports the source was traced to iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell, and officials warned the outbreak could drag on through August.

Here is the part that should make you genuinely furious. Public health officials said their ability to track the disease was slowed by a lack of resources. That is because the Trump administration cut $11.4 billion in funding from state and local health departments last year and gutted a program specifically designed to coordinate information on foodborne illnesses, including cyclospora.

So to review: they cut the exact infrastructure built to catch this exact kind of outbreak, and then the outbreak happened, and it spread further than it should have because the infrastructure to catch it was gone. The chain of causation here is not subtle.

Measles, Screwworms, and the Rest of the Outbreak Special

Cyclospora is not even the whole story. The Guardian reports the US is on course for another record year of measles cases in 2026, worse than 2025, which was itself the worst year in thirty years. Some public health officials are now worried the country could lose its measles elimination status, a milestone achieved in 2000 that is apparently optional now.

Then there are the screwworms. New world screwworm is a parasitic fly whose larvae burrow into living flesh, and it has been advancing northward through cattle country. Former officials told Politico last month that Trump's federal spending reviews actually slowed containment efforts. USDA budget reviews held up construction of a facility that was critical to slowing the fly's spread. A $100 million research initiative to develop new tools against it was also delayed. So the flies kept moving.

Shaughnessy Naughton, president of 314 Action, put it plainly to The Guardian: 'Screwworm monitoring, food safety surveillance and vaccine programs have been arbitrarily cut and less than a year later, we're facing multiple infectious disease outbreaks. All of this was preventable.' That last part is the thing. All of it was preventable.

The Election Security Situation Is Actually Insane

This week, Trump delivered a speech casting doubt on the integrity of US elections. Classic Trump move, you might say. Except here is what makes it genuinely remarkable: his administration has spent the past year systematically destroying the agencies responsible for protecting US elections.

The Guardian reports that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which is tasked with countering cyber threats to elections, lost a third of its workforce, according to Democratic Senator Mark Warner. The administration then proposed cutting its budget by $707 million. The FBI has lost as many as 2,800 agents since January 2025. When Bill Pulte took over as acting director of national intelligence, he fired dozens of intelligence staff, according to CNN. And earlier this month, Trump removed the only three remaining commissioners from the independent federal commission that helps states run their elections.

So Trump has spent 18 months gutting every office designed to keep elections safe, and then went on television to tell Americans elections are not safe. The audacity of that would be breathtaking if we had not watched him do it in real time.

The Environment Is Also on Fire (Literally)

Canadian wildfire smoke is currently blanketing large portions of the United States. The Guardian reports that experts are warning of an even grimmer future in which America grows steadily more vulnerable to environmental disasters and toxic exposure, partly because the administration has been rolling back clean air and water standards while promoting fossil fuels.

The administration has moved to exempt polluting companies from emissions controls, in some cases by simply sending an email. It has worked to undercut renewable energy expansion. And last week it appointed a critic of mainstream climate science to oversee the National Climate Assessment, the government's flagship report on how climate change is affecting the country. The person chosen to write the report, in other words, does not believe the report's core premise. That is not a gaffe. That is the plan.