Week 77 - The Return
The country bounces from crisis to crisis, while Trump plows through norms
Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so you’ll remember.
This was another chaotic week, when our country seemed to skip from crisis to crisis, and Trump became increasingly unbound by past norms. As the Iran War entered its ninth week, and gas prices reached a four-year high, it became increasingly apparent that Trump had no plan to end his war. There was no movement toward any sort of resolution. Reporting this week continued to reveal there had yet to be any real, lasting, positive accomplishments from the war.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, in a reported effort to become Trump’s nominee for the permanent role, moved forward on pursuing Trump’s perceived enemies, breaking norms not only for the direct tie between Trump and the Justice Department, but also for pursuing cases that were clearly political retribution, without a chance of winning.
There was chaos this week at the White House Correspondents Dinner, when an armed individual tried to run through a security checkpoint on the floor above the ballroom where the dinner took place. Trump, his regime, and allies sought to make hay by using the incident to advance his White House ballroom as a security necessity, and to baselessly blame Democrats for all political violence. Trump briefly called for unity, but less than 24 hours later castigated and insulted journalist Norah O’Donnell, his latest in a long list of attacks on female reporters.
Corruption has become increasingly mainstreamed. This week, Paramount’s David Ellison hosted a highly unusual dinner at the former Institute for Peace, attended not only by Trump, but also members of his regime who would have a say in the company’s merger with Warner Brothers being completed, and with a large portion of Middle East investor ownership. Trump hosted large holders of his memecoin $TRUMP at Mar-a-Lago, promising access to the largest holders of the coin, which had lost more than 90% of its value since its January 2025 launch. And so on. All in the light of day, with little to no pushback.
Meanwhile, the American people are not happy. Poll after poll shows Trump’s declining approval ratings overall, and also on all major issues. While Trump quietly and consistently pushed falsehoods about election security ahead of midterms, he also was seeing his MAGA base turn against him on a growing number of issues.
A Fox News poll found 56% of Americans believed the Trump regime was not competent to manage the government, a modern day high. A record 75% said government spending was wasteful, up 18% from a year ago. Trump had his lowest approval rating on all issues.
For the first time since 2010, voters favored Democrats over the GOP in handling of the economy. The poll also found that 32% of self-identified Republicans viewed themselves as non-MAGA, a new high. Trump dismissed the findings, saying polls are “rigged.”
Gallup polling found Americans’ confidence dropped in April: 47% of Americans described current economic conditions as “poor,” up from 40% in March, and 32% said “fair.” Just 23% said the economy was getting better, while 73% said it was getting worse.
Reuters reported that the Trump regime was quietly and systematically moving forward to control U.S. elections, testing constitutional limits one state and one county at a time, including collecting voter records in blue and purple districts, and access to voting machines.
Minnesota’s secretary of state expressed concern that the federal government could interfere with the election. Others raised concerns if their election was close. Even local officials in red districts were uncomfortable with the regime’s push to be involved in their elections.
On Wednesday, after Virginia passed a redistricting vote, Trump baselessly claimed on Truth Social that it was a “rigged election,” blaming the mail-in ballots. A Virginia judge blocked certification of the vote, saying the ballot language was “flagrantly misleading.”
Reuters reported that 46% of respondents believed Trump’s baseless claim that there have been a large numbers of fraudulent ballots cast by non-citizens in U.S. elections, including 82% of Republicans. Also, 63% of Republicans believe the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.
On Wednesday, Navy Secretary John Phelan was abruptly fired by Defense Department Sec. Pete Hegseth, amid a naval blockade, and after mounting conflict with Hegseth and deputy Sec. Stephen Feinberg. Phelan was the 34th senior military official fired by Hegseth.
On Wednesday, the Senate voted 51–46 to reject a war powers resolution that would have limited Trump’s power to wage war against Iran, marking the fifth time the Senate had voted against a resolution. The Iran War entered its ninth week.
On Thursday, David Ellison hosted a private dinner at the U.S. Institute for Peace, as his company Paramount awaited federal approvals of its $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Among those attending were Trump, Blanche, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Stephen Miller.
It was rare for a national media organization to host a party whose guests include powerful politicians that their news divisions cover, and even rarer to do so while a major merger is before the federal government.
On Monday, Paramount asked the Federal Communications Commission to approve foreign investments in its bidfor Warner Bros of slightly less than 50%, including from investors in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the U.A.E., and to allow future foreign investments.
On Wednesday, Trump posted on Truth Social that out of respect to him, Iran had “terminated the planned execution” of eight Iranian women. Iran denied Trump’s claim, and it was later learned that the images of the eight women shared by Trump were artificial intelligence fakes.
On Wednesday, Reuters reported that 15 minutes before Trump posted on Truth Social extending the ceasefire on Tuesday, traders placed bets of $430 million on a drop in oil price, the fourth time that large bets were made in the oil markets shortly before announcements by Trump.
On Thursday, the DOJ arrested Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a special operations soldier who was involved in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, for betting $33,000 on Polymarket days before Trump announced the capture, and netting $409,000.
