The Weekly List

This week has the fewest broken norms since Trump’s inaugural. As in the prior four weeks, Trump finds himself struggling for wins on his main issues — the economy, immigration and foreign policy — and in many ways, his presidency is floundering and in retreat.

Reminiscent of the first regime, when Trump was failing he would strike out to release anger and change the subject, this week Trump aired petty grievances against several celebrities, and made unwarranted accusations about some.

Likewise, his regime undertook a series of actions this week that appear aimed at petty retribution, with most likely to be challenged in court and be halted. The regime too is struggling to find victories or achieve major goals. This week real questions come into play about the effectiveness of leadership and abilities of federal agencies. Airports experienced more blackouts. Severe storms rocked the country, while the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Weather Service are in a state of disrepair after DOGE cuts .

This week, the growing number of Trump’s conflicts of interest and grifts, which we have been documenting each week, at long last took center stage! What did it take to finally get Republicans in Congress to react? It wasn’t the billions that the Trump family is pocketing in plain sight in the crypto market. What it took was Trump accepting a $400 million Boeing 747 from the Qatari royal family as a gift ahead of his first Middle East trip. A gift that would cost taxpayers hundreds of millions to retrofit for Trump’s use as Air Force One, and that he would likely maintain use of even after his time in office.

The most noteworthy stories this week revolve around Trump’s grift. We’ve been covering Trump’s irreverence around conflicts of interest in the second regime, as well as examples each week of his using the office of the presidency to line his pockets; this week it seemed to all come together with some great reporting by the Times. If you want a good primer on how Trump has pocketed billions from cryptocurrency alone, you can read my article here.

Falling approval and a faltering economy help explain why approaching 100 days, Trump found himself in retreat. On at least seven major issues, Trump has capitulated or reversed his actions in recent weeks. Notably, his pace of breaking norms has markedly slowed as of late, first in Week 24 and even more so this week. We have reached another inflection point, from Trump’s early shock and awe to, for now at least, a moment of stop and question what is working.

This is the week it all started to fall apart for Trump. He ended what was a disastrous week for his regime, having to capitulate with a public statement that he did not intend to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and softening his tone on China. His statements came after Wall Street dubbed a broad sell-off of U.S. stocks, U.S. government debt, and the U.S. dollar the Trump ‘Sell America’ trade. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 were also on track for their worst April since the Great Depression. Not exactly the stuff of making America great again.

This week, host Amy Siskind discusses how Trump pushed the boundaries of the legal system, flouting a ruling by the Supreme Court on Kilmar Abrego Garcia and other immigration related moves seemed aimed at distracting attention from economic matters.

Host Amy Siskind discusses US news during the last week including Trump’s tariff war declaration and the global disruption that ensued and the importance of the Hands Off protests which took place on Saturday.

Host Amy Siskind discusses US news for the last week of March including the involvement of Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

Host Amy Siskind discusses notable news events of the week including a shocking breach of national security, as a journalist from The Atlantic was mistakenly added to a Signal group chat discussing a pending attack in Yemen.

This week, host Amy Siskind discusses another inflection point in Trump’s pace of breaking norms, and unfortunately a turn for the worse.