Trump’s Incompetent Overreach Is Already Backfiring
President Trump’s self-interested, chaotic, and divisive moves are facing legal roadblocks, revitalizing his opposition, and reminding Americans why they voted him out in 2020.
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A flurry of incompetent policy decisions and abuses of power spark chaos and immediate court injunctions. Unhinged, divisive, blame-seeking press conferences that try to exploit a crisis or disaster. Democratic lawmakers and pro-democracy groups jump into action to oppose the latest unlawful maneuver. GOP lawmakers twist themselves into either defending the latest ramble or evading questions from an eager press demanding answers.
To the surprise of no one who has been honest with themselves, Trump’s second term is unfolding much like his first, but with higher stakes and more overtly authoritarian actions.
This week, the Trump Administration's federal funding freeze sparked confusion and chaos before they rescinded it after public pressure and court injunctions mounted. After a plane crash in D.C. killed 67 people, President Trump sought to exploit the tragedy by baselessly blaming DEI, sparking media fact-checks and public outcry.
Trump’s team has tried to sell the public on the idea that they would be more competent this time. That they learned from the failures of Trump’s first term. But it’s clear that Trump 2.0 has many of the same shortcomings as Trump 1.0.
Perhaps one of the biggest obstacles to Trump’s authoritarian ambitions is his own incompetence.
I documented every day of Trump’s first term in real-time and later organized it all in an index where you can click into every week. For me and many Americans who have been warning about what could happen in a second Trump administration, this was déjà vu. For others, this week was a stark reminder of why Trump is unfit for office.
How Trump has behaved in office thus far is exactly why he lost as an incumbent in 2020. Trump's outrage-bait nonsense works in a campaign, but it's toxic in government, especially during a tragedy or crisis.
During the 2024 election, many Americans appeared to have collective amnesia about Trump's first term. I wrote about this in my newsletter last year. The truth is Trump's governing style is defined by self-interest, chaos, incompetence, and divisive depravity. Now, Americans are being confronted with the real-world consequences of his re-election.
Even before the events of this week, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that many of Trump’s executive orders are wildly unpopular, and Trump’s approval rating has dipped to 45%. The poll found that 77% of Americans oppose Trump ending requirements that make government employees report gifts or investments, 62% of Americans oppose pardoning the January 6 rioters, 60% oppose implementing new tariffs on imports from Canada, 59% oppose ending birthright citizenship, and 59% oppose ending federal efforts to hire women and people of color.
I’m eager to see polling on this week's events and how it impacts Trump’s approval because this week was a doozy.
Let’s break down what happened and why I think Trump’s actions could backfire on the Republican Party.
The Exploitation Of A Deadly Accident
The first major commercial plane crash since 2009 had just occurred above D.C., and bodies were still being pulled from the Potomac River. The American public was in a state of mourning as we learned more about the passengers, which included American figure skaters. At this moment, Americans needed calm, deliberate leadership and credible information. Instead, they got the Donald Trump we remember from the unhinged COVID-19 pandemic press briefings.
President Trump repeatedly sought to blame Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Biden Administration. Trump also cited people with disabilities. Multiple reporters pushed back, including NBC’s Peter Alexander, who pointed out the fact diversity policies were also in place during Trump’s own administration.
“The implication that this policy is new or that it stems from efforts that began under President Biden or the Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is demonstrably false. It’s been on the FAA’s website…” Peter Alexander said.
“Who said that, you?” Trump asked.
Alexander replied, “It's been on the FAA's website… It was there for 2013. It was there for the entirety of your administration, too. So my question is, why didn't you change the policy during your first administration?”
Trump claimed he did change the policy in his first term, although there is no evidence of that.
The fact this policy was in place during Trump’s own administration takes down one part of his argument, but the notion generally that this was somehow the fault of DEI, aka the presence of more people of color and women in these roles, is asinine and depraved. Even Senate Republicans were caught off guard by the comments.
Immediately after the press conference, CNN’s aviation correspondent Pete Muntean delivered a searing, immediate on-air takedown of Trump’s claims.
“I put my head in my hands, Pam, when the president said that,” Muntean asserted when asked by host Pamela Brown if the FAA’s DEI policies were to blame. “This is something that has been pushed by the far right for a few months now, that DEI policies are to blame [for] the degradation of safety in aviation in the United States. But frankly, the president is getting out ahead of his skis here.”
Muntean added, “What he has said is not only unprofessional, unpresidential, inconsiderate of the status of this investigation, but frankly… unhinged that he could even say with any sort of certainty that diversity, equity, and inclusion policies had any part to play in this accident.”
President Trump later signed a memo that blamed the crash on DEI.
First off, it’s not clear whether there were any people of color or women flying either aircraft. So, that undermines his point. I feel terrible even talking about the race or gender of these people who have lost their lives, but Trump has forced that into this discussion. This was a tragic accident, and the skills of these individuals should not be thrown into question. They go through rigorous training and are highly qualified for their roles.
Secondly, the information we’re seeing from the initial investigation has shown that air traffic control staffing was inadequate at Ronald Reagan National Airport. The New York Times reported: “The controller who was handling helicopters in the airport’s vicinity Wednesday night was also instructing planes that were landing and departing from its runways. Those jobs typically are assigned to two controllers, rather than one.”
