The Donald Trump Score Card

Even a not-so-smart 5th grader.

 

https://www.npr.org/2025/03/07/nx-s1-5320802/china-us-tariffs-gaza-ukraine-russia-trump

excerpt:

"No country should expect to suppress and contain China on one hand while developing a good relationship with it on the other. Such a two-faced approach not only undermines the stability of bilateral relations but also fails to build mutual trust," he said.

On fentanyl, Wang said the problem is fundamentally the responsibility of the U.S.

"In the spirit of humanitarianism, China has provided various forms of assistance to the U.S., and the U.S. should not repay goodwill with resentment or impose unjustified tariffs. This is not the behavior of a responsible major power," he said.

 

Canada is a major supplier of potash needed by U.S. farmers.

Trump has lowered his imposed import tariff on potash from 25% to 10%.


Trump tariffs: US expands exemptions to Canada and Mexico tariffs

excerpt:

"Items that currently come into the US under the pact's rules include televisions, air conditioners, avocados and beef, according to analysis by the firm Trade Partnership Worldwide.

The measures also reduced tariffs on potash - a key ingredient for fertiliser needed by US farmers - from 25% to 10%.

A White House official said about 50% of US imports from Mexico and 62% from Canada may still face tariffs. Those proportions could change as firms change their practices in response to the order."

 

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/11/nx-s...rump-federal-funding-freeze-restraining-order

excerpt:

"Fadel: Now, the administration has publicly questioned the judiciary over rulings to block executive actions. What's your reaction to this claim—that it is actually the courts that are out of line and trying to block legitimate executive power, staging a judicial coup of some kind?

Gertner: Well, the key issue is the word legitimate. The question is whether or not Trump is exercising power in a legitimate way. When he violates the Administrative Procedure Act—which says that you can change regulations only if you follow certain procedures—when he violates the Privacy Act, threatening to release the names of the FBI agents who arguably participated in January 6, when he holds up the funding of programs that have been appropriated by Congress—that's the question of whether or not he's acting in a legitimate fashion.

And these cases are essentially saying there's nothing remotely legitimate about what the president is doing under these circumstances. I can't emphasize enough how difficult it is for a judge to enter a temporary restraining order, which is the case here. In these cases, you have to find the likelihood of success on the merits, and you have to find irreparable harm, and the bar is high. It says something about how far Trump has gone from what the legitimate lawmaking function is in these cases that judges are doing this."

 

What Happens if Trump Defies the Courts

excerpt:

"What remedies do courts have if the Trump Administration doesn’t comply with these judgments?

The courts don’t have a lot of powerful remedies against an executive that is willing to defy their orders. They can certainly remonstrate against it. They can say that it’s a basic proposition that all orders and judgments of courts be complied with, and they can threaten to hold government officials in contempt. That is a remedy that’s useful against agency officials, because it acts as a deterrent, and there are reputational costs to being held in contempt. But if you have high-level officials who are declaring their intention to defy court orders in order to enact their agenda because they believe those orders are unlawful or based on erroneous understandings of the Constitution, I’m not sure that the threat of holding those officials in contempt is that significant. And the reality is that courts don’t often hold officials in contempt. The Supreme Court has only invoked it once, and so it’s a threat that would be difficult to make good on. A lot depends on the psychology of the people who are purporting to resist the court order."

 

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/11/nx-s...rump-federal-funding-freeze-restraining-order

excerpt:

"Nancy Gertner: The court, a judge has said, has tools available to him or her in the first instance. They can cite the parties in front of them for contempt. They can impose fines, of course, since one of the parties—arguably, here, Elon Musk—it's not clear that fines are going to make a particle of a difference. There's even the possibility of imprisoning someone until the order is followed. All of these are obviously empty threats with respect to the defendants in this case. The marshals would have to enforce whatever orders the judge entered. The problem is that the Marshal Service is under the Department of Justice, and if Trump wanted to fully not comply, he could direct the Department of Justice not to comply.

