In an opinion poll that took place over ten days at two locations—one near Phoenix City Hall in downtown Phoenix and the other in Scottsdale near Scottsdale Civic Plaza, Arizonans were asked questions about Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s (DOGE) “overhaul” of federal agencies and various departments of the U.S. government.   

The consensus from the majority of those questioned? 

60% of those polled said they had worse or substantially less confidence when asked, “Do you have confidence in the federal government’s various protections for Americans since Trump’s numerous executive orders and the Musk DOGE overhaul?

Arizonans polled were overwhelmingly concerned over the large-scale layoffs and are particularly worried about what they see as government deregulation of agencies charged with safeguarding Americans on every level. 

Most polled expressed worry that Trump is literally waging war on U.S. government protections and wonder how the massive layoffs to many of the agencies are even legal—some agencies are answering—it is illegal—and are suing.  

There may be even more reason for concern however. 

Any degradation of a single federal government agency by the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans could produce overlapping crises that America may not be prepared to combat—financial, industrial, social and perhaps even a military crisis. 

When government oversight departments are systematically slashed and eliminated…the “overhaul” could come at great cost. 

With unprecedented natural disasters at the highest level in history and with the kind of frequency we have never seen, the cost to replace and rebuild and of course the irreplaceable cost of human life will not be taken into account nor protected by the government simply because in some cases, almost entire departments and certainly thousands of jobs have been eliminated.

In his first week in office Trump ordered a blanked pause on federal grant money which would affect a number of environmental and clean energy programs—although this order was rescinded and paused by multiple federal judges. 

And not if—but when—another pandemic strikes which may involve something even more deadly than Covid-19 (which killed more than 1.2 million in the U.S.) our basic public health care protections have, at the very least been drastically weakened. A pandemic under the current situation may cause unprecedented death as well as an economic shutdown. 

Reportedly, bird flu threatens global food supplies and could spawn another epidemic. 

A recent variant caused the hospitalization of a Canadian teenager and a death in Louisiana. Signs of the virus have turned up among three American veterinarians. With this threat looming, it is not comforting that the Secretary of Health and Human Services is a vaccine denier; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is enduring disruptive staff cuts; and a U.S. government contract with Moderna (MRNA) to develop bird flu shots is being re-evaluated.

In fact, just last week under the direction of current Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. the bird flu vaccine research has been cancelled—a reported $766 million contract with Moderna that was on track to develop potential pandemic influenza strains, including the H5N1 bird flu.

In the same statement, Moderna announced that the new vaccine it had been developing against H5 influenza strains mRNA-1018, had positive results after being tested on more than 300 adults.  

“I won’t be flying for a while,” said Andrea Riggs a Peoria resident who admits she hates flying but says unless there is some kind of an emergency where she must fly, she won’t be willingly stepping on a plane and cites recent airline flight and staff layoffs by DOGE, Homeland Security detainments and “a complete traffic control mess out there with a crisis just waiting to happen.” 

Reportedly, the American and global economy is dangerously teetering. 

According to a quote in the Economist on Saturday, “American finance, always unique, is now, uniquely dangerous, Donald Trump is putting an untested system under almighty strain.” 

Arizonans are nervous about their money too.

There is growing concern over government “insured’ FDIC deposits or of any traditional “safe” investment—the tariffs, global fighting with previous Americans allies is only exacerbating this fear.

“I’m close to taking all of my money out of my bank,” said a 57-year-old native of Arizona who told Northeast Valley News she no longer believes her money will be federally insured and she was also upset that Elon Musk has had unprecedented access to private information about citizens. The woman who asked not to be identified said, “Collecting our private information by some billionaire ought to be against the law and Trump has applauded him.” 

And Musk even though he has reportedly “left Washington” a few days ago, during his first few days as DOGE director called for the widespread removal of federal agency staff and many of the systems and regulations designed to protect American citizens were upended—Musk hired a team of hand-picked young engineers to infiltrate and collect information from certain government departments that held data that has historically safeguarded Americans. 

Lastly, Trump and Congressional Republicans continue to talk about the need for “overhaul” of the one agency that for millions of vulnerable older Americans is simply their only financial and healthcare lifeline—and one they have been paying into and relied upon their entire lives—Social Security and Medicare. 

Trump and Congressional Republicans appear ready to place both on the table.