As we close out 2025 this week there is a marked shift in sentiment, not only among the American people, but also by Trump himself. A year ago as I restarted this project, the conversation was, will he ever leave? We’re not having that conversation anymore.
Not only do polls show that the American people are souring on Trump as the year comes to a close, the Republicans too are starting to turn on him, even if at the fringes, for their own self-preservation. One GOP member of the House mused this week that House Speaker Mike Johnson is “hanging on because Trump wants a weak speaker,” as the 2025 Congress was the least productive in modern history. By week’s end Rep. Lauren Boebert also spoke out publicly against Trump, after he retaliated against her, and the state of Colorado, for not freeing Tina Peters.
Trump tried to play grown-up, or at least appear engaged, by hosting two world leaders at Mar-a-Lago, with little to show for either. But more notable was his lack of focus on what Americans want, and his unhinged behavior, back to rapid-fire posting onChristmas Eve, and striking out at his perceived enemies, including Boebert’s Republican-leaning district. This is the disorganized, scattered behavior reminiscent of his first regime. While Trump was able to follow the Project 2025 roadmap for most of 2025, now that the Heritage Foundation has, as conservative WSJ Editorial Board pronounced, “blown up,” Trump too seems rudderless.
The mood of the country remains gloomy as the year comes to an end. Just 24% believe the country is heading in the right direction. The vast majority feel Trump and his billionaire beneficiaries are out of touch with the regular people. Trump increasingly is losing the tight grip of control he had for most of 2025. I wrote more about what I expect for 2026 here.
This week, Trump is continuing to lose not only broad-based American support as he did during the first regime, but for the first time of either regime, he is also losing support from within the Republican base. At the same time, the Republican Party is in turmoil, amid infighting over the party’s direction post-Trump. The once mighty Heritage Foundation, architect of Project 2025, is imploding, a notion that would seem unthinkable just a year ago. MAGA influencers are attacking one another, this week quite publicly at Turning Point USA’s annual conference. More prominent Republicans announced this week they would not seek re-election.
Already there is a notable shift in Trump’s demeanor. During his address to the nation at the start of the week, he seemed frustrated and agitated that he even had to speak about affordability, or concerns of the American people. Although the question of a third term continues to be floated, Trump no longer speaks or acts as if this is a possibility. It is unclear if this is health-related or an unhappiness with the pushback he is feeling post-2025 election, and a sense that Democrats are likely to take control of at least part of Congress in midterms, but this is a different Trump. He is acting in some ways like he is running out of time. An example that continues this week is his frantically putting his name wherever he can, a sign of possible insecurity, and a manic effort to preserve what he hopes will be his legacy.
In the meantime, this week is filled with examples of Trump’s abuses of power. It is almost as if the country has normalized these broken norms, and is just hoping to run out the clock until midterms. The Epstein files are not going away, despite Trump and his Justice Department’s efforts — in fact, they have been feeding the flames. Just as CBS News did by pulling the plug on a “60 Minutes” segment, seemingly to placate Trump. There are many more examples this week of a federal government in decline and disarray. And at long last, a Supreme Court ruling against Trump that could set back his efforts to send U.S. military troops to American cities.
There continues to be a notable shift this week of Trump losing his grip on power. First and foremost, the American people are unhappy with the economy, the cost of living, and increasingly even with his handling of immigration. They are showing their displeasure at the polls, in the polls, and speaking to their representatives. For the first time in either Trump regime, we see growing dissatisfaction with Trump from within his base, and a movement away from identifying as “MAGA” to “Traditional Republican.”
Increasingly, Republicans are standing up to Trump. Not only in the House of Representatives, where his proxy and junior assistant, Speaker Mike Johnson, is losing control, but also at the state level. In Indiana, where Trump and his proxies tried bullying to get redistricting, it backfired, turning state Republicans against them. Trump threw in the towel on installing loyalists to U.S. attorney positions, as another resigned.
Even members of Trump’s regime are beginning to see pushback from their base. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin saw blowback from MAHA Moms over his siding with the chemical industry lobby. Fox News started covering the alarming outbreak of measles under Health and Human Services Sec. Robert Kennedy Jr., in which they noted cases had increased by 14,608% since 2020! FBI Director Kash Patel continued to try to jump ahead of tragedies to take credit on social media, raising a chorus to criticize his incompetence.
