Donald Trump is a bully. This much is clear[1].
When he thinks groups or individuals are vulnerable, he talks tough. When they resist, he either backs down or responds so ineffectively that he often loses. The results with law firms he’s attacked, for instance, show this. As Robert Reich has noted,
“The law firms Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, Susman Godfrey, and WilmerHale refused to follow Trump’s executive orders targeting law firms that had represented causes or clients that Trump opposed. The orders threatened to revoke the firms’ security clearances, access to federal buildings and officials, and government contracts tied to firm clients. But the firms didn’t back down … The Justice Department ultimately dropped its fight against these firms in March 2026 after federal appellate judges also found Trump’s orders unconstitutional.”
Reich goes on to note about firms and organizations that knuckled under:
“The law firms that caved in to Trump’s executive orders have seen lawyers exit who felt the deals betrayed the firms’ values and principles. … Students at elite law schools have also reportedly begun to shun firms that struck deals with the Trump regime.”
Effective at chaos, terrible at everything else
Overall, Trump has been ineffective at many things. But it is impossible to ignore that he has been extremely effective at one thing: destruction. Structures that provide for public health in our country, soft power abroad through effective aid programs, and even cultural institutions. He has the reverse Midas touch – everything he touches turns into, well, not exactly gold, despite his reverence for the metal.
As far as I can tell, there is almost nothing positive of substance that has been organized or implemented under Trump 2.0[2]. But he has shown an outstanding ability to destroy.
His logo should be the East Wing wreckage. It shows what he’s doing to our country.
It’s going to be hard to rebuild. But we will have the chance to “build back better.” There will be an end to his depredations, and we can start planning for a better future now.
[1] When I began writing this note, seeing how he retreated from his promises of genocide, I put together a TACO-based illustration, since he does often “chicken out.” But I decided against it, because even when he reverses course he ends up causing a shocking amount of damage.
[2] While Trump 1.0 was not a success, at least he didn’t get in the way of the development of mRNA vaccines, which prevented an even worse result of the pandemic, and which hold much promise for the future.
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