Public Comment
Trump's Second Week
Trump ended his first week with the illegal firing of 17 Inspector Generals and ended his second week with the illegal firing of hundreds of FBI agents. Trump also attempted to stifle most federal grants. Although foreign policy hasn’t been Trump’s focus so far, we’ve seen enough to be able to discern major changes.
Immigration: Trump has declared a state of emergency and shut down all immigration. Trump continues to send troops to the southern border. There were raids throughout the country, staffed by ICE personnel supplemented by members of the FBI, DEA, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. While some raids targeted hardened criminals, most arrestees came to the US legally and are not undocumented or out of status. (The White House claims all the arrestees are here illegally and, therefore, “criminals.” Nonetheless, from a legal perspective, not possessing proper documentation is a civil matter.)
Writing in his X account, Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy observed: “In the first week, Trump removed 7,300 people. On average, Biden was removing 15,000 a week. Under Biden 72% of ICE arrests were criminals. Under Trump it's dropped to around 50%. Trump is removing less people and less criminals.” Republicans opined that to achieve Trump’s objectives there will have to be a massive increase in ICE funding.
At the end of the week, Trump announced plans to build his first concentration camp for deportees: a 30,000 prisoner-capacity prison at Guantanamo. He also revoked deportation protections for 300,000 Venezuelans.
Federal Staff Reductions: Trump wants to provide tax cuts for his rich donors. Within the Republican Party, fiscal conservatives are demanding that Trump offset the associated revenue loss by reducing the size of government. One of Trump’s strategies to accomplish this is to cut the number of federal employees. Trump has fired top-level employees and offered buyouts to millions of lower-level staff.
Last Friday Trump fired 17 Inspector Generals. Trump has continued this trend by firing top officials at the National Labor Relations Board: NLRB Board Member Gwynne Wilcox and General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo. He also fired two top EEOC officials. On Saturday, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Rohit Chopra, was fired.
These firings represent the top level of Trump’s staff reduction initiative. At the next level, he’s sent senior officials a “my way or the highway” email, telling them that if they are not prepared to support Trump’s policies, they should accept Trump’s” buyout” offer. It asserts that the responsibility of people in the executive branch is to do what Trump says and anyone who doesn't is subject to firing,
This week, millions of lower-level government employees were sent a “fork in the road” email that concluded with this paragraph: “If you choose not to continue in your current role in the federal workforce, we thank you for your service to your country and you will be provided with a dignified, fair departure from the federal government utilizing a deferred resignation program. This program begins effective January 28 and is available to all federal employees until February 6. If you resign under this program, you will retain all pay and benefits regardless of your daily workload and will be exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements until September 30, 2025 (or earlier if you choose to accelerate your resignation for any reason). The details of this separation plan can be found below.” (Heather Cox Richardson noted that this action was called for in “Project 2025” created by the conservative Heritage Foundation: https://
This email it is an integral part of an effort by the Trump Administration to dump millions of employees and either replace them with Trump loyalists or vacate their positions. The email purports to be from the “office of personnel management” but most of the employees do not have their salaries paid by that agency and there is no guarantee the funding is authorized.
Federal Funding Freeze: On Tuesday, Trump froze “all Federal financial assistance” except for Social Security or Medicare. The rationale for this freeze was to give Trump loyalists time to examine “The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies.” (Heather Cox Richardson noted that this action was called for in “Project 2025” created by the conservative Heritage Foundation: https://
Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said at a press conference: “The Trump administration announced a halt to virtually all federal funds across the country. In an instant, Donald Trump has shut off billions, perhaps trillions of dollars that directly support States, cities, towns, schools, hospitals, small businesses, and most of all, American families.”
Tuesday evening, Judge Loren L. AliKahn of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a stay to stop the Trump administration’s freeze on the disbursement of federal monies. On Wednesday, Matthew J. Vaeth, acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, told all applicable federal agencies that the freeze memo “is rescinded.”
Saturday, member of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team seized control of the Treasury Department’s payment system, gaining access to the US checkbook which $6 trillion each year.
Foreign Policy: Although Trump’s primary focus has been on domestic policy, the outlines of his foreign policy are discernible:
1.Israel: Trump is abandoning the “two-state solution;” that is, the longstanding notion that historic Israel would have a state for Jews and a state for Palestinians. Trump is joining Netanyahu in encouraging Israeli settlements in the West Bank. (In his first week, Trump cancelled sanction on Israeli settlers in the West Bank.) Trump’s solution to Gaza is to move all the Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan and then open the area for redevelopment.
2.Ukraine: Trump promised to immediately settle the Ukraine-Russia war. Most recently, he said that if Putin doesn’t negotiate with Ukraine, he will slap sanctions on Russia. Putin responded that he would discuss Ukraine but not with its premiere, Zelensky. I expect Trump to abandon Ukraine.
3.NATO: Trump is determined to seize Greenland, which is owned by Denmark, a NATO member. Unilateral military action against NATO would be a violation of the NATO charter.
4.Canada and Mexico: The United States has multiple treaty commitments to Canada and Mexico. Nonetheless, Trump has levied 25 percent tariffs on goods coming from these countries.
5.Panama: The US has multiple treaties with Panama, which has been a solid ally. Nonetheless, Trump seems determined to invade Panama and seize the canal.
6.Withdrawal from International Commitments: Last week, Trump’s State Department froze all foreign aid except funds for Israel and Egypt. Trump withdrew the US from the World Health Organization. Trump seems determined to back away from historic US relationships with Europe. He’s moving to an isolationist, “America First” foreign policy.
Penalizing DOJ and the FBI: On Friday night, Trump’s lackeys announced they fired more than a dozen US attorneys that prosecuted those arrested for the January 6 insurrection. Trump intends to fire any FBI agent who investigated the insurrection; this purge could involve thousands of agents.
Inflation: In the initial flurry of executive orders, Trump did nothing positive related to the economy, which was the primary reason for his victory in the presidential election.
On February 1st, Trump levied 25 percent tariffs on goods coming from Canada and Mexico. (The tariff on Canadian energy products –oil, natural gas, and electricity -- is 10 percent.) This will affect many different products, particularly cars. (Trump also levied 10 percent tariffs on imports from China.) Most economists predict these tariffs will increase inflation. The Associated Press ( https://apnews.com/article/
Bottom Line: Trump has weakened the US economy. Many of his executive orders are egregious and illegal.bb
