Early in President Trump’s first term, McSweeney’s editors began to catalog the head-spinning number of misdeeds coming from his administration. We called this list a collection of Trump’s cruelties, collusions, corruptions, and crimes, and it felt urgent to track them, to ensure these horrors—happening almost daily—would not be forgotten. Now that Trump has returned to office, amid civil rights, humanitarian, economic, and constitutional crises, we felt it critical to make an inventory of this new round of horrors. This list will be updated monthly between now and the end of Donald Trump’s second term.
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ATROCITYKEY
– Constitutional Illegalities, Collusion, and/or Obstruction of Justice – Environment – Harassment, Bullying, Retribution, and/or Sexual Misconduct – Lies and Misinformation – Musk Madness – Policy – Public Statements and Social Media Posts – Trump Family Business Dealings – Trump Staff and Administration – White Supremacy, Racism, Misogyny, Homophobia, Transphobia, and/or Xenophobia
– February 3, 2025 – Trump ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to release 2.2 billion gallons of water from two reservoirs in central California. Local officials scrambled to prepare as communities were threatened of being inundated. On Truth Social, Trump crowed, “The water is flowing in California… and heading to farmers throughout the State, and to Los Angeles. Too bad they refused to do this during my First Term—There would have been no fires!” Neither reservoir was connected to aqueducts serving the southern part of the state. “Those releases had absolutely zero to do with anything in Los Angeles,” said Gregory Pierce, director of UCLA’s Water Resource Group. “This was a stunt purely so Trump could say that he did something.”
– February 3, 2025 – Trump announced the United States would cut aid to South Africa over their recent land expropriation law. On Truth Social, Trump posted, “South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERYBADLY.” Trump’s talking points mirrored those of South Africa–born billionaire Elon Musk. In 2023, Musk said, “They are openly pushing for genocide of white people in South Africa.” White South Africans, who make up about 7 percent of the population, continue to dominate land ownership and occupy almost 50 percent of South Africa’s surface area.
– February 4, 2025 – During a White House press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump said that Palestinians should leave war-ravaged Gaza and settle elsewhere. He also announced that the United States would take over the territory and redevelop it into “the Riviera of the Middle East.” Trump didn’t rule out deploying US troops and offered no other details on how the 1.8 million residents of the Gaza Strip would be resettled or how the US would take ownership of the land. Over 46,000 Palestinians have been killed, many of them children, during the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Trump introduces his idea to make Gaza the “Riviera of the Middle East.” (CNBC)
– February 5, 2025 – Trump signed an executive order banning transgender women and girls from participating in women’s sports. “Who could forget last year’s Paris Olympics, where a male boxer stole the woman’s gold medal after brutalizing his female opponent?” Trump said, repeating a false claim about a female boxer from Algeria, where it is illegal for people to change their gender. “From now on,” he said, “women’s sports will be only for women.” During a congressional hearing in December 2024, NCAA President Charlie Baker said there were fewer than ten transgender athletes among the 510,000 competing at US schools.
– February 6, 2025 – Trump posted on Truth Social that “billions of dollars” from USAID had improperly gone to the media company Politico, which he considers “fake news.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt repeated his claim during a press conference. “I was made aware of the funding from USAID to media outlets, including Politico,” she said. Government agencies used funding to subscribe to Politico Pro, a service that tracks legislation and other policy information. According to USA Spending.gov, USAID paid $24,000 to Politico Pro in 2024 for a subscription to E&E, an energy and environmental news service owned by the company.
– February 7, 2025 – Trump signed an executive order to eliminate “anti-Christian bias” in the federal government. “If we don’t have religious liberty,” he said during a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, “then we don’t have a free country. We probably don’t even have a country.” He appointed Attorney General Pam Bondi to lead a task force that would “fully prosecute anti-Christian violence.” In response, the Interfaith Alliance stated, “We fear that this task force will aid organizations looking to circumvent anti-discrimination laws under the guise of religious freedom… There is no evidence of widespread anti-Christian bias in the United States.”