The week was already feeling heavy with sadness, after yet another mass shooting at a school in America, this time at Brown University, followed by an anti-Semitic inspired mass shooting in Australia. Trump again showed his inability to rise to the occasion, show empathy, or lead. In what was perhaps a defining moment of his second regime, after the murder of Rob and Michele Reiner by their son who struggled with addiction, Trump’s response on social media of blaming Reiner for having “Trump Derangement Syndrome” led to widespread blowback from Republican and conservative corners, many of which had previously been too fearful to speak out publicly against him. Conservative WSJ columnist Peggy Noonan wrote “Trump May Be Losing His Touch,” noting, “he’s surrounded by mood shifts, challenges and ominous signs.”
This week Trump struck back at media outlets and others who continue to raise questions and concerns about his health and age, likening it to sedition and treason. Trump continued to advance his own version of reality, calling affordability a “Democrat hoax” and “con job,” as he at long last held an event in a U.S. city, which was meant to address affordability concerns, a top issue in the country, but did not. More off-year elections this week showed a 10+ point slide away from Trump’s 2024 performance, amid continued malaise over the economy, and Trump’s handling of other key issues.
Defense Department Sec. Pete Hegseth continued to be at the center of the storm, as a Pentagon inspector general report found he had endangered U.S. troops with his use of the Signal app. A top story this week continued to be the legality of a second strike of an alleged drug vessel in the Caribbean, as Trump and Hegseth bobbed and weaved on releasing video and other requested information. Health and Human Services Sec. Robert Kennedy Jr. also continued his anti-vax campaign, with his handpicked immunization committee issuing troubling new guidelines.
The Trump regime issued a shocking National Strategy document this week, completely changing the focus on global threats away from countries formerly perceived to be U.S. enemies, to instead attacking European allies and Ukraine. Trump, desperate for recognition on his foreign policy, was awarded with an odd inaugural peace prize from FIFA, a soccer league, at the Kennedy Center. Trump later mused about renaming that center for himself, after this week rebranding the U.S. Institute for Peace with his name.
Overall, Trump’s behavior is increasingly inconsistent, even by his own past standards, and odd. He is increasingly unfiltered, both in being openly racist and personally insulting two more female journalists this week, for a total of six in recent weeks. The issue of age and the pushback from Republicans has clearly taken him off track, and he seems this week to be spinning and raging, without focus.
For what should have been a quiet holiday week, Week 56 was packed with bombshell news, and escalating chaos and rhetoric from the Trump regime. The week started with Trump grasping on to the adage “never let a crisis go to waste,” when he used a Thanksgiving Eve shooting by an Afghan national of two National Guard troops as a prelude to make the most significant changes to his immigration policy during the second regime.
Notable this week was Trump’s increasingly unhinged rhetoric, and his late night social media posting storms, including one late night marathon of nearly 150 posts over a two hour span! This type of maniacal behavior was more typical during his first regime, often at times when he felt under attack or out of control; notably, this was the first week of his acting this way during the second regime.
Trump has a lot to be upset about: Republicans are at long last pushing back (because of election results, NOT because they finally found a moral compass), and big news stories hit this week, including questionable intent by Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner in their negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war, and a second strike on an alleged drug vessel that may amount to a war crime. Trump’s so-called war on drug cartels took an ironic twist this week when he pardoned Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras, who was found guilty of flooding the U.S. with cocaine, for which he was sentenced to 45 years in prison. Trump also weighed in on the close election in Honduras, and baselessly alleged fraud.
Finally, since the NYT reporting last week on signs of Trump’s fatigue and aging, there has been a renewed focus by our media on Trump’s health, which up until now had been largely absent, unlike their seeming obsession with former president Joseph Biden’s age and cognitive health. This is another plot line that Trump hates, because it diminishes his strongman status. However, you will note what we were not talking about this week: the Epstein files.
This week started with an enraged Trump signing into law the release of the Epstein files, but that story quickly faded to other headlines. Trump’s longtime ally, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, became the first MAGA true believer, in either regime, to resign. Reporting indicates other House Republican lawmakers may not be far behind, claiming mistreatment by Trump, his regime, and Speaker Mike Johnson. This week Trump seized control of the GOP midterm election strategy, sensing at last that the country is turning against him, and he cannot simply message away very real concerns about affordability.
