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.
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Mort,
I am sure you have probably done this but if not I encourage you to do it.
Go into chatgpt and put in this question. What are the common political and economic beliefs of Musk, Bezos, Vance, Thiel and Andreessen. It will scare the hell out of you.
Also I have new name for the group of Tech guys that have rolled over or are driving Trumps agenda.
THE MESSIAHS OF SILICON VALLEY because that is who they think they are.
That’s a lot of outrage, and well deserved. I look forward to your future additions to Outrage Watch. Will I get an extra hour of outrage when I have to set my watch back in the fall? I’m already being overwhelmed, and it’s the tip of the iceberg.
Minor, semantic point from my political science classes: Machiavelli wrote “The Prince” as a satire. What he really thought and believed, he wrote in “The Discourses”.
Thanks Mort for this helpful litany of the Musk-Trump regime’s illegal, unconstitutional and atrocious actions. I share your outrage as our government disintegrates, as our democracy dies in daylight. A national emergency now and urgent action is required as untold thousands of citizens already have been hurt. I hope we’re not too late to turn the tide.
This is an honest question: When Los Angeles was burning, according to Trump he “turned on the water and they had so much water…” What he was referring to was that he ordered 2 reservoirs in Northern California to be emptied. The water in those now-empty reservoirs was too far away from LA to quench the fires there, and was needed for growing crops this summer in northern LA.
So – the Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for those reservoirs. Under what law were they required to follow the command of an unstable U.S. president? Couldn’t they just say – You’re not authorized to empty these reservoirs? Or, if they were intimidated, couldn’t they just have said “Okay”, but then ignored the order? How would the bloviating fool have known the difference?
Ms Bradley
I read that the Corps of Engineers followed Orange’s orders. As you correctly stated, they are actually the U.S.Army Corps of Engineers; little chance of any delay on their part.
So the goony order, written in Goonese, was followed right away.
There were actually American citizens who got the word back to Orange and someone got through to him.
In the meantime, those speaking Goonese were A-OK because they got to “own the libs” again.
Trump is a disgrace to every loyal American citizen. He amply deserves to be impeached and removed from office at the earliest opportunity.
When he eventually does cross the legal boundary and ignores a lawful court order (or multiple orders) to undo the illegal, unconstitutional acts taken so far by Trump, DOGE and the rest of his corrupt regime, Congress should be sufficiently motivated to impeach. (Of course, Trump proclaims that he will follow the law — any court orders he doesn’t like are simply unlawful and the judges are “radical Marxist loonies who should themselves be impeached, etc..” It remains to be seen if the Supreme Court will agree. )
But Congress probably won’t perform its constitutional duty without external motivation. The Republican-held House of Representatives under Speaker Johnson, has been throughly intimidated by Trump, MAGA and the DOGE gang, that its members have indulged in shameless self-abasement and presidential boot-licking to prove their loyalty to Trump.
Given the craven nature of Republicans in Congress and the so far faint-hearted and disorganized response from the Democratic minority, it will take immense pressure by “We, The People” of the United States to move Congress to action.
Popular resentment is building against Trump for what he is doing to dismember government. We must keeping building on the outrage that our fellow citizens (R’s and D’s and independents alike) feel, and stop this slide into dictatorship before its momentum dooms American democracy, and quite possibly, America itself.
“….But Congress probably won’t perform its constitutional duty without external motivation…”
This right here resonates with me. I share in the outrage, but what is the point? I am choosing my words carefully….what I yearn for, is a solution. To see that our members of Congress, and the U.S. Senate are doing something. I don’t see that they are. Chuck Schumer and the other current leadership seem to be badly floundering, and underestimating their own power.
I have read that one point of Trump’s flouting of convention, norms and laws is to demonstrate his power and immunity from such constraints as institutions impose on ‘normal’ politicians who take their oath to the Constitution seriously.
By his disrespect for the constitutional guardrails which define the limits of presidential power, Trump tries to project an aura of unlimited authority which is beyond any restraints imposed by Congress, the Courts, or the Constitution itself.
His loyal subjects (by which I mean his sycophants in Congress) are already proposing bills to impeach judges who dare to challenge Trump’s authority to trample on the law.
What’s next? I expect to hear proposals to outlaw any opposition to Trump on the pretext that, under an extreme interpretation of the so-called “unitary theory of the Executive” the Legislative and Judicial Branch are both subordinate to the Executive, and thus laws and court decisions can be ignored by the president.
If this is allowed to stand, we will, in other words, be living under a true dictatorship, and it’s lights out for democracy in America.