Update May 22, 2025: Due to a lack of time, the author has replaced this weekly update with a series of articles, “America Is Becoming a Dictatorship. Here’s Why.” Click here to read Part One.
Keeping Track of the Second Trump Administration
On November 6, 2024, America made a grave lapse in judgement by electing Donald Trump to a second term as President of the United States. As I, and many of greater influence than I, have repeatedly argued with fact-based reasoning in the months leading up to that election, Donald Trump is a convicted felon with an established first term record marked by extraordinary egomania, by unprecedented deceit even by politicians’ standards, by gross and damaging incompetence, and, most troubling of all, by his failed but undeniable efforts to dismantle American democratic-republican government in order to grant himself more dictatorial power. As for the so-called Republican party, they’ve shed those few with integrity from power and are now unified in their loyalty to Trump even at the cost of our Constitutional liberties.
It should have been abundantly clear to the American people that electing Trump to a second term would be an invitation for Trump to once again try to become America’s first dictator. But with the American electorate’s failure to see reason and reality, Trump’s second term began on January 20th, 2025.
The intended purpose of this article is to keep track of all significant statements made and actions taken by the second Trump administration. Key points will be added here as significant events warrant them. I’ll provide short editorials on each point to provide brief context, with references to more details from primary sources and news sources with high reputations for quality and accuracy, including the Associated Press, Reuters, and National Public Radio.
Be Strong
For Americans who know better, the years ahead will undoubtedly be painful, damaging, and troubling to live through. I urge those of you reading this who voted more wisely to take heart. No matter what may come, no matter how bad things get in the years to come, we must be strong. We have no choice but to be strong. We must not let the forces of authoritarianism win without a fight, and this is a fight we must win. We lost a battle, but the war for America’s soul is not over yet.
Image Credit: Viktor Hanacek at picjumbo.com
President-Elect Trump
(Nov. 2024 – Jan. 19, 2025)
From Isolationism to Imperialism: Greenland, Canada, the Panama Canal, and Ukraine. Threatening another country with a military invasion if they don’t surrender their sovereign territory is an act of imperialism and a threat of war. It befits a warmongering empire, not what was (?) the leading nation of the free world.
Since the advent of the United Nations and NATO in the post-World War II era, the taking of other nations’ territory through war and conquest ceased to be an internationally tolerated act. It was not until Russia’s President Putin invaded Ukraine the first time in 2014. This prompted strong international condemnation, and the U.S. under President Obama imposed economic sanctions against Russia and revoked Russia’s membership from the G7. Trump mused about undoing these actions in his first term, and repeatedly wondered aloud why Russia should be punished (?!?). But these international institutions were formed precisely to safeguard the world from history’s rampant cycle of endless warfare. Their absence cost the world greatly. How many billions of people lost their lives needlessly over the centuries, while many more lost their livelihoods and well being? Many millions dies and many more suffering from both World Wars.
Cue Donald Trump. He threatened to militarily invade the territory of one of America’s close allies, Denmark, if it does not sell Greenland to the U.S. willingly. This is an open threat, whether Trump follows up on it or not. It is also the kind of behavior we’d expect from a ruthless dictator like Putin, not an American President.
Trump has also publicly mused about Canada becoming America’s 51st state. He’s also threatened high tariffs on Canada, one of our closest allies and chief trading partner, as well as on Mexico, America’s close neighbor and our largest trading partner. Trump cited an influx of the illegal drug fentanyl as the motive behind the tariffs. While Mexican drug cartels indeed do export large quantities of the drug into the U.S., there is practically no fentanyl to speak of coming into the U.S. from Canada. There is no rational basis for imposing tariffs or any other punishing measures on Canada. Of course, the proposed 25% tariffs would damage the economies of the United States, Canada, and Mexico altogether. A tariff is a tax on imported products: the cost of which companies in turn pass on to American consumers by raising the prices of tariffed products. For example, Mexico is America’s largest source of automobile manufacturing. Auto parts in fact cross the southern border several times during the auto manufacturing process. So if a 25% tax is imposed on them at each crossing, the cost to manufacture cars would double or perhaps even triple. The people buying those cars (e.g. Americans) can expect to see the price of cars skyrocket to double or triple what they are as of Jan. 2025. Trump notably does not appear to understand what tariffs are and that this would indeed occur, however, having falsely claimed that tariffs are paid by the countries imposed upon. But as anyone who remembers what they learned in junior high school can tell you, that is not how tariffs work.
