The dizzying rollercoaster ride of Trump’s first hundred days has, in many ways, justified and even exceeded the worst fears of those Trump opponents often accused of suffering from “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” His bumbling tariff wars have cratered the markets, probably damaged the international supply chain, and may yet trigger a global recession. His deportation policies quickly crossed the line dividing toughness from conspicuous cruelty. His blundering lurches into foreign policy have brought American alliances to breaking point. He has filled his administration with a rogues’ gallery of cranks and sycophants. And he has governed in a starkly authoritarian manner—defying a Supreme Court order (so far, by means of evasion and equivocation), deploying his associates to attack the judiciary, and using executive orders and the Justice Department to move against perceived enemies, including those whose only offence was to challenge his unambiguously false claims about the “stolen” 2020 election.

Many commentators warned their readers that Trump’s second term would be nothing like his first. Since he believes that his populist agenda was thwarted by disloyal and insubordinate staffers the first time around, he was always likely to surround himself with a cadre of loyalist courtiers this time. He would also have a much more obedient Republican Party in his corner, largely purged of Trump critics. Thus empowered, and further radicalised against the “deep state” establishment he blames for his perceived persecution, he would be even more willing than before to trample conventional norms.

But even those who sounded these alarms underestimated just how unhinged the second Trump presidency would turn out to be. Nobody predicted executive orders targeting law firms that have displeased Trump and stripping his political opponents of their security clearances. No-one foresaw his attempts to strong-arm the media into compliance by abusing federal broadcasting regulators and bringing legally meritless but burdensome lawsuits. Nobody warned that he would deport migrants accused of crimes to serve indefinite sentences in a notoriously brutal prison in El Salvador, or that he would threaten to ship American criminals to the same place. No-one anticipated a blanket pardon (with a few sentence commutations) for all defendants in the 6 January 2021 Capitol Hill riot, or the naked corruption of the $TRUMP crypto-coin self-enrichment scam, or the bluster about annexing Canada and Greenland and standing for a third term in 2028.

Many of us also failed to anticipate that Trump would get away with staffing high-level administration posts with unqualified and unsuitable appointees because we underestimated the servility of the Senate. In September, for instance, I wrote that notoriously zealous Trump loyalist Kash Patel (who had held several national security and defence posts in the first Trump administration) might be appointed interim director of the FBI or the CIA, since he would be unlikely to weather a confirmation hearing. Patel had been doggedly determined to keep Trump in power after the 2020 election—and, during the Trump interregnum, he had openly threatened to “come after” government officials and journalists who “helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections.” Yet Patel was easily confirmed as director of the FBI; moreover, Dan Bongino, a radical podcaster who has accused the FBI of being complicit in the Capitol Hill insurrection, was installed as Patel’s deputy.

Likewise, anti-vaccine crusader and all-purpose crackpot Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime left-wing Democrat turned Trump supporter, did not just get a “Health Czar” position as many anticipated. He was confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services after downplaying his extreme views. And former Fox News host Pete Hegseth—whose record includes alcoholism, reckless sexual conduct, authoritarian views that flirt with Christian nationalism, and cultish devotion to Trump—was confirmed as Secretary of Defence.

In addition, cranks outside the administration now wield alarming influence. Last month, several National Security Council staffers were fired after “investigative journalist” Laura Loomer—more accurately described by Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina as “a crazy conspiracy theorist”—visited the White House to press Trump to purge “neocons.” The more recent removal from the NSC of National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and his deputy Alex Wong was also apparently due at least in part to Loomer, who has gloated online about collecting new scalps.

And then there’s DOGE, the “Department of Government Efficiency,” unofficially headed by tech tycoon Elon Musk and run by unvetted and inexperienced staffers who have received sweeping access to sensitive data. Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer has aptly described DOGE’s approach to cost-cutting as “shoot first, ask questions later,” and nonpartisan critics have echoed that concern. Even funds for research into cancers related to the 11 September attack have ended up on the chopping block before a scramble to restore them. And DOGE’s clumsy slashing at PEPFAR, the incredibly successful global HIV/AIDS-fighting program started by George W. Bush, has resulted in the closure of essential clinics and programs, endangering lives. 

The Political Foundations of the DOGE Scam

The Trump/Musk administration’s approach to cutting costs makes good political sense in the short-run. But from a longer-run governing perspective, it is a recipe for disaster.

QuilletteR. Shep Melnick

The assault on the United States Agency for International Development, meanwhile, has not only eroded American soft power; it has been accompanied by misinformation about USAID programs that authoritarian regimes abroad have used to attack nonprofits, activist groups, and media outlets as American mercenaries.

DOGE’s blitzkrieg of activity has made it hard—perhaps deliberately so—to measure its effects. What’s known for certain is that its claims about savings to taxpayers have been grotesquely inflated. According to the conservative American Enterprise Institute, a supposed US$140 billion saved is actually more like US$10 billion, a drop in the bucket of the total federal budget.

So, how is all this malice and ineptitude balanced by accomplishments on the other side of the ledger? The Trump administration is broadly right on some important issues. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs—whether they are intended to advantage “marginalised” identities in hiring and promotion or inculcate progressive values on race, gender, and so on—tend to be toxic, divisive, and discriminatory. The last decade’s push for expanded “transgender rights”—including transition for children, the participation of biologically male athletes in women’s and girls’ sports, and access to single-sex spaces based on self-declared gender identity—has also generated a multitude of problems. A post-election poll conducted last November found that 72 percent of voters believe the Democrats “want to promote transgender ideology.”