U.S. President Donald Trump gestures, as he boards Air Force One to depart for New Jersey at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., March 21, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
Even though he has Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress and Democrats are in the midst of an apparent leadership crisis, President Donald Trump's second term has so far been a massive failure, according to one columnist.
In a Friday op-ed for the Daily Beast, columnist David Rothkopf argued that the second Trump administration is already letting down both the MAGA faithful and America at large in five different ways. Rothkopf pointed out that Trump has so far failed to curb inflation, address the federal deficit, root out "waste, fraud and abuse" in federal agencies, end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours or "make America healthy again."
"It is early days. But it is clear that Trump has not just failed to achieve those things. He has failed spectacularly," Rothkopf wrote.
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When he was campaigning, Trump repeatedly bemoaned "Bidenomics" and the higher prices for everyday goods that were largely a byproduct of the Covid-19 pandemic's damage to global supply chains and the Russia-Ukraine war. However, Rothkopf pointed out that prices are still stubbornly high for American consumers due to Trump's "core economic policies" like the tariffs he's imposed on imported goods from Canada, China and Mexico.
Secondly, the columnist opined that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been firing federal workers at a rapid pace with Trump's blessing, has largely been unsuccessful. Rothkopf wrote that the "hugely unpopular" and "illegal" DOGE effort has only yielded a fraction of the savings it has claimed to have made, and has caused headaches for Republicans facing angry constituents in home district town hall meetings. Thirdly, he noted that Trump's attempt to extend his 2017 tax cuts would also significantly increase the deficit by trillions of dollars — breaking yet another campaign promise.
Rothkopf went on to argue that Trump's foreign policy failures are especially pronounced, given his inability to follow through on his promise to stop Russia's war on Ukraine. He noted that in addition to taking a position opposite to key European allies and undoing "80 years of U.S. foreign policy," Trump has put the United States on the same footing as "wannabe tyrants across the globe" like Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Finally, the Daily Beast columnist asserted that Trump's "make America healthy again" campaign has been a dud, given that "new epidemics are popping up." ABC News reported Friday that there are now 378 measles cases in the U.S., including 309 in West Texas (largely due to a lack of vaccinations). There is also an ongoing avian flu outbreak that's resulted in egg prices skyrocketing. Rothkopf stressed that while there is a lot of bad news for Democrats, Trump and Republicans have much more to worry about given their lack of success.
Click here to read Rothkopf's full op-ed in the Daily Beast (subscription required).