This Administration has committed so many outrageous acts that Americans have become numb to the onslaught and simply fail to process their repercussions. Here are some examples.
Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr. and his team used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to write their Make America Healthy Again report. Seven studies listed in the report were either wildly misinterpreted or never occurred. Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, told The Washington Post, “This is not an evidence-based report, and for all practical purposes, it should be junked at this point.”
Draft-dodger President Trump gave a commencement speech at West Point and skipped the traditional handshake and salute to each graduating cadet. Instead, he made a beeline to his golf course. During his speech, he found time to opine on the concept of trophy wives.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has dramatically limited press access inside the Pentagon and has ejected The New York Times, CNN, Politico, and NPR from their dedicated workspaces inside the building. Since the Signalgate debacle, Hegseth has given no press conferences.
On Memorial Day, Trump called judges who oppose him “monsters” who want the United States “to go to hell.”
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Secretary Russell Vought said that OMB would reduce cooperation with the government watchdog Government Accountability Office (GAO) requests because there are too many of them and they are too invasive.
A GAO spokesperson disagreed and said, “The majority of our audit work is mandated in law or in response to bipartisan Congressional requests.”
By the way, OMB’s takedown of its apportionments website, which is a public record of where taxpayers’ money is spent, violates federal statutes.
Trump’s Justice Department is set to pay $5 million to the family of Ashi Babbitt, the Trump-supporter rioter who was shot and killed while trying to climb through a smashed window into the Speaker’s Lobby of the Capitol.
All indications are that Trump’s June 14 military parade will cost $45 million. The DOGE team is in the process of firing up to 80,000 Veteran’s Administration employees, including at least 20,000 veterans.
Trump has issued a series of pardons for several of his loyal followers and campaign donors. In addition to commuting sentences of some January 6 insurrectionists and pardoning all other insurrectionists involved in the attack on the Capitol, he has pardoned reality TV stars who committed fraud, massive tax evaders, and many more loyalists.
Trump is also taking a look at pardoning the men charged with plotting to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is currently on trial for sexual trafficking and several other crimes.
In a humiliating meeting in the Oval Office, which was broadcast globally, Trump told Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, “You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards.” Vice President Vance also chastised Zelensky, accusing him of not showing sufficient gratitude to Trump.
Last weekend made it pretty clear that Zelenskyy has some cards—maybe even an ace. In an operation code-named “Spider’s Web,” Ukraine used 117 drones against Russian military airbases, operating across several Russian regions in three different time zones. Around 40 Russian military planes were hit in the attack. The operation had been planned for more than a year. Ukraine did not notify the Trump administration of the attack in advance.
Trump has fired those whom he feels are too closely aligned with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, including Kim Sajet, Director of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery; Carla Hayden, the longtime librarian of the Library of Congress; and the Chairman and the Board of Trustees of the Kennedy Center.
Last Saturday night, Trump shared a post on Truth Social claiming Joe Biden was executed in 2020 and replaced by a clone.
At a Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas last week, Vice President JD Vance, Don Jr., and Eric celebrated the fact that the current President is a fan of Crypto. Already this administration has eased regulations on Crypto, promoted their growth, and sought to bring Crypto into the mainstream.
Vance owns between $250,000 and $500,000 worth of Bitcoin. Trump Media and Technology Group, the parent company to Truth Social, has announced plans to buy up billions of dollars’ worth of Bitcoin. While the legality of these actions is subject to debate, clearly, they are shameless examples of grift and exploitation.
After Bruce Springsteen called this administration, “corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous,” Trump threatened a “major investigation” and wrote these words on Truth Social: “This dried out prune of a rocker ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the country, that’s just standard fare. Then we’ll all see how it goes for him.” (Trump seemed to have no problem with January 6 insurrectionists using their so called “freedom of speech” rights to scream death threats regarding Nancy Pelosi or chants of “Hang Mike Pence.”)
This Administration has used legal and financial threats to punish universities, law firms, companies, and the courts for failing to align with his agenda. In response, there are currently more than 200 court cases against this administration. Trump has defied several court orders on illegal deportations and university actions.
All actions noted above are straight out of the Project 2025 playbook, which includes tactics on how to overwhelm the opposition by flooding the zone and strategies for limiting access to factual information.
In a so-called “normal administration,” many of the actions listed above would prompt a public outcry and calls for investigations and impeachments.
Experts recommend countering the current flood-the-zone strategy by prioritizing substance over sensation, building resilient information systems, verifying information at all times, educating audiences, engaging with the media, and owning the conversation by emphasizing facts over and over again.
The counterattack full-court press is beginning to gain momentum. May the force be with it.
Maria Grant was the principal-in-charge of a federal human capital practice at an international consulting firm. While on the Eastern Shore, she focuses on writing, reading, music, and nature.
Sarah Oppenheimer says
Well the ‘flooding the zone’ strategy is clearly working because democrats just keep writing articles like this instead of focusing on ideas and policies that may actually help people and win them elections.
Maria Grant says
Since, the beginning of Trump’s second term, democrats have flipped deep-red Senate districts in Iowa and Pennsylvania. Then there is the high-profile democratic win in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race that Musk tried and failed to buy. Plus democrats won a North Carolina supreme court seat. Stay tuned for the 2026 elections.