All Trump's failures
It's getting worse, not better, for him.
Donald Trump is failing, over and over again. He told us he would end the war in Ukraine on day one of his presidency. He said the same thing about the war in Gaza. Instead, the wars are raging and even expanding. And it’s not just his foreign policy.
Last night, Trump got punked by Israel’s Netanyahu. After Trump tried and failed to reach an agreement with Iran, Israel delivered a devastating blow to the Islamic Republic, expanding instead of ending wars in the Middle East. Whether you agree with the strikes or not, Trump was relegated to the roll of spectator, not world leader.
In Europe, our former NATO allies are stepping up their defense of Ukraine while Trump watches Putin get embarrassed by modern technology and bold, innovative attacks on Russia. He thought he could bully Zelensky into a bad deal with the Russian dictator. Instead, he’s lost the respect of countries that once looked to us for advice, support, and leadership.
His threats of tariffs proved to be mostly bluffs. Instead of raising enough money to eliminate the income tax as he suggested, he backed off his threats and got stuck with the nickname TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out). Nobody takes him seriously anymore. The tariffs that are left will raise prices more than serious revenue.
His Big, Beautiful Bill is stuck in Congress because it’s a huge give-away to the rich that will cause pain to the working class people who elected him. Republicans are now in a jam. They know that the bill’s a political loser, but they have to pass something or they look even more incompetent than they’ve looked so far. They control both Houses of Congress and the presidency and can’t get anything done.
Trump’s cabinet is the mess everybody expected. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth followed up his debacle of sharing classified information on unsecured channels with losing his entire senior staff. Now, the administration can’t find qualified people willing to work under an unqualified Secretary of Defense. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is undermining vaccines that have eliminated diseases that once regularly killed children and getting embarrassed in Congressional hearings. Tulsi Gabbard is off the reservation making videos that seem to contradict Trump’s policies. It’s the circus we all expected.
The biggest accomplishment of DOGE was to show that the US government is not laden with the fraud and abuse Republicans claim. Instead, it’s run pretty well and the cuts that were made will have real impact on lives both here and abroad. Elon Musk went from claiming he would cut more than a trillion dollars to settling for a fraction of that.
Musk’s breakup with Trump resembled a high school feud, with each side calling names and making idle threats. Elon finally had to apologize, but I doubt the relationship will ever be the same. Elon’s car company certainly won’t be.
The only place Trump is having any success is with immigration, which is why he’s leaning into it and overreaching. He essentially stopped the flow of undocumented immigrants into the country. Instead of grandstanding on that accomplishment, he had to move toward mass deportations.
Trump’s heavy-handed approach in California provoked a backlash that he thought would build more favor, at least among his base. Instead, he empowered California Governor Gavin Newsom to jump-start a floundering resistance movement. Reining-in immigration is one thing, but sending in armed, masked men in personnel carriers to snatch people off the streets or out of their jobs is not what people expected—or wanted.
I guess the other place he’s having success is the scariest. He’s normalizing locking up his enemies. So far, he’s arrested a judge in Wisconsin, the mayor of Newark, and a US Member of Congress from New Jersey. Yesterday, the administration restrained and handcuffed a US Senator from California. Republicans have defended all these actions. Trump hopes if he locks up enough of his political opponents without pushback, people will shrug when he arrests more prominent Democrats.
Trump is failing. He’s achieved few of his goals and he’s getting more unpopular. He’s lucky the economy is holding, but economists say we haven’t felt the effects of tariffs yet. It’s hard to remember, but we are barely into his second term as president. People will likely be exhausted from all the drama by the time the midterms roll around. If we have elections, he could face a wave reminiscent of 2018.
“If we have elections” pretty much says everything people need to know about Trump being President.
Trump's unique combination of ignorance, incompetence, overreach, and guile (the list is long) may just be helping not only Democrats, but larger and larger number of American's what we as a people want for our nation and for ourselves. The tremendous turnout across the nation for Saturday's No Kings Day was a national reaffirmation of it's preference for freedom and democracy; we do not want and will resist with increasing intensity this president's intent to establish an authoritarian government. Millions of American will not take a knee, now bow to his will. The majority of Americans want an governmental infrastructure that attends effectively to the needs of a free, fair and just, civil society. We want our nation to be one we can be rightfully proud of and be a moral leader for freedom-loving people around the world. We want our nation, president and the people to be respected. We want a strong military that is subservient to the people through Congress, not just to the President. We want courts that expand our freedoms, not take them away. There's more to be said...and people are stepping up and speaking out. And that offers Democrats, Republicans, and Independents the opportunity to be the voice and the change we are seeking!