FAM 15: Trump's First 100 Days

Spoiler Alert: I don't think it's gone that good.

FYI, given the length of this, I’m only forgoing any fun culture stuff this week. This is plenty to digest.

The hardest part of coming up with this list wasn’t finding material. It was keeping track with the firehouse of illegality, corruption, and catastrophic policy.

I started making it a few weeks ago and would add to it when I was reminded of a subject or something new came up — because there’s something bad happening every day. I looked up some facts, and you’ll just have to trust me on the sources — all legit & mainstream — because footnotes is the last thing I’m doing.

Another problem was how to deal with so many things that are up in the air — like DOGE cuts that are tied up in the court system. And actual real numbers from DOGE. I’ve simply grabbed stuff that I think is particularly egregious.

Then there’s the “budget reconciliation” to come. That’s going to be a bloodbath. Don’t be surprised if some policies that have been announced, then reversed, end up coming back. I tried to avoid a ton of things that have been reversed, but did keep some, if only to remind folks what they’d like to do — or bury in another bill down the road.

Lastly, I started with some of the real dire things that go straight to dictatorship. Beyond that I tried to keep things in straight-forward categories. I’m also keeping the commentary pretty sparse, or this would be a novel.

Also — when I call something illegal that’s based on a very broad consensus and legal precedent. What is legal now remains to be seen.

(1) Illegally halting spending allocated by Congress — a clear violation of the Constitutional separation of powers.

(2) Attempting to Eliminate Free Speech by threatening and suing independent media outlets whose coverage he doesn’t like and (3) law firms who have brought legal actions against him — the worst assault on the First Amendment in American history.

(4) Attempting to cut funding for or eliminating Executive Branch departments established by Congress which can only be altered by the Legislative Branch.

(5) Defying court orders from every level of the Judiciary, creating a slow-motion Constitution Crisis and rallying his supporters for a full overthrowing of our Rule of Law.

Grift and greed were at an unprecedented level were the hallmark of Trump 1.0, including money being funneled into Trump global properties by lobbyists and foreign nationals. That looks like child’s play in the new Trump Regime. After the election Trump created a (6) scam “meme coin” that is an open slush fund that goes to Trump and can be exchanged by policy or financial favors. Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy called Trump’s meme coin scam the “biggest scandal in the history of the Presidency.” It’s barely been covered by the media.

Within his administration he (7) fired all department Inspector Generals — those who police waste, fraud, and abuse within the government — paving the way for Trump, Trump-appointed officials, and businesses to (8) cash in on their jobs. This is one of the hallmarks of Dictatorship.

And he’s going against his political opposition — using the Justice Department to (9) investigate Act Blue — the largest fundraising organization on the left. In Congress there’s also an (10) insane bill making its way through the House that would force millions of women to who changed their names when they were married to have an original birth certificate or passport to vote.

Trump’s man-made tariff chaos began with an (11) illegal declaration of emergency usually associated with a true national emergency — making him a de facto economic Dictator. He used a similar illegal Executive Order to (12) declare a war on a Venezuelan-based gang to give him sweeping powers over immigration.

If this was a normal Republican administration I might count every cabinet member I disagreed with politically. But, Trump’s cabinet goes way beyond any norm — a mix of absolutely unqualified and straight up dangerous. They’re all bad to degrees, but I’m just highlighting the worst of the worst.

(13) FBI Director Kash Patel will purge the department of career officials not willing to conduct political investigations on Trump’s enemies. The same is true of (14) Attorney General Pam Bondi who has already started such investigations. (15) This is a politicization of the Justice Department that hasn’t been seen since J. Edgar Hoover.

(16) Beyond being totally incompetent and bat-shit crazy, HHS Director Robert Kennedy Jr. has already started downplaying the need for critical vaccines — which will have lethal long-term consequences. He’s (17) purging the department of objective scientists, (18) killing vital medical research, and (19) proposing an autism data base (his crazy pet project) that would force private health care companies to turn over personal data.

Also, bat-shit crazy in economics you have (20) Counselor to the President Peter Navarro — the mastermind behind the disastrous tariff policy.

