The propaganda of Trump's people has been very effective. They managed to paint a bunch of people who work hard for the US and aren't particularly well-compensated (compared to what tthey could get in industry) are some sort of "elites" who are actively working to keep conservsatives down.
The way to look at it is like this: even if previous administrations froze travel for a bit (I don't recall that ever happening; a bigger impact was when the state or the federal government failed to pass a budget. That would break everything for weeks to months), the intent of the Trump administration is to harm the people they don't like. This freeze is only an opening move; we can expect to see far more dire and serious attempts at damaging our valuable public institutions (which fairly serve liberals and conservatives alike).
I appreciate you saying "people like me just don't know". It's rare that people will actually listen to the other side and admit they lacked perspective.
The way to look at it is like this: even if previous administrations froze travel for a bit (I don't recall that ever happening; a bigger impact was when the state or the federal government failed to pass a budget. That would break everything for weeks to months), the intent of the Trump administration is to harm the people they don't like. This freeze is only an opening move; we can expect to see far more dire and serious attempts at damaging our valuable public institutions (which fairly serve liberals and conservatives alike).
I appreciate you saying "people like me just don't know". It's rare that people will actually listen to the other side and admit they lacked perspective.