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In some neighbourhoods of heavily Democratic Washington, Halloween displays with a decidedly political tone have long been a tradition. Nine months into Republican US President Donald Trump’s second term, some residents are staging anti-Trump yard displays prompted in part by his administration’s budget cuts, job lay-offs and norm-breaking policies. This Halloween also coincides with one of the longest government shutdowns in US history. In a front yard close to the US Capitol, Donna Breslin, 79, has installed an entire graveyard with 16 headstones to mark policy moves Trump has made since he took office in January that she says are killing off American democracy. There are headstones – bought on Amazon and hand-painted by Breslin – for “USAID” and “research for health and science”, among others. The headstones are references to Trump administration cuts to the US Agency for International Development and health research, both part of his broader effort to shrink the federal bureaucracy. Reuters journalists visited two neighbourhoods in Washington – Georgetown and Capitol Hill, known for their politically themed displays – over two days and did not find any pro-Trump or anti-Democratic Halloween decorations. The Washington metropolitan area has borne the brunt of Trump’s cuts. Civil servants have been furloughed because of the shutdown with each party blaming the other. In the city proper, around 90 per cent of voters are registered Democrats. Trump defends the cuts as necessary to reduce a bloated and inefficient workforce. He rejects the notion that his actions test the limits of the presidency and undermine democracy, saying he is simply delivering on his campaign agenda. Kush Desai, a White House spokesman, said Democrats were engaged in “pointless virtue signalling” with their anti-Trump Halloween displays. The White House is also using Halloween to mock its opponents, posting images on social media of costumes depicting Democratic leaders – and a separate one of Trump himself with the message, “Not included – crown.” This would appear to be a White House effort to make light of the “No Kings” protests by tens of thousands of Americans this month to oppose what they view as authoritarian tendencies in Trump’s leadership. One focus of this year’s Halloween displays is Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jnr, who has cut staff at the Department of Health and Human Services and promoted debunked claims that routine childhood vaccines cause harm. In the wealthy, liberal Northwest Washington neighbourhood of Georgetown, where Kennedy lives, there are multiple skeletons on display in front yards alongside vaccine-related messages. A block from Kennedy’s house stands a giant three-metre-tall (10-foot -tall) skeleton next to a sign that reads, “Hi, I’m Wally! Vaccines save lives – believe me I know!” Kennedy has restricted access to Covid-19 shots, boosted support for state vaccine exemptions, dismantled the vaccine review process, and expanded a national advisory board with like-minded critics of Covid shots. An HHS spokesman said in a statement, “Let’s be clear: Secretary Kennedy is not anti-vaccine – he is pro-safety, pro-transparency, and pro-accountability. His long-standing advocacy has focused on ensuring that vaccines and all medical interventions meet the highest standards of safety and are backed by gold standard science.” In another Georgetown front yard, a skeleton dangles over a fence with a stethoscope around its neck, next to a sign reading, “Secretary of Sick”. Close to Kennedy’s house, Christine Payne, 66, has placed a child-sized skeleton in her front window with the message, “Wish I had taken my vaccine!” Payne said while she didn’t agree with his policies, Kennedy was a good neighbour. “I think we all need to speak out with what’s going on in this nation at the moment, especially in Washington,” Payne said. “We’re very political here.”