On the dangerous foreign policy front we have unqualified (21) Tulsi Gabbard as the Director of National Intelligence — who very well may be a foreign agent with very questionable ties to Putin and walking/stumbling, taking security threat (22) Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense.

One of the first and most shameful Executive Orders Trump (23) pardoned almost every single insurrectionist who attacked our Capitol in his attempt to overthrow the 2020 election — even many of the most violent criminals.

Less covered was his additional order to (24) pardon rioters who were found with illegal guns in connection with the attack. Most recently, he paved the way for J6 criminals to be (25) paid back by the government for any fines they suffered in the destruction of property.

We can simply NEVER forget January 6^th — I would argue even more than 9/11.

This was a coordinated attack from within, the only breach of our Capitol since the War of 1812 and the most serious threat to our Democracy since the Civil War.

Everything happening now flows from that mountain of lies and the coordinated propaganda that followed. If we don’t make it as a Democracy, the end of the line will come back to January 6^th.

While the “D” may stand for department, DOGE is nothing like one. (26) It’s likely unconstitutional since it wasn’t created by Congress and the teen cyber-bros doing the work have (27) no security clearance and access to the nation’s most sensitive records. This includes the (28) super-secret payment system used by the entire federal government that should never be touched. This unprecedented and dangerous breach caused the head of that department to resign in protest.

(29) What data was breached and what was done with it is unknown. But, reports speculate that it may necessitate the installation of an entirely new system that could cost hundreds of billions.

(30) At the National Labor Relations Board an IT whistleblower who followed the trail of DOGE hackers while they were in the system recorded a giant release of data, quickly followed by Russian attempts to re-enter the system using DOGE user names and passwords.

The ramifications of something like this are nearly impossible to comprehend and I’m still amazed that this story has gotten so little traction.

Based on what agencies DOGE went after first it’s very likely that (31) Musk was trying to squash regulatory investigations of his companies. (32) He had unfettered and illegal access to vast amounts of data that could give him a completive edge on his rivals and (33) he has profited by an unknown number of new government contracts with unproven (and potentially damaging) software.

Everything about Musk and DOGE is shady and dangerous.

In almost every instance he’s been lying about both the reality of “waste, fraud, and abuse” he’s found. Most of the savings are simply firing people in programs politically opposed by Trump and Musk. But, in numerous instances these have been critical position in (34) air traffic control, (35) infectious diseases, and (36) nuclear safety that have been pure incompetence.

The rotten cherry on top of it all?

(37) Any actual DOGE savings are going to be exponentially overshadowed by the loss of revenue brought in by cutting IRS agents who go after rich tax cheaters.

Generations on the Republican wish list to kill, DOGE took a run at Social Security sowing chaos in a way that can only be reasonably explained as a way to wound the vital program as a prelude/excuse to kill it. Or at the very least, a way to squeeze some money out of it.

DOGE disruptions included (38) disrupting phone service at offices across the country and reportedly switching to a Musk-created (39) website that has crashed multiple times, sometimes for days. Both of these problems have made it difficult for seniors start benefits or fix any problems with payments they may have.

While multiple offices across the country were set to close, some of those decisions have been reversed after bipartisan outcries. But, the latest report says that (40) 87% of staff a Social Security Regional Offices will be cut.

Within the SS system, there are reports of (41) untold numbers of people being mistakenly moved to the “Death File,” (42) misinformation on benefits sent to Americans. Musk is also attempting to gain access to private data on illegal immigrants — who pay into the system, but get no benefits — as a possible means to hunt them down and/or make false claims of fraud. With access to all that data anything nefarious is possible, and with no independent oversight, it’s hard to know when (or if) we will ever find out. If we make it through this era, it’s highly likely that the SS payment system is (43) compromised and will have to be scrapped costing who know how much.

Given Trump’s ignorant and greedy agenda when it comes to the environment, everyone knew this was going to be really bad. Sadly, it’s only going to get worse.

Of course, Trump (again) (44) took us out of the Paris Climate Treaty on day one. But, his vengeance for anything perceived as green — even if creating good jobs — has been vicious. Especially to poor communities.