Trump also threatened to retake the Panama Canal from Panama through military force. Again, an imperialistic threat by Trump that harkens back to the age of imperialism, when the world was a far more dangerous place with rampant warfare and a far greater scale of needless human suffering. Panama has in reality kept to the terms of its international agreements, leaving us with no valid case against them. Trump lied about China taking control of the canal (there’s no evidence of this), and he further told additional lies to give his threat a false semblance of merit.
Trump as well reiterated his disdain for NATO. He has threatened to pull funding from this alliance of 32 free nations which has fostered democratic values, minimized world conflict, and ensured a more secure world since 1949.
Trump eroded the trust America’s closest allies had in us before Inauguration Day 2025 even arrived. Without trust in America, America’s leading reputation in the world has been irrevocably damaged. Going forward, nations will wisely be wary of any treaties or other agreements we propose to make for decades to come. They will undoubtedly retaliate with their own tariffs and other measures to punish the United States in turn. Even long after Trump is no longer president, our reputation will remain sullied – it will take a long time to rebuild the trust we once had. For each presidency since 2017, America has radically changed its how it conducts itself in the world. Trump has erratically broken hard-earned agreements that were making the world a safer and more prosperous place for America and the world. There can now be no trust in a country that makes an agreement today that it arbitrarily fails to honor tomorrow.
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/trump-says-he-might-demand-panama-hand-over-canal-2024-12-22/
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-promises-25-tariff-products-mexico-canada-2024-11-25/
Week One
(Jan. 20 – Jan. 26, 2025)
Inauguration Day. Trump is inaugurated at noon on January 20, 2025. He first gave a scripted general address, then gave a less hinged second speech for his supporters. Both speeches are best characterized as a series of boasts, false claims, and sweeping promises to solve the problems he repeatedly lies about. Trump then issued a slew of executive orders on day one.
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/20/g-s1-43759/trump-inaugural-address-key-moments
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/20/g-s1-43698/trump-inauguration-executive-orders-2025-day-1
Biden’s Executive Orders Revoked. Trump revoked 78 of President Biden’s executive orders dealing with various actions concerning racial equality, climate change, migration, gender policy, the federal workforce, and Biden’s recent move to take Cuba off the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Declared National Emergency at the Southern Border. Trump signed a slew of executive orders concerning immigration and the southern border. He declared a national emergency exists at the southern border, and that both the National Guard and, alarmingly, the armed forces were to be involved. He ordered that the military is to be used to repel “forms of invasion including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities.” An additional order called for an end to so-called “catch and release,” to continue building Trump’s wall (which in reality would be ineffective), and reinstating his old “Remain in Mexico” policy that requires asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their claim is processed. He also ordered federal agencies to, “vet and screen to the maximum degree possible all aliens who intend to be admitted, enter, or are already inside the United States, particularly those aliens coming from regions or nations with identified security risks”, and to use “all lawful means to ensure the faithful execution of the immigration laws of the United States against all inadmissible and removable aliens.” The refugee resettlement program was also suspended. And criminal cartels were designated as terrorists, in order to expedite the removal of members of groups like Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal organization from Venezuela, and MS-13.
There are many, many problems with these orders that will not be apparent to the disinformed reader. While an argument might be made for designating drug cartels as terrorists, an informed reader might be reminded of Trump’s first-term threat to launch missile strikes into Mexican territory. One wonders if he is doing this to set a premise now in order to realize this threat in the weeks or months to come. Such an action would obviously prompt Mexico to declare war on the United States, not to mention alienate the U.S. from its allies (and endear us to adversaries like Russia and North Korea). Other more concrete concerns revolve around the improper use of the military, the likely potential for crimes against humanity to be perpetrated again, and the first Trump administration’s legacy of sheer incompetence as well as great cruelty. The Obama administration and other administrations handled illegal border crossings quite well without resorting to cruelty, criminality, or the use of armed forces. For deeper coverage of the southern border situation, see my blog article “Donald Trump Would Be Horrible at Dealing with Unauthorized Immigration. Here’s Why,” as well as my four-part series “Crisis at the Mexican Border,” linked below.
