- NY Times summarizes Trump’s first 100 days;
- The Atlantic on how Trump voters like what they see;
- My comments about the theme of Tom Nichols’ books — people are bored with success — and the implications this has for the science-fictional dreams of utopia;
- Two items about Trump supporters;
- And how Trump *really* believes that doctored photo about MS-13; how Trump, like Kim Jong-Il, has his cabinet praise Glorious Leader; and how Pam Bondi claims that fentanyl busts have save 119, or is it 258?, million American lives.
- How Trump took credit for the good economy under Biden, and blames the bad economy under his administration on Biden.
Today is one of those occasions when seeing the front page of the actual print paper is much more dramatic than seeing the same content, spread out over several days, on a website.
Click for larger image.
NY Times, Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman, 30 Apr 2025: A Fusillade of Actions That Have Upended American Life [gift link]
There have never been 100 days like this.
President Trump was sworn in for a second term in January intent on transforming America and its place in the world. From his first hours in office, he has relentlessly driven domestic, economic and foreign policy in risky new directions; taken a chain saw to the federal work force; challenged the authority of the courts; and sought to purge liberal influence from government, education and culture.
The result has been a chaotic blur of new initiatives; judicial, political and economic backlash; and neck-snapping reversals. It has tested the nation’s ability to process disruption — and of American democracy’s resilience in the face of a president whose views of his power have prompted warnings of creeping authoritarianism.
The consuming conflicts of one day regularly give way to wholly new ones with stunning rapidity: pardoning Jan. 6 rioters, stripping out-of-favor officials and former advisers of security details, proposing to turn Gaza into a resort town and Canada into a 51st state, blaming a plane crash on diversity initiatives, presiding over a contentious cabinet meeting with Elon Musk, installing his personal lawyers to run the Justice Department, firing inspectors general, closing down U.S.A.I.D., igniting a global trade war, berating Ukraine’s president in the Oval Office, deporting migrants without due process and edging toward a constitutional crisis by defying judges on multiple occasions.
The version online is slightly different than in the print paper, the latter perhaps trimmed slightly for space.
The URL here includes, scrolling down, all the theme articles seen on the rest of the front page.
And this.
NY Times, Peter Baker, 30 Apr 2025: After the Arrests and Bullets, Trump Takes on Second Term With a New Fervor, subtitled “Having escaped prison and death, President Trump has returned to power seeking vindication and vengeance — and done more in his first 100 days to change the trajectory of the country than any president since Franklin D. Roosevelt.”
Print title: “Driven by Vengeance, Trump Shreds Rules On His Crusade”
At the entrance of the Oval Office, where the president and his visitors can see it every day, hangs the mug shot taken of a glowering Donald J. Trump after being arrested and charged with racketeering to overthrow an election.
A couple of hundred feet away, in the grand foyer of the White House state floor where the official portraits of past presidents in solemn poses are on display, hangs a painting of a defiant Mr. Trump, blood splattered on his face by would-be assassin’s bullet, angrily pumping his fist and shouting, “Fight! Fight!”
These icons of Mr. Trump’s journey back to power loom large as he completes the first 100 days of his second presidency. There is a reason he has placed these images in positions of prominence. They reflect the crucibles of a man who escaped existential threats of prison and death in his quest for vindication and vengeance. They fuel his self-authored narrative as a man of destiny, saved by God to save America.
In the opening chapter of this new term, Mr. Trump has acted like a man on a mission, moving with almost messianic fervor to transform America from top to bottom and exact retribution against enemies at the same time. He appears intent on demolishing the old order no matter the collateral damage, putting his personal imprint not just on government and foreign affairs but on almost every aspect of national life, including business, culture, sports, academia, the legal world and the media.
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Two items about Trump supporters.
The Atlantic, Elaine Godfrey, 30 Apr 2025: The Trump Voters Who Like What They See, subtitled “‘Even if they don’t agree with everything he’s doing, he’s doing something.'”
Earlier this month, after it became clear that the Trump administration would not be facilitating the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from a Salvadoran megaprison, I texted a close childhood friend. He’d voted for Donald Trump in each of the past three presidential elections, and I asked for his evaluation. “Trump might be taking it too far,” my friend replied. “But then again,” he added, “he’s a man of action and we wanted change.”
Someday in the future, historians might well point to April 2025 as the first sign of an enduring erosion in Trump’s popular support. In just the first week of this month, America witnessed another mass expulsion of federal workers, in this case from several health agencies, followed by a tariff rollout that sent 401(k)s plunging like a Six Flags log flume. Even with stocks partially rebounding, feedback from riders has not been great for the president: Poll after poll has registered a drop in overall support for Trump, with many voters citing economic uncertainty. Trump’s numbers on immigration, long a strength of his, are also beginning to slip. Another recent survey suggests that Trump has the lowest approval rating of any newly elected president in at least 70 years.
But even as Trump’s critics cheer the apparent change of heart among some of his supporters, they face an inconvenient reality: Many of his voters are jubilant. For these happy millions, the first 100 days of Trump’s second presidency have been a procession of fulfilled campaign promises—and have brought the country not to the precipice of economic ruin or democratic collapse, but to a golden age of greatness. They see Trump as ushering in a new era of action, according to my conversations with several Trump supporters and pollsters in recent days. “Even if they don’t agree with everything he’s doing, he’s doing something, and something is better than nothing,” Rich Thau, the president of the nonpartisan qualitative-research firm Engagious, told me.