(45) He canceled over 20 Environmental Justice Grants to improve air quality, mitigate pollution and hazardous waste in predominantly poor areas with a high percentage of minorities. Trump is also trying to (46) illegally rescind environmental projects approved by the Biden administration, in red and blue states, many already with ground broken.

Environmental lawyers say two new White House directives are designed to (47) greatly expand executive powers to strike down federal energy and environmental regulations. The orders apply to all regulations issued under laws governing things like (48) energy appliance standards, (49) mining and offshore drilling — as well as regulations issued under the --) Endangered Species Act.

It’s not clear whether the order will also apply to regulations at the EPA under laws like the (50) Clean Air Act, (51) Clean Water Act or (52) Safe Drinking Water Act. The order directs them to provide the White House with a list of statutes that should be subject to the order.

Want to go one state’s rights step further? (53) Trump also is trying to take legal action to override state environmental regulations.

This is not just a broad-based attack not on anything that might help mitigate Climate Change. It’s a wholesale attack on any and all environmental regulation that we’ve come to take for granted. And a ton of that is stuff that most of us don’t even know about because of most of it had a bipartisan consensus, even a few years ago.

No more. Reports on the upcoming budget and more executive actions warn of (54) “The biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history,” many of them environmental.

This likely includes an (55) easing (or elimination) of PFAS regulations. These "forever chemicals" (because they don't break down easily) are found in a wide range of products, including stain-resistant fabrics, firefighting foams, and food packaging. They cause cancer, developmental issues, and hormone disruption.

Maybe something RFK could look into?

Speaking of health, (56) cuts to the FDA have already resulted in the elimination of many of the people who inspect milk in this country. Fun fact: Before milk regulations, producers often put chalk in spoiled milk to make it look white and mix it with formaldehyde to mask to taste. Seriously.

If this continues through the safety of the food chain we won’t be getting recalls because of E. coli or salmonella infected more and more food. Because the FDA as we knew it won’t be there. We’ll find out through local news reports of people dropping like flies and everyone panicking.

And these cuts don’t just cover the usual suspects — like meat processing and even bad handling of vegetables. It goes into everything.

Want to know one of the reasons why egg prices have come down slightly during the ongoing Bird Flu pandemic? We (57) eased regulations on imported eggs from South America that were once only approved for use in animal feed but are now in countless products on the shelf that you never think include eggs.

Republican Teddy Roosevelt in known as the father of our national parks. Trump has no care whatsoever of these crown jewels. He’s already looking to (58) twist a normal forest maintenance provision into an excuse for additional logging. Trust me, (59) mining in National Parks and protected land will come next.

Then there’s the logic of DOGE cuts. (60) They fired 1,000 rangers, scientists and other employees from the National Park Service, already estimated to be 15-25% understaffed.

325 million people visit national parks each year. Their total budget is $3.6 billion, but they generate %55 billion in revenue. The National Park Service estimates that a $1 investment in the NPS returns approximately $10 to the U.S. economy.

Tell me how this is saving money?

Trump has said — and has a task force looking into — (61) eliminating FEMA and sending it back to the states.

That sounds like a good idea if you have a Federalist Society lizard brain, but the reality is that only the federal government makes sense to have these resources. Every state having expensive (and redundant) teams for even the most likely scenarios will kill state budgets. Especially in Red States that are disproportionally hit with national disasters.

I guess the good news for Blue States is we already know that Trump will allocate disaster relief based on politics and his dictatorial whims. Funny enough, after claiming Biden was doing that after hurricane Helene hit North Carolina last year, Trump just (62) denied them additional aid and completely (63) denied flooding aid to West Virginia, (64) wind storm aide to Washington and (65) Arkansas (hey, Sarah Huckabee!) FEMA relief after recent devastating tornados. The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away…

There are also reports that the Trump regime plans to slash budgets at both the (66) US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) and the (67) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), according to internal documents.

Both of these sound like real nice Musk opportunities. But, if the NOAA underpinning on weather is cut (or eliminated) I don’t think people get how big that is in all of our daily lives. When weather gets bad, we all may turn on Local 7 News and rely on their overly-branded Doppler 5 Thousand-Under-The-Clouds-Street-Level-Warning-System, but most of that data is actually from NOAA.

