Trump 2.0 So Far: No Honeymoon From Chaos
By
Leonard Zwelling
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/09/opinion/musk-tesla-sales-stock-price.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/opinion/trump-courts-judges.html?searchResultPosition=1
President Trump has been in office less than two months. In that brief time, we have learned a great deal about where he may be leading the country.
First and foremost, he was absolutely right about sealing the southern border. It required no act of Congress. The new President just did it, exactly as he said he would do. Kudos to him.
Second, he has reached outside the usual channels of elected and appointed officials to Elon Musk to trim the size of the federal workforce to fulfill Mr. Trump’s pledge of gaining efficiency in the government. The problem is that Mr. Musk took a wrecking ball to the federal workforce instead of a scalpel. It is yet unclear what the results of such a tactic may be. From my personal point of view, I could not follow the instructions I got from the IRS to call them to identify myself because no one will pick up the phone at the number I was given. Finally, after eleven tries I got through, only to wait another thirty minutes for a human who took another thirty minutes to admit it was I who filed my 2021 tax return. Not very efficient.
In the first of the attached articles from The New York Times on March 10, Harvard Business School professor Mihir A. Desai traces the ups and downs of Mr. Musk’s businesses which seem to be built as much on hype as on success. Tesla, X, and Space X all seem to be sinking although Starlink is still making money. Donald Trump’s attraction to Mr. Musk might reside more on their common bluster than any skills on the part of Mr. Musk to improve government.
Third, as outlined in the second attachment by the dean of Berkeley Law School Erwin Chemerinsky, Mr. Trump and his vice president may be quite comfortable ignoring court rulings and getting away with it because such court rulings rely on the historical precedent of executives obeying court orders. Trump and Vance hint that they may not do so. In essence, who’s going to make them?
Fourth, it is evident that Mr. Trump sees himself as a great international deal maker. It is he and he alone that can resolve the Ukraine War and the conflict in Gaza. Thus far, I have heard no plans to do either other than cozying up to Putin and blasting our European allies and Putin just rejected Trump’s cease fire deal. Despite Trump’s promise to get all the hostages home, every day it seems less likely that the combatants in Gaza can agree on whether to extend the cease fire or proceed to phase two of negotiations. Meanwhile, there is almost nothing left in Gaza to fight over.
Mr. Trump is trying to convince America that he has done a great deal already. Beyond the border, I don’t see it.
On the economic front, it seems all but certain that we are heading for a recession. Mr. Trump has even hinted as much with his comments about a “little disturbance” before his plan works. If his plan is to tariff the world into submission and move manufacturing back to the United States, he needs to get the concept of a globalized world into his head. These tariffs are likely to make things worse for American consumers. Prices will rise. This is not good.
While his speech to Congress was a great show and the Democratic response an embarrassment, thus far, it looks like the ship of state is rudderless. What would change my mind?
What exactly is the Trump plan for economic prosperity in the United States? If he said it, I missed it.
What is his plan to deal with Russia in both ending the Ukraine War and securing the safety of all of Europe?
How does Trump propose to end the conflict in Gaza? Declaring Gaza as U.S. territory is ridiculous. So is a Trump Tower in Gaza within your lifetime. I know. Don Jr. is next in line for the White House. Good luck with that.
Finally, now that Mr. Musk has cut thousands of federal jobs and means to cut more or buy people out, how is the work of the federal government to be done?
I appreciate the fervor of my Trump-loving friends who think that he has done so much in so little time. It is very unclear to me that he has done anything productive beyond the border other than constantly changing his mind and creating collective uncertainty in the financial markets and among our allies.
The fact that the CDC is proposing to study the links between vaccines and autism yet again, despite clear evidence that the two are not connected, shows that Trump’s government will heed the extremists on the right and sacrifice real science for political purposes.
Without a doubt, this is the most chaotic administration in recent memory. It seems to be photon like—all energy and no mass.
Just say for me, I’m happy to give him more time, but what is the plan? I haven’t heard it yet.
