March 20, 2025
How Trump is Bringing Shame to the American Presidency
Philip Kotler
Donald Trump made it clear from his first presidency that he wanted to “Make America Great Again.” He would attack our Obama-designed medical system, our ineffectual Department of Education, and our high-cost social entitlement systems of Medicaid and Social Security.
In running for his second term, he boasted that he could bring down the cost of living, deport all criminal and illegal immigrants, and secure the Southern border. With the help of Elon Musk, he would reduce waste in the federal government. He would raise tariffs against countries who were charging Americans too much.
Since his inauguration, he has spent much time at the Presidential desk writing executive orders never seen before by the American public. Most orders came out of his head rather than from deliberate meetings with Congressional leaders. Many orders assume executive power and privileges that cross the line of constitutional law and order.
That Trump’s first month of his second term has created chaos is a given. It is also clear that he is neglecting the hope of citizens for lower prices. Instead, he is proceeding with a course of action never approved by American voters to change the nature of American democracy. He wants no bilateral participation from the Democrats. He wants no interference from judges. He wants no anti-Trump talk from the media.
Trump’s aim is “America First.” America does not need to send foreign aid abroad. America does not need to pamper Canada and Mexico or its former allies. In fact, America ought to expand its ownership interests in Greenland, Panama Canal, and even Gaza.
I decided to list below all the major actions that Trump has taken in the first month of his second term Presidency.
First, I will list some of his most outlandish ideas:
. Make Gaza into a Casino
. Make Canada the 51st State.
. By Greenland
. Take over the Panama Canal
. Abandon Puerto Rico to be an independent island.
. Assert that Ukraine started the war with Russia.
. Rename Gulf of Mexico into Gulf of America
. Build Park showing major national leaders including Trump
. Ban the federal purchase of paper straws.
Now I will list Trump’s most damaging ideas.
. End climate control and increase the polluting fossil fuels of petroleum and coal
. Eliminate the income tax system and replace it with revenue from tariffs
. Raise money through tariff wars and assume that it won’t raise costs to American consumers
. Allow Elon Musk to collect proprietary information from federal agencies
. Allow Elon Musk to run Doge and mass-fire whole staff of experts on weather prediction, nuclear security, educational advancement, etc.
. Ignore the rule of law in cutting federal jobs
. Arrest illegals and deport them without any legal procedures
. Cut the federal agents who monitor and expose corruption
. Cut billions off Medicaid and Social Security so that the rich can have lower taxes
. Raise tariffs to Canada, Mexico and all our former alliance partners
. Close down all U.S. foreign assistance programs
. Close the Department of Education (in spite of declining student scores)
. Terminate America’s membership in WHO (World Health Organization) and the Paris Agreement on Climate Control
. Favor Russia in dealing with Ukraine and minimize or eliminate NATO
. Cut down free speech and deport persons with controversial political views (arresting Mahmoud Khalil for favoring Palestinians)
. Drop support of our veterans by planning to cut $22 billion from the Pact Act
. End merit-based Civil Service
. Alienate the Wall Street business community
. Alienate the university community
. Privatize the U.S. Postal System
. Cut $1 billion from school lunch programs
. Exploit America’s public lands, national forests and national parks for oil drilling
. Cut food assistance programs and health care programs
. Privatize the National Park System which under public control generates $55.6 billion on an annual cost of $3.6 billion
. Penalize law firms and federal agencies that worked on persecuting Trump
. Damage scientific research by denying coverage of overhead research costs of scientific research
. Eliminate all medical aid and support of transgender citizens
. End ban on explicitly doing business with “segregated facilities”
. Pause foreign corrupt practices act enforcement in order to further American economic interests
What Can be Done?
We need a new polling system to see what American voters think about each Trump action. With which actions do American voters have high agreement, low agreement, high disagreement or low disagreement?
Meanwhile, Democrats need to prepare a clear statement of the goals of the Democratic party and their contrast with Trump’s goals.
Trump wants to obtain absolute dictatorial power. He mostly admires dictators of other countries such as Putin in Russia, Xi Jinping in China, Viktor Orban in Hungary, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey.
The major hope is that his policies will dissatisfy the public. They will rebel against the growing cost-of-living and the lack of free speech and turn against him.
