We are a long way from knowing what the historians will be proclaiming about it.
And we are a very long way away from discovering what real people will ultimately think when they realize how what just happened in Washington messed up the things they (and their families) always cared about most, but mainly took for granted.
So far, this much is clear: The first two weeks of Donald Trump’s second presidency were astonishingly – and then alarmingly – different. On Day One, Trump, ever the showman and salesman, had every reason to be hugely pleased with the way he scripted, performed, and sold his Presidency 2.0.
He gave all the people who made him what he is today precisely what they thought they wanted – signing those tough executive orders: mass pardons for cop beaters, mass deportations, and much more.
As presidential leadership theatrics go, Day One was boffo. And after Week One, it seemed President Trump 2.0 might be able to sell Americans anything he wants.
Which brings us to Week Two. Suddenly things seemed much different. His first powerful footstep landed firmly on an upturned rake. Bonk!
Trump’s Office of Management and Budget issued a two-page memo instructing federal departments and agencies to “temporarily pause” all financial assistance programs.
The memo was signed by OMB’s little-known acting director Matthew J. Vaeth. Official Washington’s instant reaction ran the gamut from agog to aghast. Trump’s departments and agencies didn’t understand what the mere two-page memo was telling them to do – and not do. Freeze all aid? Well, not aid that is paid directly to ordinary people; so no freeze on Social Security and Medicare. But what about Medicaid, where money goes through the states to the people? Medicaid’s online portals stopped working.
On Tuesday, OMB’s Vaeth rescinded his Monday memo. So what does that mean? White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt rushed to “end any confusion,” posting on X: “This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze. It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo….” Huh?
Then came Wednesday night’s tragic mid-air collision. An Army helicopter and an American Airlines plane plunged into the Potomac, reportedly killing all passengers. As divers were still retrieving victims Thursday, Trump came to the White House press room podium to lead the nation in grieving, as we saw his predecessors often do.
The president asked us all to pause for a moment of silence, out of respect to those who died and those who now grieve.
But we soon witnessed a presidential performance unlike anything history ever witnessed as Trump’s 46 predecessors led our nation through tragic times. Citing no substantiating evidence, Trump claimed the midair collision was due to decisions made by his two Democratic predecessors – Joe Biden and Barack Obama – and their Federal Aviation Agency that adopted their hiring policies of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Trump said Biden’s FAA was “actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities and psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under diversity and inclusion hiring initiatives.”
Then, having led Americans through this day of grief, in the manner he thought best, Trump left the podium to get on with the rest of his job.
The media is covering a presidency that now seems destined to be far more challenging than anything we’ve ever seen. Done right, our work may end up judged by history to have morphed into a form of national service. Done any other way – well, let’s just make sure we don’t fall into that trap.