At that point, you have a full-on constitutional crisis. You have one branch of the government ignoring the legitimate comments—the legitimate orders, rather—of another branch. Let me also say, the other thing available to Trump, because he doesn't agree with the judge, is to appeal. And so, to some degree, hastening a constitutional crisis says something about what he's trying to do—which is more about showing his power than it is about following the law."

 

Zelensky attends emergency summit in Europe.


Zelenskyy attends emergency Europe summit amid pressure from US, Russia

 

Ways Trump could acquire Greenland.


'One way or the other': Five ways Trump's Greenland saga could play out

 

Trump did a campaign event in a grocery storein PA in 2024 where he promised to start lowering prices on day one of his administration.


https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/05/business/trump-pennsylvania-grocery-egg-price-inflation/index.html

excerpt:

“Eggs, of course, eggs are the big topic right now. I don’t know a Democrat, Republican, king, emperor — I don’t know if anybody could’ve predicted there would be a bird flu,” said Sprankle.

Mexico and Canada supply a significant share of food items, including fruits, vegetables, grain and meat — and tariffs might cause grocery bills to rise in just a matter of days.

On Tuesday, Target CEO Brian Cornell said that Trump’s tariffs on Mexico, in particular, may force the company to raise prices on fruits and vegetables as soon as this week.

“Those are categories where we’ll try to protect pricing, but the consumer will likely see price increases over the next couple of days,” Cornell said in an interview with CNBC.

 

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/06/politics/trump-canada-mexico-tariffs-whiplash-analysis/index.html

excerpt:

"For some MAGA supporters, Trump’s genius for enraging Democrats, the media and foreign governments is an end in itself. And for ideologues on the populist nationalist right, sparking pandemonium in Washington and destroying governing agencies is a way of deconstructing the administrative state.

Trump’s method was honed in his office high up in the skyscraper that bears his name in Manhattan.

The future president learned through his real estate career how to push opponents off balance with outlandish demands, verbal confrontations and sudden switches of position. In government, he does the same thing to disorientate adversaries and seeks to impose power amid the mayhem.

But while unpredictability is a real estate superpower, it’s a liability when running a country, an economy and a planet – where continuity and predictability are preferred.

“It’s just constant, and it’s exhausting,” said Julian Vikan Karaguesian, a former Canadian Ministry of Finance official, referring to Trump’s scorched-earth tariff offensive. “It’s almost surreal. Is it real? Is it going to be real this time?” Karaguesian, who now lectures at McGill University in Montreal, added: “Maybe the modus operandi here is uncertainty. It’s not tariffs, it’s not anything else, but intentionally creating a sense of chaos and a sense of uncertainty.”"

 

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/06/politics/trump-canada-mexico-tariffs-whiplash-analysis/index.html

excerpt:

"Government by chaos is back.

One day, President Donald Trump imposed a punishing tariff regime against Canada and Mexico. The next, he froze auto duties for a month after suddenly realizing that – as everyone had predicted – they could wreck a quintessential American industry.

Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky came to the Oval Office to sign a rare-earth minerals deal that Trump billed as a triumph for the US. But Zelensky was provoked by Vice President JD Vance and kicked out of the White House. European leaders have spent days trying to fix the debacle.

Elon Musk, meanwhile, is taking his chainsaw to the bureaucracy, indiscriminately firing workers and feeding agencies into the wood chipper – pitching citizens and industries who rely on government payments into uncertainty just as the economy softens and is more vulnerable to such shocks.

At first, Trump’s early-term energy on multiple fronts was a bolt of energy as he scratched his Sharpie across executive orders and chased away the lethargy that marked President Joe Biden’s waning months in office.

Six weeks in, however, as Trump makes gut-check calls to dismantle post-Cold War national security arrangements, the global free trade system, and the federal machine – all of which helped make the US a superpower – a new realization is dawning.

There doesn’t seem to be a plan."

 

Judge finds Trump's firing of member of National Labor Relations Board was illegal
By Melissa Quinn
Updated on: March 6, 2025 / 4:23 PM EST / CBS News

Judge finds Trump's firing of member of National Labor Relations Board was illegal

 

Trump won't sign executive order to dissolve Department of Education today: Sources

excerpt:

"The experiment of controlling American education through Federal programs and dollars - - and the unaccountable bureaucrats those programs and dollars support - - has failed our children, our teachers, and our families," the draft said, according to sources.

