“As Maine goes, so goes the nation.”
"They are still saying, ‘We want men to play in women’s sports’ . . . .So, we’re not going to give them any federal funding, none whatsoever, until they clean that up." Donald Trump after his confrontation with Maine Governor Janet Mills.
It’s been a rough couple of weeks for Maine. It began on February 21st, when Gov. Janet Mills stood up to President Donald Trump at a White House governor’s conference. Before the day was over, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had launched an investigation into what it called Maine’s violation of Title IX, the 1972 law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender. Four days later, after calling no hearings, holding no interviews, and requesting no data, the department declared Maine in violation of Title IX “for allowing male athletes to compete against female athletes.”
That, it turned out, was just the beginning:
HHS handed Maine’s case over to the Department of Justice, suggesting that a legal proceeding could follow.
Both the departments of Agriculture and Education have also begun investigations into Maine. The latter needs to act quickly, as recently appointed Secretary Linda McMahon has announced her department’s “momentous final mission:” its elimination.
A petition to recall Mills garnered almost 30,000 signatures before someone pointed out that state law does not allow the governor to be recalled.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration cancelled the University of Maine’s multimillion-dollar Maine Sea Grant. The ocean is a critical component of Maine’s economy, and its university was the only university to lose it funding under this grant. UMaine has worked in partnership with NOAA for the last 54 years. After being contacted by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) the Secretary of Commerce (who overseas NOAA) has agreed to renegotiate the terms and conditions of the contract.
The Social Security Administration denied new mothers access to a program that allows them to register their newborns from maternity ward. After inquiries from Senators Collins and Angus King (I-ME), the decision, which had only applied to Maine, was reversed.
Paul LePage is threatening to come back to Maine. The former governor, who has described himself as “Donald Trump before Donald Trump became popular,” had moved to Florida after leaving office, only to move back to Maine to challenge Mills in 2022. After losing by 13 percentage points, he went back to Florida. It is now being reported that he is considering challenging moderate Democratic Congressman Jared Golden in Maine’s second district, which is a Trump stronghold. While governor, “LePage was criticized for making controversial remarks regarding abortion, the LGBTQ community, racial minorities, immigration, the death penalty, voting rights, gun control, campaign financing, the government and the environment that sparked widespread national criticism, leading to some calling for his impeachment.”
That’s a lot for one small state to unpack. There are some real issues to debate. Maine’s Human Rights Act, for example, protects the rights of trans students, which puts it in direct conflict with Donald Trump’s decree and puts Janet Mills in a corner.
No, the really troublesome matter is the nature of this administration’s retaliations: they are arbitrary and personal, they come at mindboggling speed and from all directions, and there is so much pettiness in the retributions. Even more concerning is that the victims of these rapid-fire orders – trans people, immigrants, refugees – are so often the most vulnerable and the least popular.
As Martin Niemoller wrote almost 80 years ago:
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.