Trump's Week One Was a Weak One

Don't be fooled by the coverage of Trump's serial order-signing

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Pres. Donald Trump reassures North Carolina residents that their concerns about FEMA will be addressed, possibly because he’ll eliminate FEMA, but they’ll still have the prayers of the Rev. Franklin Graham, left and far right. (Screengrab / White House video.)

Donald Trump seems to have taken the wrong lesson from his first term.

You may be seeing a lot of commentary about his second time at bat reflecting more confidence, better understanding of how the system works and how to bend it to his will. Yeah, no.

From the breathless media marveling at Trump’s many pen strokes, you might think he’s transformed the entire federal government, nay, America™, with a week’s worth of signatures. And, yes, he has achieved a range of dismaying actions and changes.

But Trump’s takeaway from Trump1.0 seems to be merely that he shouldn’t have appointed or heeded any grownups. The Tillersons and Faucis. The military brass. So for Trump2.0, the few grownups in sight are those who achieved adulthood without developing fully functioning integrity. If they hesitate when Trump says, “jump” it’ll only be to ask how low.

None of this reflects a genuine understanding of how government works, or how to make it work. His big lesson is to put Trump clones and Trump toadies atop his agencies. And there’s no reason to think they know how to thing-do any better than he doesn’t. Which means that even some of Trump’s ostensible victories carry within them the seeds of their political demise.

That can be hard to see, given the media focus on the spectacle of what Trump says he’s accomplishing. In the same vein, a diligent Newsfucker flagged a Ralph Nader post bemoaning the virtual media blackout on the many, many institutions fighting back.

(And let’s not lose sight of the fact that the overwhelming majority of victors in these fights are the same people who push Democrats to do better. Their team isn’t a party, it’s the people they’re fighting for. That’s why they took on Pres. Joe Biden, it’s why they’re taking on Trump, and it’s why, heaven forfend, they’ll take on the next Democratic president. Let’s make sure we have their backs always.)

The reason not to lose sight of who’s in the trenches is that it’s easy to lose heart when we can’t see allies in the fight and we never hear about the victories.

So, one week into the second Trump presidential term, let’s take just a brief respite from the schlock-and-aw coverage and reflect on just some of the many failures¹ — trivial and great, symbolic and substantive — already blossoming under his mistaken belief that leadership means giving orders.

Justice fails

Trump on Friday purged the government of at least a dozen 15 inspectors general, the agency watchdogs whose whose job it is to prevent the kind of fraud and waste Trump says he wants to prevent but also wants to commit.

The affected departments reportedly include Agriculture, Defense, Education, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, State, and Transportation, along with the Environmental Protection Agency and Small Business Administration.

• The attempted firings are illegal. Presidents have to give Congress 30 days notice to remove them, since they’re confirmed by the Senate.

• The firings were flagged as illegal in a letter to the White House from a watchdog, specifically, one of the watchdogs the White House thought they were firing. The watchdog explained the law to them, how they broke it, and their likely need for a good lawyer.

• Senate Republicans aren’t happy about it. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is as pissed about it as a 91-year-old Iowa senator can get at his own party. He wants “further explanation” about the firings, he said. And in November he said, “I intend to defend” the IGs, warning Trump not to purge them.

• At least some of the firings will likely be challenged in court, due to being illegal, generating yet more headlines about more Trump losses.

• State Department Inspector General Cardell Richardson, Sr., reportedly is planning to show up for work on Monday morning due to said illegality of said aforementioned firings. He’s a Black, retired Air Force colonel, so yeah let’s see how this goes.

• Trump said he didn’t know the fired IGs but that “some people” thought they should be axed. #Leadership.

• He appointed some of them.

• Democrats are already teeing up to lay every scandal and abuse at Trump’s feet. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called the purge “a glaring sign that it’s a Golden Age for abuse in government and even corruption.”

Trump ordered an end to “birthright citizenship,” the constitutional principle that pretty much everyone born here is a citizen. A judge ruled that yeah, no, and maybe grow the fuck up.

Trump asserted the right to fire career federal workers. So the National Treasury Employees Union sued him.

FBI nominee Kash Patel’s avowed intent to pursue revenge against Trump’s foes is already raising opposition not just from Democrats but Republicans, too. Grassley said, “[I]t’s pretty clear that if I don’t like the use of the FBI for political weaponization, I don’t want Kash Patel to do that.”

Trump vowed that on day one he’d begin the “largest deportation operation in American history.”

• I can’t find the article I read that said Trump’s deportations so far are in line with Biden’s, but I’m sure I saw it somewhere.

