In his first week in office, President Trump has moved fast and hard, filling every day with action.
He has removed criminal illegal aliens from America and toughened border defences. He has named trusted lieutenants as acting cabinet secretaries and agency heads. In turn, they’re preparing withdrawals of Biden-era regulations wherever possible on everything from the economy to climate and abortion.
He visited victims of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina and the Los Angeles fires in California, spoke at a Nevada rally, and hosted House Republicans at his Trump National Doral Golf Club. He fired at least 17 departmental inspectors general, froze all federal grants and offered buyouts for all federal civil-service workers.
He has issued dozens of executive orders, including creating an “Iron Dome” missile defence, barring transgender troops from serving in the military, reinstating service members discharged for refusing the Covid vaccine, and killing diversity, equity and inclusion programs throughout the government. He has moved to withdraw the U.S. from the World Health Organisation and the Paris Climate Agreement, to end birthright citizenship, and to declassify all records on the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.
He was strengthened by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s refusal to allow US military aircraft to land and repatriate his countrymen. Mr Trump’s instantaneous response — a threat to slap tariffs on Colombian exports to the U.S. (namely oil, coffee and cut flowers) — caused Mr Petro to fold, leaving Mr Trump looking powerful and effective.
His furious activity has contributed to the image of a purposeful leader pressing his agenda. This resulted in his best job-approval numbers ever: 50 per cent as of Sunday approved of his performance and 41.7 per cent disapproved in the 538 average of recent polls. He never got that high in his first term. But it’s also the lowest starting approval number for any president since polling began in the 1930s — except for Mr Trump in 2017.
And his dusk-to-dawn, flood-the-zone approach could give the impression that he cares about culture-war issues and symbolism more than inflation and the economy, issues critical to his November triumph. In the flurry of orders, it’s the hot-button cultural ones that the media jump on. Add his efforts to acquire Greenland, take back the Panama Canal, rename the Gulf of Mexico and make Canada a state (or states), and swing voters might ask if he’s serious about killing inflation and spurring economic growth.
Speed can also lead to mistakes, such as pardoning at least 170 Jan. 6 rioters who were accused of attacking police with deadly weapons. The blanket pardons were an attempt “to move past the issue quickly,” according to Axios. Rather than spend the time to identify violent criminals, “Trump just said: ‘F — it: release ’em all,’ ” an anonymous adviser told Axios’s Marc Caputo.
Mr Trump might also want to rethink linking presidential actions to partisanship and political favours. Visiting North Carolina victims of Hurricane Helene, he led with how the region “supported us in record numbers, and I’m supporting them in record numbers, too.” But when it came to California, he said he had “a condition” for approving wildfire disaster relief: The state must pass a voter identification law. The 1988 Stafford Act, which modernised federal disaster emergency response, clearly outlines the criteria for a disaster declaration. It doesn’t include such quid pro quos. Can you imagine the MAGA world rage if a Democratic president conditioned aid to red states on weaker voting laws?
If Mr Trump keeps making disaster relief all about taking care of politics, voters might object. Americans want their president to act for the good of all the people, not just reward supporters while punishing states that went blue.
A bigger challenge awaits Mr Trump. Every president has a mandate, no matter how narrow his winning margin. But it can’t all be done by executive orders. A future president can easily undo them. To give his agenda some permanence, Mr Trump must pass it into law.
Which brings us to Congress. It has a role to play, especially on the budget and taxes. And little can be done on a party-line vote. Against Mr Trump’s urging, 38 House Republicans chose not to vote to raise the debt ceiling last December. That points to the necessity of at least some bipartisanship.
Mr Trump is off to a good start, but acting only by executive order is over. Hard, serious work must begin. Those who champion disrupting the “Deep State” must now show they can unite the country and govern.
Karl Rove helped organise the political-action committee American Crossroads and is author of The Triumph of William McKinley (Simon & Schuster, 2015).
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