– February 7, 2025 – Trump’s January 20 executive order stated “illegal aliens” are “presenting significant threats to national security and public safety.” Recent interviews conducted by California nonprofit Cal Matters suggested that some people arrested in Trump’s immigration crackdown were not hardened criminals. Loreal Duran of Echo Park recounted her husband’s arrest. “It was just a regular morning,” she said, as her husband, Giovanni Duran, was getting ready to drive their children to school. Giovanni came to California from El Salvador without federal authorization when he was two years old. He worked as a busser in a sushi restaurant in Los Angeles before he was taken into custody. Loreal’s seven-year-old son asked, “Did Daddy get arrested because he’s brown?” A recent report said
that less than half of the approximately 8,200 people arrested from January 20 through February 2 had criminal convictions.
– February 8, 2025 – Employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) were told to cease “all supervision and examination activity” and “all stakeholder engagement” via an email from newly appointed Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought. A White House statement claimed the CFPB “has long functioned as another woke, weaponized arm of the bureaucracy that leverages its power against certain industries and individuals disfavored by so-called elites.” The CFPB is an independent agency created after the collapse of the US banking system in 2008, which left Americans with massive financial losses and raised questions about the operations of the country’s major financial institutions.
– February 9, 2025 – After two weeks on the lam, a man recently pardoned by President Trump for his role in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack was arrested again, this time on old charges of soliciting a minor. Thirty-six-year-old Andrew Taake allegedly sent sexually explicit messages to an undercover officer posing as a teenage girl in 2016. In 2023, he pled guilty to assaulting officers with bear spray and a metal whip during the Capitol attack and was sentenced to six years in prison. According to Trump, his mass pardon of individuals such as Taake convicted of crimes related to the Capitol attack ended “a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people.”
– February 9, 2025 – “I think Canada would be much better off being the 51st state because we lose $200 billion a year with Canada. And I’m not going to let that happen,” Trump said during an interview with Fox News on Super Bowl Sunday. He claimed Canada was not viable as a country and would be much better off as a fifty-first state. “Mr. Trump has it in mind that the easiest way to do it is absorbing our country, and it is a real thing,” said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “They’re very aware of our resources, of what we have, and they very much want to be able to benefit from those.”
Trump discusses his idea to make Canada the 51st state. (Fox News)
– February 9, 2025 – As Air Force One flew over the Gulf of Mexico en route to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, Trump signed a proclamation designating February 9 as “Gulf of America Day,” following up on his earlier executive order directing the secretary of the interior to rename the Gulf of Mexico. During remarks at Mar-a-Lago on January 7, Trump announced his intentions to change the name and explained his motivations for doing so. “[Mexico is] essentially run by cartels. Mexico’s really in trouble, a lot of trouble, very dangerous place. We’re going to change [that] because we do most of the work there,” he continued, “and it’s ours. It’s appropriate, and Mexico has to stop allowing millions of people to pour into our country. They can stop them.” Comedian Stephen Colbert first used the term “Gulf of America” satirically, following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, joking that “we broke it, we bought it.” In 2012, Democratic State Representative Stephen Holland introduced a satiric bill proposing the name change to draw attention to Republican anti-immigration efforts.
– February 9, 2025 – During the same flight to the Super Bowl, Trump—whose real estate failures have resulted in multiple bankruptcy filings—described Gaza as a “big real estate site” for the US to “own” and “redevelop”: “I think that it’s a big mistake to allow people—the Palestinians, or the people living in Gaza—to go back yet another time, and we don’t want Hamas going back. And think of it as a big real estate site, and the United States is going to own it… and develop it. We’re going to bring stability to the Middle East.” With only a few exceptions for security and military reasons, forced displacement of civilians is a violation of the Geneva Conventions.
