Trump 2.0 has started, and he’s rushing out of the gate to make a show of it. But his actions definitely are lacking.
- He shut off legal immigration, but hasn’t addressed illegal immigration. Biden may have done too little for too long, but this isn’t addressing the right concerns. With no legal way to enter the country, won’t illegal entry surge?
- His dubious DOGE agency lost half its leadership on day 1, an inauspicious beginning.
- He immediately went retrograde on clean energy,
- He pardoned January 6 participants, reinforcing his own sentiment that he was and is in support of the riot and the violent overturn of the government.
- He’s gone all in for Tik Tok, a clear tool for Chinese privacy invasion and national security threat.
- He’s insisted all government workers return to the office. Wouldn’t DOGE be able to save money by selling (or not renting) a ton of office space?
- And he’s wiped out any policy favoring equity.
It’s too early to tell what impact these changes will have, but regardless he too quickly made sweeping changes for performative, rather than substantive, reasons.