However, critics argued that the department provides vital financial assistance and grant programs. It holds schools accountable for enforcing nondiscrimination laws for gender, race and disability -- specifically, Title IX, Title VI and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Americans with Disabilities Act.

 

Trump is the first president to 'deliberately engineer a severe depression': economist

excerpt:

"An increase in prices from the tariffs will also result in the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates high or even once again raising them to keep inflation down, which will also grind down economic activity.

As if that weren't enough, Kuttner believes these moves will further sap consumer confidence, which has already been plummeting for the last two months.

On top of all that, he adds, the mass layoffs in the federal government will put more people out of work who will then spend less on important goods and services, thus adding yet another drag on the economy."

 

Poll on Trump's 2025 joint address to Congress finds large majority of viewers approve

excerpt:

"A large majority of speech watchers approved of what they heard from President Trump's joint address to Congress Tuesday night.

The viewership was heavily Republican — historically a president's party draws more of their own partisans. This was no exception, and they liked what they heard."

 

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/...ngs-agriculture-employees-reinstated-00214204

excerpt:

"Thousands of fired workers at the Department of Agriculture must get their jobs back for at least the next month and a half, the chair of a federal civil service board ruled Wednesday.

The ruling said the recent dismissals of more than 5,600 probationary employees may have violated federal laws and procedures for carrying out layoffs."

 

Trump’s Delay on Mexico and Canada Tariffs Came in Response to Market Revolt

excerpt:

Mr. Trump has spent last month or so bouncing between imposing sweeping tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and delaying them because of last-minute deals.

“There will,” he said, “always be changes and adjustments.”

Despite Mr. Trump’s insistence that “tariff” is among his favorite words, the waffling over import duties reflects the reality that steep import taxes are not an antidote for every policy problem facing the nation.

Mr. Trump’s economic advisers continue to contend that the tariffs are part of a broader agenda that will not damage the economy. However, the delays and loopholes reveal that they are beginning to see the risks of taking tariffs too far at a time when the economy is showing signs of strain and consumers are still reeling from inflation.

Mr. Trump himself has begun acknowledging as much. “There could be some disturbance, a little bit of disturbance,” Mr. Trump said on Friday.

“The allure of tariffs as a potent tool to achieve a range of economic and geopolitical objectives is coming up against the harsh reality that tariffs cause domestic production and supply disruptions, drive up prices and could hurt economic growth,” said Eswar Prasad, a trade policy professor at Cornell University.

 

Trump cuts $400 million to Columbia University because of protests.


Trump administration cancels $400 million in grants for Columbia University

excerpt:

“Since October 7, Jewish students have faced relentless violence, intimidation, and anti-Semitic harassment on their campuses — only to be ignored by those who are supposed to protect them,” she said. “Universities must comply with all federal antidiscrimination laws if they are going to receive federal funding. For too long, Columbia has abandoned that obligation to Jewish students studying on its campus. Today, we demonstrate to Columbia and other universities that we will not tolerate their appalling inaction any longer.”

 

Trump threatens 250% tariff on dairy.


https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/07/business/tariffs-trump-canada/index.html

excerpt:

“Canada has been ripping us off for years on lumber and on dairy products,” Trump said in an Oval Office address Friday, citing Canada’s roughly 250% tariff on US dairy exports to the country. Trump said America would match those tariffs dollar-for-dollar.

“We may do it as early as today, or we’ll wait until Monday or Tuesday,” Trump said. “We’re going to charge the same thing. It’s not fair. It never has been fair, and they’ve treated our farmers badly.”

 

Draft of Trump order seeks to eliminate Department of Education: report

excerpt:

President Donald Trump is expected to issue an executive order, possibly Thursday, aimed at abolishing the Department of Education, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The newspaper cited several people briefed on the matter and reviewed a draft of the order.

It directs newly sworn Education Secretary Linda McMahon to "take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Education Department" based on "the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law."