Rep. Deborah Ross (D-NC 2) reads to children at Wanda’s Little Hands, an early childhood education center. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar/NC Newsline)

Among the many ways in which the ham-handed policies of President Trump and Elon Musk are making life more difficult for millions of average Americans, the attacks on early childhood education are among the worst.

Access to affordable child care is already a huge problem for American families — especially since the demise of COVID-era subsidies. The situation in North Carolina has grown so dire that even anti-tax crusaders in the state business community — alarmed by the struggles of their workers in finding care — have been demanding government action to address the problem.

Amazingly, however, Trump and Musk are making things even worse. As Congresswoman Deborah Ross highlighted at a recent event, Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency has slashed federal programs that support early childhood education like Head Start, with massive cuts. Affordable and quality child care slots will soon become even more scarce as a result.

The bottom line: Life is about to get appreciably tougher for thousands of North Carolina working parents, and they’ll have Trump and Musk to thank.

For NC Newsline, I’m Rob Schofield.