Trump’s retribution campaign hit some embarrassing speed bumps this week, with cases against James Comey and Letitia James being dismissed, and six Democratic lawmakers, whose video evoked his ire, stood firm. Republicans, too, are increasingly pushing back against Trump, a shift that seems to frustrate and infuriate him. Trump tried, successfully, to change the subject from the Epstein files with a push for a peace plan between Russia and Ukraine, but as Republican senators spoke out against what amounted to a Russian wish-list, his regime looked like the keystone cops, and his plan sputtered.
Notable this week is reporting by the NYT on Trump’s signs of fatigue. I wrote about his Friday afternoon meeting with incoming New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani, where a seated passive and pacifist Trump seemed to have run out of gas (read here). Trump has suffered a series of setbacks in recent weeks, some public, some being swept under the rug, like the disbanding of DOGE, and he is desperate for a win.
Two weeks after Democrats decidedly won the election, this week we see a shift: the first instance of Republicans pushing back against Trump during his second regime. The Epstein files started as a drip, drip, with Trump and his senior regime officials trying to intimidate four House Republicans into not signing a discharge petition. But once the horse was out of the barn, by the week’s end, the House voted 427–1 to release the files, and hours later the Senate did the same under unanimous consent.
The swing was a remarkable shift for Republicans, who up until now had blindly abdicated their role, and had been unshakably obedient to Trump. Not to do the right thing per se, but sensing the American people turning on them ahead of midterms, with a Marist poll showing voters favoring Democrats by 14 points, the highest level in eight years. Trump’s approval continued to hit new lows with several pollsters, as did his handling of major issues, including affordability, which he haplessly continued to assert this week is really not an issue. Just 20% approve of his handling of the Epstein files.
The regime continued its quiet work of dismantling federal agencies from within, and carrying out Trump’s orders. Yet another head of FEMA resigned this week, and there continues to be alarming exits and firings from the Justice Department and Fannie Mae, both at the center of Trump’s retribution campaign. In other federal agencies like DHS, agents are being reassigned to help on immigration, as Trump abandoned largely unsuccessful efforts this week in Chicago and Portland.
Notably in closing are Trump’s blatant conflicts of interest, and how easily he is escaping accountability. Lest we forget how many inspectors general he has already fired! This week Trump’s pardon of Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao came back into focus. As did his family’s significant business dealings with Saudi Arabia, as Trump hosted crown prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud in an extraordinary state visit.
This week’s list has multiple examples of Trump’s continued efforts to rewrite the history of his first regime, and to seek retribution for lawsuits and other actions against him after. Much of his focus during his second regime has been towards establishing a new version of the historical record of these times, recasting himself as a victim and a hero, and obliterating the truth. He has been aided in this endeavor by a compliant Republican Party, which has yet to push back on his not normal, and often lawless, actions.
The election results and their aftermath have revealed how out of touch Trump is with the state of the American people during his second regime. I have posited that this is a result of his surrounding himself solely with loyal sycophants, who likely are fearful of sharing actual reality, and instead practice flattery. Trump continued to showcase his White House renovations this week with an interview on Fox News, while at the same time denying SNAP food payments to low-income Americans, and even going so far as an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court, two times, to not have to make payments which were due on November 1.
Eight Senate Democrats voted with Republicans to end the government shutdown on Monday, and Trump declared victory as the measure headed back to the House of Representatives, which convened for the first time in seven weeks. A Democrat who won a special election in Arizona was at long last sworn in, and could be the deciding vote on measures to bring attention to the Epstein files.
This week, on Election Day 2025, Democrats swept virtually every competitive election across the country, in a thorough rebuke of Trump and his policies. In two key governor races in New Jersey and Virginia, where candidates won by 13 and 15 points, every single county and demographic shifted towards Democrats. The election came as the country entered the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, which Americans mostly blamed on Trump and the Republicans.
