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"textContent": "This is a record of the first sixteen months of Donald Trump’s second term, from the inauguration on 20 January 2025 through early June 2026. I assembled this post because I realized that my Taiwanese friends, even those who follow international news closely, were only getting a small glimpse of the larger picture. My goal was to assemble the post first in English and then use AI to translate it into Chinese. You can find the Chinese version of this post here.\n\nThe post is grouped into five areas.\n\n * Foreign policy and war\n * Immigration and ethnonationalism\n * Democracy and the rule of law\n * Science, health, and (mis)information\n * Education, culture, and civil rights\n\n\n\nEven with such a comprehensive overview, a lot has been left out, but I hope that this will help give my Taiwanese friends a better sense of the depth of the crisis facing America under Trump.\n\nThe source material is the Trump Action Tracker, a continuously updated, crowd-sourced log of the administration’s actions. Over this period it recorded 3,308 distinct actions, each dated and linked to news coverage. I then had an AI assistant scored each action for severity, group related actions into larger campaigns, and then work with me to group these campaigns into five larger threads.\n\nBecause this is largely compiled and written by AI, there are likely more than a few mistakes, but every story is linked to the original source material in the footnotes. If you catch any factual errors, please report them to me and I will update the article.\n\n## 1. Foreign policy and war\n\nIn his first weeks in office, Trump began withdrawing the United States from international institutions. On 20 January 2025 he signed orders leaving the World Health Organization and the Paris climate accord. He sanctioned the International Criminal Court on 6 February 2025, withdrew from UNESCO in July, and by January 2026 had begun pulling the United States out of 66 international organizations.1\n\nOver the same period he made repeated threats against the territory of allied nations. He said he intended to acquire Greenland from Denmark and would not rule out using military force; he threatened to retake the Panama Canal; he called for annexing Canada as the 51st state; and he proposed removing the 1.8 million Palestinians from Gaza so that the United States could take ownership of it.2\n\nOn Russia and Ukraine, the administration reversed existing US policy. On 12 February 2025 Trump stated that Ukraine had started the war. The administration paused intelligence-sharing with Ukraine in March, blocked Ukrainian long-range strikes into Russia in August, and in September moved to end programs that protected European allies from Russia. In November 2025 it proposed a settlement, developed with Moscow, that ceded Ukrainian territory without Ukraine’s participation.3\n\nThe administration also supported far-right and authoritarian movements abroad. Vice President Vance endorsed Germany’s far-right AfD at the Munich Security Conference in February 2025, and in May Rubio attacked the German government for designating the party extremist. Separately, the administration cut aid to South Africa in February 2025, and in May Trump confronted South African President Ramaphosa in the Oval Office with a doctored video that he presented as evidence of a “white genocide” of Afrikaners. A December 2025 national security strategy called for US alignment with far-right parties in Europe.4\n\nBeginning in August 2025, the administration used military force against vessels it described as drug-trafficking boats. Trump directed the Pentagon to treat drug cartels as military targets on 8 August, and the first strike, on 2 September, killed 11 people. The campaign grew to at least 58 strikes and more than 190 deaths, many of the dead with no demonstrated connection to drug trafficking, and was carried out under an order to kill survivors of the initial strikes. These operations were part of a pressure campaign against Venezuela: US forces seized a Venezuelan oil tanker in December 2025, captured President Maduro in early January 2026, and Trump stated that the United States would govern Venezuela and control its oil.5\n\nIn February 2026 the administration imposed a naval blockade on Cuba, the first since 1962, cutting off the country’s oil imports. By May its reserves had run dry and it was experiencing nationwide blackouts.6\n\nThe United States struck three Iranian nuclear sites in June 2025. Full-scale war with Iran began at the end of February 2026, after the Venezuela operation. In March a US submarine sank an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka, killing more than 80 people. Trump stated that “a whole civilization will die,” and in April he ordered a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Congress did not authorize the war.7\n\n## 2. Immigration and ethnonationalism\n\nOn 24 January 2025, Acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamin Huffman signed a memo revoking the protected status of 1.4 million immigrants who had been admitted under Biden-era programs. On 17 March 2025, the administration flew 238 people — accused without individual hearings of being Tren de Aragua members — to El Salvador’s CECOT prison, defying a court order blocking use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. By May 2025, the administration was considering suspending habeas corpus for immigrants, claiming an “invasion.” Kilmar Abrego Garcia, wrongfully deported to CECOT, remained there in April 2025 despite a Supreme Court order to facilitate his return, with El Salvador refusing to comply. By February 2026, courts had ruled more than 4,400 times that ICE had jailed people illegally, and the administration continued the practice. By March 2026 the government announced plans to convert warehouses into an immigrant detention network holding more than 92,000 people.8\n\nThe administration also moved systematically to coerce state and local governments. In June 2025, the Department of Transportation said it would withhold infrastructure funds from states not complying with ICE raids. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested in May 2025 while protesting at a federal detention facility. In January 2026 Trump announced he would deny federal funding to any state hosting sanctuary jurisdictions starting 1 February. In April 2026 the DOJ sued Connecticut and the city of New Haven over sanctuary policies. In May 2026, DHS confirmed plans to halt customs and immigration processing at airports in sanctuary cities.9\n\nIn January 2026, federal agents shot and killed two people in Minneapolis — Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both US citizens — during immigration operations. Video released on 24 January 2026 showed Pretti holding a phone, not a gun, contradicting federal accounts. The DOJ issued subpoenas for Governor Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Frey on 16 January 2026 as part of an investigation, and Attorney General Bondi demanded Minnesota’s voter rolls and medical records, with the implicit condition of removing federal enforcers. In February 2026, the FBI formally refused to share any information about the Pretti shooting with Minnesota state authorities. A federal judge in Minneapolis stated in January 2026 that ICE was ignoring dozens of court orders. By late January 2026, at least eight people had been killed by federal agents or died in ICE custody since the start of the year. Separately, on 8 September 2025 the Supreme Court lifted restrictions on aggressive immigration raids in Los Angeles, permitting targeting based on race or neighborhood; in October 2025 the Pentagon ordered National Guard units to form “quick reaction forces” for crowd control; and in August 2025 Trump placed the Washington DC Metropolitan Police under direct federal control and deployed the National Guard, with more than 2,500 troops still in the capital in April 2026, eight months into a declared “crime emergency.”10\n\nOn 20 January 2025, Trump signed an executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship by reinterpreting the 14th Amendment, which courts blocked and the administration appealed to the Supreme Court in September 2025. In June 2025, the Supreme Court limited the power of federal judges to issue nationwide blocks on Trump’s orders, allowing the birthright citizenship order to take partial effect. In January 2026 Trump stated the administration was examining criteria for stripping citizenship from naturalized citizens, and the government was auditing the citizenship cases of Somali Americans for potential denaturalization. In August 2025 Trump demanded a new census that would exclude undocumented immigrants to reduce House apportionment in Democratic-leaning states, a move courts had previously rejected as unconstitutional.11\n\nOn 28 November 2025, the Department of Homeland Security posted on X calling for “remigration,” a term used by white nationalist groups as coded language for expelling non-white people from Western countries. In February 2026, Trump admitted a group of white Afrikaner refugees from South Africa under an expedited program while refugee admissions for other nationalities remained largely suspended. Jeremy Carl, Trump’s nominee for a senior State Department post, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in February 2026 that a decline in white cultural dominance was a threat to America. DHS hired a social media manager in February 2026 whose history of racist posts had led to termination from the Department of Labor. In July 2025 the Senate confirmed Joe Kent, a conspiracy theorist with far-right ties, as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center.12\n\n## 3. Democracy and the rule of law\n\nOn 4 February 2025, Trump fired the prosecutors who had worked on criminal cases against him, including those from the Jack Smith special counsel team. On 20 January 2025, he revoked the security clearances of 51 former intelligence officials and stripped security details from former officials including Anthony Fauci, Mike Pompeo, and John Bolton. In March 2025, executive orders targeting the law firms Perkins Coie and Paul Weiss restricted their access to federal buildings and suspended their security clearances; orders against Jenner & Block and Susman Godfrey followed; and to avoid similar treatment, five more firms agreed in April 2025 to perform $600 million in pro bono work for Trump-backed causes. On 25 September 2025, former FBI director James Comey was indicted for making a false statement to Congress. In January 2026, Trump sued JPMorgan Chase and CEO Jamie Dimon for at least $5 billion over account closures. The DOJ fired two immigration judges in April 2026 who had dismissed deportation cases; Attorney General Pam Bondi was ousted the same month, in part because Trump wanted more aggressive prosecution of his perceived enemies; and in May 2026 the DOJ wound down the last of the January 6 investigation and dropped the bribery case against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani. The administration also used federal funding as retaliation against Democratic states: it denied disaster relief to Maryland, Vermont, and Illinois in October 2025, admitted in a December 2025 court filing to targeting blue states for energy-grant cuts, and from January to May 2026 suspended or sought to terminate Medicaid, SNAP, and CDC grants to California, Minnesota, and other Democratic-led states, with Vice President Vance named to lead a “fraud” crackdown in April 2026.13\n\nThe administration moved to entrench Republican electoral advantages and restrict voting. On 25 March 2025, Trump signed an executive order overhauling election administration and seeking to halt the election-security programs of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which were halted on 31 March 2025. In August 2025 he vowed to eliminate mail-in ballots and mandate voter ID by executive order despite lacking the constitutional authority to do either, and on 31 March 2026 he signed an order imposing new mail-in voting restrictions and voter-ID requirements. The DOJ began demanding voter rolls from states in late 2025, suing Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Nevada in December 2025, Virginia in January 2026, and five more states in February 2026, while acknowledging in March 2026 that it planned to share the data with the Department of Homeland Security for immigration enforcement. On 29 April 2026, the Supreme Court struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act in a 6–3 ruling and allowed the decision to take effect ahead of schedule on 4 May 2026. A wave of Republican-led redistricting advanced alongside it: the Supreme Court reinstated a redrawn Texas map on 27 April 2026, and Alabama, Missouri, Virginia, Tennessee, and Louisiana advanced or enacted Republican-drawn maps through late May 2026, with Louisiana eliminating a majority-Black seat. By late May 2026, Trump had repeated the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen at least 107 times in the preceding six months, and his election-security office had sought to ban voting machines used in more than half of US states.14\n\nThe administration moved to arrest, coerce, and bypass the federal judiciary. On 20 January 2025, Trump instructed the attorney general not to enforce a TikTok ban that Congress had passed and the Supreme Court had upheld. Federal authorities arrested two judges in April 2025, including Wisconsin circuit court judge Hannah Dugan, accusing each of interfering with immigration enforcement. In June 2025, a DOJ official testified that superiors had discussed violating court orders, and the administration sued all 15 federal judges in Maryland’s district over an order blocking deportations. By July 2025, Trump officials were defying roughly one in three major court orders entered against the administration, while the Supreme Court had lifted 77 percent of lower-court injunctions against administration policies through emergency orders. When the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s global tariffs in February 2026, he denounced the justices, including those he had appointed, and refused to refund the tariffs the Court had ruled illegal. By May 2026, an Associated Press review found courts were routinely ruling against the administration while compliance