More chaos, corruption, and incompetence. Welcome to Trump 2.0. | Editorial
The one constant over the next four years will be Donald Trump’s continued abuse of power for his own aggrandizement while doing nothing to help average Americans.
Two weeks into Donald Trump’s second term feels much like his last failed tenure, only worse. Lots of sound and fury, but nothing that actually makes America great.
After a slew of executive orders in Week One, Trump surprised even Republicans with an order to freeze trillions of dollars in federal funds to states, cities, and counties. (Approximately 40% of Pennsylvania’s spending comes from federal funds.)
The move sowed confusion and panic before a federal judge temporarily blocked the measure. The next day, Trump rescinded the edict.
Crisis averted — this time. But it was not until officials across the country wasted the day scrambling to respond.
Disorder, overreach, scandals, and false alarms should not surprise anyone who endured Trump’s first exhausting term that produced two impeachments, four criminal indictments, a mismanaged pandemic, and a violent insurrection.
It appears the next four years will produce a more intense fire hose of folly.
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Trump vowed to be a dictator on Day One. That’s one promise he kept — presidential norms, laws, and the Constitution be damned.
The president bent, if not, broke the law by firing 18 independent inspectors general. A judge found he violated the Constitution by limiting birthright citizenship. A plan to send troops to the border faces legal limits.
Undeterred, Trump moved to the next nonsense, offering buyouts to more than 2.3 million federal workers, a move that appears illegal and is possibly a scam.
While more efficiency is always welcome, hollowing out essential government services risks disaster. More to the point, don’t expect any improvement, let alone a balanced budget given Trump’s last term added nearly $8 trillion to the national debt, and his companies filed for bankruptcy six times.
The one constant over the next four years will be Trump’s continued abuse of power for his own aggrandizement while doing nothing to help average Americans.
His initial moves have shown as much.
Trump granted clemency to nearly 1,600 violent insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol at his urging in an attempt to block the certification of the 2020 election. (One pardoned rioter has already been arrested on weapons charges, and another was killed by Indiana State Police during a traffic stop.)
In an act of intimidation, Trump fired more than a dozen career federal prosecutors who worked with special counsel Jack Smith on the investigations that led to Trump’s two federal indictments. Meddling in the independence of the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI further undermines the rule of law.
In an act of irresponsible spite, Trump withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization and from the Paris climate agreement — again. One move will harm Americans by undermining efforts to combat disease and the next pandemic, while the other will worsen climate change.
In an act of sheer meanness, Trump fired up his masses by targeting transgender teens and transgender troops. When in doubt, just cry woke.
In an act of cruelty, Trump froze billions of dollars in foreign aid that supported education, job training, anti-corruption, security, and health initiatives around the world, including an AIDS treatment program that is credited with saving more than 25 million lives. That will only weaken American leadership and destabilize the world.
He has already picked pointless fights with allies, including Canada, Mexico, Panama, Denmark, and Colombia. Such bullying will not benefit America, let alone improve the lives of his supporters.
Neither will rounding up migrants who work in low-wage jobs. Seven people were detained at a car wash in North Philadelphia. Any MAGA followers want to hire on?
Of the 200 migrants deported via military plane to Colombia — which Trump escalated into a one-day trade war — 20 were children and two were pregnant women. Despite Trump’s claim the flight was loaded with “illegal criminals,” no one had a record.
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For all of Trump’s ranting about open borders, the Biden administration carried out about the same number of deportations as Trump did in his first term, according to the Migration Policy Institute.
In between the furor and frenzy, Trump has begun lining his pockets with lucrative deals — from his cryptocurrency venture to a luxury hotel project in Serbia — that raise conflict of interest concerns and create opportunities for bribes.
Meanwhile, the price of eggs keeps going up. And the war in Ukraine that he promised to end before taking office drags on.
But Trump continues to give the MAGA masses more bread and circuses.
If he was interested in making America great, Trump would focus on things that matter, like why students’ reading and math scores keep dropping. Or how a new Chinese AI app calls into question America’s mighty tech dominance.
Or passing the bipartisan immigration bill he killed last year. Instead, we get the Laken Riley Act that fixes nothing.
Don’t expect any serious efforts from an unserious man. We’ve seen this show before. Get ready for another four years of chaos, corruption, and incompetence.