Scroll back to 1967 when The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly was released. The film was an instant classic. I watched it again recently and enjoyed it thoroughly. That experience led me to do something I’ve done dozens of times since 1967: I used the film’s title as the starting point to analyze something I didn’t like. In this column, I am doing it again.
We are in a “Wild West period” in American politics. A felon is president, and he’s angry. In some ways, he’s on a rampage, energized by power and bent on revenge against people and ideas that he believes wronged him. It’s Old Testament stuff, but the old Donald Trump remains there. He wants to be remembered as a great man despite January 6 and a chaotic first term in the White House. And to achieve that, he must do “big things” and diminish the reputations and legacies of Presidents Biden and Obama and others. Taylor Swift, for example, has repeatedly been the target of juvenile Trump social media posts.
You need a scorecard to keep track of everything Trump has done since winning the November election. (If you want a list, you can find one in the February 9th edition of the New York Times.) Trump has been busy. To keep track, I read the news, discuss issues with others involved in public policy, and monitor Trump’s social media posts (as well as those of his effective co-president, Musk). It isn’t easy to know who is on first.
Where do some of these crazy ideas come from? Why did Trump choose people who he knew, or should have known, were cringeworthy for his cabinet? And how has he managed to create a team that, despite an agenda structured to glorify 78-year-old Trump, shows up to work daily ready to deconstruct government and engage in actions that, with few exceptions, end up in court battles?
To aid in my efforts to understand Trumpism, I expanded the “analytical structure” of the 1967 Clint Eastwood film by adding “The Insane.” I did this because some of Trump’s thinking, relating to his “J6 Patriots,” the Middle East, Canada, and “terminating” the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, can only be categorized as crazy.
Here is part of my working list of what Trump has done since election day 2024:
The Good.
I don’t have anything yet. It is good that illegal border crossings are down, but that arguable “good” outcome results from Trump’s massive ICE crackdown, which includes mass arrests and, most recently, warehousing arrestees in Guantanamo Bay, where critics accuse Trump of building a “concentration camp.”
The Bad.
Cabinet nominees unfit for service because of lack of experience (Hegseth), doubts about loyalty to the United States (Gabbard), or their personal histories (RFK, Jr., Pete Hegseth, Gaetz, and several others). Did you read that RFK, Jr. disclosed massive credit card debt on his financial disclosure forms? What type of person, regardless of their wealth, has a balance of $1 million in card debt?
Can we admit that Elon Musk is “on the scale” and is not the world’s greatest genius? Trump has set Musk loose with the instruction to deconstruct the federal government as a “special employee” of the U.S. Musk’s DOGE, using young, inexperienced people, many from Musk’s SpaceX or Tesla, is evaluating and recommending the “termination” of federal agencies about which they know little or nothing.
Musk contributed $288 million to the Trump campaign. Why would he do that, regardless of his wealth? And why do you think Musk hates government regulation?
How about nominating Ivanka’s father-in-law — a convicted felon — to serve as ambassador to France? That is more than a garden-variety faux pas.
Suspending the enforcement of a statute that criminalizes U.S. businesses engaging in bribery (The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act).
Canceling President Biden’s security briefing.
Canceling security details for Dr. Fauci, John Bolton, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Canceling security briefings for former Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. Wouldn’t using both as resources on national security issues make better sense?
Removing General Milley’s portrait from the wall in the Pentagon. Petty, petty, petty.
The Insane:
Talking about “taking ownership” of Gaza. Most of us gasped when we heard this nonsense. U.S. foreign policy should not be hijacked to create real estate development opportunities.
Pardoning January 6 insurrectionists that injured police and destroyed property. One has already been shot dead by police while resisting arrest for a new crime.
Suggesting Canada should be “The 51st State.” Trump was not kidding.
The Panama Canal and Greenland. Imperialism is alive and well inside the White House (or, better said, inside the president’s brain).
Renaming the Gulf of Mexico. Why?
My analysis could go on. My point? The president has chosen to launch dozens of actions that conflict with the law, are poorly thought-out, alienate allies, and Make America Look Foolish Again.
Many of Trump’s illegal actions are already before the courts. Judges are issuing injunctions and blocking the implementation of many of Trump’s Executive Orders. Sadly, Presidents Musk and Trump have condemned the courts for their actions and will likely continue implementing their plans while appealing the court action.
An impeachment resolution (the first of many) has already been introduced in the House of Representatives. Trump should be lawyering up for another House impeachment, likely if the Democrats retake the House of Representatives in the 2026 elections.
A growing number of Americans are taking a look at what Trump has done in less than a month in office and do not like it. Widespread protests against Trump are coming, and none too soon.
J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, and, too infrequently, other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s List on Medium and Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.
Beryl Smith says
But how do we get back what we will have lost by the next elections: competent administrators of agencies or the agencies themselves, respect in the international world; ruined or compromised/subverted computer files with vast amounts of personal information?
Thank you for laying out the many incursions into what felt, up to now, like good government with the always needed corrections that derive from human intervention/error/misinterpretation. Where do we go from here?
John Dean says
Thank you for reading the piece and asking the fundamental question: Where do we go from here?
I remain hopeful that courts will slow down or stop some of Trump’s destructive actions. I also hope that Congressional Republicans will start to push back on some of his proposals.
Things are pretty bleak right now. The rebuilding process cannot stop until the “deconstruction” effort of Musk/Trump is stopped.
To be clear–we all should support government being more efficient and free of corruption. I don’t think that is what the Trump effort is about.
Deirdre LaMotte says
Hi Beryl, our family is going to be a part of the National Day of Protest in Annapolis on Monday, 12-2:00,
in front of the State House, Lawyer’s Row. All 50 states are participating….
Don’t know what will happen to this nation. This is the great irony of today’s GOP: It is a party that punishes courage and rewards cowardice. Those who took a stand after January 6th have been purged or silenced. Those who know better but choose to keep quiet are rewarded with another term, another committee assignment, another pat on the back from Trump’s inner circle.
This is how democracies decay-not through dramatic coups, but through the slow erosion of moral courage among those entrusted with power. The Senate GOP has abandoned its role as a check on the executive branch, choosing instead to function as an extension of Trump’s will. The House as well,
although the tight numbers are good for obstruction.
Meanwhile, I personally feel Chuck Schumer should be put out to pasture and the Ds need to have an
effective, aggressive leader. Now..
Go after the Rs argument. They are playing a shell game. None of what T and M are doing will ever help
Americans that are not the highest earners. The majority will be hit with slashes in benefits and at least a 4 trillion dollar deficit. All to give tax cuts to the richest people on this planet.
As Greg Sargent said in a recent post:
Shockingly, it turns out that empowering the richest human being on the planet to maliciously and gratuitously heap additional misery on that planet’s most poor, hungry, and desperate people might—just might—pose a niggling political problem to President Donald Trump.
As Joyce Vance says, which is lovely, “we are in this together”.
Verna Thompson says
I just hope that America as we know it, survives until the 2026 election.
John Dean says
Me, too.