remained sporadic.15\n\nTrump moved to bring independent federal agencies under direct presidential control beginning in February 2025. On 18 February 2025, an executive order required all independent agencies to submit regulations for White House review, and a further order on 22 February brought the SEC, FTC, and FEC under presidential supervision. The Supreme Court allowed the firing of Democratic members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission in July 2025 and of FTC commissioner Rebecca Slaughter in September 2025, and a federal appeals court ruled in December 2025 that Trump could remove Democrats from two federal labor boards. The administration also moved against the Federal Reserve: Trump wrote a letter firing Fed governor Lisa Cook in August 2025; the DOJ opened a criminal investigation into Fed chair Jerome Powell over a building renovation in January 2026; prosecutors made a surprise visit to the Federal Reserve in April 2026; and Trump threatened to fire Powell if he did not step aside at the end of his term. The administration used a government shutdown beginning in October 2025 as a selective tool, halting or canceling nearly $28 billion in grants to Democratic districts, laying off thousands of federal workers, and cutting off SNAP food aid to 42 million Americans.16\n\nBetween February and March 2025, DOGE-directed layoffs began across the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, the CDC, the FDA, and other agencies. By September 2025, more than 100,000 federal workers were set to formally separate; by January 2026, the civilian federal workforce had shrunk by 12 percent compared to September 2024, a loss of roughly 386,826 workers. The administration illegally withheld at least $410 billion in congressionally appropriated funds by September 2025. On 20 January 2025, an executive order reinstated Schedule F, stripping civil service protections from policy-influencing positions; by February 2026 the administration had finalized a policy stripping protections from up to 50,000 more workers. On 25 January 2025, Trump fired inspectors general across multiple agencies in violation of a 2022 notice law; by March 2026, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was blocking at least 11 inspector general investigations of her own department. Collective bargaining was terminated for TSA officers in December 2025 and for IRS and Treasury workers in February 2026, following a broader August 2025 order ending it at agencies with claimed national security missions.17\n\nThe military and intelligence services were purged in parallel. NSA chief General Timothy Haugh and National Security Council staff were fired in April 2025; by November 2025, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was removing generals and admirals at an unprecedented pace, and pushed out Army Chief of Staff General Randy George in April 2026. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard fired the two top officials of the National Intelligence Council in May 2025 and ousted the CIA’s Russia expert in August 2025. The State Department issued termination notices to 1,350 diplomats in July 2025. FBI Director Kash Patel fired agents who had worked on Trump investigations, including ten connected to the Mar-a-Lago documents case in February 2026 and a dozen counterintelligence agents in March 2026, and admitted under oath that month that the FBI was buying Americans’ location data from commercial brokers. Trump unseated Republican dissenters through primary endorsements, defeating Representative Thomas Massie and Senator Bill Cassidy in May 2026 primaries. On 2 June 2026, Trump named Bill Pulte, who had used his federal housing agency role to press for investigations of the president’s opponents, as acting Director of National Intelligence.18\n\nTrump and his family extracted financial benefit from the presidency throughout the period, making an estimated $4 billion in the first year. The $TRUMP memecoin launched days before the January 2025 inauguration; by October 2025 the family had received more than $800 million from crypto-asset sales in the first half of the year, and an Abu Dhabi sheikh bought a secret $500 million stake in Trump’s World Liberty Financial company in early 2026. In April 2025, access to a dinner with Trump was offered to the 220 largest holders of his memecoin, most of them foreign nationals. The administration dismantled enforcement that constrained the family’s businesses: the Treasury ended enforcement of the beneficial-ownership anti-money-laundering database in March 2025, the DOJ disbanded its crypto enforcement team in April 2025, and Trump pardoned the founder of Binance, who had pleaded guilty to money-laundering violations, in October 2025. Trump personally traded stock in technology companies and defense contractors in early 2026. In October 2025 he demanded $230 million from the DOJ as compensation for prior investigations of him; in May 2026 the DOJ created a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund and granted Trump, his sons, and the Trump Organization immunity from IRS claims in exchange for dropping a related lawsuit. Jared Kushner, serving simultaneously as Trump’s Middle East envoy, sought to raise $5 billion or more from foreign governments for his private equity firm. Construction of a private ballroom on the site of the demolished White House East Wing relied on donated foreign steel, and Senate Republicans proposed $1 billion in taxpayer funding for it in May 2026.19\n\nThe administration’s tariffs functioned as a tool of coercion. Beginning on 1 February 2025, Trump imposed tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China, followed by 25 percent auto tariffs in March, a global “reciprocal” tariff regime in April, tariffs on 68 countries and the EU in August, and additional 100 percent tariffs on China in October. When the Supreme Court ruled the global tariffs illegal in February 2026, Trump claimed an “absolute right” to impose new ones through other means. Trump also used the pardon power for political and personal allies. On 21 January 2025 he issued a blanket pardon and commutations for all January 6 defendants, including those convicted of violent offenses. In November 2025 he pardoned Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, and former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada; in December he pardoned election-denier Tina Peters; and in early 2026 the DOJ asked a federal appeals court to overturn the convictions of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers members. By March 2026, Trump had pardoned more than 70 allies and donors convicted in fraud cases, and the DOJ had paid more than $8.5 million to settle legal claims from Trump allies.20\n\n## 4. Science, health, and (mis)information\n\nOn 9 June 2025, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all 17 members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel. On 5 December 2025 a reconstituted panel voted to stop recommending the hepatitis B vaccine at birth. On 12 December 2025 the FDA added its most serious black-box warning to COVID-19 vaccines. On 5 January 2026 federal health officials reduced the recommended childhood vaccine schedule. In