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/20/g-s1-43698/trump-inauguration-executive-orders-2025-day-1
https://whatswrong.water.blog/category/immigration/
https://www.britannica.com/topic/crime-against-humanity
Revoke Birthright Citizenship. Trump signed an executive order to revoke birthright citizenship in the United States. The order is based on a novel interpretation of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which the consensus of constitutional law experts agree is entirely false. The U.S. Constitution cannot be amended by presidential executive order: a two-thirds vote of Congress is required instead. Nonetheless, Trump appears to believe he has the authority to do so. A Federal court judge blocked the executive order, stating “I’ve been on the bench for over four decades. I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one. This is a blatantly unconstitutional order.”
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/20/g-s1-43765/trump-inauguration-birthright-citizenship
Make Voter Registration Harder. Trump revoked president Biden’s executive order for federal agencies to promote voter registration. Biden’s order led to new voter registration guides, mailers, updated websites, and programs like Veteran Affairs facilities distributing and helping eligible voters fill out registration forms. Republicans have been lying about the order for years, however, claiming without any evidence that it led to Democratic party voter registrations only.
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/20/nx-s1-5169190/biden-voter-registration-executive-order
Terminate World Health Organization Membership. Trump orders the start of U.S. termination of membership in the U.N. agency that oversees global health issues. He justified this by restating falsehoods about the agency. Among other things, the WHO monitors global health threats, evaluates new vaccines and medications, coordinates the response to emerging health crises, as well as ongoing issues, and provides expert support to countries, particularly when they face a health emergency. The U.S. would lose easy access to critical data on outbreaks and a seat at the table when health standards are set and disease responses are decided. This will deprive the agency of its largest donor, causing it to reduce its effectiveness in preventing needless suffering and death in the United States and the rest of the world.
Abandon Climate Change Efforts. Trump signed an order to start the withdrawal process of the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement. First negotiated in 2015, countries around the world agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to limit global warming and forestall the worst impacts of climate change. Trump has lied about the agreement, claiming without evidence it imposes too many burdens on the American economy, whereas economic experts agree that Trump’s orders will harm the American economy instead.
Trump withdrew the U.S. from the agreement during his first term in office, but the U.S. officially rejoined the international treaty to limit global warming under President Biden in 2021. On his first day back in office, President Trump has started the withdrawal process once again. Environmental groups harshly criticized the decision, which comes after the hottest year on record, as major wildfires are still burning in Los Angeles, and just months after devastating hurricanes hit communities from Florida to North Carolina.
Trump also revoked President’s Biden’s climate change orders, and signed additional orders to promote offshore drilling, stop the construction of wind power projects on federal lands, and revoke protected status of wildlife refuges such as Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He also without evidence declared a “national energy emergency” in order to give himself leverage to undo environmental laws and regulations.
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/21/nx-s1-5266207/trump-paris-agreement-biden-climate-change
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/20/nx-s1-5268653/energy-emergency-trump-oil-evs
Reverse Offshore Drilling Ban. Trump additionally signed an executive order to reverse President Biden’s recent offshore drilling ban. Biden’s ban protected a large swath of ocean that is not actively being sought after by oil drilling companies, so the ban protects the ocean in the decades to come when, presumably, U.S. dependence on oil would be much lessened. It’s expected the ban will not survive a legal challenge as it does not have legal merit, given the fact that there is no legal ground for revoking permanent protection status. Given Trump now has a Republican controlled Congress which has evidently abandoned their responsibilities to the U.S. Constitution and to law and order, their chief concern of appeasing Trump may enable their pro-fossil fuel agenda to succeed through legislation at the expense of the climate and the future of humanity on Earth.