• Schools and parents are already mobilizing against threatened school raids.

• Republican members of Congress have been reduced to pleading special circumstances for people in their communities — y’know, the good immigrants.

• Mexico refused to let a Trump administration plane full of deportees land on Thursday, causing the flight to be canceled before it even took off like a metaphor.

• Some of the flights reportedly could cost as much as $852,000 to deport just 80 people, which we’ll have a hard time paying for having lost the tax revenues and economic activity generated by those 80 people.

• Mexico and Guatemala have received some flights in the past week, but if Mexico refuses again, what’s Trump gonna do, invade Mexico? That’ll be pretty tough with a second front in Greenland. I mean, the last guy who tried to fight a war on two fro—oh riiiight.

Trump vowed that on day one he’d “restore the Trump travel ban on entry from terror-plagued countries.” He failed even faster than he failed in his first term.

Trump ordered the release of the government’s JFK, MLK, and RFK assassination files, helpfully reminding everyone he still hasn’t released the files of his good friend Jeffrey Epstein.

During Trump’s first day on the job, a Border Patrol agent was killed on the job. Twenty miles from the border. Of Canada. Where Trump had not sent the U.S. military to assist.

Remember how Trump and his fellow Republicans vowed to protect women from being attacked in the restroom? They’re attacking women in restrooms. Rep. Lauren Boebert reportedly apologized for challenging a women who dared use a Capitol Hill women’s room without being sexy enough for Boebert’s standards of femininity. Boebert reportedly thought she was attacking Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE), the first transgender member of Congress but not the last. The next four two years are going to be full of the stupid and easily predictable stories resulting from the exhausting GOP insistence that we pay attention to their bullshit by policing other people’s genders the way sane people have absolutely zero use for.

Environmental fails

Trump vowed that on day one he’d repeal the Green New Deal. He failed. This was because the Green New Deal was never enacted into law. And because undoing components which did make it into federal legislation requires federal legislation to undo. And that will require votes from Republicans willing to snatch money away from their districts. Let’s go, Brandon!

Trump vowed that on day one he’d repeal Biden’s “electric vehicle mandate.” He failed.

• There is no electric-vehicle mandate. There was a non-binding executive order establishing a target that electric vehicles make up half of all new-car sales by 2030.

• Instead of eliminating that rule, on day one Trump signed an executive order stating that it’s the policy of the United States to eliminate that rule. Eventually.

• Trump doesn’t seem to realize that his arguments against helping EVs are based on market fairness, which would suggest we should eliminate federal subsidies for his favorite fuels, which are fossil. Which we should.

• Automakers wanted the EV target left in place, because it helps them.

• Consumers deprived of Biden-era subsidies will now pay more for electric vehicles, accelerating inflation. Not to mention all the other things Biden did to lower the cost of tons of renewable energy things.

Trump froze federal funding to create more electric-vehicle chargers. That’ll leave EV owners stranded without juice, giving them hours of free time — while they wait for a jump — to search online for “Why don’t we have more fucking EV chargers?”

Trump vowed that on day one he’d repeal a Biden-era fee for fishing licenses. He either failed or, possibly, he actually did it and this one goes in the win column but also in the political fail column because I can’t find a whiff of coverage of it.

Economic fails

Instead of stopping, let alone reversing, inflation, Trump ordered agencies to look into whether they could maybe somehow do that at some point please and thank you. We wait with inflated breath.

The price of eggs is expected to increase under Trump. The 20.3% price hikes in 2025 were predicted on Friday by the now-Trump Department of Agriculture. That’s in part due to the avian flu that Trump has failed to stop and is now the responsibility of Trump’s science, health, and food-safety officials. Here are some more 2025 price prophecies from the Book of Trump’s Agriculture Department:

• Food: ↑ 2.2%

• Beef and veal: ↑ 1.5%

• Dairy: ↑ 1.3%

• Fresh fruit: ↑ 0.7% (and that’s not accounting for tariffs!)

• Non-alcoholic beverages: ↑ 1.5%

Trump vowed tariffs on day one. He still hasn’t figured out which tariffs he actually intends to make good on and how much damage to do to the U.S. economy in the process.

Trump vowed that on day one the federal government would stop taxing tips. He failed.

Trump announced a $500-billion AI investment. The stupid billionaires who launched the “Stargate” artificial-intelligence project — because they don’t have enough of their own intelligence — credited Trump as making it possible, even though it broke ground last year, when Pres. Joe Biden was Pres.

• Trump was immediately exposed for this bullshit by a whistleblower who revealed that the stupid billionaires behind the project don’t actually have the money for it that Trump claimed they did.