March 2026, internal HHS memos made public showed that hundreds of studies on COVID vaccine benefits and safety had been suppressed, and on 9 April 2026 the CDC’s acting director blocked publication of a vaccine-efficacy report. On 30 May 2026 an executive order instructed the CDC to reformulate its childhood vaccine program.21\n\nCuts to federal research institutions ran parallel. By April 2025, entire CDC research teams covering injuries and children’s health had been terminated, and Trump’s proposed 2026 budget called for a 40 percent cut to the NIH. In May 2025 the administration proposed cutting NSF funding by 55 percent and abolishing all 37 of its divisions. On 16 June 2025 the NIH shut down a network of 10 centers for research on emerging infectious diseases, and on 18 July 2025 the EPA announced it would dismantle its scientific research arm. By October 2025 a quarter of the CDC workforce had been fired or had resigned. In January 2026 the Department of Energy rewrote nuclear-safety directives and shared them only with the companies it regulates, and in February 2026 exempted new experimental reactors from environmental review. In May 2026 the White House proposed giving political appointees final approval over research grants.22\n\nOn 4 March 2025, roughly half of NOAA’s staff were slated for layoffs. On 12 March 2025 the EPA canceled $20 billion in climate and clean-energy grants, a cancellation courts found illegal, and on 28 April 2025 the administration fired all authors of the congressionally required National Climate Assessment. On 12 September 2025 the EPA halted collection of emissions data from coal plants, oil refineries, and steel mills. On 7 January 2026 Trump announced withdrawal from the UN climate treaty, and on 12 February 2026 the EPA rescinded the 2009 endangerment finding, the legal basis for all federal greenhouse-gas regulation. On 31 March 2026 a federal panel voted to exempt Gulf of Mexico oil and gas drillers from endangered-species protections.23\n\nOn 20 January 2025, an executive order barred the government from labeling speech as misinformation and closed federal disinformation-monitoring programs; the State Department shut its Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference hub in April 2025. That same month the administration defied a court order and blocked Associated Press journalists from White House events, and all three major wire services lost permanent press-pool access. In April 2025 the executive producer of CBS’s 60 Minutes resigned, citing the Trump lawsuit against the program. Beginning in August 2025, Trump fired the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner, nominated a Heritage Foundation economist to replace her, and promoted alternative employment figures; the BLS then postponed a key inflation report without explanation. On 5 January 2026 the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was dissolved after 58 years; on 14 January 2026 FBI agents searched the home of a Washington Post reporter in a leak investigation; on 15 January 2026 the Pentagon announced it would bring Stars and Stripes under official editorial control; and on 1 June 2026 the Pentagon barred journalists from its press office.24\n\nThe killing of Charlie Kirk in late 2025 became the basis for an investigative campaign against Democratic legislators. Beginning in late November 2025, the FBI requested interviews with Democratic members of Congress who had circulated a video warning military personnel about illegal orders, and the Pentagon opened a formal investigation into Senator Mark Kelly on 24 November 2025. By January 2026, Senator Elissa Slotkin and Representatives Jason Crow, Maggie Goodlander, and Chrissy Houlahan reported being under federal investigation over the video, and the FBI opened a criminal investigation into Signal group chats used by Minneapolis protesters. By May 2026 the administration had altered or removed decades of publicly available government datasets, and the Republican Party was using AI deepfakes in midterm campaign advertising.25\n\nOn 20 January 2025, a stop-work order froze all foreign aid grants and contracts, halting PEPFAR and dozens of other programs. The proposed 2026 budget, released in June 2025, eliminated funding for global polio and measles immunization and other lifesaving programs. In August 2025 the White House moved to cut $4.9 billion in foreign aid over congressional objection, and in September 2025 the Supreme Court allowed the freeze to remain in place during litigation. On 10 June 2025, USAID was ordered to eliminate all overseas employees by the end of the fiscal year. In early 2026 the administration conditioned health aid to Zambia on mining concessions and considered withholding HIV-treatment funding from the country as leverage for mineral rights.26\n\n## 5. Education, culture, and civil rights\n\nOn 29 January 2025, Trump signed an executive order requiring K-12 schools to recognize only two sexes and to adopt the 1776 Commission curriculum. On 18 April 2025, the NIH froze grants to Harvard, Brown, Northwestern, Cornell, and Weill Cornell Medical School. On 6 May 2025, Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced Harvard would no longer receive federal research grants, and eight agencies cut an additional $450 million in Harvard grants on 13 May. On 23 May 2025, DHS revoked Harvard’s ability to enroll foreign students. On 24 July 2025, Columbia agreed to pay $200 million to settle accusations it had failed to protect Jewish students, while the White House sought fines from other universities. On 9 May 2025, Trump fired Carla Hayden, the first woman and first African American to serve as Librarian of Congress. The National Endowment for the Humanities canceled grants on 3 April 2025, and the Institute for Museum and Library Services lost its funding the same day. On 29 September 2025, HHS sought to make Harvard permanently ineligible for federal funding, and by 11 November 2025 one-third of US museums had lost federal funding.27\n\nThe administration also reviewed and altered public history. A task force chaired by Stephen Miller was established on 27 March 2025 to enforce ideological alignment in Washington institutions. On 12 August 2025, the White House announced a review of Smithsonian exhibitions for “tone, historical framing and alignment with American values,” and on 16 September 2025 the Interior Department placed all national-park interpretive signage under review. On 22 January 2026 the National Park Service removed an exhibit on slavery at Independence National Historical Park, and on 27 January 2026 parks were told to remove signs about the mistreatment of Native Americans and about climate change. On 30 January 2026 the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery removed wall text referring to Trump’s two impeachments. Florida school districts removed hundreds of titles beginning in August 2025, and in March 2026 the administration installed a Christopher Columbus statue at the White House and reinstated, in Washington, a statue of Caesar Rodney, who had enslaved more than 200 people. The Kennedy Center halted all entertainment events for a two-year renovation beginning February 2026.28\n\nOn 20 January 2025, Trump signed executive orders ending DEI programs across the federal government. An order on 23 April 2025 directed agencies to stop using disparate-impact liability, a primary tool for proving discrimination, and on 26 March 2026 he extended the prohibition to federal contractors. On 2 May 2025, the DOJ ended a school-desegregation order in Louisiana; on 21 May 2025 it canceled police-reform consent decrees in Minneapolis and Louisville, and by 25 July 2025 such decrees had ended in more than 20 cities. On 11 September 2025, the Department of Education revoked Minority-Serving Institution funding. The DOJ halted civil-rights litigation on behalf of prisoners and the mentally ill in July 2025, and by December 2025 more than 200 former DOJ employees had publicly criticized the dismantling of its Civil Rights Division. