The Donald Trump Score Card

Pell grants are critical for college students who need assistance to pay for tuition.
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Trump orders a plan to dismantle the Education Department while keeping some core functions

excerpt:

"It offers no detail on how that work will be carried out or where it will be targeted, though the White House said the agency will retain certain critical functions.

Trump said his administration will close the department beyond its “core necessities,” preserving its responsibilities for Title I funding for low-income schools, Pell grants and money for children with disabilities."

 

She hoped Trump would revive her farm. Now she worries his policies could bankrupt it.
By Shannon Pettypiece
March 21, 2025

She hoped Trump would revive her farm. Now she worries his policies could bankrupt it.

excerpt:

But now, funding for that program appears to be frozen. Farmers like Carlson have been unable to get reimbursed for expenses they’ve already incurred under the grant, and there has been no official guidance from the USDA on whether they will get reimbursed for future expenses, said Michael Marsh, head of the National Council of Agricultural Employers, a trade group that works with the many farmers using the H-2A visa program.

“It’s kind of like have the rug pulled out from underneath you,” Marsh said.

That’s left farmers having to borrow money while they wait to be reimbursed for expenses they've already paid for under the grant. And it means they are uncertain on whether to move forward with taking on the additional cost of hiring workers from overseas, Marsh said.

 

They'll need to wait through what Trump calls the 'transition period' when the situation is difficult in order to reach the promised land.

 

Trump is threatening law firms with stripping their security clearances and not permitting them to work with the federal government as a way of coercing them to end diversity programs and cough up money to him.


Legal community shaken by a powerful law firm's decision to give in to Trump's demands

excerpt:

"Cohen said she didn’t want to be in this position and wishes she weren’t. She believes “a coup” is happening in America right now. She wishes the most powerful attorneys in the country had immediately banded together and decided to send a clear message that Trump’s actions were unacceptable.

“We are in this moment where the president is testing what he can get away with and whether the structures that we have in this country that are supposed to prevent us from having a dictator will hold,” she said. “We are not the first or the biggest line of defense. The big law firms are not going to save us, but we are a brick in a wall, and we’re pretty close to the bottom.”

Cohen’s message highlighted conversations that are happening behind the scenes at law firms and within the Justice Department in the chaotic two months since Trump took office.

Trump has directly targeted corporate law firms by issuing executive orders that either strip lawyers of security clearance or prevent them from working with the federal government."

 

They've already given Trump a second chance. Some are willing to give him a third and fourth.

 

She said the price of cherries, her main crop, went up during Trump's first term.

She may think that's good for business but it's not good for consumers. It's also not necessarily good for the farm if demand for cherries drops because of the higher cost.

Retaliatory tariffs caused by Trump can also create a glut on the U.S. market because of lower amounts of exports. That can create depressed prices which consumers like but farmers don't. One U.S. group might benefit at the expense of numerous others who suffer. Bush Jr. discovered this with his import tariffs on metals.

Trump's policies create uncertainty which in general doesn't bode well for most farmers and consumers. The lady who owns the farm in Michigan is experiencing those problems now. She has to borrow money because she doesn't know if she will obtain the grants through federal agencies into which Trump has thrown wrenches into the gearbox to satisfy his need to retaliate against groups he doesn't like.

 

IRS expected to lose revenue because of turmoil caused by Trump.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/03/22/irs-tax-revenue-loss-federal-budget/

excerpt:

"Senior tax officials are bracing for a sharp drop in revenue collected this spring, as an increasing number of individuals and businesses spurn filing their taxes or attempt to skip paying balances owed to the Internal Revenue Service, according to three people with knowledge of tax projections.

Treasury Department and IRS officials are predicting a decrease of more than 10 percent in tax receipts by the April 15 deadline compared with 2024, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share nonpublic data. That would amount to more than $500 billion in lost federal revenue; the IRS collected $5.1 trillion last year. For context, the U.S. government spent $825 billion on the Defense Department in fiscal 2024."

 

Legal community shaken by a powerful law firm's decision to give in to Trump's demands

excerpt:

"WASHINGTON — On Thursday, the powerful law firm Paul Weiss caved.

It agreed to give Donald Trump’s administration $40 million in free legal work for causes the president supports and, according to a social media post from Trump, get rid of any internal diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

In response, Trump rescinded his executive order that targeted the firm and could have cost it significant business.

The agreement shocked many in the legal community, and for Rachel Cohen, an associate at another large firm — Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP — it was the final straw."

 

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/18/trump-deportation-plans-concerns-00234545

excerpt:

"A Washington Post-Ipsos poll last month found overwhelming support for deporting undocumented immigrants who have committed violent crimes, with a solid majority of Americans also backing the removal of those who have been accused of committing nonviolent offenses. But there’s a downturn in support when Americans are asked about deporting immigrants who have only broken immigration laws, those who have lived in the United States for more than a decade, and immigrants who arrived as children or are parents of children who are U.S. citizens."