Trump continues to be remarkably tone deaf to the plight of most Americans during his second regime. As funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ran out, leaving tens of millions of low income Americans at risk of going hungry, Trump posted images of his ostentatious renovation of the Lincoln Bathroom, and hosted a Great Gatsby themed Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago. I wrote more about it here. By many other measures, the American people are discontented and suffering, but Trump seems completely removed from the reality of what is happening to real people, perhaps a byproduct of his second regime being an echo chamber of sycophants.
Also this week, we saw more examples of the media losing access to the regime, and media outlets losing staffers or being shuttered. Trump and his agency heads also continued their targeted firings of perceived enemies or anyone who might question or in any way hinder Trump’s agenda and drive for retaliation. We saw the first slight pushback from Senate Republicans, symbolically voting to undo Trump’s tariffs, and the question now really is: will Republicans, after the Election Day drubbing, stop blindly following Trump’s every wish and whim? Mind you, the House of Representatives was last in session on September 19, although unlike furloughed federal workers, they continue to get paid.
This is the week when Trump’s ‘Let them eat cake’ era truly came to the forefront. Juxtapose Trump’s demolition of the White House East Wing to construct a $300 million ostentatious ballroom with cutting off food stamps for 42 million of America’s neediest, who count on government assistance to put food on the table! Add to that hundreds of thousands of U.S. government and private sector workers either losing their jobs, or their income — while Trump regales in the former, and tries to obscure the latter.
All the while, Trump and his family continue to use the office of the presidency for their own financial gain. In this second regime, Trump makes little effort to conceal the ‘pay to play’ nature of his presidency. Technology, cryptocurrency, and other corporations push money his way for favors, like tariff relief or merger approval, or even pardons or government lawsuits being quietly dismissed. Countries have learned to do the same, flattering Trump like a dictator to get their way.
As the government shutdown entered its fourth week, the second longest in history next to the shutdown in the first Trump regime, Congress has completely abdicated its power to Trump. The House of Representatives has not even been in session since September 19! One Republican senator described it as, “The Congress is adrift. It’s like we have given up.” Trump continues to order military strikes in Central and South America, and insert himself into other countries’ politics.
This week Trump ordered the demolition of the White House East Wing, which seems an apt metaphor for the state of our democracy. He has assumed unbridled and unprecedented power, and is acting on his worst impulses, while sycophants throw millions his way in an attempt to curry favor.
Trump is very publicly pursuing his enemies using the apparatus of federal agencies, at which he has installed loyalists into leadership roles to carry out his every whim and fancy. Who could have imagined in one week another indictment, classifying those who speak out against him as terrorists, siccing the IRS on perceived enemies, and seeking $230 million from taxpayers for perceived slights? And that’s just the tips of the waves in a very disturbing week.
Reading through the broken norms this week, I am struck by how many would have been previously unthinkable, even during the first regime. The list of atrocities is startling! I encourage you all to read through this long and disturbing list. Information is still power. It is imperative that we keep informed of what is happening, so we will find our way back to normal.
This week had the sharp scent of authoritarianism, as Trump and members of his regime continued to put forth actions to block free speech. Ironically, this comes after a centerpiece of the right’s complaints in the 2024 election, and prior, was being censored, and Trump’s myriad of lawsuits over the same. Wide-ranging examples of restricting free speech this week included castigating a singer for his lyrics; firings and revoking visas over comments critical of Charlie Kirk; forcing a social media company to remove content; and attempting to restrict media access to the Pentagon.
The paradox noted this week by an NYT columnist was that while Trump promoted peace abroad, he was siccing the U.S. military on its citizens in Democratic-run cities. Portland poked fun at Trump’s invented crisis there, dressing up in costumes to protest the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence. Things took a turn for the worse in Chicago, as ICE agents used tear gas on residents, including police officers and onlookers.
The mood of the country remained largely somber, and increasingly divided, not only by party and ideology, but also in the broadening gap between those who have access and are benefiting from Trump’s economic actions, versus those who have seen their financial well-being negatively impacted. Trump and White House budget director Russell Vought seized on the continuing government shutdown to devastate agencies, cutting jobs in what Trump called “Democrat-oriented” positions, including the Department of Education, Health and Human Services, and the Environmental Protection Agency. The implications of the regime’s continuing federal employee cuts are already being felt well beyond blue states and cities.
