When people talk about the threat that Donald Trump poses to the U.S., they generally talk about things like education, the environment, consumers, workers, immigrants, minorities, and so on. His  Make America Great Again  slogan is nothing more than hot air, and anybody who s been paying attention knows it. But there s one absolutely vital government function that Trump threatens that nobody s talking about. It s a safe bet that most of us actually haven t even thought of it, despite his warning to federal agencies to prepare for massive budget cuts.It s the U.S. Census. And the Census is something we need. Population counts determine the number of U.S. Representatives a state gets, and they also determine how the states  districts get redrawn. Even states with independent commissions depend on the Census to know how best to draw district lines.Census data is also used for federal programs affecting things like education, veterans  services, rural development, transportation, housing and more. The Census determines the allocation of funding for the following:And so much more, including in the private sector   businesses can use Census data to determine everything from optimal location to understanding both the local labor force and the local consumer population. Of course, most of this is stuff that the Trump administration and the Republican Party see as wastes anyway, but they ll be hard-pressed to actually cut funding for all of this in a budget without facing massive backlash.Hmm. Now that we re thinking about it, maybe sabotaging the Census would be their way of gutting all these programs.That list, while a ton, isn t all. There s also what Trump s stance on immigration could do. ICE has been sweeping cities for undocumented immigrants, even targeting courthouses as immigrants show up for hearings and appointments about pretty much everything. In fact, a judge in Washington State reported hearing that undocumented immigrants are missing court dates, even if they were seeking a protective order against an abuser.We have the growing hate and fear of Muslims to contend with, too   while they aren t being arrested and deported (yet), they could worry that answering the Census will expose sensitive information and make them more vulnerable to harassment and attack.For these reasons, immigrants and other minorities may find themselves far less willing to participate in the 2020 Census. And in communities that have high immigrant and/or minority populations, that could result in bad undercounts. Undercounts that are bad enough could result in districts, especially those that are done by independent commissions, being inadvertently redrawn in ways that don t accurately represent the states  populations.It could also result in impoverished, high-immigrant communities seeing necessary federal dollars drain away from programs they depend on.Now, okay, the Census is still three years away. But Trump s funding cuts have already forced them to scrap plans for some new field offices that would help the Census go more smoothly, and has also forced them to cancel the dry runs they do every decade in the run-up to the actual Census. That tells us that just conducting the 2020 Census is very likely to be problematic.They re asking us to do it online this year (partly as a cost-cutting measure, because of course), which raises cybersecurity concerns and could exacerbate immigrants  and minorities  fears of having ICE come knock at their door, or having asshat racists attack and/or harass them. Following hacks courtesy of everyone from Russia to the Shadow Brokers (who recently hacked the NSA), they re going to have one hell of a time convincing us that our data will be safe and secure.The problems Trump and the GOP are causing for the Census are nothing to shrug at. So much of the way this country is run depends on an accurate Census count, and they re going to have a really difficult time.Featured image by Mark Wilson via Getty Images