• The whistleblower was Elon Musk.

The Trump administration froze a lawsuit regarding student-loan debt. The government was defending U.S. policy making it easier for borrowers to get debt-forgiveness if they were defrauded by a phony bullshit school. Dropping the suit will flood social and other media with stories of screwed-over borrowers, and it’ll ding the sacred precious economy, Mother Of Us All, depriving it of funds that will now go to banks and enrich the rich.

Military fails

New Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was confirmed in a historically weak vote, opposed by a bipartisan coalition that included the Senate’s former Republican leader. Hegseth starts on thin ice, not where you wanna be while invading Greenland.

• Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) “no” vote and stunning statement were a clear warning shot to Trump. Whatever Trump fealty some Senate Republicans felt necessary solely for winning in November is no longer a gimme.

• The only other cabinet nominee known to have required a vice-presidential tie-breaking vote was Trump1.0 Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. That’s right, Hegseth is the Betsy DeVos of Defense secretaries.

• Every Republican who voted for Hegseth was a necessary vote to confirm him; rendering each of those senators now individually accountable for every assault Hegseth launches against a female subordinate’s personal space, every time he gets tanked, and every time he sneaks out for a three-martini launch of artillery.

• Hegseth’s commitment to purge the military of the unwoke — and the leaders who tried to woke it — will impact readiness and recruiting alike. That, too, is on the Republicans who confirmed him.

• Hegseth just assured the Senate he would protect the Pentagon “IG’s independence.” (Trump just fired them.)

• Hegseth’s inevitable replacement — remember how often Trump fires his own people! — will have to focus much of his (let’s be honest) energies on fixing Hegseth’s fuck-ups.

Hegseth forgot about the United States Navy. Upon his swearing in yesterday, Hegseth issued an embarrassing statement full of obeisance and politics that are anathema to the traditions of the agency’s leadership.

• Hegseth said, “We will reestablish deterrence by defending our homeland — on the ground and in the sky.” The military force that Hegseth now oversees includes an entire branch dedicated to water things. This heretofore very well known branch even has more than 4,000 boats, including the kind that Navy vets insist we call “ships.” You’d think Hegseth would know about the Navy given his lengthy career as an anchor.

• Hegseth also assured the 3-million-plus people in the U.S. military that “I will always have your back,” a dumb thing to say when much of the job involves mediating conflicts that they have with each other.

Trump ordered 1,000 soldiers from the U.S. Army and 500 Marines to the Mexican border. That’ll trigger legal challenges for violating U.S. law barring the military from doing domestic law-enforcement. It also means they’ll be doing crowd control despite the fact that they’re not trained for it. What could go wronger.

That glorious agreement Trump won, saving Hamas from Israel?

• Israel got four hostages back yesterday. Hamas got 200 prisoners back, 121 of whom had been serving life sentences for carrying out fatal attacks on Israelis.

• Hamas used the prisoner release as an occasion for a rally and show of strength.

Trump said he’d end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours. Those 24 hours have yet to arrive.

North Korea this morning tested a sea-to-surface guided missile thought to be capable of carrying nukes. We’re not on the brink of war or anything — this is their third such test this month. And Secretary Hegseth already failed to stop it! Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un appears to be ensuring he’s operating from a position of performative strength if/when he engages in talks with Supreme Leader Don John Trump.

Health fails

Trump withdrew the United States from the World Health Organization. Can’t imagine how that might bite him/us/Earth in the unvaccinated ass.

Trump said abortion should be left to the states to decide, and now the Trump administration is using the federal government to decide. Trump announced Friday that the U.S. will stop giving any funding to international health organizations that even discuss abortion with patients. Every Republican president does this, even though there’s no evidence it reduces abortion rates and considerable evidence it reduces health.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday put the wheels in motion for the U.S. to rejoin the so-called Geneva Consensus Declaration. That’s a statement asserting that abortion isn’t a medical right and therefore nations have no legal obligation to provide or fund it. The U.S. joins the illustrious ranks of fellow signatories Hungary, Uganda, Saudi Arabia, Congo, Belarus, Libya, Iraq, Kenya, Poland, South Sudan, Pakistan, and Indonesia.

Trump vowed that on day one he would ban “child sexual mutilation.” He failed. For one thing, a total ban on gender-affirming treatment — not just on federal funding of it — would require a ton of legislative/constitutional lifting. For another thing, as much as I’d be okay with outlawing circumcision, I’m pretty sure it’d piss off a constituency or two.

Trump ordered a slew of health- and science-oriented agencies to stop communicating with the public. Which the public already misses.