This week Trump and his White House budget director made dramatic threats of mass firings of federal workers if the shutdown continued, in an effort to get Democrats to capitulate. As the shutdown neared the end of its first week, and Democrats appeared to have the upper hand, Trump escalated, threatening to withhold to back pay from furloughed workers. Cracks began to appear, as air traffic controllers, already in short supply with previous Trump cutbacks, stopped showing up to work, and delays spread to airports around the country.
The other big story this week was Trump escalating his threats to send National Guard troops to two Democratic cities, Portland and Chicago. After a Trump-appointed federal judge ruled he could not deploy the Oregon National Guard in Portland, the regime tried an end-around of deploying the California National Guard there, which the furious judge also temporarily blocked. As the week closed out, Trump deployed the Texas National Guard to Chicago, in what the Illinois governor dubbed an “authoritarian march,” while Trump threatened to throw him and the mayor of Chicago in jail, and possibly invoke the Insurrection Act.
Meanwhile, the country’s mood continues to sour. Just 17% say Trump’s policies are making them financially better off. Trump finds little support for deploying military troops against the wishes of governors (37% approve), and an overwhelming 83% say the U.S. military should remain politically neutral.
This week we see an increasingly unbridled Trump, taking previously unthinkable actions in the light of day, and facing little or no pushback, nor consequence. Trump finally got his wish for retribution against former FBI director James Comey, with his newly installed U.S. attorney, garnering an indictment — although barely. Rather than retreat, Trump bragged to reporters that there would be more indictments of his perceived enemies coming.
Comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s show returned to air to a record audience, with Nexstar and Sinclair shortly after agreeing to air the show again, in a victory for free speech. Financial media reported that the lesson parent company Disney learned may be a turning point for previous capitulation by media companies. There were also several court rulings this week in favor of free speech, and against the Trump regime.
Defense Department (aka Department of War if Trump gets his way) Secretary Pete Hegseth convened a remarkable meeting at Quantico, flying generals and admirals stationed around the world back to Virginia, to deliver what turned out to be his standard anti-DEI, warrior stump speech. Trump also made his way to address the audience in a 73 minute rambling speech, 44 minutes of which was a repeat of random, unrelated remarks he had made in recent speeches. When Trump did turn to matters related to the military, his first remark was related to using the U.S. military on the country’s own citizens, and allowing Democratic-run cities to be “training grounds” for the military.
As the week closed out, the government shut down, as Democrats at long last did not capitulate to Trump’s desires. Trump and Republicans lied repeatedly about what was happening, and sought to place the blame on Democrats, as Trump threatened to cut hundreds of thousands more federal workers. It was unclear if this was possible, given, as we have covered in this project, several agencies have already sought to hire back employees fired by the regime. Trump also suffered a rare Supreme Court loss as the court ruled Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook could stay in place, hours after private company ADP showed more negative employment data, and the day after Trump pulled his nominee to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
This was quite a week! What strikes me the most in summarizing one of the longest lists of broken norms so far is the lack of pushback that persists. Trump is by all accounts unilaterally making decisions on foreign policy, economic policy, healthcare issues, censorship, prosecutorial discretion, and more. He has become so brazen that he feels comfortable saying out loud, and repeatedly, that the Justice Department must go after his enemies — something previously unthinkable — and firing those who refuse to do so. He also this week, on several occasions, lashed out at his enemies, which includes apparently every American who disagrees with him. His words, at Charlie Kirk’s funeral: “I hate my opponent. And I don’t want the best for them.” His words, at the United Nations to world leaders who allow immigration and clean energy: “Your countries are going to hell.”
Mind you, the American people are not happy. An AP-NORC poll found 75% of Americans believe the country is heading in the wrong direction, including more than half of Republicans. Trump’s approval stands at the lowest of his second regime. Yet Trump, unlike in the first term when members of his party and regime would push back, is not having boundaries erected before him. Not by Congress, nor the Supreme Court, which is again and again expanding his power, in the shade of the aptly named shadow docket, offering no explanation for their rulings. So as has been his pattern in both regimes, with no boundaries or pushback, Trump pushes norms further, and grasps more and more power.
