A Frenetic Four Weeks

It has been four weeks since Donald Trump was inaugurated as President for his second term.

What a four weeks it has been.

It has been like nothing I have ever seen or could have imagined.

The pace and scope of the Trump agenda is beyond anything most anyone expected.

A prime example has been Trump's cabinet nominations.

When Trump first named his cabinet nominees the consensus was that he would have a difficult time getting all of them confirmed.

Many believed that Pete Hegseth, RFK, Jr,, Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel and Pam Bondi would especially face a lot of opposition in the Senate.

There was even talk that Trump might have had to take the extraordinary measure of recessing Congress and using the recess appointment process to get these names approved.

Trump is currently on the brink of getting all of his key nominees confirmed with the Patel vote scheduled to take place this week.

In addition, in his first four weeks he has embarked on an all out assault on the government bureaucracy with DOGE audits.

He has ICE rounding up and deporting illegal aliens.

He is declassifying files on the JFK and RFK assassinations, the Jeffrey Epstein files, Covid 19 origins and UFO's.

Trump has imposed tariffs to assist in leveling the playing field with foreign competitors and take pressure off of the federal income tax.

He has gotten American citizens that were imprisoned in Venezuela and Russia released.

Trump has announced a plan to rebuild Gaza.

Federal employees have been ordered to return to work at their offices and those with probationary status have been terminated.

Men have been banned from participating in women's sports.

Hospitals that perform transgender procedures on minors will not be eligible to receive any federal funding.

Trump seems to have had more interactions with the press in four weeks than Biden had in four years.

Trump is involved on so many fronts and at such a frenetic pace it has been challenging for the Democrats to forcefully challenge him on anything.

The Democrats seem to have decided that the best chance they have is to attack Trump's ties with Elon Musk, argue that nobody voted for what Trump is doing and argue that Trump is fomenting a constitutional crisis with his actions.

However, those arguments do not seem to be carrying much weight with voters.

The four most recent polls on Trump's approval rating have him at an average net score of +6.

Source: https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/approval/donald-trump/approval-rating

Trump's approval rating is higher now than when he was elected. It is also higher than it has ever been since he entered politics.

An ABC poll on Trump's key agenda issues shows strong support among voters.

70% of voters in a CNN poll agree that Trump is doing exactly what he promised he would do.

Link: https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1888954522459869675

That result in the CNN poll was reinforced by a focus group conducted with swing voters in Arizona by Axios (a left leaning news website) that found that every voter in the group approved of Trump's actions thus far and most approved of Musk's efforts.

Credit: https://x.com/ScottJenningsKY/status/1890380812471701741

The bottom line from that focus group is that swing voters are delighted with what Trump and Musk are doing to bring more accountability from government.

The moderator of the focus group said "Democrats should be scared to death" based on the views of these swing voters.

Credit: https://x.com/ScottJenningsKY/status/1890380812471701741

The most interesting polling I have seen lately is the recent survey from Rasmussen Reports which found that for the first time in over 20 years more voters believed the nation was on the right track compared to the wrong track.

47% right track vs. 46% wrong track.

For perspective, last August only 26% of voters believed the United States was on the right track compared to 65% who believed it was on the wrong track.

Source: RealClearPolitics.com

That is a huge change in attitudes in a very short period of time.

It is all due to Donald J. Trump.

Of course, Donald Trump could not be doing anything so ambitious without the approval and support that he has from the American people.

The only reason that Trump has been able to get all of his cabinet nominees through the Senate is the strong popular support that he has. That support has only gotten stronger since the election and as voters have seen Trump following through on his campaign promises.

I believe the DOGE findings have done a lot to reinforce voters support of Trump's agenda to show how far off track the federal bureaucracy is.

Any Republican choosing to oppose Trump's cabinet nominees and his agenda right now is effectively saying that they have no interest in continuing their political career (e.g., Mitch McConnell).

Voters are saying they have Trump's back and they expect the Senate and House to do the same.

A simple truth is also revealed in what we are seeing with Trump right now.

The people are sovereign in our system. Their power is absolute.  Unfortunately, too many people don't believe it. The simple fact is that politicians have no power unless the people provide it.

Laws that do not have public backing do not survive over the long term. Lawmakers who make laws that people do not support do not stay in office very long. Politicians who do not do the will of the people soon need to find other employment.

Presidents who have popular support can accomplish a great deal. Trump is proving that right now.

Trump won on a platform of common sense proposals with a simple message that resonated with voters-Make America Great Again. He understands that he has a limited amount of time to implement his agenda which explains the frenetic pace.

However, popular support can be fleeting. The expectations of voters are often not met with corresponding results. 

Barack Obama was sitting at 69% approval shortly after taking office only to see the Democrats lose a Senate seat in Massachusetts in less than a year.

George H.W. Bush had overwhelming support as he rallied the United States and the world against the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War. Bush's 89% approval rating in 1991 did not help the next year when he lost to Bill Clinton.

Donald Trump understands all of this.

That is why I think we will continue to see a frenetic pace matched with a fearless, ferocious and focused effort to turn his campaign promises into successes.

How far can Trump go in transforming America?

Trump will only go as far as the people of America are willing to stay the course and continuing supporting him

The first four weeks are always easiest on that score.

Sustaining the momentum for the full four years is where it will become very difficult.

However, if Trump can succeed he will become one of the most transformative Presidents in history.

That success could also mean that the Democrat party might also have to totally transform itself to remain relevant.

It promises to be an interesting four years.