Niccolo Machiavelli, that cynical (or maybe just politically realistic) counselor to a medieval Prince, advised that he inflict “injuries all at one time so that, being tasted less, they offend less.”
I doubt that Donald Trump, no reader, has studied Machiavelli, but he’s filled the first two months of his second term with one outrage after another, sometimes several a day, so that his subjects (us) can’t keep up with them.
I intend to keep up with them and conduct a regular Outrage Watch so I can “taste them” and, if you’re of a mind to, get offended with me.
So far, the worst of them by far are:
1.Pardons
Trump’s Inauguration Day pardons of nearly 1,600 persons convicted of or charged with crimes for their participation in the Jan. 6 invasion of the US Capitol in an effort (instigated by Trump himself) to overturn his defeat in the free and fair 2020 presidential election won by Joe Biden.
Those granted clemency include 169 convicted of assaulting police officers and 14 convicted of seditious conspiracy, including leaders of paramilitary groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. Those released (who Trump called “patriots” or “political prisoners) could now intimidate or attack Trump adversaries.
A late-February Washington Post/Ipsos poll showed that 83 percent of US adults opposed clemency for violent offenders and 55 percent said the same about non-violent participants, only 14 percent approved of the pardons. A Quinnipiac poll released Thursday puts Trump’s overall job approval rating at 42% and disapproval at 53%.
2. Abdicating Leadership of the Free World to Side with Dictators
Trump’s stunning reversal of decades-long US policy of resisting Soviet or Russian aggression by now siding with Vladimir Putin and abandoning Ukraine, a US ally trying to maintain its freedom has raised doubts among US allies whether the US will stand by its NATO obligation to come to their defense if attacked by Russia.
Trump falsely accused Ukraine of starting the war, accused Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky of being a “dictator” (rather than Putin, an absolute dictator who sidelines, imprisons or kills his adversaries) and acceded to Russia’s terms for ending the war (no NATO membership for Ukraine and Russia’s retention of the fifth of Ukrainian land it has conquered.
After a stormy Oval Office confrontation in which Trump and Vice President JD Vance accused Zelensky of ingratitude, disrespect and not wanting peace, Trump ordered a suspension of US aid and intelligence and ordered US commercial satellite firms to stop helping Ukraine identify Russian targets.
When Zelensky agreed to a 30-day ceasefire, Trump lifted those penalties, but Putin, while accepting the ceasefire idea in principle, said he had “questions” such as whether Ukraine would continue to receive weapons during the truce and posed demands such a Ukraine’s troops’ “surrender” before leaving some territory Russia claims. Zelensky said Putin want the war to continue.
Trump has been accused by various foreign leaders and commentators of abandoning the post-World War II order that has largely kept the peace for 80 years. In his first term, Trump considered withdrawing from NATO. This term, he’s repeated charges that Europe is “ripping off” the US in trade and failing to bear its fair share of Western defense.
Most NATO allies actually now do spend the former benchmark of 2 percent of GDP on defense, but Trump now insists they should spend 5 percent (while the US spends 3.4 percent). The US also voted with Russia (and North Korea) against a United Nations resolution backed by all US allies (among 96 nations) condemning Russia’s invasion and calling for its immediate withdrawal. China and Iran actually abstained.
Friedrich Merz, Germany’s next chancellor, said that “it is clear that Americans, at least in this administration, are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe.” Merz is proposing a $550 billion increase in defense and infrastructure spending over 12 years and is considering asking France and Britain to extend nuclear protection to Germany, replacing the US.
Those who question or oppose America’s stunning reversal of foreign policy set themselves firmly in the administration’s crosshairs. When Sen. Mark Kelly D-AZ), a much-decorated combat pilot and astronaut, returned from Ukraine and urged the US to help Kviv defeat Russia, Elon Musk accused Kelly of being a “traitor.”
For good measure, the US is considering expelling 240,000 Ukrainians who sought refuge in the US after Russia’s invasion.
3. Taking a Chainsaw to Government
In a hotly disputed set of actions that probably violate Congress’s constitutional budgeting powers, Elon Musk, head of the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency, and the White House Office of Personnel Management have fired nearly 250,000 federal workers.
Musk began by closing down the Agency for International Development, which provides food, shelter and medical services to the world’s poorest people. USAID’s closure has been challenged in court and the agency has been taken over by the State Department, but its activities remain seriously curtailed. After that, Musk moved to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which polices consumer fraud. Despite legal challenges that have reversed some of the moves, the bureau’s ability to function has been seriously impaired.