Threaten FEMA. FEMA is the federal agency responsible for helping states and communities impacted by disasters from floods and fires to drought, earthquakes, tornadoes, and hurricanes, as well as monitoring and warning about disasters in order to better prepare and save lives before they stike. Trump lied about how FEMA uses its money, and then he threatened to provide no financial aid to the state of California in the wake of the devastating wild fires. Given Trump’s infantile and transactional personality, he wants to punish California for not voting for him – the actions of a sociopathic Dictator, not a President worthy of their election. The Trump administration has begun planning on how to alter and reduce FEMA’s operations and effectiveness to comply with Trump’s vague and false assertions.
https://apnews.com/article/what-to-know-about-fema-disasters-trump-fda31e500f0e5beec585483c6b08e79c
Pardon Criminal Insurrectionists of January 6. Trump pardoned over 1,500 convicted felons who took part in the violent January 6th insurrection to disenfranchise the American electorate of its presidential choice, thereby overthrowing the United States government. The convicts have consistently confessed they assaulted the Capitol on behalf of Trump because he directed them to.
On Jan. 6, 2021, a violent and armed mob led by prominent members of right-wing extremists groups assaulted the U.S. Capitol in Trump’s name after Trump incited them with a fiery speech just blocks away. The mob assaulted police officers, causing over 140 injuries and permanent maimings (i.e. lost eyeballs), in addition to several police deaths either from injuries sustained that day or by suicide days after suffering the trauma of that day. The criminals damaged and looted federal property, threatened to sell stolen government data to Russia in some cases. Perhaps most notably, they clearly and vocally threatened to murder the U.S. Vice President, the Speaker of the House, and various other members of congress.
Trump, as President at the time, praised the violent mob as “patriots” and called it “a day of love”. He failed to stop the Capitol attack for over three hours, privately agreeing with the violent mob’s sentiments according to witness testimony, and enjoyed what he saw as a loyal demonstration of love for Donald Trump.
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/21/nx-s1-5268919/trump-issues-jan-6-pardons-attack-capitol-clemency
Reinstate Death Penalty. Trump signed an order to reinstate the federal death penalty. The attorney general was instructed to seek the death penalty “regardless of other factors” when the case involves the killing of a law enforcement officer or capital crimes “committed by an alien illegally present in this country.” Ironic, considering Trump pardoned the criminals who assaulted police officers on Jan. 6. His order also instructs the attorney general to, essentially, usurp the Supreme Court’s constitutional power by overruling precedents that “limit the authority of State and Federal governments to impose capital punishment.”
https://apnews.com/article/federal-executions-trump-d9b15ffc1db366a717f2f605330999e8
End DEI Initiatives. Trump ordered an end to all federal efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusivity (DEI) both within the federal government and in the private sector. In yet another ironic twist, conservatives have falsely regarded DEI programs as discriminatory, while in reality ending such programs will enable old historical bigotries and discriminations to thrive once again. Furthermore, this has severely disrupted a wide array of work, including life-saving research, causing vital programs to abruptly end. Various federal agencies and the military have already begun to undo anything that might broadly be considered DEI, for example the Air Force removed training courses featuring the Tuskegee Airmen and female pilots. With black or female pilots erased from the training materials, what will be the effect on our social conscience if we return to assuming only white men can be Air Force pilots? More broadly, what happens when we stop teaching that black people can be lawyers, doctors, professors, etc., just like white people? Or that women can do more than be dutiful wives, housekeepers, and raise children? Another example: the FDA halted its DEI cancer initiatives in response to the order. Cancer research was historically focused on benefitting white men before such initiatives: medical research has broadly ignored blacks, women, and other minority groups in the past, leading to lower survival rates and shorter life expectancies for them. DEI initiatives were established to expand our understanding and treatment for those who were ignored before. And now, this move seeks to reverse this progress? Erasing DEI initiatives is a means to return to promoting and benefitting white males as a superior protected class of citizens by erasing American cognizance and consideration of other racial and gender identities.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-executive-orders-dei-7ef0bf4ce1d465f6b61f3fcfde544593
https://apnews.com/article/air-force-dei-tuskegee-women-wwii-pilots-ecdeac68dc7696535d093c7690ab73bc
Anti-Transgender Order. On a similar note, Trump ordered the removal of all reference to gender identity on government forms and of government funding related to transgendered persons. The order uses the outmoded and biologically inaccurate idea that only two clear cut genders exist, male and female, in spite of the biological fact that gender is more complex than this. It also references a false narrative which claims without evidence that women are somehow harmed by the recognition of transgendered individuals.
