Thirty days into Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the country is already reeling from an administration that is more reckless, lawless, and dangerous than ever before.
From attacking Americans’ access to health care, to his reckless and unconstitutional power grabs that have decimated critical programs, to admonishing our international allies and isolating America globally, Americans have experienced 30 days of chaos and threats to their safety and economic prosperity.
Trump’s second term is already defined by illegal actions, crisis mismanagement, and a cabinet full of far-right extremists that is unprecedented in modern American history.
The Most Extreme, Far-Right, and Unqualified Cabinet in Modern U.S. History
Donald Trump wasted no time announcing he would appoint controversial and unqualified ideological extremists to the most important perches of the federal government. Trump only selected unqualified loyalists who he thinks deserve to be rewarded, not experts who know how to best serve and improve life for the American people.
Republicans in the Senate were happy to rubber-stamp his nominees who support far-right policies to restrict rights over the needs of real, working people.
- Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick to be secretary of defense, supported privatizing Veterans Affairs health care and veterans’ pensions. He supported an act that would negatively impact 22 million veterans and would make one-fifth of future veterans ineligible for VA care. Since his swearing-in, Republicans have cut funding for critical programs for veterans, including suicide prevention hotlines.
- Pam Bondi, Trump’s second choice for attorney general after Matt Gaetz withdrew his nomination, played a key role in promoting election fraud claims after the 2020 election. Bondi also pushed legal and legislative action against the right to choose, including tracking women’s periods, banning abortion medications, and requiring 24-hour waiting periods that make abortions impossible to get for many Americans — potentially threatening their lives if they miscarry.
- RFK Jr., Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, is infamous for his anti-vaccination conspiracy theories and exacerbating a measles outbreak that killed more than 80 people in Samoa, mostly small children. RFK Jr. is also an anti-abortion extremist who supported a 15-week national ban and dismissed reproductive rights as “non-existential.”
- Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s choice for Director of National Intelligence, is known for being sympathetic to dictators and U.S. adversaries like Russia and Syria, further putting our national security at risk by buddying up with our historic enemies.
- Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee to be director of the FBI, allegedly provided financial and career support to witnesses who made false claims of government weaponization against Trump through his non-profit, “Fight With Kash.”
Illegal Federal Funding Freeze and Illegal Purge of Federal Workers
In one of the administration’s most lawless actions to date, Trump’s Office of Management and Budget ordered the pause of all federal grants and loans dispersed by the federal government.
The order immediately jeopardized Americans’ access to food assistance programs and Medicaid, infrastructure construction projects, grants to research cures and treatments for diseases, health care and mental health funding, veterans’ benefits, and much more critical funding integral to the lives of everyday Americans.
Trump’s order sent a clear message that compared to tax breaks for billionaires, the safety and well-being of the American people aren’t a priority for this administration.
- At least 20 states were reportedly locked out of their Medicaid reimbursement systems due to the freeze.
- Experts warned that a freeze would have a “horrific” effect on emergency management and “make us less prepared for any disasters that happen in the future.” In addition, experts warned programs to secure ports of entry, combat terrorism, and strengthen cybersecurity were in jeopardy, saying, “This is full-on national security being put at risk when you take away these grants.”
- The Trump administration’s freeze paused steps in the lengthy and intricate federal research grant review process. According to experts, research groups relying on NIH funding for ongoing projects will face cash flow challenges, potentially resulting in a need to scale back research activities or temporarily reassign staff.
- NIH staff have also reported difficulties meeting with study participants or recruiting patients into clinical trials, delays in submitting research findings to science journals, and rescinded job offers.
- Federal firefighters weren’t exempted from Trump’s careless hiring freeze, so currently agencies are not hiring for positions ahead of the next fire season. According to reporting from NBC News, at least one Bureau of Land Management official responded to the hiring freeze by saying, “The level of stupidity and negligence here is enraging.”
Trump has taken a scorched-earth approach to the federal workforce, unlawfully firing thousands of civil servants in a move that legal scholars have deemed a direct violation of federal employment protections. Entire agencies are in turmoil, with career experts removed and replaced by unqualified loyalists, leaving key government functions in disarray.
Trump’s reckless policy has made people less safe.
- Late last week, the Trump administration fired a quarter of the staff in the USDA’s National Animal Health Laboratory Network program office. The program office plays a major role in coordinating responses to animal disease outbreaks. Its staff is responsible for data management, ensuring that labs across the country conduct the same tests and follow similar protocols to accurately and effectively track animal diseases.
- A federal hiring manager for a Bureau of Land Management field office in Utah told reporters the agency “was already in the middle of hiring their summer [fire] workforce when the federal hiring freeze came down,” and expressed concerns that “the inability to have workforce onboarded and ready to respond is going to have a negative impact on suppression efforts across the west.”
- The New York Times identified over 30 frozen clinical trials resulting from Trump’s freeze including malaria treatment, HIV infection prevention, cervical cancer treatment, reducing malnutrition for pregnant women, and tuberculosis treatment for children. Thousands of people participating in the trials are now stuck with experimental drugs and devices in their bodies without access to the researchers charged with monitoring them and addressing complications.
Trump Policies Alienate U.S. Allies at a High Price for American Families
On day one, Trump’s administration made it clear it would embrace America’s adversaries and punish our allies abroad.
- During his inaugural address, Trump suggested the U.S. may not defend NATO members not meeting defense spending targets and demanded American allies recognize his transactional foreign policy stance.
- The administration has shifted U.S. foreign policy by dismantling key foreign and humanitarian aid programs critical to spreading democracy and undermining the influence of China, Russia, and extreme terrorist groups.
- Vice President J.D. Vance admonished America’s European allies and signaled the administration was prioritizing fostering alliances with far-right and authoritarian regimes, a significant — and dangerous — shift in U.S. foreign policy.
- Meetings with Russian diplomats, excluding Ukrainian and European representatives, have granted concessions to Russia without reciprocal demands, diminishing trust among U.S. allies.
The Trump administration’s tariffs have also introduced significant challenges to international economic relations, prompting allies to reassess their trade strategies and diplomatic ties with the United States. Trump’s unnecessary trade war comes at a high price for American families.
- Trump’s order to impose massive tariffs against Mexico, Canada, and China drew rebukes from America’s top trade partners in the form of Canada issuing 25% retaliatory tariffs on up to $155 billion in U.S. imports, including alcohol and fruit.
- Likewise, Mexico announced they’d respond to Trump’s trade war with tariff and non-tariff measures in defense of Mexico’s economic interests.
- China, facing 10% tariffs from the Trump administration on Chinese goods imported into the U.S., threatened to impose tariffs on U.S. goods in response.
- Trump’s trade war is already sending shockwaves through the global economy and sparking uncertainty among U.S. trade allies in Asia and the U.K.
- After slapping massive tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China, Trump went into full chaos mode by slamming a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports.
- Experts say the administration’s proposal of reciprocal tariffs poses a substantial challenge to the unity of the EU. The tariffs could disproportionately affect countries like Germany and Italy.
- Trump’s trade war will drive up prices on everything from food to appliances to automobiles.
From attacks on Americans’ health care to national security threats to dangerous cuts to critical programs families rely on, Trump’s second term is off to an even more disastrous start than his first. Legal challenges are mounting, public confidence is plummeting, and America’s global standing is once again on the decline. If this is just the first 30 days, the next four years promise to be nothing short of a catastrophe for American families.
Published: Feb 20, 2025