Waving a chainsaw, Musk claims to have saved $115 billion slashing operations at more than 22 agencies, including the departments of Education, Labor, Homeland Security, plus the Internal Revenue Service, Environmental Protection Agency, Veterans Administration and Social Security Agency. Musk claims that he is targeting “waste, fraud and abuse,” but he is also limiting the ability of the IRS to audit rich taxpayers and corporations and efficiently process tax refunds.
Many of the targeted employees work on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and are deemed to be liberals out of synch with Trump values. Trump also has reinstated Schedule F, a scheme to enable mass firing of federal employees and their replacement by people selected on the basis of personal loyalty to Trump.
On Friday, Trump issued an executive order closing down the Congressionally chartered Voice of America and agencies funding minority enterprises, libraries and homelessness prevention. Another order canceled Biden programs to combat climate change and mandating a $15 an hour minimum wage for federal contractors.
Trump’s and Musk’s actions have been subject to more than 100 lawsuits, many of which may end up in the conservative-dominated US Supreme Court where their fate is uncertain. Vice President JD Vance said that “judges aren’t allowed to control the Executive’s legitimate power.”
4. Rampant Out-in-the-open Corruption
A cascade of corrupt or potentially corrupt actions by Trump overwhelms in its abundance. Musk, who just donated $100 million to Trump political committees on top of the $290 million he contributed to Trump’s 2024 campaign is the buyer-in-chief. Trump returned the favor by advertising Teslas on the White House lawn and saying he will buy one though he has campaigned against electric cars.
Among the first fired federal employees were the inspectors general of numerous agencies. These are the government watchdogs whose jobs are to police corruption. On March 6, Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.) laid out 20 examples of corruption, starting with Trump’s issuance of a crypto-coin, $Trump, which attracted 810,000 buyers—all anonymous—and netted Trump $100 million. Murphy described the coin as a means for foreign or domestic favor-seekers to bribe the president in secret.
Trump fired Gwynne Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board, rendering it unable to consider cases. One beneficiary was Musk, whose Tesla and Space X companies faced multiple cases before the board for safety violations, discrimination and reprisals against employees critical of Musk. The Justice Department also dropped a charge against Space X alleging it had refused to hire refugees and asylum recipients in violation of immigration laws.
The Justice Department dropped a corruption indictment against New York Mayor Eric Adams after he agreed to support Trump’s immigration policies. Danielle Sassoon, the conservative acting US Attorney for the Southern District of New York and several aides resigned. Sassoon said the criminal law was being subordinated to politics.
Wired magazine and other publications reported that business leaders could obtain private meetings with Trump for $5 million. And candlelight dinners at Mar-a-Lago go for $1 million.
5.A Culture of Retribution and Intimidation
Trump is carrying out a retribution campaign against foes, some trifling, others serious. In the latter category, he withdrew security clearances for all lawyers at the eminent law firms Covington and Burling, Seattle’s Perkins Coie, and the New York firm Paul, Weis, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison. Covington was defending Trump’s prosecutor, Jack Smith; Perkins Coie, the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign. Paul Weiss formerly employed a lawyer who helped prepare a criminal case against him.
Trump’s executive order also banned the firms’ attorneys from federal buildings (and federal courthouses are, remember, federal buildings). Fears are that other law firms will be reluctant to take such cases. Trump’s orders were temporarily blocked by a federal judge pending a full trial.
Trump also has fired dozens of FBI agents and prosecutors who worked under Special Prosecutor Jack Smith investigating various crimes Trump was charged with, plus others who investigated and prosecuted Jan. 6 rioters.
On Friday at the Justice Department, Trump devoted most of his more than hour-long remarks to excoriating prosecutors and other lawyers he believed had done him wrong, declaring them “really bad people” who “tried to turn America into a communist and third world country. But in the end, the thugs failed and the truth won.”
In other actions, portraits of Gen. Mark Miley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Army chief of staff, were removed from display at the Pentagon. And first-term Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton, who broke with Trump, lost their Secret Service protection despite death threats from Iran, as did NIH official Anthony Fauci, targeted by MAGA extremists. Former President Joe Biden and top officials of his administration lost their access to classified information.
Trump also has taken action against the media, which he termed “the enemy of the people” in his first term. He has sued the Des Moines Register over a poll mistakenly showing he might be losing Iowa; CBS, charging it committed “election interference” in its editing of an interview of Kamala Harris, and ABC News over an assertion that Trump had committed “rape” instead of the actual charge of “sexual abuse and defamation.”
The Associated Press has been banned from the White House for refusing to honor Trump’s changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.” Trump also has ousted mainstream new outlets from their offices at the Pentagon and declared that the White House will decide who will make up the pool covering the president rather than the White House Correspondents Association, which traditionally made the call. He replaced more traditional news outlets with Trump-friendly operations.