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/20/g-s1-43955/trumps-anti-transgender-order-defines-male-and-female
Federal Workforce Reclassification. Trump ordered the return of the so-called “Schedule F” category of political appointees, bringing the U.S. one step closer to being an authoritarian state.
Under the false pretense of cleaning up the so-called “deep state” (a fictional narrative proposed by Trump and his ilk), civil service protections were revoked for many federal civil servants by reclassifying them as political appointees. The order enables the President to effectively replace anywhere from 50 thousand to hundreds of thousands of civil servants at will, as compared to about 4,000 of them prior to the change. Those who do their jobs with integrity and challenge Trump’s illegal machinations could now be fired, while those who prove loyalty to Trump and his agenda could keep their jobs.
The order also threatens to hamper the government’s ability to perform essential services for the American public, such as ensure air, food, and workplace safety. These “do depend upon having a qualified, nonpartisan workforce to make sure things actually function” as a professor of public policy stated in an interview. “As those things start to disappear, it’s going to be very hard to rebuild them in the long term.”
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/20/g-s1-43946/trump-brings-back-schedule-f-but-with-a-new-name
Federal Workers Ordered Back to Office. Trump ordered all federal agencies to “terminate remote work” and direct all federal workers back to in-person office work. He also ordered a freeze on federal hiring. Trump repeated a lie in this order, originally told by a Republican Senator last year, that only 6% of federal workers work in-person. According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management however, in reality 54% of the federal workforce already works in-person full-time: only 10% of them were working fully remotely. But to the disinformed base of Trump supporters, Trump’s attempts to cast blame for fictional problems on an imaginary remote workforce would undoubtedly be a convincing lie, and this has the superficial appearance of doing something to fight the fictional “deep state.”
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/20/g-s1-43922/trump-orders-federal-workers-back-to-offices
Removal of Federal Oversight. The Trump administration fired some seventeen independent inspectors general at government agencies, effective immediately. They did so to remove oversight of Trump’s new administration, violating federal oversight laws in the process. Inspectors general were first installed by Congress after the Watergate scandal of President Nixon to keep a close, independent, and non-partisan watch on any waste, fraud, abuses of power, or other misconduct.
(Supposedly) Stop Weaponizing Government. Included in the slew of Trump’s first-day executive orders was a twofold, forked-tongued order concerning the “weaponization of government” and “freedom of speech”.
Regarding the first part, it accused the Biden administration, without evidence, of weaponizing government against its “political adversaries,” specifically Trump. This is both false and hypocritical. While Trump was sued and criminally charged by federal, state, and private entities over a wide variety of crimes and civil offenses over the last few years, they were done for one simple reason:
Donald Trump is a horrible criminal delinquent who deserves to be brought to justice.
He attempted to violently overthrow the U.S. government by inciting a mob of some 2,000 Trump supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol. There, they assaulted police officers, injuring or maiming over 140 of them and causing the deaths of several more. They stole and damaged federal property. And they threatened to murder the Vice President, the Speaker of the House, and many other senators and representatives. As if that alone were not enough to put him in jail for a very long time, Trump was also criminally convicted by a jury in a court of law for falsifying business records to commit tax fraud for the purpose of hiding the additional crime of breaking campaign finance laws. He’s also been found liable in a court of law for committing sexual abuse and defamation against a woman, meaning he forced himself sexually on her and then publicly lied about her character which harmed her reputation, her career, and her well being. Among other crimes and civil offenses, some of which never got a chance to even get to trial not because he’s innocent but because the Constitution requires that the current President cannot be criminally charged while in office – in other words, Trump got a “get out of jail free” card when he won the 2024 election.
