When I closed my column last week, I mentioned that if nothing else, I was here for all of the drama, foolishness and general insanity that the Trump Administration has become known for.

Little did I know that we had only broached the tip of the drama that was on the way.

At first, I thought the falling out between President Trump and Elon Musk was the highlight of the week and a serious story with serious implications.

As many of you have no doubt seen, the real hilarity of that fiasco happened on Twitter, following a series of verbal jabs that each man hurled from behind their own personal social media platforms.

I think the best summation of the social media beef came in the form of a tweet from influencer and conservative pundit Blaire White.

“I did not foresee Trump and Elon having the ugliest gay divorce in Pride Month history,” Blaire wrote.

Honestly, the entire fallout happening during the most homosexual month of the year was just a chef’s kiss to the comedy.

Unfortunately, that was merely a funny prelude to the insanity that would come days later as a result of the ICE raids in Los Angeles.

Over the last few days ICE agents have clashed violently with anti-immigration protesters after the organization mounted a string of swift and decisive apprehensions.

Reportedly, much of that anger and public outcry came because agents were performing their sweeps during graduations, outings and other family affairs.

This all culminated in President Trump sending some 2,000 National Guardsmen to assist the agents and help quash the unrest before it got any worse. As you might imagine, this made prominent Democrats, such as Maxine Waters, who was actually on the ground and rabblerousing at the time, very angry.

California governor and presumptive presidential candidate Gavin Newsom threatened to sue the Trump Administration for its use of the National Guard.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also sounded off, condemning the agents for enforcing federal immigration laws.

“This morning, we received reports of federal immigration enforcement actions in multiple locations in Los Angeles,” Bass tweeted on X. “As mayor of a proud city of immigrants, who contribute to our city in so many ways, I am deeply angered by what has taken place. These tactics sow terror in our communities…my office is in close coordination with immigrant rights community organizations. We will not stand for this.”

Predictably, the political outrage quickly emboldened the protesters who actually managed to trap agents in a building until being driven off once federal back up arrived. It got uglier still when some of the agitators tried to stop agents from leaving in their vehicles, predictably getting run over in the process.

I mentioned the Trump/Musk fallout and the LA Ice Riots together because they are both the predictable and unsightly result of not doing things the right way the first time. Moreover, they both represent an underlying existential threat to our nation and one that comes as a direct result of decades of complacency and corruption among our citizens and elected officials.

When it comes to our national debt, we truly are in trouble as a nation. When we have two political parties that have no interest in addressing what will inevitably destroy our country, you get desperate measures such as DOGE to try and do something unconventional to stem the bleeding.

It was an ugly thing to see so many people lose their jobs as DOGE did its best to trim the fat and shrink the government. It was far uglier still when Musk and Trump had their falling out over the so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill“ which effectively negated all of the effort and pain associated with the DOGE cuts in the first place.

These LA ice raids are especially ugly to look at because they are the direct result of America purposely importing millions of illegal aliens into the country for political purposes, without considering the burden that such an influx presents to the American landscape.

There are those of you out there who don’t like what you’re seeing in Los Angeles and I get it. But it has to be said that it looks this bad precisely because our government has been purposely avoiding its duty to the country.

And by the way, things will get uglier still if subsequent presidential administrations do not remain serious about combating illegal immigration in the future.

And if you think the ice raids are ugly, just wait until all of that debt we have run up as a nation comes home to roost.

Just wait until all of your money is nearly worthless, and the true savageness of man comes right back to the forefront as the goods and comforts people have grown fat on are no longer available.

One can scarcely imagine just how ugly and awful things will be when America defaults on its bills and the government can no longer subsidize foolishness or the lifestyles that people have come to expect through excessive taxation and redistribution.

The point here is that no matter how you may feel about cracking down on immigration or cracking down the size of government, both are going to be ugly. However, that ugliness is a necessary evil to avoid a fate almost none of us are truly prepared for.

Washington County native Arthur Howell is a staff writer at The Beacon. He can be reached via email at arthur@roanokebeacon.com.