WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's second week in office seemed to deliver a daily dose of deliberate jolts for the country.
There were chaotic reminders of his first term. The White House found itself backtracking on its directive to freeze federal spending on grants and loans. And the Republican president indulged unsupported accusations after a deadly plane crash near Washington.
Trump also escalated his moves against the institutions that he was elected to lead. His administration ousted prosecutors who worked on Capitol riot cases and laid the groundwork for purging FBI agents. Elon Musk, Trump's billionaire ally, began efforts to dramatically downsize the federal workforce.
Some takeaways from week No. 2:
New administration, old problems
Trump and his team had impressed even some of their critics with a steady stream of executive orders in their first week. The administration seemed better organized and more effective than the last time Trump was president.
But in his second week, Trump's White House stumbled over itself with a confusing memo that was intended to freeze federal funding, causing disruptions and leading to lawsuits. A judge temporarily blocked the directive, and the memo was quickly rescinded. Then, Trump responded to the deadliest American aviation disaster in decades by baselessly blaming diversity initiatives, demonstrating his willingness to shoehorn tragedy into his personal political crusades.
The cascade of controversy and outrage recalled some of the more infamous moments of Trump’s first term, such as the chaos of his initial travel ban on people from Muslim countries and his freewheeling briefings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trump tries remaking Washington
Throughout the 2024 campaign, Trump made it clear that he would not settle for making small tweaks in Washington. He wanted dramatic change, particularly in institutions such as the Justice Department that he felt had wronged him over the years.
Once he was back in office, the first step was pardoning nearly everyone charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. In the past week his administration went even further. Prosecutors were pushed out, and top FBI officials were ordered to retire or be fired. A senior Justice Department official who previously worked on Trump's legal defense team asked for the names of every FBI agent who worked on Jan. 6 cases.
Other shakeups were reported across the nation's capital. A top Treasury official quit and federal websites were scrubbed of "gender ideology." There appeared to be few, if any, limits to how far Trump and his allies would go to remake Washington.
When in doubt, blame DEI
As Trump deals with various challenges facing the country, he has repeatedly pointed to efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in society, or DEI, as the root cause of a multitude of problems.
One of Trump's earliest moves upon retaking the Oval Office was to issue orders to undo the federal government's DEI efforts. Trump and his supporters suggested such initiatives are discriminatory and lead to incompetence.
His administration is so intent on eradicating it from government that it is requiring federal workers to report any surreptitious DEI programs that continue. But he hasn't stopped there.
While investigators were just getting started on investigating the cause of a midair collision near Reagan National Airport between an Army helicopter and a jetliner, Trump began speculating that federal diversity and inclusion efforts were somehow to blame. The president could not back up those claims when repeatedly pressed on it by reporters in the White House briefing room.
When asked why he thought diversity had something to do with the crash, he said, “Because I have common sense. OK?”
A day earlier, Trump reprimanded Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell over inflation and again pointed to DEI, saying on his social media network that “if the Fed had spent less time on DEI” and other liberal issues, “inflation would never have been a problem.”
Trump had his first big flop
Punctuating the week was the Trump administration’s first big policy setback: the abrupt freeze, and then unfreezing, of federal grant funds amid a public revolt.
Communities across the nation depend on federal grants and loans to run a vast array of programs and services, from housing and veterans services to community health care centers. The sudden spending "pause" announced in an Office of Management and Budget memo sent shockwaves coast to coast.
“Every corner of the country is feeling the wrath of Donald Trump’s cruel plan,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York at a news conference at the Capitol.
The memo was rescinded, although the underlying Trump executive orders to clamp down on spending that does not align with his policies on climate, DEI and more do remain. The White House about-face showed the limits of the administration’s broader effort to reduce the size and scope of government.
Rolling back government in the abstract is one thing. But cutting programs that deliver services to veterans, parents, children, older adults and others is a totally different political equation.
‘A fork in the road’ for federal workers
Trump campaigned on "dismantling the deep state,” and the federal workforce got a large dose this past week of just how disruptive that effort will be.
The new administration had already imposed a federal hiring freeze. Then, millions of federal employees got a “fork in the road” email shortly after business hours ended on Monday offering them eight months of paid leave if they agreed to resign.
Those who quit were promised they would be paid through Sept. 30. They would not necessarily be required to work and could seek new employment in the meantime. But there were broad concerns about the legality of the offer and whether Trump was trying to create a toxic work environment.
Employees have to decide whether to take the deal by Thursday. Those who opt to stay will be required to work from the office full time and face “enhanced standards of suitability and conduct.” The email also warned that future downsizing of the governmental workforce was likely.
That's on top of the administration ordering federal officials overseeing DEI efforts to be placed on leave.
Asked Friday if he was worried too many experienced federal workers would leave, Trump replied, “Everybody’s replaceable. We’ll get good people to replace them if it turns out to be more. ... But we’d love to have them leave.”
Is America stuck in a trade war?
Trump once famously posted on social media that "trade wars are good, and easy to win" — a claim that he's now putting to the test against Canada and Mexico after imposing tariffs that within hours led to retaliatory measures by those two countries.
Trump said the tariffs are about stopping the illicit smuggling of fentanyl, as well as preventing illegal immigration on the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada. The president on Saturday put 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, with a lesser 10% rate on Canadian oil, natural gas and electricity. China faces a 10% tariff.
Those moves almost immediately angered Mexico and Canada, America's two largest trading partners who had previously negotiated a deal with Trump during his first term. Both levied retaliatory tariffs. Hockey fans at the Ottawa Senators game in Canada booed the U.S. national anthem. The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, encouraged his citizens to buy Canadian.
They are up against a U.S. president who really loves tariffs. He is already promising more import taxes on computer chips, steel, copper, pharmaceutical drugs and the European Union. His administration has yet to explain why these taxes will not worsen the inflation he was elected to fix. The Budget Lab at Yale University estimates Trump’s tariffs would cost the average American household $1,000 to $1,200 in annual purchasing power.
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Price reported from New York. Associated Press writer Josh Boak in Palm Beach, Florida, and AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.
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