• State health officials still have a First Amendment. On Friday, a Kansas state health official announced, “Currently, Kansas has the largest [tuberculosis] outbreak that they've ever had in history."

Education fails

Trump vowed that on day one he would cut Dept. of Education funding for things that hurt his feelings.

• He failed to cut on day one the funding for schools that teach “critical race theory” that he promised he’d cut on day one.

• He failed to cut on day one the funding for schools that teach, um, “transgender insanity,” which presumably just refers to anything that makes him anxious about who he finds sexually attractive and what he’s supposed to grab them by.

• He failed to cut on day one the funding for schools that mandate face-masks, which I’m not sure any still do.

• He failed to cut on day one the funding for schools that have vaccine mandates, which good luck at the next PTA meeting with that one.

Political fails

Trump said he wanted to be a dictator only on day one. He failed. Instead, he was merely an executive-order orderer on day one.

Trump said he wanted the Senate to forgo the confirmation process and just let him install whoever he wanted. On Friday, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) formally proposed it to his Senate colleagues. Fail.

As president-elect, Trump vowed to achieve successes in line with his first-term failures. Such as? Well, after Trump was elected, spokesperson Karoline Leavitt vowed that he would deliver on his second-term promises the way he “delivered on his first term promises to build the wall,” which remains unfinished. So, true!

Congressional Republicans are begging Trump to decide how to advance their legislative agenda. This strategy call is really, really, complicated: Should they do it with one bill, or … get out your calculators … do it with two bills?

Trump can’t decide and/or can’t be bothered to pretend to give a shit. So the GOP Congress doesn’t know how to proceed and are hoping that’ll change on Monday at a GOP summit. Thoughts and prayers.

Trump’s indiscrimate firings and policy changes, especially those that hit people who are discriminated against, are already leading to sob stories and horror stories. Like the disabled veteran who’s scared he’ll lose his job helping fellow veterans via remote work, which is now ending. He can’t come into the office.

The end of remote work is likely to cost the federal government not just staffers it wants to fire, but also the other kind. Thousands of employees would have to move and/or uproot their kids from their schools in order to go to work in an office building just so bosses can feel important striding amongst the masses.

Trump said he wants to get rid of FEMA. It’s the fifth-highest rated federal agency.

At some agencies, Trump has fewer than a third of his “beachhead” teams in place. These are the transitional political appointees Trumpifying federal agencies, which they can’t do until they’re there, and can’t do when they’re there because they’re Trump appointees, which means they’re not good at thing-doing.

Despite Trump supposedly learning things first-time around, his team was again slow with vetting and checking his appointees. Trump’s personnel guy, a former Fox booker, instead took a couple days for a trip to Greenland.

Trump pardoned people even most Republicans didn’t want him to pardon. Most Americans didn’t want him pardoning any Jan. 6 attackers, because most people consider storming the Capitol — as part of a mob threatening to rape and kill members of Congress in order to overthrow the government — to be violent conduct even if it didn’t involve throwing a chair at a cop in the process.

• One of the pardon recipients rejected it.

• One of the pardon recipients is now wanted for a crime he allegedly committed in 2016. The charge? Online solicitation of a child for sex. He was in a federal prison for attacking police with bear spray and a metal whip in order to overthrow the government, but now he’s in the wind thanks to a certain chief executive I’m too genteel to identify by name Trump.

• We’re going to get possibly dozens of stories over the next four, infinite-feeling years of Trump-pardoned criminals doing more crimes, with all of their victims laid at Trump’s feet in media social and asocial alike.

Democrats still exist. They may indeed be in disarray. But that’s part of the democratic process before you get to array. Despite whatever impression you may be getting elsewhere, Trump has failed to crush the opposition party. Here’s Grassley:

“[W]e Republicans ought to be cautious about what appears to be disarray in the Democratic Party, because I think they have the ability to reunify and get back. They’re going to be a strong minority. They don’t look like it today on Jan. 22, but I’ll bet Jan. 22 of 2026, it’ll be a whole different show. It’ll take them a while to get there, but we can’t take anything for granted that we’re going to have a weak Democratic Party.

“…I’m telling you, Democrats are more unified and on the same message. It may not appear today, but they’ll get back there and get back fast.”

In Short (I know, too late)…

Yes, some of this list is things that Trump and MAGA and white Christian nationalists consider victories. But as I’ve tried to show, even those “victories” carry with them the seeds of eventual political physics: Equal and opposite reactions that are coming.

And the impacts of all these failures will have greater force the more people know about them.

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1. Note: This is not to be confused with our list, in woeful need of updating, of Trump’s promises broken.