The first month of the second presidency of Donald Trump is now over. Only forty-seven more to go!

That, of course, is a daunting prospect, but we can at least open with some good news this week: Trump is already wearing out his welcome with the public. The presidential "honeymoon" period is apparently over (almost before it began). Trump started off his second term with historically dismal ratings, although they did best one previous president -- himself, in his first term. His job approval numbers were actually at 50 percent or just above when he was sworn in this time around (which, as mentioned, every other modern president has beaten), so he could at least claim a majority of the public was behind him. Not any more.

Of course, whenever Trump is faced with an unpleasant reality (like falling poll numbers), he just goes ahead and makes up a new reality in his head. He just gave a speech to a meeting of Republican governors, where he delusionally boasted: "I had an approval rating today of 71 [percent] and another one of 69. I have not heard of those numbers before." Well, there's a reason you (and everyone else) have "not heard of those numbers," and the reason is they do not exist. Trump just made them up out of thin air. His actual approval rating is roughly 25 points lower than what he claimed. Maybe he got it confused with his golf score or something.

There was even better news from the polling as well -- Elon Musk is far less popular than Trump. Also, Trump's numbers are way down on his handling of the economy. Those are two easy lines of attack for Democrats, obviously (more on that later).

Meanwhile, President (de facto) Elon Musk is still rampaging through the federal government without the slightest clue what he's doing. He began the week with what people are now calling the "Saint Valentine's Day massacre," with tens of thousands of emails going out to federal workers telling them they were fired. The firings have continued, and with such a scattershot effort, a whole lot of people are being canned who do very important jobs -- some so important that Musk has been forced to back off and immediately try to rehire the people he just fired.

People at the Federal Aviation Administration were fired -- just after yet another airline accident (which, thankfully, everyone on board survived). Food and Drug Administration employees whose jobs centered on fighting bird flu were let go -- and then hastily brought back. Musk and his minions were all set to scrap half a billion dollars' worth of COVID tests before the media broke the story and forced them to reconsider. People responsible for the nation's nuclear arsenal were also summarily canned, before they attempted to rehire the same people.

Not everyone is getting rehired, though. People are being let go who work for agencies like FEMA, and the C.D.C., all the way down to the National Park Service. The effects of these firings is going to be felt by the public in various ways, of course. Government services are going to be slower and more infrequent, and harder to access for lots and lots of people. This is not making things more "efficient" -- it is doing the exact opposite. Here's the best rundown we've yet read on the many, many ways this could all go horribly wrong:

However bloated the government bureaucracy might be, the solution is not indiscriminately firing nuclear weapons inspectors, Head Start staff, law enforcement officers or air traffic controllers. (Yes, mere weeks after multiple deadly airplane crashes, Trump is canning hundreds of employees at the Federal Aviation Administration.) Nor does it seem wise to grant Musk and his DOGE goons access to the treasury's sensitive payments system or your personal taxpayer data in order to cut "waste, fraud and abuse."

Likewise, when American voters expressed frustration with health-care costs, they were presumably not seeking to cut funds for cancer research (as this administration has tried to do). They didn't vote for public health agencies to suppress research on bird flu or to fire disease trackers in the middle of bird flu and measles outbreaks. Or to remove seasonal flu vaccine campaign materials from government websites as hospitalization rates for the illness hit a 15-year high.

As annoyed as some Americans may be about "DEI" and speech policing, it's hard to imagine that they thought rectifying the problem meant taking away sign-language interpreting services from deaf people or purging educators who assist children with special needs. Or, for that matter, tearing down school posters of Harriet Tubman, deleting taxpayer-funded data on adolescent suicidal ideation and halting recognition of Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Pentagon.

Americans generally think we spend too much money on foreign aid (despite foreign aid representing 1 percent of total federal spending). Even so, Americans did not vote for allowing nearly $500 million in food grown by American farmers to spoil because Musk shut down international food-assistance programs. Or giving China the opportunity to clean up our messes after we abandon allies. Or suspending anti-terrorism programs in West Africa and the Middle East.

And that doesn't even mention the latest outrage -- cutting money from the fund for 9/11 survivors. The next targets in the parade of chaos might generate some blowback from Republican voters, though. The Pentagon has been told to prepare across-the-board cuts of eight percent -- every year for the next five years. If these actually happen, it would shrink the military budget by over a third. Perhaps a few GOP members of Congress might have different ideas about that? We'll see... they've been willing to go along with just about everything so far, but this might just be a bridge too far for them.

