There have been a lot of articles posted recently about Trump’s first 100 days, for example:
Frankly I had expected this administration to be about the same as his first administration and have been quite surprised at how extreme it has been. I suppose that much of this is due to me not really following the election at all [I decided the Republicans are now basically crazy so decided I would vote straight Democrat for all offices–which I did]. I read about Project 2025 but thought Trump would only do a few things from that list–as so many were either very poor ideas or politically unpopular.
I can’t say I’ve been surprised about how things are going because this is what he said he’d do. Okay, I’m a little surprised Trump is actually following up on something he said he’d do. I didn’t expect him to go to war against Harvard or Wikipedia, but it’s not exactly surprising because a would be tyrant can’t abide dissent. So, yeah, things are going about as well as I expected.
Trump’s first administration was a constant ongoing train wreck run by a ferris wheel of constantly changing ninnies and clueless assholes who were mostly engaged in petty self-enrichment or minor acts of vandalism upon democratic norms. This time around there were people behind Trump that had their own plans to eliminate dissent starting with the judiciary, and while we’ve seen the incoherence resulting from different factions fighting with one another, they’ve mostly been in alignment on dismantling the administrative state and shutting down financial and environmental regulation. Even the speed of it isn’t all that surprising when you consider how much they learned from Trump’s last attempt at insurrection, i.e. that if you want to engage in autoglope, you need to do so before the public has a chance to change their mind.
I doubt you’ll get much difference of opinion here. I’m not sure he has done anything that IMO has been even neutral. IMO, every single move has ranged from bad to REALLY BAD - with pretty much every step unnecessary, conveying no conceivable general benefit, and pursued in the most heartless manner possible.
Speaking as a career federal lawyer, it might be impossible for folk outside of government to truly appreciate how just about every government department/function has been kneecapped. And the utter rejection of any balance of powers, with Congress - completely abdicating their authority, the corrupt Supremes, and the utter disdain for judicial authority and the rule of law. Not to mention blatant support for the ugliest, meanest people alive.
I never would have guessed how quickly and effectively he would betray our allies and trading partners. If he wished to give advantages to our global competitors, I’m not sure how he could do a better job.
SOME of it might not be as bad if it were a part of some overall fiscal resposibility program. But, instead, he seems posed to spend as much/more than ever, and increasing the trasfer of wealth to the wealthiest.
Just so sad. And all so unnecessary.
I hope I am proven wrong, but I’m having trouble seeing the path to that happening.
Only 100 days? Good god, how long 4 years will be! Perhaps the only good thing is that at 64 I won’t live too terribly much longer.
I will say that he has acted much faster than Erogan or Orban in moving the US towards authoritarianism. I guess he (or his handlers) could use their examples and improve on them. So, well done, I guess.
Bolding mine. The bolded part explains the first sentence. At least you have the excuse of ignoring the election because you were going to vote straight Democrat anyway. The number of MAGA who are surprised by TFGs actions with tariffs, Ukraine, deportation of American citizens, authoritarian actions, etc. is absurd. The only way this possibly could have come as a surprise is if you weren’t paying attention to anything he was saying. He’s doing exactly what he said he was going to do.
On tariffs, he suggested widely varying percents at campaign rallies last year, so he inevitably broke promises even when fulfilling them.
His voters reasonably thought he would rule in a milder way than he promised. Actually, he is ruling in a milder way than he promised. Problem, is it still amounts to extremist rule by decree.
After the election I was extremely pessimistic, thinking the US could be doomed. Hard to believe that I was being wildly optimistic and way underestimated how bad it was going to get.
I mean, we’re at 100 days and I thought this level of dystopia would take 2 years to get to.
To me, the big unpleasant surprise of the first 100 days is the frequency of the threats against Panama, Canada, and Greenland. Unless I am missing something big, he did not campaign on annexing Canada. And while he mentioned trying to buy Greenland, there was no “one way or the other” promise. These are new and disturbing priorities.
Don’t be obtuse. His failure to deliver on peace in Ukraine within 24 hours of being elected or to reduce food prices doesn’t demonstrate TFG not doing exactly what he said he was going to do. Those were clearly not going to happen and were in fact contrary to what the positions he was taking were going to actually accomplish. Anyone actually paying attention to what he was saying on the campaign trail was rightly worried about his position being anti-Ukraine and was very aware that his claim that he would orchestrate peace in Ukraine within 24 hours of being elected was patently absurd. The same goes with reducing food prices, which clearly wasn’t going to happen when he started the tariff war with the entire world that he made very clear he was going to do on the campaign trail. Anyone with half a brain knew that tariffs were taxes, that they weren’t taxes ‘that other countries pay’ and that the end result would be an increase in prices for consumers.
No, they weren’t listening to him if they were caught at all by surprise by his positions and actions since being elected. They weren’t being reasonable at all, they were choosing to hear what they wanted to hear, not what he was actually saying.
