Stories

The administration faced 650+ lawsuits and repeatedly defied court orders on funding freezes, deportations, and agency actions. Trump attacked judges, called for impeachment of federal judges, and the Supreme Court issued landmark rulings on tariff authority, birthright citizenship, and presidential power over independent agencies.

Trump systematically dismantled institutional guardrails, firing more than 20 inspectors general, purging officials at the DOJ, FBI, FTC, NLRB, and Federal Reserve, and repeatedly defying federal court orders. The administration weaponized federal investigations against political opponents - including New York's Attorney General, former FBI Director James Comey, and state officials who resisted immigration enforcement - while threatening to revoke the broadcast licenses of news networks that gave him unfavorable coverage. The overreach extended to Congress and the Constitution itself: Trump floated pursuing an illegal third term, used "pocket rescissions" to cancel billions in congressionally approved spending, and denied FEMA disaster relief to Democratic-led states. By 2026 the Supreme Court granted expanded power to fire independent agency heads - while lower courts repeatedly found the administration in contempt for defying deportation and civil liberties rulings.

Trump's campaign to control the media landscape escalated throughout his second term. Early tactics included banning the AP for refusing 'Gulf of America,' dismantling Voice of America, defunding NPR and PBS, revoking journalist phone record protections, and filing defamation suits against the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and BBC. The FCC — chaired by a Trump ally — threatened broadcast licences, opened early renewal proceedings against ABC's stations, and signalled pre-midterm guidance targeting 'fake polls.' As the Iran war intensified, Trump called war reporting 'treason,' the Pentagon and DOJ created a joint task force to prosecute leaks, and five New York Times journalists were subpoenaed. Journalists were arrested, deported, and covertly surveilled by DHS using an obscure customs law. Stars and Stripes was placed under Pentagon editorial control. In September 2026, Trump banned CNN, MSNBC and Politico from the White House, prompting all four major TV networks to suspend pool coverage, while the administration launched Trump TV as its own 24/7 state media alternative.

Trump pushed the SAVE America Act requiring proof of citizenship, signed executive orders restricting mail-in voting, demanded voter data from states, deployed FBI to raid election offices in Georgia, installed election deniers in key positions, and pressured states to redraw congressional maps favorable to Republicans ahead of midterms.

Trump deployed National Guard troops to Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland, Washington DC, and Memphis for immigration enforcement and crime, over objections of governors and mayors. Courts repeatedly blocked deployments as illegal, the Supreme Court blocked the Chicago deployment, and the Minneapolis operation ended after two citizens were killed by federal agents.

A systematic record of the gap between Trump's 2024 campaign promises and the reality of his second term. He pledged to drain the swamp — then launched personal meme coins on inauguration day, created a pay-to-play pardon industry, and sold early access to Truth Social posts to Wall Street for $100,000 a month. He promised no new endless wars — then bombed Iran without congressional approval, sustaining a conflict that cost $11.3 billion in its first six days. He vowed to lower prices immediately — inflation rose and gas hit $4.48 a gallon. He promised to end the Ukraine war in 24 hours — later calling that claim 'sarcastic.' He pledged $2 trillion in DOGE savings; DOGE cost taxpayers $10 billion. He vowed not to touch Medicare; the 'Big Beautiful Bill' cut $1.1 trillion from healthcare. He promised to release the Epstein files — his DOJ blocked and redacted them for months until Congress forced his hand. He vowed to end government weaponization — then purged DOJ prosecutors, indicted political critics including former FBI Director Comey, and threatened TV networks' broadcast licenses.

Since taking office, the Trump administration has systematically undermined the professional integrity of America's armed forces. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — confirmed despite allegations of sexual assault and alcohol abuse — has presided over the firing of senior military leaders, the forced removal of transgender service members, the erasure of diversity programs from military academies, and the rehabilitation of Confederate imagery on military bases. Classified war plans were exposed through unsecured Signal group chats, cybersecurity experts warned that national defense secrets had been compromised, and the Inspector General of the Defense Department was fired. Cuts to Veterans Affairs have left military hospitals severely understaffed, while Trump signed an executive order renaming the Department of Defense the 'Department of War.' What emerges is a picture of an institution being hollowed out from within — its experienced leadership replaced with political loyalists, its professionalism sacrificed for ideological ends.

Trump has made false claims a governing instrument — perpetuating debunked 2020 election fraud theories, fabricating personal heroism at Ground Zero, announcing ceasefires that were never in place, and promising stimulus payments through DOGE and tariff dividends never issued. Beyond outright falsehoods, the administration systematically manufactures villains: blaming immigrants for crime and economic hardship, DEI policies for a Washington air disaster, and the 'radical left' for political violence before investigations established any facts. His administration deleted official datasets on climate, health, and LGBTQ+ issues; distributed AI-generated deepfakes through White House channels; and made baseless fraud claims to justify benefit cuts. Internationally, Trump repeatedly claimed breakthroughs — progress with Putin in Alaska, ceasefires in Gaza and Thailand — while fighting continued. The State Department's disinformation office was shuttered, consular officials were directed to deny visas to factcheckers, and federal investigations were launched based on debunked conspiracy theories.