Coming in, I thought Constitutional Crisis flash point would be on this. Based on the Project 2025 agenda that is being implemented across-the-board wherever possible. As it is.

While the Trump Regime has done their best to make a show of things, I was wrong about the shock and awe of it,

But, it’s still happening. And it feels much more insidious. It seems like this is playing out much more like Germany under Hitler as he poked and prodded at the legal system before he engulfed it.

We have masked ICE or Homeland Security agents (68) detaining college students based on some interpretation of their free speech on campus. There are other masked (Proud Boy?) agents (69) smashing windows and grabbing people out of cars. Or in the court house where a judge has just granted them asylum or protection. The Michigan lawyer coming home from a vacation in the Caribbean being detained because he represents an UM protester.

People with a tons of information, targeting very specific people. (70) This is just all bad.

This may be anecdotal, but it’s happening. And it’s not just potential brown criminals. Canadians are Europeans are getting detained at our border for hours. And these agents now (71) claim a law that allows them to inspect everything in anyone’s phone — text, email, social posts, whatever.

And, yes, they are asking about political posts. And Trump in particular.

Back on the illegal equation, Trump is now claiming that he has (72) dictatorial powers over immigration — or rights that are completely contrary Due Process Clause of the 5^th and 14^th Amendments of the Constitution.

This now includes (73) a new DOJ directive that ICE agents can forgo warrant and Miranda Rights to enter homes based on suspicion. And (74) some of these recently deputized ICE agents are masked and show no identification. Who are these people? Likely Proud Boys and other Right-Wing militia.

We’re seeing (75) foreign students being nabbed simply because of their political views. (76) Innocent people legally here under asylum laws are being taken. And now (77) American children taken from their country in a full f-you to any Constitutional order to any court, at any level.

Oh, and judges. (78) Attacking them, impeaching them, arresting them, it’s all part of what we should all see: There’s only one branch of government he doesn’t control. He’s working to control it or kill it.

That is happening right now, in front of our eyes. We need to accept our eyes.

So much for the price of those South American eggs, am I right!?

Most everything I’ve written prior is on topics that (sadly) barely register with millions of voters. But, even now more than enough Biden ‘20 voters who voted Trump ‘24 are getting it.

And the vibe doesn’t feel right. Maybe Congress giving fake “emergency powers” to give ONE person — the ability to collapse our economy and seriously damage the global economic order — was not smart.

Where does one even begin?

These idiotic tariffs have (79) raised taxes on every American. And that will only get worse, even if they go down. Trump is both (80) tanking Wall Street and (81) killing Main Street.

He’s also (82) destroying the retirement savings of millions of Americans. Every. Single. Day.

And (83) raising inflation, increasing the likelihood of a recession, (84) bankrupting small businesses, (85) killing manufacturing Jobs and (86) Increasing unemployment with no plan to stop any of it.

Weak, caving u-turns, and daily changes in policy and rationale for policy creates (87) instability in the markets and (88) damages long-term investment in America and (89) drives away our economic allies.

This may the worst self-inflicted wound in US history.

And everything about this is Trump. Our global economic order is literally being run by an idiot who honestly thinks — after meeting with major retailers — that (90) HE sets prices for things. This delusional huckster thinks he’s the Master of the Universe — and, to some point, he is. But, let’s no pretend that all of this isn’t a million miles from normal.

Let’s be clear. There’s nothing to any of this. There is no chess v checkers going on. Trump may pull Wall Street from the brink and claim some sort of deals along the line, but millions of real people have been hurt by the stupidity.

And we really haven’t gotten to the actual tariff pain. Even reversals at this point aren’t going to be enough. Ports are starting to empty, soon followed by shelves.

This is a shock wave that is about to hit.

What Trump is attempting to do to universities and colleges is nothing short of a (91) hostile government takeover of higher education. He basically told Harvard that he (and his Nazi goons) would be in charge of admissions, hiring and firing of professors, and speech on campus.