The Republican Congress has mostly ignoring what has been happening (publicly, at least, while they privately beg the White House not to slash the money going to their states and districts). But they might just be sparking some blowback of their own, because they are now working on a budget bill that would cut a whopping $880 billion from Medicaid. Even though Trump is still saying things like "Medicare, Medicaid... it's not going to be touchable." If the Republicans do pass such a Draconian cut, Democrats should point it out to the millions of Trump voters on Medicaid with the slogan: "Promises made, promises broken" (but again, more on that later).

Some Republican voters are already seriously annoyed at what Musk has been doing and how he's been doing it. Farmers, for instance, who aren't getting money they were promised from the government. One Republican House member in Georgia just got an earful at a town hall this week, even though he is from a very safe red district. People are not happy with all this "move fast and break stuff," to put it mildly.

Trump held an interview (with a friendly network) this week, and once again, there was Elon Musk at his side. It's pretty obvious who is the puppet and who is pulling the strings. Maybe Trump likes Elon so much because they both use the same technique when talking to the press: lie. Tell whoppers. Make numbers up out of thin air. Lie about all the wonderful "savings" Musk has made (with Trumpian made-up numbers which are then exaggerated even further, just for good measure). Musk claims he's saved $50 billion so far, but when the numbers are examined it turns out to be more like $4 billion. Trump then doubles down and claims "hundreds of billions" have already been saved.

The two both seem to be vying with each other as to who can be more Orwellian in their lies. The Washington Post had to already print an article translating the words Trump says into what they actually mean in plain language, and this is only going to increase over time.

This was pointed out in a rather interesting way this week by a federal judge, who is overseeing a case brought by transgender servicemembers who are accusing Trump of discrimination. The Department of Justice had to argue that all of the actions the new administration has taken are not actually "discrimination," so these people had no right to sue because none of it rose to the level of actual prejudice. Here's some of what the judge had to say:

The judge continued: "[President Donald Trump] has blocked schools from using federal funds to promote the idea that gender can be fluid; he's directed the State Department to stop issuing documents that allow a third X gender marker; he has changed the reference to LGBTQ on government websites to only LGB, literally erasing transgender people; banned the participation of transgender women in women's sports; revoked the ability of transgender federal employees to receive gender-affirming care; stopped medical treatment, necessary medical treatment; directed that all transgender people in federal prison be denied medical treatment and be housed by sex, where they are nine times more likely to have acts of violence committed against them, including rape, repeated rape."

Agencies have been directed to take down everything that promotes what the White House calls "gender ideology" from federal websites, including information on contraception, vaccines or HIV/AIDS, she continued. The Trump administration even went so far as to revoke previous policies that ensured transgender people had equal access to homeless shelters.

. . .

When [U.S. Attorney Jason] Lynch disagreed that any of those examples rose to the level of prejudice that would permit the trans service members to sue, the judge, exasperated, thundered at him: "Well, what on Earth would?"

But Judge Ana Reyes saved her most scathing comment for the homeless shelter situation. She revealed that someone had sent her an email asking if she had a relationship with Jesus Christ.

"That email assumes I don't have a relationship with Jesus already.... I've been told to have a closer relationship with him," Reyes said. "What do you think Jesus would say to telling a group of people that they are so worthless we're not going to allow them into homeless shelters? You think Jesus would say, 'That sounds right to me?' Or would he say, 'WTF, of course let them in'?"

Remember when it was actually Republicans who made: "What would Jesus do?" a slogan? It's nice to see the "WWJD?" question get thrown back at them, to point out the cruelty of what has been happening.

So far, President (de facto) Musk hasn't been interested in foreign policy, so he's allowed Trump to do whatever he wants on the world stage. This, of course, has been an utter disaster from start to finish. This week it got even worse, as Trump talked to Vladimir Putin and apparently is ready to give Russia pretty much everything it wants in Ukraine.

As usual, Trump has been doing so with a blizzard of lies. He claimed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "started" the war (he didn't, Russia invaded) and claimed Zelensky was a "dictator" (which is not true, he was duly elected) with a "four percent" approval rating from his people (Zelensky is in the mid-to-high-50s in the polls).

The Republican Party, seeing a U.S. president appease a Russian leader, immediately rose up as one and demanded we honor our commitment to an ally and fight Russia's tyrannical land-grab, invoking the name of Ronald Reagan.

Well, no. They didn't actually do that. Mostly, they just rolled over and went along with Trump, overturning the anti-Russian stance the party has strongly held onto since World War II. Ronnie? Ronnie who? Never heard of the guy....