Also alarming this week are Trump and his regime’s attacks on free speech. Members of his regime are doing his bidding now. Disney suspended comedian Jimmy Kimmel after the FCC threatened to take away broadcast rights; the FTC is wielding deal approval for media companies as a cudgel; the Pentagon restricted journalists’ access; even West Point academy was sued for silencing professors. On this one issue, there is some muted pushback from conservatives, mostly out of fear that when the shoe is on the other foot, it will come back to haunt them. Ironically, the notion of the “woke right,” something unthinkable just months ago, became a thing this week.
The main story this week was continued political violence in the nation, as conservative activist Charlie Kirk was murdered while giving a speech on a college campus. While the killing was one in a long list of bipartisan violence and threats, Trump and his regime seized on it to baselessly promote conspiracy theories about a vast left-wing effort, including liberal groups, donors, and protestors.
As it turned out, the alleged murderer grew up in a Republican family, in a red district, and was registered as unaffiliated, but that did not stop Trump and his allies from threatening broad measures which would undermine the fabric of democracy and the rule of law, in an effort to score political points and silence dissent. Even the conservative WSJ Editorial Board criticized Attorney General Pam Bondi’s threats to prosecute hate speech, in an op-ed saying she “needs a free speech tutorial.” The public also didn’t warm to Trump’s behavior, as an Economist/YouGov poll found his approval at the lowest level of his second regime. The only benefit for Trump has been to drive the Jeffrey Epstein story out of the top news stories.
Much of Trump and his regime’s attempts to seize power and act unilaterally is a continuation of the increasingly autocratic behaviors we have chronicled in this project. This week we continue to see attempts to silence dissent, push boundaries to act without consent of Congress, use divisions as red meat for his base, and a reordering of the world order. The economy, a point of strength for Trump during his first regime, has become his weakest issue, other than his handling of the Epstein investigations. On his overall handling of the economy, his net approval was -17, while his handling of inflation was net -30.
This week, Congress is back in session, and so is the Jeffrey Epstein files story. Congress was greeted upon their return by Epstein survivors, who called for the release of files and accountability. This has been the one story Trump has not been able to spin or control, and he found himself, his regime, and most Republicans contorting themselves to respond, especially after his entry to Epstein’s 50th birthday book, something Trump had denied existed and even sued over, was released by the Epstein estate.
A major theme this week is the Supreme Court siding with Trump, and, according to many lower court judges, therefore undermining the rule of law. As of this week, an astonishing three-quarters of lower court rulings have been reversed. Republicans in Congress too continue to almost completely abdicate their role to Trump and look the other way, including on his self dealing and corruption.
Notable this week is Trump’s pettiness shining through. I wrote more about it here, but as someone who has tracked this man daily for five years, I’ve noted that he cares immensely about being liked. Big parts of his agenda, despite abdication and assists from the Supreme Court and Republican eunuchs, are stalled or failing. When he feels unsuccessful or not in control, he strikes out, often in the most petty of ways.
As a final note, I would encourage you to read through all of this week’s broken norms. There’s a lot happening on a myriad of fronts! Because of the fragmentation and demise of much of our media, many of these stories are exclusive to one news outlet. One subscriber wrote to me, I subscribe to three publications and read them daily, but I still missed so much this week! Exactly. Take the time to keep up with what he is up to!
This week Trump lost three major court cases, which could have major implications on the regime’s ability to enact his agenda. Perhaps the most consequential was a 7–4 ruling by a federal appeals court, finding that he had overstepped his authority by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in his trade war, a ruling that could impact the majority of his tariffs. The court noted that no president had ever done this before, and it is the power of Congress to impose tariffs. The WSJ Editorial Board once again lambasted Trump, writing, “If he can impose a tax on any imported product any time he wants, he really has the power of a king.”
A federal appeals court similarly found that Trump had wrongfully invoked the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act to deport immigrants he accused of belonging to a Venezuelan street gang. The ruling could have broader implications for the Trump regime, and its broad anti-immigrant narrative used to justify its actions. Notably, in Week 42, an analysis by the NYT highlighted Trump’s overuse of declaring emergencies, finding he had already declared a total of ten, while his predecessors averaged seven over their four-year terms.