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ended certain civil-rights-era anti-discrimination requirements for lenders on 21 April 2026. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cleared all women from the military’s top leadership by July 2025, dissolved the Women’s Advisory Committee in September 2025, and blocked the promotion of Army and Navy officers, a majority of them women, in early 2026.29\n\nOn 20 January 2025, Trump signed an executive order recognizing only two immutable biological sexes and directing its enforcement in prisons, sports, and federal spaces; a further order on 27 January declared that the government would not recognize gender identity, and an order on 28 January directed agencies to rescind policies supporting gender-affirming care for minors. The Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors on 19 June 2025 and allowed enforcement of a passport policy blocking transgender people from choosing gender markers on 6 November 2025. On 18 December 2025, a final rule prohibited hospitals receiving federal Medicaid funds from providing gender-affirming care to minors. A DOJ memo on 5 December 2025 removed prison obligations to protect LGBTQ people from sexual abuse, and on 10 February 2026 the administration removed the pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument.30\n\nOn 24 January 2025, Trump revoked two Biden executive orders that had protected abortion access and clinic safety. On 3 June 2025, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rescinded guidance informing hospitals of their emergency-abortion obligations under federal law. On 26 June 2025, the Supreme Court paved the way to defund Planned Parenthood from Medicaid, and a court allowed the administration to end that funding on 11 September 2025. On 29 August 2025, a new rule banned Department of Veterans Affairs doctors from performing abortions, including in cases of rape or incest, codified by the DOJ on 23 December 2025. RFK Jr. ordered an FDA review of mifepristone on 14 May 2025; on 11 March 2026 Senator Josh Hawley introduced legislation to revoke the drug’s FDA approval; and on 19 March 2026 HHS announced investigations into 13 states for “coercing” health-care providers to perform abortions.31\n\n## Notes\n\n* * *\n\n 1. **Withdrawing from international institutions.** WHO and Paris accord withdrawals signed, 20 Jan 2025 (NBC); sanctions on the International Criminal Court, 6 Feb 2025 (BBC), later escalated to terrorist-grade sanctions on ICC staff, 6 Feb 2026 (Reuters); withdrawal from UNESCO, 22 Jul 2025 (Guardian); withdrawal from 66 international organizations, 7 Jan 2026 (ABC).↩︎\n\n 2. **Territorial threats against allies.** Greenland: Trump states he intends to take it from Denmark, 24 Jan 2025 (FT), and will not rule out military force, 4 May 2025 (CBS). Panama Canal: threat to retake it, 2 Feb 2025 (CNN). Canada as the 51st state, 9 Feb 2025 (ITV). Gaza: proposal to relocate its 1.8 million Palestinians and take ownership, 26 Jan 2025 (NPR).↩︎\n\n 3. **Russia and Ukraine.** Trump states Ukraine started the war, 12 Feb 2025 (The Hill); intelligence-sharing with Ukraine paused, 5 Mar 2025 (BBC); Pentagon blocks Ukrainian long-range strikes into Russia, 23 Aug 2025 (Guardian); administration moves to end programs protecting European allies from Russia, 4 Sep 2025 (New York Times); settlement ceding Ukrainian territory, developed with Moscow without Kyiv, 21 Nov 2025 (Guardian).↩︎\n\n 4. **Support for far-right and authoritarian movements.** Vance endorses the AfD at the Munich Security Conference, 14 Feb 2025 (Guardian); executive order ending aid to South Africa, 7 Feb 2025 (NBC); Rubio attacks Germany for designating the AfD extremist, 2 May 2025 (statement); Trump confronts President Ramaphosa with a doctored “white genocide” video, 21 May 2025 (BBC); national-security strategy calling for alignment with European far-right parties, 6 Dec 2025 (New York Times).↩︎\n\n 5. **Boat strikes and the Venezuela campaign.** Trump orders the military to treat drug cartels as targets, 8 Aug 2025 (New York Times); first strike kills 11, 2 Sep 2025 (New York Times); order to kill survivors of initial strikes, 28 Nov 2025 (Washington Post); a second strike on survivors clinging to wreckage, 5 Dec 2025 (The Intercept); 13 victims named, most with no proven drug ties, 15 May 2026 (Guardian). US seizes a Venezuelan oil tanker, 10 Dec 2025 (Guardian); Maduro captured, 3 Jan 2026 (Guardian); Trump states the US will govern Venezuela and control its oil, 3 Jan 2026 (The Hill).↩︎\n\n 6. **Cuba blockade.** First effective US blockade since 1962, 20 Feb 2026 (New York Times); oil reserves run dry, nationwide blackouts, 14 May 2026 (New York Times).↩︎\n\n 7. **Iran.** US strikes three Iranian nuclear sites, 21 Jun 2025 (AP); full-scale combat operations against Tehran begin, 28 Feb 2026 (Guardian); US submarine sinks an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka, killing 80+, 4 Mar 2026 (Guardian); “a whole civilization will die” statement, 7 Apr 2026 (Politico); Strait of Hormuz blockade ordered, 12 Apr 2026 (CNN).↩︎\n\n 8. **Mass-deportation system and sanctuary coercion.** CBP One revocation memo, 24 Jan 2025 (NPR); Alien Enemies Act deportations despite court order, 17 Mar 2025 (BBC); habeas corpus suspension consideration, 9 May 2025 (The Hill); Abrego Garcia, El Salvador refuses return despite Supreme Court order, 14 Apr 2025 (FT); 4,400 illegal-detention rulings ignored, 14 Feb 2026 (Reuters); 92,000-bed warehouse detention network, 28 Mar 2026 (WSJ); DOT infrastructure funding threat, 16 Jun 2025 (The Independent); Newark mayor arrested, 10 May 2025 (AP); federal funding threat to sanctuary states, 13 Jan 2026 (AP); DOJ sues Connecticut, 14 Apr 2026 (Reuters); DHS airport processing threat, 27 May 2026 (Reuters).↩︎\n\n 9. **Mass-deportation system and sanctuary coercion.** CBP One revocation memo, 24 Jan 2025 (NPR); Alien Enemies Act deportations despite court order, 17 Mar 2025 (BBC); habeas corpus suspension consideration, 9 May 2025 (The Hill); Abrego Garcia, El Salvador refuses return despite Supreme Court order, 14 Apr 2025 (FT); 4,400 illegal-detention rulings ignored, 14 Feb 2026 (Reuters); 92,000-bed warehouse detention network, 28 Mar 2026 (WSJ); DOT infrastructure funding threat, 16 Jun 2025 (The Independent); Newark mayor arrested, 10 May 2025 (AP); federal funding threat to sanctuary states, 13 Jan 2026 (AP); DOJ sues Connecticut, 14 Apr 2026 (Reuters); DHS airport processing threat, 27 May 2026 (Reuters).