Meanwhile, Trump is apparently attempting to quote Napoleon ("He who saves his Country does not violate any Law"), and not only referred to himself as a king, but posted on social media: "LONG LIVE THE KING!" The official White House tweet showed Trump with a crown on his head on a fake magazine cover. Your tax dollars at work, folks!

Democrats, for the most part, need to get up off the mat, dust themselves off, and forcefully make their case to the American people. So far, most of them have not been especially notable in their efforts to do so. But Trump is now vulnerable, in a whole bunch of ways. He and President Musk have been setting so many things on fire that they have provided multiple ways to fight back.

We do have to honor those who are getting themselves out there, though, which is why our Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week this week is Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She has been fighting back in numerous ways, some of which have really gotten under the skin of some Trumpies.

One of which is Trump's "border czar," who tried to sic the Justice Department on A.O.C. for notifying immigrants of their rights (which is perfectly legal, by the way).

A.O.C., true to form, slapped back at both Tom Homan (the border czar) and Vice President JD Vance (for his hypocrisy in urging Europe to uphold free speech). Part of her response:

Homan has nothing. The Fourth Amendment is clear and I am well within my duties to educate people of their rights. He can threaten me with jail & call names all he wants. He's got nothing else.

This is the type of fighting spirit Democrats are now looking for. It's not only Trump's polling numbers that are down -- Democratic voters are not very happy with the way Democrats in Congress have been acting (or "not acting," to be more accurate). Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer haven't really been very inspirational as yet, so it falls to people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to show the rest of them what taking on Trump should look like.

Which is why she is our Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week this week.

[Congratulate Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on her House contact page, to let her know you appreciate her efforts.]

It's not really disappointing, more like "a swing and a miss," but we had to at least mention House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries this week. Jeffries hasn't been all that prominent over the past month, although he occasionally does try to take potshots at Trump. But the nickname he came up with (if anyone actually notices) could actually backfire, because rather than a taunt it sounds kind of cool instead. The nickname? "Captain Chaos." Which you could easily see Trump using, with a grin on his face. Back to the drawing board, Hakeem.

We actually don't have a Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week this week, but in its place we're minting a new award -- the Silliest Democrat Of The Week.

See if you agree with that label -- here's the story:

California is synonymous with the golden poppy and the California redwood. If one assemblyman has his way, the state could soon adopt Bigfoot, a.k.a. Sasquatch, as its latest official emblem.

Assemblyman Chris Rogers (D-Santa Rosa) authored AB 666 in hopes of making Bigfoot the state cryptid. And what's a cryptid? It's an animal, being or entity that has not been proven to exist but has been reported by eyewitnesses or other sources of evidence -- think, the Loch Ness Monster and the Abominable Snowman.

Style points for making it Assembly Bill 666, we suppose. But seriously... Bigfoot? Do we really need to give the rest of the country a reason to laugh at California Democrats right now? We love a good joke too, but the timing seems incredibly bad, that's all we're saying.

So for being a poster child for "Democrats doing silly things" this week, Chris Rogers is our Silliest Democrat Of The Week this week.

[Contact California Assemblyman Chris Rogers on his official contact page, to let him know what you think of his actions.]

Volume 784 (2/21/25)

It is tempting to "fight fire with fire," by which we mean "use the same lies and propaganda techniques as the Republicans," but Democrats for the most part are better than that. They wouldn't, for instance, use as a talking point: "Under Donald Trump, planes are falling out of the sky!" It's not really fair and it cheapens tragedy to use it as a political weapon. So Democrats won't use it (leave it to the late-night comics, instead).

But boy, it sure is tempting, isn't it?

Instead, this week's talking points are mostly geared towards talking to Trump's own voters. They're starting to turn on him (in the polling), so now is the time to drive that wedge as deep as possible. Point out the many ways Trump is breaking the various promises he made to them. Sure, it's fine and good when Trump is attacking lefties, but what about what he's been doing to all those folks who voted for him?

   Trump's only plan is to make the economy worse

This is the strongest talking point for Democrats because it is Trump's biggest vulnerability.

"Donald Trump promised everyone on the campaign trail that he would fix the economy starting on Day One. Prices would go down. Things would get cheaper. Inflation would fall to almost nothing. Well, he's had a month and so far he has done absolutely nothing about the economy. The only idea he has is to slap tariffs on everything, which will make everything more expensive, not cheaper. Meanwhile, inflation is going up again and the price of eggs is through the roof -- they used to be about a dollar a dozen and now it's more like a dollar per egg. Is housing getting cheaper? No. Are prescription drug prices going down? Nope. Gas prices are going up again too. And the only person Trump cares about is the world's richest man -- not you. Promises were made, and promises were broken. If I was a Trump voter, right about now I would be feeling ripped off. Or lied to."

