What a Week for Trump Policy! – Top 3 Takeaways – February 7th, 2025
- What a week! We need to breakout a new version of Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire just to keep up with what President Trump and his administration has done this week and we didn’t have to wait until Monday for there to be major news. We started with tariffs that were set to be imposed by Tuesday on Canada, China and Mexico following executive orders signed by Trump on Saturday. By Sunday Secretary of State Marco Rubio began his Central American tour to spread Trump policy throughout the region and it was then that we learned President Trump secured his first major foreign policy win as the president of Panama announced, following his meeting with Rubio, that Panama would in fact backtrack on its deal with China, severing ties with the Chicoms as Trump had demanded (or, you know, we’d take the Panama Canal back). No occupation needed, no bombs with Chicoms proceeded, all it ended up costing the United States to get China out of operations in the Panama Canal was the cost Rubio’s flight. By Monday morning the president of Mexico and effeminate Prime Minister of Canada said oh no about the prospect of getting tagged with tariffs as Mexico is 4 times more reliant on us for trade than we are on them...and the impact is greatest for Canada which is 4.5 times more reliant on the US for trade than we are on them...so both caved and promised to give President Trump everything he wanted on both of our borders. In return Trump signed two new executive orders pausing the imposition of tariffs on them for at least 30 days to provide both countries with the time to prove that they will in fact change their ways. And with those announcements Trump achieved his second and third major foreign policy wins of the week – wins that didn’t cost us a thing. But it was also on Monday that President Trump signed an executive order seeking to establish a Sovereign Wealth Fund for the purpose, according to Trump, to promote fiscal sustainability, lessen the burden of taxes on American families and small businesses, establish economic security for future generations, and promote United States economic and strategic leadership internationally. Trump has suggested the funding for the fund could come from tariffs. OMB has 90 days to act on that. But Trump wasn’t done, it was also on Monday that Trump signed an executive order aimed at withdrawing US funding from and participation with three UN organizations (the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization; and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
- It was also on Monday that Elon Musk and team DOGE announced that USAID was done. In the words of Musk in making the announcement on behalf of the president he said the agency was: Beyond repair. Elon said the agency wasn’t an apple with a worm in it, but rather a ball of worms. USAID is a ball of worms he said. And what a ball of worms it in fact is as we learned that the agency was funding a transgender opera in Columbia, a tranny comic book in Peru, a DEI musical in Ireland oh and effectively a pay-for-play money laundering scheme with Politico whereby over $30 million in taxpayer money was funneled their way. That’s fun. But that wasn’t all that happened Monday. Rubio’s second stop on his Central American tour took him to El Salvador where he scored another major win. When the El Salvadorian president, who’s far more manly than Justin Trudeau, said he’d take on the US’s criminal illegal alien deportees for a fee (and in fact even offered to take on American criminals too – though that’s not exactly constitutional for us to do). Again, all of that happened by the end of the day on Monday. By Tuesday the 10% additional Chinese tariff did go into place as China decided to dig in with a smattering of retaliatory tariffs of their own that they say will take effect this upcoming Monday...so that’s a thing, but notably the week delay for China imposing its tariff suggests they hope to strike a deal – so stay tuned for news about that one before Monday. Anyway, Tuesday...
- Proved to be another bombshell day with word from President Trump that he was in the process of drafting the executive order that would lay the groundwork to put an end to the Department of Ed. Quoting Trump: We spend more per pupil than any other country, and we’re ranked at the bottom. I want to let the states take charge of schools. That executive order can’t come too soon. It was also on Tuesday that the first flights from ICE deporting criminal illegal immigrants to Guantanamo Bay took place. Tuesday was also the day that President Trump held bilateral meetings with Benjamin Netanyahu, with Trump pledging continued support for all hostages to be released under the cease fire deal, in addition to a rock-solid commitment to support Israel against all its enemies. Of course, there was also the presser that rocked the world. Specifically, the idea that that President Trump is considering a plan for the United States to “take over” the Gaza Strip for the purpose of rebuilding and bringing peace, stability and economic opportunity to the region. There was another major foreign policy move made on Tuesday that was related to Trump’s policy to potentially expand the United States. Greenland’s Prime Minster has called a general election to take place on March 11th for the purpose of focusing on establishing further independence from Denmark and ways to enhance its economy. Both are plays that more closely align with what Trump would like to see happen in that region. Wednesday was tranny take a hike day. It was a day that brought about a heavy dose of common sense – which actually once again exists – As President Trump signed the executive order: Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports which mandates that any entity accepting federal funds must not allow biological males to compete as a female...as is stated in the order... Therefore, it is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy. It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women's sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth. Again – an actual return to common sense. On Wednesday, Marco Rubio also scored another Trump administration win as Guatemala agreed to a 40% increase in deportation flights from the United States, including taking deportees regardless of nationality. Thursday was to be the deadline day for federal workers to accept an eight-month federal buyout or risk being laid off as DOGE does it’s work to right-size the federal government. A federal judge stepped in and extended the buyout deadline until at least Monday. So obviously it remains to be seen what the final number who accepted it will be, although over 60,000 had taken it entering Thursday, a total that’s about 2% of the federal workforce... Also on Thursday President Trump started the day with the National Prayer Breakfast and promising additional executive action and that’s exactly what he delivered when he signed two additional executive orders – one sanctioning the International Criminal Court, which issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, and another targeting anti-Christian bias with the establishment of a task force that’s being headed by AG Pam Bondi. And today is only Friday. Stand by for news... We’ve never seen anything like this. Week 3 has proved to be every bit as busy and productive as Trump’s first week.