– February 10, 2025 – Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove directed federal prosecutors to dismiss charges against New York City mayor Eric Adams without prejudice. In his memo to the Southern District of New York, Bove argued that continued prosecution of Adams would interfere with the mayor’s ability to enforce the Trump administration’s immigration agenda and noted that the order to dismiss was made “without assessing the strength of the evidence or the legal theories on which the case is based.” Adams, who spent months currying favor with Trump, was indicted in September 2024 on charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, soliciting illegal campaign contributions from foreign nationals, and bribery.
– February 10, 2025 – President Trump pardoned former Democratic Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich after first commuting his sentence during his first term. In 2010, Blagojevich was convicted on seventeen corruption and pay-to-play charges—including an attempt to sell the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama—and sentenced to fourteen years in prison, of which he served only eight. During Blagojevich’s trial, prosecutors presented a recording of Blagojevich in which the former governor, referring to the Senate seat, said, “I mean, I’ve got this thing, and it’s fucking golden. And I’m just not giving it up for fucking nothing.” After Blagojevich’s indictment, he appeared on Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice, where the future president praised his “tremendous courage and guts.”
– February 10, 2025 – Following his purge of eighteen Biden-appointed board members, Trump became chairman of the traditionally bipartisan John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and immediately fired its longtime president. A frequent target of Kennedy Center honorees, Trump has criticized the Kennedy Center for its “woke” and queer-friendly programming. “Just last year,” he said, “the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth—THIS WILLSTOP.” Although pundits have frequently described Trump as a performance artist, the president has yet to attend a Kennedy Center performance and is the only president to have skipped the Kennedy Center Honors twice. “I got reports they were so bad,” Trump said, referring to the Kennedy Center shows, “I didn’t want to go. There was nothing I wanted to see.”
– February 11, 2025 – Wearing a “Dark MAGA” hat and black T-shirt, Elon Musk made several false claims about DOGE in the Oval Office. “I don’t know of a case where an organization has been more transparent than the DOGE organization,” said Musk, who also asserted, without evidence, that USAID officials had taken “tens of millions of dollars” worth of “kickbacks.” In actuality, Musk has taken great pains to prevent DOGE staffers from being identified, refused to release his financial disclosure filing, and has not been open about when his staffers will show up at federal agencies or how his team plans to use access to payment systems. “Who is this unelected billionaire, that he can attempt to dismantle federal agencies, fire people, transfer them, offer them early retirement, and have sweeping reform or changes to agencies without any congressional review, oversight, or concurrence?” said US Representative Gerald Connolly. When questioned about some of his previous false statements, Musk responded, “Some of the things that I say will be incorrect and should be corrected. Nobody’s going to bat 1,000.”
– February 13, 2025 – Acting US Attorney Danielle Sassoon resigned over the Justice Department’s order to dismiss charges against NYC Mayor Eric Adams without prejudice. In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Sassoon wrote that dismissing the case against Adams was “inconsistent with my ability and duty to prosecute federal crimes without fear or favor and to advance good-faith arguments before the courts” and accused the mayor’s lawyers of advocating for “what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist with the Department’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed.” Sassoon’s resignation prompted a wave of other resignations, including the departures of John Keller and Kevin Driscoll, who led the DOJ’s public integrity unit in Washington, and Hagan Scotten, the lead prosecutor in the Adams case. “Our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials,” wrote Scotten in his resignation letter. “If no lawyer within earshot of the president is willing to give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me.”
– February 13, 2025 – As part DOGE’s efforts to cut spending and reduce the federal workforce, over three hundred workers at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which oversees the US stockpile of nuclear weapons, were abruptly fired. “The DOGE people are coming in with absolutely no knowledge of what these departments are responsible for,” said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association. “Elon Musk and DOGE are playing a dangerous game,” added Senator Ed Markey. “Cutting 200 NNSA staff overnight weakens oversight and could leave our nuclear stockpile vulnerable. This isn’t smart savings—it’s dangerously irresponsible.” Following significant chaos and criticism, NNSA Acting Director Teresa Robbins was forced to rescind the terminations the following day.