This crash came days after Trump made sweeping changes at the FAA as part of his efforts to downsize the federal government. Trump removed several key officials and implemented a hiring freeze. It’s not clear if Trump’s actions contributed to the circumstances that caused the crash, but Trump received online criticism for the changes after the fatal accident.
Faced with criticism, Trump did what he always does: deflect blame. This time, he scapegoated DEI.
Lives were lost in a tragic accident, and Trump was baselessly seeking to place blame that aligns with his divisive political agenda. Time and time again, it’s been proven that no matter the tragedy, no matter the crisis America faces, Trump always seeks to shamelessly exploit it. Trump did that with the COVID-19 pandemic, and he’s doing it now that he’s back in office.
The Incompetent Funding Freeze Power Grab
On Monday, the Trump Administration made its most chaotic move so far this term and ramped up its distortion of the federal government by ordering a freeze on federal assistance programs.
Unilaterally freezing congressionally approved funds is a direct violation of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974. This funding freeze came as Trump has made several unlawful moves to test the boundaries of the law and this Supreme Court’s appetite for further expanding executive power
The incredibly vague 2-page memo, written by Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Matthew J. Vaeth, threw the country into a state of confusion.
The freeze on federal assistance was set to take place on Tuesday evening at 5 pm EST and was for the purpose of reviewing if the funding complies with Trump’s culture war executive orders.
The initial memo made exceptions for Medicare or Social Security and “assistance provided directly to individuals,” but there were widespread reports of Medicaid portals being down in all 50 states on Tuesday, in spite of a second “clarifying” memo from the White House claiming Medicaid was unaffected. There was confusion among nonprofits who administer aid and healthcare providers. Lawsuits began flying from nonprofits, health groups, and Democratic state attorneys general.
Then, minutes before it was set to take effect, D.C. District Judge Loren Ali Khan temporarily blocked Trump’s funding freeze.
By Wednesday, the public backlash had grown so great that the White House rescinded the OMB memo, attempting to avoid further court injunctions.
But Trump’s Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt sent a tweet trying to save face, claiming the funding freeze was still on. Hilariously, the Trump Administration was heading into another court hearing moments later. A federal judge, citing Leavitt’s tweet, said that they intended to grant another injunction. Talk about a self-own.
We later found out in reporting from The New York Times, that “the order was drafted inside the Office of Management and Budget by the agency’s general counsel, Mark Paoletta, two of the people said. And it was released without being shown to the White House staff secretary, Will Scharf, or to Mr. Trump’s top policy adviser, Stephen Miller.”
Whether that is true or simply another attempt to deflect blame is unclear. What is clear is the fact this whole debacle was a reminder of just how incompetent Trump and the people he surrounds himself with are.
There’s another angle to this moment, too. This week, we saw successful resistance to Trump’s executive overreach.
Democratic lawmakers gave real-time updates on how the funding freeze was impacting their constituents, making it easier for journalists to cover it and the public to understand - causing pressure to mount. The Trump Administration felt the heat. They failed to clarify what was happening. Nonprofits, health groups, and Democratic State AGs sued, a judge immediately blocked, and the memo was rescinded. That’s how it’s done.
It was a moment straight out of 2017 and reminiscent of the successful opposition we saw during Trump’s first term.
President Trump does not have the absolute power he believes he has.
Trump’s Overreach Could Backfire Politically, Too
In November, I wrote an article claiming that Trump was going to overreach when in office and predicted that instead of focusing on lowering prices, he would bring about Project 2025 extremism, incompetence, culture wars, and cruel policies.
It’s all going exactly as expected, and it could backfire on Republicans.
As I noted at the beginning of this piece, polling isn’t looking good on Trump’s executive orders. And when it comes to Trump’s approach to his billionaire allies, that’s also not going over well with Americans.
An AP/NORC poll earlier this month found that Elon Musk only has a 36% approval rating, DOGE has a 29% approval rating, and only 12% of Americans think it’s good that billionaires are advising the president. The Musk poll came even before he made that arm gesture at the inauguration many are calling a Nazi salute.
It turns out that oligarchy is unpopular. Who knew?
The data indicates that if Democrats lock in on a consistent anti-corruption message while pointing out that Trump’s moves are directly impacting Americans (like they did with the funding freeze), they could be well-positioned to win in the 2026 midterms.
I think that last week might be as popular as MAGA will ever be. It could be downhill from here. You can already see the social media vibe shift as Americans grapple with what Trump is doing.
The right prematurely declared victory in the culture war, and now, far-right extremism is being pursued as policy in the executive branch.
Trump got back into office and is reminding Americans why they voted him out of office in the first place. We’ll see how this impacts the broader Republican Party, but at first glance, it’s not looking good for them.
Trump’s incompetence is a threat—but also his greatest weakness. If Democrats keep seizing on it, that could be the key to opposing him.
So much to read, and I’m finding myself sometimes overwhelmed. But I knew I wanted to catch up with you this morning, Ahmed. Thank you for your keen eye. We knew they were going to implement Project 2025 and of course the Heritage Foundation et al.did all the work beforehand. Their puppet is so incompetent though that he can’t help but eff things up! I’ll bet the Mob Boss can’t even reach down to tie his own shoes.