It is also logically absurd to claim, as his supporters have, that Trump must be a victim of a weaponized administration simply because Trump competed with Biden for the presidency. If stating hypothetical motives without evidence to back them up were a valid legal defense strategy in court, no one would have ever been found guilty of any crimes whatsoever, and our prisons would all be empty as every guilty criminal asserts prosecutorial bias without evidence. Accusations of bias require hard evidence of actual wrongdoing to be taken seriously, the lack of which is where Trump’s claims of innocence entirely fail.
As an aside, it’s frighteningly ironic that Trump appointed Kash Patel to be his FBI Director. Patel would certainly weaponize the FBI against Trump’s perceived enemies. Patel literally wrote a book expressing his wish for this to happen. He has heavily ranted and criticized, falsely, about the “deep state” narrative and of the supposed victimization of Trump by a falsely portrayed rogue Biden Justice Department and FBI. In his book, Patel threateningly listed the names of dozens of politicians and public figures, including Joe Biden and his family, accusing them of being members of the fictional “deep state.” Given there is no evidence of the existence of a “deep state” nor evidence for the supposed crimes committed by these people, what Patel is really doing here is advocating for the arbitrary jailing of these people without due justice – a clear violation of the U.S. Constitution, coming from the likely soon-to-be new Director of the FBI.
So-Called Free Speech. The same order also directs the federal government to restore “freedom of speech and preventing government censorship of free speech going forward.” Trump spoke about this more at the World Economic Forum, “No longer will our government label the speech of our own citizens as misinformation or disinformation, which are the favorite words of censors and those who wish to stop the free exchange of ideas and, frankly, progress.”
So much is wrong about this. First, the Biden administration did not force social media platforms to censor Trump’s supporters. This is yet another ironic, false narrative portrayed by Trump, his lying allies, and his disinformed supporters. While the Biden administration did have conversations with social media companies about their content moderation, no legal requirements were forced on them. The Supreme Court agreed. Also, fact checking in social media is not censorship, not by any stretch of the imagination. The constitutional freedom of speech amendment only protects citizens from state actions to restrict this liberty. It does not protect us against non-governmental restrictions on speech. Since social media platforms are not government agencies or institutions, these platforms obviously have the right to restrict speech in legally compliant ways as they see fit for their intended purposes. Such ways can include fact checking, as well as banning unwelcome content like hate speech and pornography from their platforms. There are also limits to free speech, as our liberties must all be taken into account. You cannot for instance commit libel or lie about someone else’s character and damage their reputation and careers without potential legal repercussions to yourself. Nor can you create dangerous situations by for instance crying out “fire!” in a crowded theater without any such actual danger. What furthermore makes this hypocritical is the fact of Trump’s evident and professed hatred for the free press, which he deems “the enemy of the people”, and his real threats to infringe upon actual Constitutional legal protections for the freedoms of speech and the press, as we will undoubtedly see him attempt in the weeks and months ahead. Legal and political experts have raised concerns about the new administration’s willingness to punish Trump’s perceived enemies, including civil servants and researchers who study how propaganda and conspiracy theories travel online.
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/24/nx-s1-5270071/eo-weaponization
https://whatswrong.water.blog/2024/07/21/donald-trump-american-demagogue-tyrant/
Cabinet Picks For Loyalty, not Qualifications. Trump chooses his Cabinet picks based on their personal loyalty to himself, not on their loyalty to the country and the Constitution as they are supposed to by law. Basing his picks on personal loyalty is how a King, not a worthy President, would choose Cabinet members. Most of his picks are unqualified for the roles they are chosen for. With 19 of them brought in from right-wing propaganda media company Fox News, there is a clear focus on bringing in experts in communications and how to sell right-wing narratives, not government and policy experts.