Harvard fought back and many other colleges are banding together to fight this almost comical takeover — but the regime is cancelling an untold number of grants and partnership — primarily in scientific fields.

MAGA may get all hot and bothered that Trump is going after radical, leftist colleges — supposedly liberal institutions have been a target for decades. Because the tax-free indoctrination centers once known as churches isn’t enough. But, what these dummies don’t understand is that they’re shooting themselves in the foot.

Take the University of Alabama. It’s the largest employer in the state. And it’s not just woke professors and maintenance crews who will lose jobs.

Colleges and universities are an economic engine in states. There are countless private/public partnerships driving innovation on countless fronts. (92) Cancelling federal grants and (93) denying foreign student visas will not only create a brain drain in America, but will drain our economy — both in the short-term and the long-term since many of those brightest and best students traditionally go on the become US citizens and start companies here.

Our higher education system has long been the envy of the world. If we lose that we’ll feel the effects for decades.

Of course, the (94) Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was going to be killed.

Literally billions of dollars to millions of Americans with a department that basically tried to stop normal folks from getting screwed — fees, jacked rates, predatory lending — you name it. Quite possibly the best thing that has happened in government in 30 years — killed.

And ONLY killed by the powers that want to keep screwing normal people.

I would put the USAID in this category.

Back in the 90s, before things got too bad, I remember a poll. Folks thought that foreign aid was 20% of the budget and thought it should be 10%. It was actually 1%.

And that has never changed.

(95) Killing USAID is killing people. It’s also killing farmers in America. We produce more food than we can eat — tariffs and eliminating these programs directly hurts US farmers. It’s also the death of American soft power — a capitulation to China.

Which brings us to…

What can you say? Our foreign policy is dictated by Russia, and in line with every other authoritarian dictatorship in the world.

We have (96) lost the absolute pre-eminence of America as a force for Democracy. Our Allies don’t trust us and (97) the world mocks us. Democracies feel that this guy is either a useful idiot for Putin or a man who wants to be a full-fledged dictator. It’s probably some combination of both.

Can you think of any legitimate reason to (98) eliminate the cybersecurity group that countered Russian (and others) from interfering in our elections?

Then there’s the (99) Greenland, Panama, and Canada nonsense. On one hand this is the embarrassing, crazy mutterings of a babbling idiot and likely a distraction. But, we’ve learned that Trump talks himself into his own babbling.

And it has real-time consequences — even if it’s just (100) untold billions in lost tourism dollars.

And thanks for delivering an overwhelming Liberal victory in Canada, Donny.

That’s going to be your 2026.

There’s so much up in the air with lawsuits that it’s hard to determine what cuts will become a reality. And the regime has been forced to reverse a number of them. At least for now. But, the budget looms and what has been reported is nothing short of a war on the most vulnerable in our society.

There’s reporting that both (101) Meals on Wheels and (102) Head Start will be completely eliminated. Giant (103) cuts to Medicare are in the works. The (104) VA has already been hit with DOGE staffing cuts, and there are likely more to come. The (105) Post Office is primed to be privatized — a long-time goal of conservatives which will hit rural, Trump voters the hardest.

And then there’s things like (106) eliminating the suicide hotline for LGTBQ youth has received 1.3 million calls, texts, or chats since 2022. And I didn’t even touch the (107) anti-DEI initiatives across the government — a waste of time and money that is also a Trojan horse whitewash anything in history that makes MAGA uncomfortable.

THE LAST WORD

As soon as this newsletter goes out I’m going to start kicking myself for missing things large and small. Please feel free to add more stuff in the comments. I plan on cutting this up and expanding on some of the categories.

Know that I’m not even touching Trump’s non-stop lies or those of his mouthpieces. We’re literally to the point that it would be easier to call out anything truthful. It’s almost all lies.

Needless to say, this is a crisis unlike any our country has faced. It is akin to the Civil War — but in a way, even worse. Our Democracy is being attacked from within, it’s that simple.

And things are going to get worse.

But, the good news is that WE are the majority in this country — and as things get worse, more and more people are going to see the reality that a small and radical minority are trying to destroy our country as we know it.

We WILL win.