↩︎\n\n 10. **ICE deadly enforcement and city crackdowns.** SCOTUS lifts LA raid restrictions, 8 Sep 2025 (New York Times); Pentagon quick-reaction force memo, 29 Oct 2025 (Guardian); Trump seizes DC police, deploys National Guard, 11 Aug 2025 (Reuters); at least 8 deaths in ICE custody or by federal agents in 2026, 28 Jan 2026 (Guardian); Pretti video contradicts federal account, 24 Jan 2026 (Reuters); Bondi demands Minnesota voter rolls and medical records, 25 Jan 2026 (Montana Independent); DOJ subpoenas Walz and Frey, 16 Jan 2026 (Washington Post); FBI refuses to share Pretti shooting information with Minnesota, 16 Feb 2026 (The Hill); ICE ignoring court orders, Minneapolis federal judge, 29 Jan 2026 (Reuters); 2,500 troops in DC eight months in, 20 Apr 2026 (The Independent).↩︎\n\n 11. **Birthright citizenship and denaturalization.** 14th Amendment executive order, 20 Jan 2025 (NPR); SCOTUS limits nationwide injunctions, 27 Jun 2025 (Guardian); Trump appeals to Supreme Court to end birthright citizenship, 26 Sep 2025 (CNN); Trump demands census excluding undocumented immigrants, 7 Aug 2025 (New York Times); Somali-American denaturalization audits, 31 Dec 2025 (Reuters); Trump threatens to strip citizenship from naturalized citizens, 9 Jan 2026 (Time).↩︎\n\n 12. **Mainstreaming white nationalism.** DHS posts “remigration” on X, 28 Nov 2025 (X/DHS); union leaders accuse administration of white-supremacist rhetoric, 14 Jan 2026 (Guardian); Jeremy Carl Senate testimony on white cultural decline, 13 Feb 2026 (New York Times); DHS hires social-media manager with racist posting history, 11 Feb 2026 (New York Times); Joe Kent confirmed as National Counterterrorism Center director, 30 Jul 2025 (New York Times).↩︎\n\n 13. **Weaponizing the DOJ against enemies.** DOJ fires Jack Smith prosecutors, 4 Feb 2025 (Guardian); revocation of 51 officials’ security clearances, 20 Jan 2025 (CNN); security details revoked from Fauci, Pompeo, Bolton, 24 Jan 2025 (Independent); EO targeting Perkins Coie, 12 Mar 2025 (FT); EO targeting Paul Weiss, 14 Mar 2025 (Reuters); five law firms agree to $600M pro bono, 11 Apr 2025 (Guardian); Comey indicted, 25 Sep 2025 (Guardian); Trump sues JPMorgan for $5B, 22 Jan 2026 (Guardian); DOJ fires immigration judges, 11 Apr 2026 (New York Times); Bondi ousted, 3 Apr 2026 (Reuters); Adani case dropped, 14 May 2026 (New York Times); Jan 6 investigation wound down, 23 May 2026 (New York\nTimes); disaster relief denied to Democratic states, Oct 2025 (AP); blue-state energy-grant targeting admitted, 17 Dec 2025 (Washington Post); CDC grants clawed back from blue states, 6 Feb 2026 (The Hill); California Medicaid withheld, 13 May 2026 (New York Times).↩︎\n\n 14. **Rigging elections.** EO overhauling election administration, 25 Mar 2025 (AP); CISA election-security programs halted, 31 Mar 2025 (Politico); Trump vows to eliminate mail-in ballots, 18 Aug 2025 (New York Times); voter-ID executive order planned, 31 Aug 2025 (New York Times); DOJ sues four states for voter data, 12 Dec 2025 (Reuters); DOJ sues Virginia, 16 Jan 2026 (The Hill); DOJ sues five more states, 26 Feb 2026 (New York Times); voter data to be shared with DHS, 27 Mar 2026 (NPR); mail-in voting restrictions EO, 31 Mar 2026 (CNN); Supreme Court guts Voting Rights Act, 29 Apr 2026 (New York Times); ruling takes effect early, 4 May 2026 (Reuters); Supreme Court reinstates Texas map, 27 Apr 2026 (Guardian); Louisiana eliminates majority-Black seat, 29 May 2026 (Reuters); election-security office sought to ban voting machines, 22 May 2026 (Reuters); Trump repeated stolen-election claim 107 times, 26 May 2026 (Reuters).↩︎\n\n 15. **Defying and capturing the courts.** EO instructing non-enforcement of TikTok ban, 20 Jan 2025 (NBC); federal judges arrested, 25 Apr 2025 (CNBC); DOJ official testifies superiors discussed violating court orders, 24 Jun 2025 (New York Times); DOJ sues Maryland federal bench, 25 Jun 2025 (New York Times); officials defying one in three major court orders, 21 Jul 2025 (Independent); Supreme Court lifted 77% of lower-court injunctions, 9 Jul 2025 (analysis); Supreme Court strikes down global tariffs, 20 Feb 2026 (Guardian); administration refuses to refund illegal tariffs, 6 Mar 2026 (FT); administration increasingly ignoring courts, 2 May 2026 (Guardian).↩︎\n\n 16. **Seizing independent agencies and the Fed.** EO requiring White House review of independent-agency regulations, 18 Feb 2025 (The Hill); EO placing SEC, FTC, FEC under presidential control, 22 Feb 2025 (FT); Supreme Court allows CPSC firings, 23 Jul 2025 (CNN); Supreme Court allows FTC commissioner firing, 22 Sep 2025 (New York Times); appeals court allows labor-board firings, 5 Dec 2025 (Reuters); Trump fires Fed governor Lisa Cook, 25 Aug 2025 (Guardian); DOJ opens criminal investigation of Powell, 11 Jan 2026 (BBC); prosecutors visit Federal Reserve, 15 Apr 2026 (Reuters); Trump threatens to fire Powell, 15 Apr 2026 (BBC); shutdown halts nearly $28B in grants to Democratic districts, 14 Oct 2025 (New York Times); SNAP aid cut off for 42 million, 4 Nov 2025 (NPR).↩︎\n\n 17. **Gutting and purging the federal state.** Layoffs at CDC, FDA, and other agencies, 17 Feb 2025 (NPR); EO reinstating Schedule F, 20 Jan 2025 (Time); inspectors general fired in violation of law, 25 Jan 2025 (CNN); more than 100,000 workers set to separate, 28 Sep 2025 (Guardian); at least $410B in funds illegally withheld, 26 Sep 2025 (CBPP); civilian workforce shrinks 12%, 386,826 workers lost, 4 Mar 2026 (Reuters); policy stripping protections from up to 50,000 workers, 5 Feb 2026 (New York Times); collective bargaining ended for TSA officers, 12 Dec 2025 (Reuters); IRS/Treasury contract terminated, 28 Feb 2026 (AP); Noem blocking 11 IG investigations, 4 Mar 2026 (The Hill); NSA chief Haugh and NSC staff fired, 4 Apr 2025 (Washington Post); Hegseth purging military leaders, 7 Nov 2025 (New York Times); Hegseth ousts Army chief of staff, 2 Apr 2026 (CBS); Gabbard fires National Intelligence Council leaders, 14 May 2025 (Guardian); Gabbard ousts CIA Russia expert, 28 Aug 2025 (CNN); State Department termination notices to 1,350 diplomats, 11 Jul 2025 (Guardian); FBI fires agents linked to Mar-a-Lago case, 25 Feb 2026 (CBS); Patel fires Iran counterintelligence unit, 3 Mar 2026 (CNN); Patel admits FBI buying location data, 18 Mar 2026 (Guardian); Trump unseats Massie in primary, 19 May 2026 (Guardian); Cassidy loses Louisiana primary, 16 May 2026 (Reuters); Pulte named acting DNI, 2 Jun 2026 (New York\nTimes).↩︎\n\n 18. **Gutting and purging the federal state.