Back in November, right after the election, I made a list of concerns I had going into the second Trump administration. We are a mere 162 days into the administration, and he has gotten a lot done on The List. Here’s a basic run-down.
| 7/1/25 Assessment | |
| 1. He initiates some version of his Schedule F proposal to transform much of the civil service into partisan positions. | The DOGE firings and ongoing efforts fit this concern. Over 250,000 federal employees are gone. USAID was destroyed, and important agencies like FEMA and NOAA have been weakened, to name just two. |
| 2. He orders the DOJ to cease all investigations into his behavior. | Yes. Further, lawyers and law enforcement who were linked to the investigations were fired. |
| 3. He sells out Ukraine to Russia. | While at times he has been hostile toward Ukraine and often engages in pro-Putin talking points, he at least hasn’t sold Ukraine out. |
| 4. He allows, indeed encourages, Israel to act with impunity in the West Bank, Gaza, and Lebanon. | He has definitely empowered Netanyahu as a general matter, and talking about actions that sound like ethnic cleansing of Gaza. Largely has done very little. |
| 5. He raises tariffs in a significant way and causes substantial inflation as a result. | This has been an ongoing roller coaster. |
| 6. He appoints utterly unqualified persons to his cabinet. | Yes. In some ways worse than I imagined. |
| 7. Along the lines of #6, he really does empower people like Elon Musk and RFK, Jr. | 100%. Musk was given, for a time, far more power than I thought likely. RFK., Jr. is HHS Secretary and is wreaking havoc on public health policy. |
| 8. He uses the DOJ to go after his enemies and eliminates the norm of DOJ independence. | This is happening. |
| 9. He allows things like child separation at the border. | Worse in some ways. Deporting US citizens instead. |
| 10. He engages in deportations that catch up and victimize American citizens. This will manifest as breaking up families and will include Americans being deported. And, of course, victimized immigrants. | We have seen some of this. |
| 11. He encourages violence by law enforcement. | Masked ICE agents tackling gardeners and the like certainly qualify. Sending people to CECOT and building “Alligator Alcatraz” fits as well. |
| 12. Attacks on the media via the FEC. | Mostly using lawsuits as leverage. |
| 13. Damage to the dollar as the global reserve currency. | Via the Guardian: US dollar has worst first half in more than 50 years amid Trump tariffs |
| 14. Deeper alliances with autocratic governments. | He continues a trend of often being nicer to autocrats than democrats, but there has been no significant move here. |
| 15. He abandons the US role as a global leader of liberal democracy. This ends an important element of the post-WWII order. | He keeps chipping away at this via tariffs and a general lack of understanding or respect for how much stability and prosperity the post-WWII order provided. Or, for that matter, long-term power for the US. |
| 16. Repeal of the ACA. | The ACA itself has not been under attack. Instead, his BBB will slash Medicare, and an estimated 12-20 million persons could lose health insurance as a result. |
| 17. Some new version of the Muslim ban. | “I have determined to fully restrict and limit the entry of nationals of the following 12 countries: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. These restrictions distinguish between, but apply to both, the entry of immigrants and nonimmigrants.” |
| 18. J6 and related pardons. | This was worse than expected: he pardoned all the J6ers. |
| 19. Takes the US out of NATO. | While often hostile to NATO, they flattered him this week, so now he likes NATO. |
So, in all, he has been pretty much the bad president I figured he would be.
Here are some additions to the list.
- Direct attacks on university leadership and curricula.
- Attacks on the structure of scientific research in the United States.
- On Immigration:
- Disappearances.
- Revocation of TPS for 500,000 Haitians and 350,000 Venezuelans.
- Deporting immigrants to torture prisons on purpose (CECOT). On that count, let’s not forget shackles ASRM.
- Deporting immigrants to terrible third-party locations (e.g., Libya and South Sudan).
- Building camps (e.g., Alligator Alcatraz) and a token attempt to use Gitmo.
- Unnecessarily sending in the National Guard and US Marines to deal with small-scale demonstrations in Los Angeles.
- Risking involvement in a war in the Middle East by bombing Iran (and doing so without Congressional authorization or even fully briefing the Gang of Eight).
- And, of course, all the things I have noted that are Right in Front of Our Noses.
I didn’t include tax cuts for the wealthy, since that comes with the Republican territory (but did note the massive cuts to healthcare in the table).
To quote Journey, “It goes on and on and on and on.”
I am, no doubt, forgetting something.