– February 13, 2025 – During President Trump’s meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Agence France-Presse photographer Jim Watson snapped a photo showing a gold-framed New York Post cover featuring Trump’s mugshot hanging just outside the Oval Office. The mug shot, which Trump shared on social media with the caption “NEVER SURRENDER” and which subsequently appeared on Trump campaign merchandise, was taken in August 2023 after Trump was indicted in Fulton County on charges stemming from his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
– February 13, 2025 – The National Park Service removed references to transgender people from its Stonewall National Monument website. What used to be listed as LGBTQ+ was changed to LGB. The Stonewall Uprising in 1969 was a pivotal moment in the LGBQT+ activist movement. The Stonewall Inn released a statement in response, saying, “This blatant act of erasure not only distorts the truth of our history, but it also dishonors the immense contributions of transgender individuals—especially transgender women of color—who were at the forefront of the Stonewall Riots and the broader fight for LGBTQ+ rights.”
– February 14, 2025 – The New York Timesreported that Trump plans to pave over the grass in the Rose Garden so that it resembles his patio at Mar-a-Lago. “The White House has not been given any tender, loving care in many decades, so President Trump is taking necessary steps in order to preserve and restore the greatness and glory of ‘the People’s House,’” said Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director. One of the most iconic White House settings, the Rose Garden has been used for press conferences, bill-signing ceremonies, formal dinners, and weddings.
– February 17, 2025 – On President’s Day, thousands of protesters took to streets across the United States, many calling Trump a “king.” Protesters also rallied against Elon Musk’s team at the Department of Government Efficiency and their pending cuts to social services. Anita Gilmore of Maryland expressed concerns about her son’s health care coverage: “My son is on Medicaid because he has a life-threatening disease, and if I wasn’t there to take care of him, he would be one of these [DC] homeless guys on the street.”
– February 18, 2025 – Panama detained three hundred asylum-seekers who had been deported under President Trump’s orders. The detainees were held in a hotel while they waited for authorities to organize returns to their home countries. Many of the migrants didn’t want to return, due to safety concerns. One migrant attempted suicide and another broke his arm trying to escape. The White House posted a video on social media entitled “ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight.” The caption referred to autonomous sensory meridian response videos, which are popular online for delivering pleasant sounds that create positive and therapeutic sensations.
White House’s “ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight” video. (New York Post)
– February 18, 2025 – Trump called Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “a dictator without elections.” Ukraine is under martial law, which under its constitution forbids the holding of elections. Trump also accused the democratically elected president of Ukraine of starting the war with Russia. “You should have never started it,” Trump said. “You could have made a deal.” Zelenskyy responded by saying, “With all due respect to President Donald Trump as a leader… he is living in a disinformation space.” Russia’s army crossed Ukraine’s border in 2022, an invasion that Putin sought to justify by claiming it was necessary to protect civilians in eastern Ukraine.
– February 20, 2025 – As part of Trump’s slashing of federal government agencies, the IRS announced it would layoff nearly seven thousand workers for “poor performance.” Many of the terminated workers were hired by the Biden administration to focus on enforcement efforts on wealthy taxpayers. “This will ensure that the IRS is not going after the wealthy and is only an agency that’s really focused on the low income,” said University of Pittsburgh tax law professor Philip Hackney, a former IRS lawyer. “It’s a travesty.”
– February 20, 2025 – Kash Patel, an ally of President Trump and conspiracy theorist who appeared on a prominent white nationalist’s podcast eight times, was confirmed by a vote of 51 to 49 to lead the FBI. During the confirmation hearings, senators grilled Patel about his lack of law enforcement experience and expressed doubts about his ability to maintain the independence of the FBI. Patel evaded questions about whether he would investigate officials on a so-called enemies list in his book, Government Gangsters. US Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released a statement saying, “Kash Patel is an extreme MAGA loyalist… He is blindly loyal to Donald Trump and Donald Trump only.”
– February 21, 2025 – During a meeting with a bipartisan group of governors, Trump questioned Maine’s Democratic Governor Janet Mills about complying with the executive order banning transgender athletes in women’s sports. “We are the federal law. You better comply or you’re not getting any federal funding.” Gov. Mills responded, “See you in court.” The US Department of Education promptly informed Maine they were under a “directed investigation.” In a statement, Gov. Mills said, “Do not be misled: This is not just about who can compete on the athletic field, this is about whether a president can force compliance with his will, without regard for the rule of law.”