** Layoffs at CDC, FDA, and other agencies, 17 Feb 2025 (NPR); EO reinstating Schedule F, 20 Jan 2025 (Time); inspectors general fired in violation of law, 25 Jan 2025 (CNN); more than 100,000 workers set to separate, 28 Sep 2025 (Guardian); at least $410B in funds illegally withheld, 26 Sep 2025 (CBPP); civilian workforce shrinks 12%, 386,826 workers lost, 4 Mar 2026 (Reuters); policy stripping protections from up to 50,000 workers, 5 Feb 2026 (New York Times); collective bargaining ended for TSA officers, 12 Dec 2025 (Reuters); IRS/Treasury contract terminated, 28 Feb 2026 (AP); Noem blocking 11 IG investigations, 4 Mar 2026 (The Hill); NSA chief Haugh and NSC staff fired, 4 Apr 2025 (Washington Post); Hegseth purging military leaders, 7 Nov 2025 (New York Times); Hegseth ousts Army chief of staff, 2 Apr 2026 (CBS); Gabbard fires National Intelligence Council leaders, 14 May 2025 (Guardian); Gabbard ousts CIA Russia expert, 28 Aug 2025 (CNN); State Department termination notices to 1,350 diplomats, 11 Jul 2025 (Guardian); FBI fires agents linked to Mar-a-Lago case, 25 Feb 2026 (CBS); Patel fires Iran counterintelligence unit, 3 Mar 2026 (CNN); Patel admits FBI buying location data, 18 Mar 2026 (Guardian); Trump unseats Massie in primary, 19 May 2026 (Guardian); Cassidy loses Louisiana primary, 16 May 2026 (Reuters); Pulte named acting DNI, 2 Jun 2026 (New York\nTimes).↩︎\n\n 19. **Self-enrichment and corruption; tariffs; pardons.** $TRUMP memecoin launched before inauguration, 9 Feb 2025 (Rolling Stone); Treasury ends beneficial-ownership enforcement, 3 Mar 2025 (AP); Trump pardons BitMEX executives, 28 Mar 2025 (CNBC); memecoin dinner offered to 220 top holders, 24 Apr 2025 (Reuters); family receives $800M+ from crypto by mid-2025, 28 Oct 2025 (Reuters); Trump pardons Binance founder, 23 Oct 2025 (BBC); East Wing demolished for ballroom, 22 Oct 2025 (New York Times); Trump demands $230M from DOJ, 21 Oct 2025 (New York Times); family makes $4B in first year, 31 Jan 2026 (New Yorker); Abu Dhabi sheikh buys $500M stake in World Liberty Financial, 31 Jan 2026 (WSJ); Kushner seeks $5B from Mideast governments, 13 Mar 2026 (New York Times); White House secures foreign steel for ballroom, 8 Apr 2026 (New York Times); Trump trades stock in defense contractors, 14 May 2026 (NOTUS); DOJ creates $1.776B fund and grants Trump IRS immunity, 19 May 2026 (Guardian); Senate Republicans propose $1B for ballroom, 6 May 2026 (NBC). Tariffs: Canada/Mexico/China tariffs, 1 Feb 2025 (Reuters); 25% auto tariffs, 27 Mar 2025 (Guardian); global reciprocal tariff EO, 3 Apr 2025 (BBC); tariffs on 68 countries plus EU, 1 Aug 2025 (Guardian); extra 100% tariffs on China, 10 Oct 2025 (CNBC); Supreme Court rules global tariffs illegal, 20 Feb 2026 (Guardian); Trump claims “absolute right” to impose new tariffs, 16 Mar 2026 (Guardian). Pardons: blanket Jan 6 pardon, 21 Jan 2025 (BBC); Giuliani and Meadows pardoned, 10 Nov 2025 (Guardian); former Tennessee speaker pardoned, 7 Nov 2025 (Guardian); Tina Peters pardoned, 12 Dec 2025 (CNN); DOJ moves to overturn Proud Boys and Oath Keepers convictions, 14 Apr 2026 (Guardian); Trump pardoned 70+ allies convicted of fraud, 19 Mar 2026 (New York Times); DOJ pays $8.5M+ to Trump allies, 25 Apr 2026 (Washington Post).↩︎\n\n 20. **Self-enrichment and corruption; tariffs; pardons.** $TRUMP memecoin launched before inauguration, 9 Feb 2025 (Rolling Stone); Treasury ends beneficial-ownership enforcement, 3 Mar 2025 (AP); Trump pardons BitMEX executives, 28 Mar 2025 (CNBC); memecoin dinner offered to 220 top holders, 24 Apr 2025 (Reuters); family receives $800M+ from crypto by mid-2025, 28 Oct 2025 (Reuters); Trump pardons Binance founder, 23 Oct 2025 (BBC); East Wing demolished for ballroom, 22 Oct 2025 (New York Times); Trump demands $230M from DOJ, 21 Oct 2025 (New York Times); family makes $4B in first year, 31 Jan 2026 (New Yorker); Abu Dhabi sheikh buys $500M stake in World Liberty Financial, 31 Jan 2026 (WSJ); Kushner seeks $5B from Mideast governments, 13 Mar 2026 (New York Times); White House secures foreign steel for ballroom, 8 Apr 2026 (New York Times); Trump trades stock in defense contractors, 14 May 2026 (NOTUS); DOJ creates $1.776B fund and grants Trump IRS immunity, 19 May 2026 (Guardian); Senate Republicans propose $1B for ballroom, 6 May 2026 (NBC). Tariffs: Canada/Mexico/China tariffs, 1 Feb 2025 (Reuters); 25% auto tariffs, 27 Mar 2025 (Guardian); global reciprocal tariff EO, 3 Apr 2025 (BBC); tariffs on 68 countries plus EU, 1 Aug 2025 (Guardian); extra 100% tariffs on China, 10 Oct 2025 (CNBC); Supreme Court rules global tariffs illegal, 20 Feb 2026 (Guardian); Trump claims “absolute right” to impose new tariffs, 16 Mar 2026 (Guardian). Pardons: blanket Jan 6 pardon, 21 Jan 2025 (BBC); Giuliani and Meadows pardoned, 10 Nov 2025 (Guardian); former Tennessee speaker pardoned, 7 Nov 2025 (Guardian); Tina Peters pardoned, 12 Dec 2025 (CNN); DOJ moves to overturn Proud Boys and Oath Keepers convictions, 14 Apr 2026 (Guardian); Trump pardoned 70+ allies convicted of fraud, 19 Mar 2026 (New York Times); DOJ pays $8.5M+ to Trump allies, 25 Apr 2026 (Washington Post).↩︎\n\n 21. **Politicizing science and public health.** CDC vaccine panel fired, 9 Jun 2025 (New York Times); hepatitis B birth-dose recommendation ended, 5 Dec 2025 (Guardian); FDA black-box warning on COVID vaccines, 12 Dec 2025 (CNN); childhood vaccine schedule reduced, 5 Jan 2026 (New York Times); suppressed vaccine studies revealed, 16 Mar 2026 (Guardian); CDC blocks vaccine-efficacy report, 9 Apr 2026 (Washington Post); EO reformulating childhood vaccine program, 30 May 2026 (Guardian); CDC injury-prevention teams terminated, 21 Apr 2025 (NPR); proposed 40% NIH cut, 17 Apr 2025 (The Transmitter); NSF divisions abolished, 8 May 2025 (Science); NIH shuts infectious-disease research network, 16 Jun 2025 (Financial District); EPA dismantles research arm, 18 Jul 2025 (New York Times); quarter of CDC workforce gone, 14 Oct 2025 (Wired); DOE rewrites nuclear-safety rules secretly, 28 Jan 2026 (NPR); reactors exempted from environmental review, 2 Feb 2026 (NPR); political appointees to approve grants, 27 May 2026 (Scientific American).↩︎\n\n 22. **Politicizing science and public health.** CDC vaccine panel fired, 9 Jun 2025 (New York Times); hepatitis B birth-dose recommendation ended, 5 Dec 2025 (Guardian); FDA black-box warning on COVID vaccines, 12 Dec 2025 (CNN); childhood vaccine schedule reduced, 5 Jan 2026 (New York Times); suppressed vaccine studies revealed, 16 Mar 2026 (Guardian); CDC blocks vaccine-efficacy report, 9 Apr 2026 (Washington Post); EO reformulating childhood vaccine program, 30 May 2026 (Guardian); CDC injury-prevention teams terminated, 21 Apr 2025 (NPR); proposed 40% NIH cut, 17 Apr 2025 (The Transmitter); NSF divisions abolished, 8 May 2025 (Science); NIH shuts infectious-disease research network, 16 Jun 2025 (Financial District); EPA dismantles research arm, 18 Jul 2025 (New York Times); quarter of CDC workforce gone, 14 Oct 2025 (Wired); DOE rewrites nuclear-safety rules secretly, 28 Jan 2026 (NPR); reactors exempted from environmental review, 2 Feb 2026 (NPR); political appointees to approve grants, 27 May 2026 (Scientific American).↩︎\n\n 23. **Climate and environmental rollback.** NOAA layoffs, 4 Mar 2025 (The Verge); EPA cancels $20B in grants, 12 Mar 2025 (New York Times); National Climate Assessment authors fired, 28 Apr 2025 (New York Times); EPA halts emissions data collection, 12 Sep 2025 (New York Times); withdrawal from UN climate treaty, 7 Jan 2026 (New York Times); endangerment finding rescinded, 12 Feb 2026 (Guardian); Gulf drillers exempted from endangered-species rules, 31 Mar 2026 (Reuters).↩︎\n\n 24. **Controlling information and the press.