   Medicaid on the chopping block

Again, this is going to hurt a whole lot of Trump voters. So point it out.

"Promises made, promises broken -- like on Medicaid. Trump swore up and down he wasn't going to touch Medicaid funding. But he's cheering on the Republicans in Congress as they are slashing 880 billion dollars from Medicaid. And it's a safe bet that the Republicans are all going to claim they're just cutting 'waste, fraud, and abuse.' Which is a lie. How many of you are on Medicaid, or have a family member on Medicaid? You are nothing more than waste, to Trump. Or you're a fraudster, abusing the system. So your health insurance is going to disappear, or get more expensive at the very least. And they're also eyeing cutting the subsidies that allow working-class people to afford premiums on the Obamacare marketplace, so that's going to get a whole lot more expensive too. Trump promised he wouldn't touch Medicaid, but to him you are just 'waste' that can easily be cut. He's not fighting for you -- he's fighting to make your life worse."

   Free I.V.F.! Well... maybe not....

Trump dodged this one this week, hoping that nobody was paying attention.

"Remember when Trump was campaigning and he made a promise that in vitro fertilization services would all be covered by everyone's medical insurance? He even said he'd make I.V.F. 'free' for everyone, as I recall. His exact words were: 'under the Trump administration, we are going to be paying for that treatment. We're going to be mandating that the insurance company pay.' Well, guess what? Trump just signed an executive order that is completely toothless and doesn't even come close to fulfilling that promise. It has no mandate, either for the government or private insurance. There is no plan to bring the costs down at all, his order basically just says: 'Wouldn't it be nice if this happened?' without any actual plan to make it happen. Yet again -- promises made, promises broken."

   Farmers getting ripped off

Keep hitting this one, because people out there in rural pro-Trump areas are feeling the brunt of it.

"The federal government promised farmers money to achieve certain goals. But once Donald Trump took over, they just cut off all the payments. Leaving farmers on the hook for tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. The promise made to pay them this money was broken, plain and simple. And if Elon Musk has his way and cuts off all foreign aid, farmers won't have that market to count on anymore either. You know, a whole lot of farmers voted for Donald Trump, and now he seems intent on just ripping them off. I have no idea why -- you'd think Trump would take care of farmers, since most of them voted for him. But they're just getting chalked up as more 'waste, fraud, and abuse,' and Trump doesn't seem to care one bit."

   Keep my data private!

This one is kind of flying below the media's radar, but average people are pretty horrified by the prospect.

"You know what? Nobody elected Elon Musk to anything. And yet now he wants to see all my tax returns and other tax data, and he wants to comb through the Social Security database as well. And he doesn't care if he publicly posts classified data. The world's richest man wants to see what your tax returns look like. I don't know about you, but I am definitely not OK with that. Keep my data private! Don't let Elon trample through it with hobnailed boots! Nobody elected Elon!"

   Why are they firing veterans?

This one seems to be hitting home even on Fox News. While they are free to ridicule all the other types of federal employees who are being summarily fired, there's one group -- and it's a big one -- they do seem to care about. So speak directly to that.

"Why is Elon Musk firing so many veterans? These are people who know what service to their country is all about, since they served in uniform already. And then a lot of them want to continue serving the country, so they get government jobs after they retire from the military. Thousands of them have been swept up in Musk's firing spree, for no reason whatsoever. Because the richest man in the world doesn't care about serving this country. If he did, he might have second thoughts about firing so many veterans, but he obviously doesn't. All those veterans are just 'waste, fraud, and abuse' to him."

   The meat-axe comes for the Pentagon

This one is sure to make plenty of Republicans uncomfortable (if not downright angry).

"So the new secretary of Defense just told everyone in the Pentagon that they're going to have to cut one-third of the budget over the next five years. Yep, you heard that right -- they want to trim almost three hundred billion dollars a year from the military budget. Funny, but I don't remember Trump campaigning on that one. How many Republicans are really OK with this? You really think that one-third of the Pentagon's budget is 'waste, fraud, and abuse'? You really think now is the time to slash our military budget by one-third? What do you think that is going to do to our military readiness, not to mention our national security? How many Trump voters really think this is the right thing to do?"

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant

Cross-posted at: Democratic Underground