Trump clashes with Maine Governor Janet Mills over transgender athletes. (C-SPAN)
– February 22, 2025 – Trump addressed members of CPAC and boasted about firing thousands of federal workers, and dismantling USAID, the government’s main international development agency. “We have escorted the radical-left bureaucrats out of the building and have locked the doors behind them.” He also praised the January 6 insurrectionists in attendance, calling them “political prisoners and J6 hostages.” Among those pardoned was Enrique Tarrio, leader of the Proud Boys, who had been convicted of seditious conspiracy. The day before Trump’s address at CPAC, Tarrio was arrested on assault charges.
– February 24, 2025 – The United States voted against a United Nations General Assembly resolution condemning Russian aggression in Ukraine and calling for Russia to withdraw from Ukrainian territory. The United States also abstained from voting on its own competing resolution calling for an end to the war after other countries added three amendments replacing “the Russia-Ukraine conflict” with “the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation,” acknowledging Ukraine’s territorial rights, and calling for a “lasting” peace. President Trump has falsely blamed Ukraine for starting the war and called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a dictator.
– February 24, 2025 – Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, attacked so-called sanctuary cities during a speech at CPAC. He singled out Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox, in particular, and falsely accused him of refusing to work with ICE to deport illegal immigrants. “You’re not a police commissioner,” Homan shouted from the podium. “Take that badge off your desk, put it in your desk drawer—because you became a politician. You forgot what it’s like to be a cop.” In an interview earlier in the week, Cox said Boston police officers would help ICE detain illegal criminals who have committed crimes but would not work with the federal government to arrest immigrants solely for immigration reasons. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu defended Cox. “It’s insulting. We have the best police commissioner in the country. Boston’s crime levels are at the lowest ever reported in our history,” she said. “I’m coming to Boston, I’m bringing Hell with me,” Homan threatened to massive cheers from the CPAC crowd. As of March 17, 2025, Homan had yet to come to Boston.
“Border czar” Tom Homan threatens the city of Boston over its immigration policies. (Forbes)
– February 24, 2025 – The US State Department ordered officials to deny visas to transgender athletes traveling to the US for sports events and to issue permanent visa bans against individuals who have “misrepresented” their sex on visa applications. The State Department order follows Trump’s earlier executive order banning transgender athletes from women’s sports. While signing that executive order, Trump stated that he had told Secretary of State Marco Rubio to make clear to the International Olympic Committee that “America categorically rejects transgender lunacy.” “It’s normal to say that people accused of fraud or misrepresentation are often considered ineligible,” said Sarah Mehta, an ACLU policy lawyer, “but it is quite bizarre and novel in a terrible way to be saying it’s based on their misrepresenting their sex or gender in order to come and participate in an event in the United States.”
– February 25, 2025 – Breaking with decades of precedent, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that the Trump administration would select which journalists participate in the White House press pool. “We’re going to be calling those shots,” added Trump. The announcement followed the administration’s retaliatory barring of Associated Press journalists after the AP refused to comply with Trump’s order that the Gulf of Mexico, which mostly lies outside maritime regions controlled by the United States, be called the Gulf of America. “This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States. It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president. In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps,” said Eugene Daniels, a Politico reporter and president of the White House Correspondents’ Association.
– February 25, 2025 – Trump posted an AI-generated video showing Gaza transformed into a luxury resort featuring golden Trump statues and balloons. In the video, war-ravaged children emerge from rubble onto glittering beaches with belly dancers and palm trees, a smiling Elon Musk eats hummus, and Trump lounges on the beach with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while a voice sings, “No more tunnels, no more fear. Trump Gaza is finally here.” The video follows Trump’s earlier statements about taking over Gaza, expelling its Palestinian residents, and developing the Palestinian territory into the “Riviera of the Middle East.” “The video advocating for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza published on President Trump’s social media is not only arrogant and disrespectful,” said Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian activist and politician, “but also violates international law and human rights.”