 

Trump takes credit for perceived 'huge' egg price drop

A couple weeks ago he was blaming Biden for egg prices.


White House touts dips in egg, gas prices as win for Trump's economic policy

"The average wholesale price of eggs recorded another huge drop today as the Trump Administration fulfills its plan for long-term affordability by reversing the previous administration’s flawed approach," the statement said.

 

The GOP laughed in approval when Trump said he wanted to take over Greenland in one way or another during his speech to Congress in March 2025..

Republicans in Congress applaud Trump as a dictator.

During the 1990's he was fighting with the city officials of Palm Beach over an oversize flag at Mar-a-Lago that he wanted that violated city ordinance. He was using the oversized flag issue to paint city officials as un-American to try to coerce them to obtain other items he wanted.

Now he's wants Greenland, Canada, Panama, Gaza, and the minerals of Ukraine.

His general behavior hasn't changed over the decades. It's magnified now that he's president again.

 

GOP grapples with mounting frusration over DOGE cuts.


https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5208310-republican-voter-frustration-doge-cuts/

 

Musk PAC offers $100 to Wisconsin voters who sign petition against 'activist judges'

excerpt:

"Elon Musk’s political action committee is offering Wisconsin voters $100 who sign a petition opposing "activist judges" ahead of the April 1 Wisconsin Supreme Court election, echoing the billionaire’s controversial cash giveaways during President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign."

 

Musk essentially perpetrated a fraud during the 2024 election by making it seem that he was running a sweepstakes contest that would give $1 million to people who registed to vote. The ploy targeted Republicans in critical swing states.

It wasn't a seepstakes. Musk vetted Trump supporters and gave them a million dollars as a gift, supposedly to register to vote.

To the public, it appeared like a chance for anyone to win a million dollars for registering to vote.

 

Trump demands 'full-throated' apology from governor of Maine.


https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/22/donald-trump-trans-athletes-maine-00003871

excerpt:

“While the State of Maine has apologized for their Governor’s strong, but totally incorrect, statement about men playing in women’s sports while at the White House House Governor’s Conference, we have not heard from the Governor herself, and she is the one that matters in such cases,” Trump wrote. “Therefore, we need a full throated apology from the Governor herself, and a statement that she will never make such an unlawful challenge to the Federal Government again, before this case can be settled.”

It was not clear what apology from the state of Maine he was referencing, or what apparent case was being settled. The White House declined to comment on the president’s post or clarify what consequences the governor and her state could face for not apologizing.

 

The U.S. Department Of Agriculture investigated Maine for Trump-perceived violations of Title IX funds.

Trump's tactic is to cut off money to farmers because of schools that are allowing transgender people to compete in women's sports, which he perceives as a violation of Title IX funds.


https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/22/donald-trump-trans-athletes-maine-00003871

excerpt:

"One of the Trump administration’s investigations into Maine, led by the Department of Agriculture into the state’s university system, resulted in a temporary pause in USDA funding for Maine’s school system. The pause, announced March 10, would have affected programs directly benefiting Maine’s farmers and foresters funded by the millions of dollars provided through the USDA to the state’s land grant university."

 

GOP members in Congress can boast to their constituents about cuts for SNAP funding that constituents need.

It's either that or disagreeing with Trump who will primary them out of existence.


https://www.politico.com/newsletter...5/02/24/the-future-of-gops-snap-cuts-00205663

excerpt:

"President Donald Trump has already thrown his support behind the House’s plan, which would require the House Ag Committee to find $230 billion in spending cuts. That would mean substantial reductions to spending related to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program."

 

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/23/politics/trump-campaign-pledges-rewards/index.html

excerpt:

"Trump’s return to power was achieved in part through an unorthodox coalition-building strategy. He courted groups who might’ve been overlooked by Republican candidates, like Bitcoin enthusiasts, making direct appeals with policy promises tailored to specific audiences.

For those who played along, the rewards have come swiftly.

The Lumbee Tribe in North Carolina, for instance, had reliably voted Democratic in presidential elections for decades. But an eight-year pursuit by Trump for the battleground state’s predominant native group – culminating with his promise last fall to grant the tribe much-coveted federal recognition – appeared to resonate at the ballot box. In Lumbee-rich Robeson County, where Barack Obama twice won handily, Trump secured a 28-point victory, his largest margin across three races."

 

Chairman of law firm targeted by Trump says it could have been destroyed if it hadn't conceded to Trump.

Pomerantz is a former member of the firm that investigated Trump's finances in Manhattan.


Law firm targeted by Trump could have been 'destroyed,' chairman says in explaining deal with Trump

 

Don't panic--just 4 more years of this-----