** EO closing disinformation programs, 20 Jan 2025 (NPR); State Department shuts disinformation hub, 16 Apr 2025 (Guardian); AP blocked despite court order, 14 Apr 2025 (The Hill); wire services lose press-pool access, 16 Apr 2025 (Reuters); 60 Minutes producer resigns, 22 Apr 2025 (The Hill); BLS commissioner fired, 1 Aug 2025 (Guardian); Heritage economist nominated to BLS, 11 Aug 2025 (Reuters); inflation report postponed, 19 Sep 2025 (Axios); Stars and Stripes brought under Pentagon control, 15 Jan 2026 (New York Times); CPB dissolved, 5 Jan 2026 (HuffPost); FBI searches Washington Post reporter’s home, 14 Jan 2026 (New York Times); FBI requests interviews with Democratic lawmakers, 25 Nov 2025 (Reuters); Pentagon investigates Senator Kelly, 24 Nov 2025 (PBS); lawmakers under investigation over video, 14 Jan 2026 (New York Times); FBI investigates Minneapolis Signal chats, 27 Jan 2026 (Guardian); government datasets altered or removed, 7 May 2026 (Guardian); Republican Party uses AI deepfakes in midterms, 28 Mar 2026 (Reuters); Pentagon bars journalists from press office, 1 Jun 2026 (Guardian).↩︎\n\n 25. **Controlling information and the press.** EO closing disinformation programs, 20 Jan 2025 (NPR); State Department shuts disinformation hub, 16 Apr 2025 (Guardian); AP blocked despite court order, 14 Apr 2025 (The Hill); wire services lose press-pool access, 16 Apr 2025 (Reuters); 60 Minutes producer resigns, 22 Apr 2025 (The Hill); BLS commissioner fired, 1 Aug 2025 (Guardian); Heritage economist nominated to BLS, 11 Aug 2025 (Reuters); inflation report postponed, 19 Sep 2025 (Axios); Stars and Stripes brought under Pentagon control, 15 Jan 2026 (New York Times); CPB dissolved, 5 Jan 2026 (HuffPost); FBI searches Washington Post reporter’s home, 14 Jan 2026 (New York Times); FBI requests interviews with Democratic lawmakers, 25 Nov 2025 (Reuters); Pentagon investigates Senator Kelly, 24 Nov 2025 (PBS); lawmakers under investigation over video, 14 Jan 2026 (New York Times); FBI investigates Minneapolis Signal chats, 27 Jan 2026 (Guardian); government datasets altered or removed, 7 May 2026 (Guardian); Republican Party uses AI deepfakes in midterms, 28 Mar 2026 (Reuters); Pentagon bars journalists from press office, 1 Jun 2026 (Guardian).↩︎\n\n 26. **Dismantling US humanitarian aid abroad.** Foreign-aid stop-work order, 20 Jan 2025 (NPR); PEPFAR freeze, 25 Jan 2025 (IAS); 2026 budget eliminates global health funding, 4 Jun 2025 (New York Times); USAID overseas staff eliminated, 10 Jun 2025 (Guardian); $4.9B aid cut over congressional objection, 28 Aug 2025 (New York Times); Supreme Court allows aid freeze, 26 Sep 2025 (The Hill); Zambia aid conditioned on mining concessions, 25 Feb 2026 (Guardian); HIV funding withheld as mineral leverage, 16 Mar 2026 (New York Times).↩︎\n\n 27. **Attacking universities, schools, museums, and history.** K-12 indoctrination EO, 29 Jan 2025 (White House); NIH freezes Harvard and four other universities, 18 Apr 2025 (Science); Harvard grants cut, 6 May 2025 (Guardian); additional $450M cut, 13 May 2025 (Guardian); Harvard foreign-student enrollment revoked, 23 May 2025 (AP); Columbia $200M settlement, 24 Jul 2025 (BBC); Librarian of Congress fired, 9 May 2025 (Guardian); NEH grants canceled, 3 Apr 2025 (NPR); IMLS defunded, 3 Apr 2025 (USA Today); Harvard debarment sought, 29 Sep 2025 (Reuters); one-third of museums lost funding, 11 Nov 2025 (Guardian); Smithsonian Miller task force EO, 27 Mar 2025 (Guardian); Smithsonian exhibition review, 12 Aug 2025 (New York Times); national-park signage under review, 16 Sep 2025 (Reuters); slavery exhibit removed in Philadelphia, 22 Jan 2026 (New York Times); Native American signs removed, 27 Jan 2026 (Reuters); impeachment text removed, 10 Jan 2026 (New York Times); Florida book bans, 16 Aug 2025 (Guardian); Columbus statue installed, 23 Mar 2026 (Reuters); Caesar Rodney statue reinstated, 18 Mar 2026 (Washington Post); Kennedy Center closed, 2 Feb 2026 (Guardian).↩︎\n\n 28. **Attacking universities, schools, museums, and history.** K-12 indoctrination EO, 29 Jan 2025 (White House); NIH freezes Harvard and four other universities, 18 Apr 2025 (Science); Harvard grants cut, 6 May 2025 (Guardian); additional $450M cut, 13 May 2025 (Guardian); Harvard foreign-student enrollment revoked, 23 May 2025 (AP); Columbia $200M settlement, 24 Jul 2025 (BBC); Librarian of Congress fired, 9 May 2025 (Guardian); NEH grants canceled, 3 Apr 2025 (NPR); IMLS defunded, 3 Apr 2025 (USA Today); Harvard debarment sought, 29 Sep 2025 (Reuters); one-third of museums lost funding, 11 Nov 2025 (Guardian); Smithsonian Miller task force EO, 27 Mar 2025 (Guardian); Smithsonian exhibition review, 12 Aug 2025 (New York Times); national-park signage under review, 16 Sep 2025 (Reuters); slavery exhibit removed in Philadelphia, 22 Jan 2026 (New York Times); Native American signs removed, 27 Jan 2026 (Reuters); impeachment text removed, 10 Jan 2026 (New York Times); Florida book bans, 16 Aug 2025 (Guardian); Columbus statue installed, 23 Mar 2026 (Reuters); Caesar Rodney statue reinstated, 18 Mar 2026 (Washington Post); Kennedy Center closed, 2 Feb 2026 (Guardian).↩︎\n\n 29. **Rolling back civil rights.** DEI executive orders signed, 20 Jan 2025 (NBC); “Restoring Equality of Opportunity” EO, 23 Apr 2025 (Axios); disparate-impact enforcement halted, 9 May 2025 (New York Times); Louisiana desegregation order ended, 2 May 2025 (AP); Minneapolis and Louisville consent decrees canceled, 21 May 2025 (Guardian); 20+ city consent decrees ended, 25 Jul 2025 (Guardian); MSI funding revoked, 11 Sep 2025 (The Hill); DOJ civil-rights litigation halted, 31 Jul 2025 (ProPublica); former DOJ employees criticize civil-rights dismantling, 9 Dec 2025 (Reuters); DEI requirement extended to contractors, 26 Mar 2026 (Reuters); CFPB ends anti-discrimination lending requirements, 21 Apr 2026 (Reuters); Hegseth clears women from military leadership, 22 Jul 2025 (Atlantic); Women’s Advisory Committee dissolved, 23 Sep 2025 (Guardian); Army promotions blocked, 26 Mar 2026 (New York Times); Navy promotions blocked, 1 Jun 2026 (New York Times).↩︎\n\n 30. **Erasing trans and LGBTQ rights.** Two-sexes EO, 20 Jan 2025 (The Hill); gender-identity EO, 27 Jan 2025 (NWLC); gender-affirming care EO for minors, 28 Jan 2025 (NBC); Supreme Court upholds Tennessee ban, 19 Jun 2025 (AP); Supreme Court allows passport policy, 6 Nov 2025 (Guardian); Medicaid gender-affirming-care ban finalized, 18 Dec 2025 (NPR); DOJ removes prison LGBTQ protections, 5 Dec 2025 (Guardian); Stonewall pride flag removed, 10 Feb 2026 (Guardian).↩︎\n\n 31. **Restricting abortion and reproductive rights.** Hyde Amendment EO revokes Biden abortion-access orders, 24 Jan 2025 (White House); mifepristone FDA review ordered, 14 May 2025 (Guardian); emergency-abortion guidance rescinded, 3 Jun 2025 (Bloomberg Law); Supreme Court paves way to defund Planned Parenthood, 26 Jun 2025 (Guardian); court allows Planned Parenthood Medicaid cutoff, 11 Sep 2025 (Reuters); VA abortion ban rule, 29 Aug 2025 (Guardian); VA ban codified by DOJ, 23 Dec 2025 (Guardian); Hawley mifepristone legislation, 11 Mar 2026 (The Hill); HHS investigates states over abortion, 19 Mar 2026 (The Hill).↩︎\n\n\n",
"title": "The Worst of Trump: Year One"
}