Something is better than nothing? I’m reminded again of the thesis of the recent Tom Nichols book, reviewed here, that suggests American are bored with success and need something that will stimulate their primitive instinctual alertness for danger.
This has profound implications for the very idea of utopia. As I said in one of my Provisional Conclusions — “Even in a utopia, unless every person is utterly like every other person, there will be differences, and differences will lead to those who want change, and those who are happy enough and resist change. ” — there will always be people who are unhappy about something, no matter how trivial their concerns might be compared to those of the past. Last year the economy was as good as it had been in years, according to the economists; but abstract numbers don’t persuade most people. Mythos over logos: something must be done. Trump, even though he’s failed on virtually every promise he made (lower taxes on Day 1, solve the Ukraine on Day 1) somehow Trump satisfies their jones to stir things up.
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The second item I don’t have a link to. It was an interview on one of the NPR shows this morning with a couple who voted for Trump and still support him, and think he’s doing great. According to them, the nay-sayers just don’t *understand*. Two things struck me. One, their tone of absolute certainty and conviction. (For example, a cure for cancer would be suppressed because the drug companies are making too much money treating it. (Has such a thing ever actually happened?)) Two, their implicit premise that only Americans matter in the world, and anything remotely suggesting a global society, including trade with other nations, is some kind of heresy. Is this just an extreme expression of tribalism? Or something else I’m missing?
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Third theme for today.
Trump apparently *really believes* that that guy accidentally deported to El Salvador has “MS-13” tattooed on his knuckles.
Despite the fact that this photo has only shown up in the past couple days, and is *obviously* photo-shopped. Trump seems not to know what that even means. Someone on his staff presumably doctored a photo of the guy’s hand, handed it to Trump, and he believes!
JMG has a partial transcript: Trump Utterly Melts Down After Being Called Out For Photoshopping “MS-13” On Photo Of Migrant’s Hand
Trump takes the claim that the image was photo-shopped as a personal affront, since he did reporter a favor: “I picked you because, frankly, I had never heard of you. … but you’re not being very nice.” (That comment alone speaks volumes.) And calls the claim of photoshopping “fake news.”
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What reality are we in?
JMG, 30 Apr 2025: Kim Jong-Trump Orders Cabinet To Praise His Glory
In his standard Cabinet meeting style, today Trump forced each member of his Cabinet to open the meeting with fawning praise for their Glorious Leader.
PAM BONDI: “Mr. President, your first 100 days has far exceeded that of ANY other presidency in this country. Ever. Ever. Never seen anything like it. Thank you.”
MARCO RUBIO: “In the first hundred days of the 47th presidency, 47 wrongfully detained Americans have been returned to the United States, thanks to your leadership and the diplomacy that was exercised to make that happen. Forty-seven for the 47th president. In the first hundred days. And that’s all credit to you Mr. President. Thank you for the honor to be able to serve alongside you, for you, and alongside all these excellent people.”
SCOTT BESSENT: “Sir, it’s been a momentous 100 days with you at the helm. And I view this 100 days as setting the table for peace deals, trade deals, tax deals, the next 100 days we’ll be harvesting.
And so on, with Doug Burgum, Elon Musk, Pete Hegseth, and others among the sycophants. Even Ann Coulter, in a tweet, objected to this: “Would it be possible to have a cabinet meeting without the Kim Jong il-style tributes?”
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And then Pam Bondi, the attorney general, claiming yesterday:
JMG, 30 Apr 2025: Bondi: Fentanyl Busts Have Saved “119 Million Lives”
And today:
JMG, 30 Apr 2025: Bondi Boasts Of “Signing Death Warrants,” Claims That Fentanyl Busts Have “Saved 258 Million American Lives”
From Daily Beast: WATCH: Pam Bondi Brags About Plans to Kill American Citizens
Hello? Hello? The population of the entire United States is some 340 million. And Bondi claims that some three-quarters of this population would have died of fentanyl except for actions Trump has taken over the past 100 days??
Either they are morons, or they lie egregiously and depend on their supporters being morons.
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One more. The story so far. Late last year, when the economy was doing quite well according to the economists (except for glitches like the price of eggs, caused by a bird flu a president could not control), Trump claimed the stock market was doing well because business anticipated his win. Now, with the economy tanking due to his tariffs, Trump blames… Biden.
Salon, Alex Galbraith, 30 Apr 2025: “Nothing to do with tariffs”: Trump blames market downturn on Biden, asks Americans to “be patient”, subtitled “In spite of months of evidence that his actions have directly moved the market, Trump still wants grace”
Recent polls have shown the majority of Americans believe the economy is getting worse under Trump. In spite of this, Trump has shown no desire to distance himself from widely unpopular tariffs. He recently told ABC that the economic turmoil is exactly what his voters should have expected.
“They did sign up for it, actually,” Trump said of his tariff scheme. “And this is what I campaigned on.”
No, he campaigned on dropping grocery prices on day 1, and solving the Ukraine war on day 1. Do none of his fans remember? Or why do they not care?
