President Trump barreled back into office intent on using his second term to exercise raw political power and transform the country in his image.
It’s been four months, and he already has.
In a presidential opening act more aggressive and polarizing than anything the nation has seen before, Trump has set off a barrage of changes that have left hardly any aspect of American life untouched: the economy, the nation’s place in the world, its systems of gaining and building knowledge and, of course, the government itself. It’s been a shock-and-awe campaign that has surprised his allies and staunch critics alike.
It is chaotic and often hard to follow, and that’s by design. Trump and his advisers have managed to flood the zone, intentionally overwhelming political opponents who are still grasping for a message and a means with which to fight back. It can seem like only the stock market has done so with much success.
Whether you are delighted by or aghast at what the president has been up to, the shock of his first 100 days may be wearing off. (His approval numbers have slipped overall, too.) So let’s consider what we’ve learned so far.
1. Trump has upended the global order and America’s alliances. The president has openly dabbled with imperialism, suggesting the nation acquire Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal. But his impact on foreign policy goes much further. He has pursued a foreign policy based purely on power, casting longtime allies to the side in favor of muscular dealings with the likes of Russia and China. On that basis, Europe is a nuisance and even a close ally like Israel can be reduced to an afterthought.
2. He’s testing the limits of the law. The administration has repeatedly resisted court orders — including one order, endorsed by the Supreme Court, that the government take steps to return a wrongly deported man — while Trump himself has attacked judges who have ruled against him. With the Republican-controlled Congress offering little oversight and refraining from exerting its constitutional checks on his power, some legal scholars are already warning of a constitutional crisis. What’s clear is that the administration is testing the most basic principles of the separation of powers.
3. He’s exerting his influence across society. Law firms. Universities. Scientific research. Media companies. Diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Trump has used executive orders, the deportation of international students, lawsuits and funding cuts to impose his agenda on a broad swath of American institutions — many of which have given in to his demands so readily that critics are increasingly sounding the alarm about a slide toward autocracy.
4. He’s turned fear into a tool. Trump promised a surge in deportations that has not yet materialized, but his jettisoning of due-process rights for immigrants and use of unrelated government data against them have spread fear in immigrant communities, among their employers and even their children. Trump and his allies have also stoked fear of prosecution or retaliation to silence his critics inside and outside government.
5. He’s profiting from being president. Many presidents cash in after they leave office. But Trump’s businesses are openly profiting off his brand, striking deals overseas and rewarding some buyers of his family’s cryptocurrency with a private dinner and a tour of the White House. And then there’s that luxury plane from Qatar, a remarkable illustration of how this president feels unencumbered by the longstanding norm against accepting foreign gifts.
TRUMP VS. EVERYONE
Taking aim at the stars
On Friday, not long into his return flight to Washington from Abu Dhabi, President Trump evidently became aware that Bruce Springsteen had denounced him from the stage at a concert in England. And he started posting about it. By today, Trump had demanded a “major investigation” into Democratic-aligned celebrities including Springsteen, Beyoncé and Bono. My colleague Theodore Schleifer, who covers campaign finance, explains.
In a pair of posts on Truth Social on Monday, Trump claimed that Kamala Harris, as the Democratic nominee for president last year, violated campaign-finance law. He accused her of paying celebrities for their endorsements “under the guise of paying for entertainment.”
There is no evidence, in fact, that Harris bought endorsements. Details on celebrity engagements can, however, be hard to obtain. Campaigns are required to pay the fair-market value for the services of artists performing at their events to ensure that those artists’ in-kind contributions do not exceed federal contribution limits.
For example: Harris did indeed pay $1 million to Winfrey’s production company for a live-streamed town hall in Detroit. But Winfrey said the money covered the labor of people working on the event and other associated expenses, and that it was not a fee paid to her personally.
Beyoncé also headlined a Harris rally in Houston, her hometown, for which the campaign paid the singer’s company $165,000 in November for “campaign event production,” records show. Trump falsely claimed on Monday that Harris had paid Beyoncé $11 million, citing unspecified “news reports.”
But Trump’s anger seems to have been sparked by Springsteen, who at a concert last Wednesday in Manchester, England, lamented that his country was “in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration,” and reeled off a lengthy indictment of Trump on civil rights, foreign policy, the rule of law and the treatment of workers.
Springsteen performed at a rally in Atlanta in the presidential election’s final weeks, though Harris’s campaign filings have not, as yet, showed any payments to him.
As for Bono? He did not appear at an event with Harris. He didn’t even endorse her.
— Theodore Schleifer
He Said That
‘The tone and spirit of the conversation were excellent.’
President Trump has a lot to say, and it’s often layered with meaning. My colleague Chris Cameron, a reporter in the Washington bureau, will break down one Trump statement in each edition of the newsletter.
In a post on his social media site Truth Social after his two-hour call with President Vladimir Putin on Monday, Trump wrote that Russia and Ukraine would “immediately start negotiations” for a cease-fire and a larger peace deal. Of course, Trump has been working to broker a cease-fire since even before taking office in January.
Perhaps more telling was Trump’s very next line after he characterized their talk: “If it wasn’t, I would say so now, rather than later.” The president seemed to be anticipating that critics would accuse him of overstating his effectiveness with Putin.
— Chris Cameron
In One Graphic
The Republicans who could derail Trump’s agenda
If you’re wondering why it’s proving so difficult for Republicans to shape a “Big Beautiful Bill” that will make their whole conference happy — despite their unified control of government — take a look at this story from my colleague Catie Edmonson.
There are four key factions who aren’t on board — and for every group demanding one policy, another equally powerful bloc insists on the opposite.
postcard from Texas
These ‘mad moms’ are winning in Texas
The measles outbreak in Texas hasn’t stopped policies favored by anti-vaccine activists from advancing, especially in that state. My colleague Sheryl Gay Stolberg published an important piece about a group of anti-vaccine moms whose influence is on the rise. So I asked her about their political origin story.
Confronting the worst measles outbreak in the United States in 25 years, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has insisted that vaccination should be a personal choice. I decided to go to Texas, where the outbreak began — not to report on measles per se, but to meet two Kennedy fans, the founders of Texans for Vaccine Choice, which has been fighting government vaccine mandates for 10 years.
The press has called them the “mad moms in minivans” and their dream, as the group’s president, Rebecca Hardy, told me, is a world where “your vaccination status is irrelevant to your participation in society.”
Hardy, a speech pathologist, began questioning vaccines after she worked with “some very young children with vaguely similar stories of normal development arrested” after they received vaccinations. The group’s political director, Michelle Evans, has a daughter with autism. The two connected and helped found the group in 2015, after a Republican state representative introduced legislation to tighten school vaccine requirements in response to a measles outbreak in California. They defeated the bill and helped oust its sponsor.
Despite the Texas outbreak, the women are making headway with their agenda: Three of their high-priority bills have already passed the House and are headed to the State Senate.
They say it’s too soon to tell what Kennedy’s impact has been. But they are thrilled to have him in Washington.
— Sheryl Gay Stolberg
Jess Bidgood is a managing correspondent for The Times and writes the On Politics newsletter, a guide to how President Trump is changing Washington, the country and its politics.
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