Trump’s whirlwind first month leaves heads spinning
President Trump has done more to disrupt Washington norms in one month than what he touted on the campaign trail with a flood of executive orders and mass firings across the government taking his top priorities.
Trump moved at lightning speed when he came into power on Jan. 20, signing dozens of executive orders aimed at cracking down on immigration, leaning into culture wars, and freezing federal and foreign funding that upended programs and U.S. agencies worldwide.
The rate at which Trump is moving has left a head spinning trail of news in its wake. The strategy has flooded the public with out of the blue, and sometimes completely unexpected proposals such as when he suggested the U.S. takeover and rebuild the Gaza Strip.
There’s also the matter of Elon Musk, who Trump has put in charge of overhauling government agencies, which has led to mass firings, access to personal data, bulk buyouts and the near-complete shut down of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
That has left Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) at the center of at least 10 lawsuits, in addition to a host of former employees who are suing over being let go, some of whom said they were informed their employment was terminated in a one-sentence email.
“While every administration empowers trusted leaders to oversee areas of focus and importance, whether as Cabinet officials, White House policy ‘tsars’ or leaders of newly-erected task forces or commissions, the Trump administration is moving on everything, everywhere, all at once, at a more aggressive pace and, broader scope than anyone expected or experienced previously,” said Bruce Mehlman, a former official under President George W. Bush.
But the sheer volume of what Trump has done in the first month of his second term is also a unique political achievement, some Republicans say.
“The speed and breadth of activity of the new administration is unparalleled in almost any way you can measure. Any one of these — solving Ukraine, reformatting NATO, tackling Gaza, firing 10 percent of the federal workforce, or revoking the entire Biden agenda — would be a massive achievement,” said Stewart Verdery, who served in the Bush administration and is a founder of Monument Advocacy.
One aide to former Vice President Harris, who Trump beat in November, acknowledged that voters rejected the previous administration but were not prepared for what Trump brought on board, blaming him for continuing increased costs that started under former President Biden.
“Voters wanted change, but they didn't vote for chaos, constant uncertainty, or higher costs – all increasingly unavoidable to the average American who is feeling this pain in their pocketbook,” said a former aide to Vice President Harris.
The president ran most prominently on an immigration crackdown with one proposal being to send certain migrants to Guantánamo Bay, which has housed terrorists associated with 9/11.
Some of those proposals have been welcomed by Republicans, but other polls show Trump’s approval rating slightly dipping since he took office.
Trump’s approval rating was 53 percent in a CBS News poll released last week. But the same poll found that only 23 percent of Americans think Musk and DOGE should have “a lot” of influence and 28 percent said the billionaire and DOGE should have “some” influence.
That comes as fast-moving actions of the Trump administration target a new agency nearly every day. But, it is Trump’s embrace of Musk that has gotten the bulk of the spotlight – especially when he showed up to the Oval Office.
Musk created an extraordinary image when the Telsa CEO fielded more questions from reporters at the White House than Trump did as the president sat at the Resolute Desk.
Trump and Musk also sat for a joint interview on Fox News with Sean Hannity on Tuesday night. Trump rarely, if ever, sits with someone else during a primetime interview.
In addition to Musk, Trump has empowered other allies whose roles are not Senate-confirmed, including Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff and border czar Tom Homan. Witkoff worked on negotiations to free American Marc Fogel, who was held in Russia, and Homan has carried out immigration raids across the country.
Trump’s “shock and awe” approach hasn’t only impacted domestic policy but also transformed the U.S. on the world stage.
While setting his sights on an American takeover of Gaza and on ending the war in Ukraine through talks with Russian President Vladamir Putin, Trump’s sweeping tariffs have also triggered concerns abroad.
The president followed through with his campaign promise to impose a 10 percent tariff on China, a move that led Beijing to impose a 15 percent tariff on liquefied natural gas and coal and a 10 percent tariff on crude oil, pickup trucks, agricultural machinery and large-displacement cars. He also spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping since his swearing in.
He also signed a presidential memorandum to propose reciprocal tariffs that he maintains will crack down on unfair and discriminatory tariffs from both adversaries and allies and signed proclamations to bolster tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports.
Trump has acknowledged that consumers may feel short term pains but has also promised that it would also make the country rich.
Democrats, meanwhile, are arguing Trump’s policies are hurting instead of helping.
“It doesn’t matter if these guys are doing it on purpose or they are incompetent. (It seems purposeful to me.) But the point is they are screwing things up so quickly there’s no real historical comparison,” Sen. Brian Schatz said on X.
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