Trump 2.0: The First 10 Days
We are ten days into Trump 2.0.
Rather than attempt to summarize the insane level of activity coming out, I’ll once again provide several links to my trusted sources that can get you up to speed.
Trump pausing Colombia tariffs after migrants deal, White House says (Axios)
Charted: Trump’s unprecedented executive order blitz (Axios)
What to know about the Laken Riley Act (Axios)
Democrats hammered by ugly unpopularity numbers (Axios)
Bill Explains How the Media Is Creating Hysteria Around Deportation (Bill O’Reilly)
RFK Jr. nomination won’t pass Senate (Bill O’Reilly)
The single most important moment in the RFK Jr. Confirmation hearing (Chris Cillizza)
BREAKING: A MAJOR unforced error by Donald Trump (Chris Cillizza)
Inside 45 hours of chaos: The brief life and quick death of Trump’s federal spending freeze (CNN)
I find a couple of polls particularly interesting. Our 47th president has become quite interested in acquiring Greenland. According to multiple sources, Trump and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen had a stormy call in which the former kept pestering the latter about buying the world’s biggest island. On Saturday, Trump said it would be ‘very unfriendly’ of Denmark not to let the USA have Greenland. Frederiksen has since visited multiple European states, including France and Germany, receiving wide support to counter Trump’s ambitions.
NATO allies publicly feuding about ownership of Greenland was not on my bingo card. Who knows how long this stalemate will go on, but it’s already having consequences for one of the strongest and longest lasting alliances/friendships since WWII. To back up his claims, Trump says that Greenlanders want to become part of the U.S..
Pollster Verian found that 85% of Greenlanders don’t want to. 45% view Trump’s actions as a threat and 43% view them as an opportunity. At the moment, Trump is incorrect about Greenland. Perhaps more studies will vindicate him, but these numbers are pretty damning.
In terms of Trump’s general approval, he’s sitting at roughly 50–50. This is a few points above his January 2017 numbers, which were 44% according to Gallup. The division of the campaign has not receded. With actions like the blanket pardons for January 6th protestors/rioters, it’s likely to increase. 58% of voters disapproved of the pardons. On Sunday, Republican Senator and Trump ally Lindsey Graham said that the blanket pardons were ‘a mistake.’
We got through the first 10 days. Breathe in. Breathe out.
We just might get through the next four years!