The third ruling related to Trump’s deployment of the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles, finding he had violating the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, which bars the use of soldiers for civilian law enforcement activities. The ruling came on the same day Trump threatened to send federal troops to other blue cities, including Chicago and Baltimore. The regime will appeal all these rulings, and ultimately the Supreme Court will continue setting boundaries that will have long-term implications for the future power of the presidency.
Finally, notable this week were Trump’s continued use of the tools of authoritarians. He continued his pattern of firing those with whom he disagrees or who get in his way. The WSJ noted that he is even backsliding to what was endemic during his first regime: his pattern of firing his handpicked senior officials. Trump also continues his attacks on science and data, another tool of authoritarians.
So much for what typically would be a slow news week in August. With Congress still on recess, this week it felt as if Trump was running the country on his own. He even mused at a half-day-long cabinet meeting about being a dictator! He certainly is increasingly acting like one, continuing a shocking and very public retribution campaign against his perceived enemies, taking control of D.C. and threatening other Democratic cities, and tightening his grip over the U.S. economy. I wrote more about how Trump is increasingly nationalizing our economy, akin to state-managed capitalism under authoritarian regimes, rather than a free market system, here.
One would think with all these moves, especially in betrayal of GOP orthodoxy on free market capitalism, the Republican Party would be up in arms! No. Nary a whisper from Republicans as Trump moves to take total control. The only criticism Trump is consistently facing continues to come from the conservative WSJ Editorial Board, which, on Trump’s search of John Bolton’s home, wrote, “The real offender here is a President who seems to think he can use the powers of his office to run vendettas,” and of his attempted coup of the Federal Reserve, said, “He may succeed, but the country will live to regret it.”
Our federal agencies are being quietly degraded — quite literally being deconstructed from within by Trump appointees. This week, the FBI lowered its standards for hiring amid a talent drain, FEMA employees warned of the impact on Trump’s moves on the agency’s readiness, and many more troubling signs emerged. I encourage you all to read through this week’s broken norms to understand the slow decay underway.
Closing on a note of hope, and the shift in the mood of the country. This week Iowa held a special election for a state senate seat, formerly held by a Republican, and in a district that Trump won by 11 points in 2024. In a shocker, Democrat Caitlin Drey, 37, who had no political experience, won by 11 points, breaking what was a Republican supermajority. You can see why Trump is so desperate for mid-decade gerrymandering.
This week we continue the storyline of Trump’s efforts to rewrite history and manipulate data to fit his narratives, both hallmarks of authoritarianism. Last week Bureau of Labor Statistics data was under siege; this week Trump’s U.S. Attorney in D.C. launched a probe into so-called manipulation of violent crime data in D.C., when reality of the data didn’t fit the justification for Trump’s coup of the city’s law enforcement. Trump also continued his unprecedented actions to rewrite history at the Smithsonian, which is supposed to be an independent entity, threatening a process similar to the regime’s ongoing investigations of colleges and universities.
This week we saw much pageantry with Trump first entertaining Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in Alaska, and then days later European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House. I’m struck by the similarity to Trump’s grandiose summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un during the first regime, when the media breathlessly covered every detail on the front pages for days, distracting from stories back then that he did not want covered. Similarly, we find almost no coverage this week of the Epstein files, which is politically toxic for Trump. With all his wild machinations and claims surrounding peace between Russia and Ukraine, including his normalizing Putin and allowing him a place on the world stage after three years of being ostracized, nothing really happened this week to ensure the peace that Trump had promised would happen on Day 1.
Another disturbing development this week are Trump’s moves for complete control of the economy, not only with his trade war, but also his efforts to take control of the Federal Reserve and extort U.S. companies. Trump is looking for ways not only to pressure and bully Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, but also to intimidate other Fed members into resigning, in an effort to reshape the independent institution to his liking and to do his bidding. The Trump regime is also reportedly ranking U.S. companies by their fealty to Trump, and seeking equity stakes in exchange for releasing federal grants promised to companies under the Biden administration.
All in all, this is a disturbing week because Trump is continuing to consolidate power, with little pushback. He is by all accounts, having an outsized say not only in the U.S. and global economy, but also unilaterally deciding foreign and domestic policy, with little to no pushback. Also notable is that several federal court rulings which had slowed or blocked the Trump regime’s moves have in recent weeks been overturned by appeals courts, including by several judges appointed by Trump.