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/20/nx-s1-5268791/fox-news-trump-inauguration
Usurping Power from the Senate over Cabinet Picks. The Senate questions and votes on a President’s Cabinet members in order to exercise their Constitutional check on the executive branch’s powers. But Trump has threatened to primary any and all Republicans who do not approve of his Cabinet picks, meaning he will throw his campaign support behind competing Republican politicians to try and defeat them in primary votes. By doing so, Trump is engaging in an unconstitutional power grab: Trump believes he can do whatever he wants to, like a King, and not a President.
https://apnews.com/article/ernst-tillis-cassidy-cornyn-graham-musk-9a70ea4d8f1f75d5f3f62689da430b50
Conflicts of Interest: Cryptocurrency. Trump and his wife Melania launched their own new “meme cryptocurencies” on Inauguration Day. He is literally using the highest office of the nation as a means to make money, a clear violation of the Constitution and federal law. If we allowed a President to keep businesses and other money making ventures while in office, there is a clear conflict of interest. Will Trump do what he did during his first term: show favor to domestic allies and foreign dignitaries who bribe him by buying his cryptocurrency, and show disfavor to those who refuse? Given his clearly criminal history on this, you guess.
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/20/nx-s1-5268759/donald-trump-melania-cryptocurrency-meme-coins
https://www.reuters.com/technology/trumps-new-crypto-token-jumps-ahead-his-inauguration-2025-01-20
Undo AI Safeguards. Trump revoked President Biden’s 2023 executive order that sought to reduce the risks that artificial intelligence poses to national security, the economy, public health, or safety, requiring AI developers to share the results of safety tests with the U.S. government, in line with the Defense Production Act, before they were released to the public.
TikTok Ban Paused. Though the President does not have the power to stop a law already in effect with an executive order, Trump ordered a pause on the ban of social media platform TikTok. The law to ban the popular platform if its Chinese parent company did not sell it to a U.S. company was already passed and enacted by Congress. Ironically, Trump tried banning the platform during his first term in office but failed.
Trump has been vehemently condemning fact-checking for many years. This order shows social media platforms that he can wreak havoc on them at will if they do not comply with his wishes, and may have influenced the so-called “broligarchy” of figures like Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), and others to curry Trump’s favor. Prior to his inauguration for instance, Facebook abandoned its fact-checking services on the popular platform, with Meta’s CEO reiterating Trump’s false claims that fact-checking is censorship (and also donating a large sum to Trump’s inauguration). This move will allow falsehoods and disinformation to spread more easily.
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/20/nx-s1-5268701/trump-executive-order-tiktok-ban
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/07/nx-s1-5251151/meta-fact-checking-mark-zuckerberg-trump
Hiring the “Right” Kind of People: Loyalists. It has traditionally been the case that Presidents seek to fill government staff openings with the most qualified candidates in a non-partisan manner. This is to ensure that the administration adheres to the most competent and effective strategies and operations that pass constitutional and legal muster.
But Trump aides are making sure the government is filled only with Trump loyalists. Fully partisan interview questions are not concerned with actual job competency, but instead are asked questions about their voting record, when their “MAGA revelation” occurred, and how they contributed to Trump’s campaign efforts, such as whether they volunteered to go door to door to help elect him. They also must prove their “enthusiasm” for the Trump agenda by consenting to having their social media accounts reviewed for political posts and likes.
Trump does not want competent staffers at the White House: he wants loyal subjects and propagandists to work for him, law and order be damned.
Kill More Civilians and “Clean Out” Gaza. Trump told Egypt, Jordan, and other Arab nations they should absorb the entire Palestinian population of Gaza in order to “clean out” the region. This would effectively displace the Palestinian people, who would lose their homeland, be separated from one another and placed in foreign nations, and would struggle to retain their identities.
Trump added, ”Gaza is interesting. It’s a phenomenal location, on the sea. The best weather, you know, everything is good. It’s like, some beautiful things could be done with it, but it’s very interesting.” Does he want the Palestinians to be removed and the war ended quickly so that he can invest in real estate?
Trump also lifted a halt on selling 500 and 2,000 pound bombs, the latter of which caused very high civilian casualty rates. When asked why, Trump responded, “Because they bought them.”
https://apnews.com/article/trump-biden-israel-bomb-gaza-hamas-war-023b36984c6116c128b5e47f117bba2a
Last Edited Feb. 2, 2025
What's Wrong? 