PART 2 OF 3: TWO TRUMP ADMINISTRATIONS — 80 ACTIONS AND CONSEQUENCES
First term: 2017–2021. Second term: 2025 onward.
Projected losses and risks are identified below; blocked attempts are not described as fully implemented policies.
28.First term: Distributed farm assistance unevenly. GAO found some crops received more than their estimated trade damage while others received less.
29.First term: Prolonged the 2018–2019 shutdown during the border-wall funding fight, disrupting services and economic activity. Congress also shared responsibility for resolving the impasse.
30.Second term: Imposed sweeping emergency tariffs that the Supreme Court later struck down, disrupting businesses under an unlawful use of presidential authority.
31.Second term: Repeatedly changed tariff arrangements, complicating business pricing, purchasing, and investment.
32.Second term: Weakened consumer-finance examinations, increasing the risk that abusive financial practices go undetected.
33.Second term: Signed legislation projected to leave 10 million additional people uninsured in 2034. That is a future estimate, not a count of people already losing coverage.
34.Second term: Added Medicaid work and reporting requirements projected to cause coverage losses, including through paperwork barriers.
35.Second term: Removed Medicaid eligibility from categories of legally present immigrants, including vulnerable refugees.
36.Second term: Reduced food-assistance eligibility through SNAP changes projected to remove millions of participants in an average month once implemented.
37.Second term: Restricted Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood, threatening access to contraception, screenings, and other care. Implementation has been litigated.
38.First term: Publicly minimized COVID-19 after privately acknowledging its danger.
39.First term: Allowed political influence over some CDC pandemic guidance, undermining trust in scientific advice.
40.Second term: Dismissed all 17 members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel, disrupting independent expert review.
41.Second term: Canceled or curtailed approximately $500 million in mRNA vaccine-development work, risking weaker preparation for future outbreaks.
42.Second term: Withdrew the United States from the World Health Organization, reducing participation in international health coordination.
43.Second term: Disrupted public-health agencies through mass layoffs. Some positions were subsequently restored.
44.First term: Separated migrant children from their parents, causing trauma and burdening government care systems.
45.First term: Implemented family separation without adequate planning for children’s care.
46.First term: Failed to maintain adequate tracking systems for separated families, complicating reunification.
47.First term: Imposed travel restrictions that kept some families apart for years.
48.Second term: Wrongfully deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador despite an order protecting him from removal there.
49.Second term: Resisted promptly correcting that deportation, exposing the difficulty of obtaining relief after someone is transferred beyond U.S. control.
50.Second term: Attempted to restrict birthright citizenship by executive order. The Supreme Court rejected the original policy in 2026.
51.Second term: Targeted transgender service members for exclusion, risking the loss of trained personnel regardless of individual performance.
52.Second term: Attempted to revoke Harvard’s ability to enroll international students, disrupting education and recruitment. Courts intervened.
53.Both terms: Withdrew from the Paris climate agreement, weakening the reliability of American climate commitments.
54.First term: Weakened power-plant carbon controls by replacing the Clean Power Plan with a rule requiring much smaller emissions reductions.