Trump’s “Gaza: What’s Next” AI-generated video. (The Guardian)
– February 25, 2025 – An unvaccinated child with no underlying health conditions died from measles in rural West Texas. It was the first such US death since 2015 and the first such US death of a child since 2003. As of March 4, 2025, the Texas measles outbreak had risen to over 150 cases. Vaccination rates in Gaines County, where the outbreak began, are especially low. During a Cabinet meeting, Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a known vaccine skeptic, downplayed the Texas measles outbreak, saying, “It’s not unusual. We have measles outbreaks every year.” Several days later, in an opinion piece for Fox News, Kennedy stopped short of explicitly recommending the MMR vaccine, calling the decision to vaccinate a “personal” choice and advocating for vitamin A treatment, which experts have recommended against using in most measles cases.
– February 25, 2025 – Trump said that the United States would soon offer a new visa program to help attract foreign investors to the country. “We are going to be selling a gold card,” he said. “We are going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million. It’s going to give you green card privileges plus its going to be a route to [American] citizenship.” When asked if Russian oligarchs would be eligible, Trump said, “Yeah, possibly. Hey. I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people.”
– February 26, 2025 – Despite not being a Cabinet secretary, Elon Musk attended Donald Trump’s first Cabinet meeting and defended his cost-cutting efforts at DOGE. Wearing a black “tech support” T-shirt and knocking on his “wooden head,” Musk said he hoped to trim $1 trillion from the federal budget while also acknowledging, with a chuckle, that he had accidentally cancelled Ebola prevention. When questioned about his order that government workers send an email summarizing their accomplishments for the week, a directive that caused significant confusion and was widely criticized, Musk repeated a baseless claim that some workers collecting federal paychecks are either fictional or dead.
Trump introduces Musk during first cabinet meeting. (C-SPAN)
– February 26, 2025 – The Trump administration terminated funding for thousands of global health projects, including programs for polio, HIV, malaria, and maternal health. The State Department announced the terminations over email, writing, “This award is being terminated for convenience and the interest of the U.S. government.” USAID experts warned that the cuts will lead to an estimated 166,000 malaria deaths, 200,000 polio paralyses in children, 28,000 new cases of infectious diseases like Ebola and Marburg, and one million children not treated for severe malnutrition, which is often fatal, annually. “People will die,” said Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi, executive director of the African Population and Health Research Center, “but we will never know because even the programs to count the dead are cut.”
– February 27, 2025 – In a Truth Social post, Trump encouraged Iowa lawmakers to approve a bill ending state civil rights protections for transgender Iowans. “Iowa, a beautiful State that I have won BIG every time, has a Bill to remove Radical Gender Ideology from their Laws,” he wrote. “Iowa should follow the lead of my Executive Order, saying there are only two genders, and pass this Bill – AS FAST AS POSSIBLE.” The bill, which was approved and then signed by Governor Kim Reynolds, removes gender identity as a protected class, allowing employers, businesses, and landlords to discriminate against transgender people. In a 2023 survey, more than 60 percent of transgender adults said they have faced discrimination because of their gender identity.
– February 28, 2025 – During a televised Oval Office meeting, President Trump and Vice President Vance lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy and threatened to abandon Ukraine. After Zelenskyy expressed doubts about an American-brokered peace deal with Russia, the vice president called the Ukrainian leader “disrespectful,” adding, “You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict.” As the meeting continued, Trump and Vance raised their voices, interrupted Zelenskyy, and pointed fingers at him. “You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country that’s backed you far more than a lot of people say they should have,” said Trump. “You’re either going to make a deal or we’re out. And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out and I don’t think it’s going to be pretty.”
Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy at the Oval Office. (AP)
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– February 1, 2025 – President Trump signed executive orders imposing tariffs on Canada, China, and Mexico. The tariffs aimed to curb the flow of migrants and fentanyl into the country. He claimed the three countries were allowing “mass numbers of people to come in and fentanyl to come in.” The executive orders sidestepped congressional approval, and Trump acknowledged there could be “some pain” in the form of higher inflation, job losses, and stagnating growth due to the tariffs. The Wall Street Journal called Trump’s plan “the dumbest trade war in history.”
– February 3, 2025 – Trump ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to release 2.2 billion gallons of water from two reservoirs in central California. Local officials scrambled to prepare as communities were threatened of being inundated. On Truth Social, Trump crowed, “The water is flowing in California… and heading to farmers throughout the State, and to Los Angeles. Too bad they refused to do this during my First Term—There would have been no fires!” Neither reservoir was connected to aqueducts serving the southern part of the state. “Those releases had absolutely zero to do with anything in Los Angeles,” said Gregory Pierce, director of UCLA’s Water Resource Group. “This was a stunt purely so Trump could say that he did something.”
– February 3, 2025 – Trump announced the United States would cut aid to South Africa over their recent land expropriation law. On Truth Social, Trump posted, “South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY.” Trump’s talking points mirrored those of South Africa–born billionaire Elon Musk. In 2023, Musk said, “They are openly pushing for genocide of white people in South Africa.” White South Africans, who make up about 7 percent of the population, continue to dominate land ownership and occupy almost 50 percent of South Africa’s surface area.
– February 4, 2025 – During a White House press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump said that Palestinians should leave war-ravaged Gaza and settle elsewhere. He also announced that the United States would take over the territory and redevelop it into “the Riviera of the Middle East.” Trump didn’t rule out deploying US troops and offered no other details on how the 1.8 million residents of the Gaza Strip would be resettled or how the US would take ownership of the land. Over 46,000 Palestinians have been killed, many of them children, during the Israel-Hamas conflict.
– February 6, 2025 – Trump posted on Truth Social that “billions of dollars” from USAID had improperly gone to the media company Politico, which he considers “fake news.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt repeated his claim during a press conference. “I was made aware of the funding from USAID to media outlets, including Politico,” she said. Government agencies used funding to subscribe to Politico Pro, a service that tracks legislation and other policy information. According to USA Spending.gov, USAID paid $24,000 to Politico Pro in 2024 for a subscription to E&E, an energy and environmental news service owned by the company.
– February 10, 2025 – Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove directed federal prosecutors to dismiss charges against New York City mayor Eric Adams without prejudice. In his memo to the Southern District of New York, Bove argued that continued prosecution of Adams would interfere with the mayor’s ability to enforce the Trump administration’s immigration agenda and noted that the order to dismiss was made “without assessing the strength of the evidence or the legal theories on which the case is based.” Adams, who spent months currying favor with Trump, was indicted in September 2024 on charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, soliciting illegal campaign contributions from foreign nationals, and bribery.
– February 26, 2025 – The Trump administration terminated funding for thousands of global health projects, including programs for polio, HIV, malaria, and maternal health. The State Department announced the terminations over email, writing, “This award is being terminated for convenience and the interest of the U.S. government.” USAID experts warned that the cuts will lead to an estimated 166,000 malaria deaths, 200,000 polio paralyses in children, 28,000 new cases of infectious diseases like Ebola and Marburg, and one million children not treated for severe malnutrition, which is often fatal, annually. “People will die,” said Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi, executive director of the African Population and Health Research Center, “but we will never know because even the programs to count the dead are cut.”
– February 28, 2025 – During a televised Oval Office meeting, President Trump and Vice President Vance lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy and threatened to abandon Ukraine. After Zelenskyy expressed doubts about an American-brokered peace deal with Russia, the vice president called the Ukrainian leader “disrespectful,” adding, “You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict.” As the meeting continued, Trump and Vance raised their voices, interrupted Zelenskyy, and pointed fingers at him. “You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country that’s backed you far more than a lot of people say they should have,” said Trump. “You’re either going to make a deal or we’re out. And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out and I don’t think it’s going to be pretty.”