Republican lawmakers have repeatedly declined to exercise congressional oversight over the Trump administration — confirming controversial nominees without scrutiny, blocking war powers resolutions, remaining silent on constitutional violations, and allowing executive overreach to go unchecked. Members who broke ranks were removed via Trump-backed primary challenges, entrenching a culture of compliance over constitutional responsibility.

Trump fired or lost multiple cabinet members including AG Bondi, DHS Secretary Noem, Labor Secretary Chavez-DeRemer, DNI Gabbard, inspectors general, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics chief. He cycled through acting officials, appointed loyalists without Senate confirmation, and faced court rulings declaring several appointments unlawful.

Trump began his second term with the lowest opening approval rating of any modern president and has seen it fall further ever since. Record disapproval ratings, driven by tariff-fuelled cost of living concerns, immigration enforcement backlash, and general dissatisfaction with his priorities, have left him deeply underwater heading into the midterms — with even a fifth of his 2024 voters considering abandoning the Republican Party.

Trump repeatedly attacked Fed Chair Powell, opened a criminal investigation into him, attempted to fire Governor Lisa Cook, nominated loyalist Kevin Warsh as replacement chair, and pressured the Fed on interest rates. Multiple courts blocked the Cook firing, and 12 international central bank governors issued solidarity statements.

The six-justice conservative majority — three of them Trump appointees — has repeatedly cleared the way for his most contested agenda items. The court curtailed federal judges' ability to issue nationwide injunctions that had blocked his policies; expanded presidential power to fire independent agency heads including FTC commissioners; stripped deportation protections from hundreds of thousands of migrants and cleared third-country deportations; weakened the Voting Rights Act; allowed the dismantling of the Education Department and foreign aid programmes to proceed; and lifted restraining orders on immigration raids that lower courts had blocked. Across dozens of rulings, the court has functioned less as a constitutional check on executive overreach and more as an accelerant for it.

Documented concerns about the 80-year-old president's fitness for office, spanning physical health — four hospital visits, a chronic venous insufficiency diagnosis, and contradictory medical scan accounts — through to cognitive and behavioral warning signs: confusing Iran with Japan during a press conference, delivering rambling speeches, compulsively relitigating the 2020 election through primetime addresses and DOJ investigations years later, posting AI-generated images of himself as Jesus and the Pope, a late-night social media spree of 50-plus posts in three hours, unprovoked rage at Republican allies, grandiose territorial claims dismissed by rivals as 'delusions,' and multiple calls from Democrats and former officials to invoke the 25th Amendment.

A pattern of violent threats and attacks targeting Trump and prominent MAGA figures — including two assassination attempts on Trump in 2024, the 2026 White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting, a far-right plot at a UFC event, Iranian assassination threats, and the killing of Trump ally Charlie Kirk. The administration has used these incidents to blame political opponents and, in Vance's case, encourage online harassment of those who celebrated Kirk's death.

Trump signed a Day 1 executive order to end birthright citizenship for children of non-citizens. Multiple federal courts blocked the order as unconstitutional, appeals courts upheld the blocks, and the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, with oral arguments showing judicial skepticism toward the administration's position.

Mass protest movements emerged opposing Trump's policies, growing from initial 'Hands Off' rallies to 'No Kings' demonstrations that drew millions. The third No Kings protest on Day 434 attracted approximately 8 million participants across all 50 states, becoming the largest single-day protest in US history.

When Trump attacked the press, major media organizations chose accommodation over resistance. Meta, X, and YouTube paid over $60 million to settle his account-suspension lawsuits. Meta scrapped its fact-checking program - its own Oversight Board later called the replacement inadequate - and YouTube eased moderation thresholds to align with Trump. CBS paid $16 million to settle a 60 Minutes dispute while Paramount’s CEO dined privately with Trump as a DOJ merger review loomed. Some outlets paid up to $100,000 a month for early access to his Truth Social posts. Networks then turned on their own staff: ABC suspended journalist Terry Moran, cancelled Stephen Colbert, and suspended Jimmy Kimmel. Pentagon press passes shifted to right-wing allies. The administration seized editorial control of Stars and Stripes, firing its publisher and editor. Tucker Carlson later admitted he had misled his viewers.

Trump signed executive orders targeting law firms including Paul Weiss, Perkins Coie, WilmerHale, and Susman Godfrey for representing clients opposing his interests. Firms were pressured into settlements providing hundreds of millions in pro bono work. Courts blocked most orders as unconstitutional.