Dizzying, blitzkrieg, controlled chaos — these are just some of the many ways President Donald Trump’s first month back in office has been described in the daunting task of covering his second term.
Unlike Team Trump in 2017, which was marred by infighting, daily leaks, White House intrigue, and Russia, Russia, Russia, Team Trump entered the White House in 2025 with a methodical plan to deliver on the president’s campaign promises immediately.
Infighting isn’t happening, at least not publicly.
The leaks have been nonexistent.
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His chief of staff, Susie Wiles, clearly has the president’s ear with advice he’s embracing after she helped run a masterful 2024 campaign (It should be remembered that Trump’s first chief of staff in 2017, Reince Priebus, lasted six months).
His FBI director this time is Kash Patel, a staunch ally. Eight years ago, it was James Comey, a staunch opponent if his two anti-Trump books and endorsements of former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris are any indication.
Executive orders have been signed daily, with more than 70 in the first month alone (26 were signed on Day One). They cover everything from expanded domestic drilling to ending government diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, banning biological men from competing against women in sports, restoring the death penalty, and withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization.
American hostages are coming home on a regular basis (nearly a dozen thus far) from Gaza, Russia, and Venezuela. And arguably the biggest story in terms of impact, border crossings, once at 10,000 people coming into the country per day, have dropped to about 100.
Trump’s Cabinet is also very different from his first term, consisting of those completely loyal to his agenda. Controversial picks, including Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Department of Health and Human Services, Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence, and Patel, were all confirmed by the Senate despite an onslaught of negative coverage and ad hominem attacks.
Speaking of the media, there have been several relatively big developments on the legal and talent front.
On the former, ABC News settled a lawsuit with Trump for $15 million after chief anchor George Stephanopoulos declared on 10 occasions during a 2024 interview with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) that Trump had been convicted of rape (he hasn’t been).
This week, MSNBC was also forced to settle a defamation case for $30 million in a suit brought by a Georgia doctor after being falsely accused of performing unwarranted hysterectomies at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center.
And, while under the threat of another Trump lawsuit, CBS News finally released the transcript and video of Harris’s 60 Minutes interview that showed the program edited the conversation in the best possible light.
On the latter, longtime political “journalists” exited their respective networks, including mainstays such as media-bias denier Chuck Todd at NBC and patent egomaniac Jim Acosta at CNN. And Norah O’Donnell, who became indistinguishable from Rachel Maddow during the 2024 campaign, is no longer the anchor of the CBS Evening News.
But the best possible news was MSNBC’s announcement that toxic, unhinged racist Joy Reid was no longer hosting her 7:00 p.m. Eastern show. This is the same host who compared Trump’s immigration policy to Nazi concentration camps and called Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) “Uncle Tim” for the audacity of supporting Trump. Reid’s hatefest dropped 60% in the ratings since Trump’s election victory. Hence, the network is finally doing what it should have done years ago.
So, with things mostly going to plan, save for some legal battles over executive orders such as the attempt to end birthright citizenship, Trump’s first month is exceeding expectations in the eyes of his supporters, all while Democrats are scrambling to find a cohesive, coherent message in attempting to fight back. Overall, just 21% of voters approve of the Democratic Party, the lowest in Quinnipiac polling history. Republicans, conversely, are polling at nearly double that number, 40%, the party’s highest number ever in the same poll.
Overall, Trump’s approval in the Real Clear Politics average is 49.3%, the highest of his political career, while 47.5% disapprove.
So, with one month in the books, the questions now are: “What does a second month look like?” and “What does success look like?” Unlike the first 30 days, the second 30 will be about two big items with definitive, game-changing results if accomplished.
First, Trump, along with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), must get Trump’s desired “big, beautiful bill” passed. Three big-ticket items Trump campaigned on are the cornerstones of it: border spending, extending the Trump tax cuts from his first term (which will otherwise expire), and eliminating taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security.
But this isn’t 1994. There wasn’t a 54-seat swing to the GOP in 2022 or 2024 like in 1994, when the GOP majority enjoyed a 38-seat cushion. If Johnson loses even two votes on the Republican side, any GOP legislation is toast, with Democrats unanimously in opposition. And given the factions and, in some cases, attention-starved members of the Republican Party, passing this bill will be a monumental task.
During his first term, Trump felt firsthand how damaging rogue members of the GOP could be. In May 2017, the American Healthcare Act of 2017 passed in the House, 217-213. It made its way to the Republican-controlled Senate and seemingly had the votes to pass, but then-Sen. John McCain, who never forgave Trump for mocking him for being captured in Vietnam, gave a demonstrative thumbs-down to the effort to repeal and replace Obamacare. Audible gasps could be heard in the chamber from the Republican side while Democrats cheered McCain and even hugged him on the floor for going rogue.
Trump’s approval, at 45% upon taking office, plummeted to 35% as a result.
This time around, expectations are infinitely higher for Trump to get a signature win here. Winning the popular vote and every swing state has given him a mandate in the eyes of his supporters. A recent CBS poll shows that an eye-popping 70% of voters believe he is keeping his campaign promises thus far, albeit mostly through executive action.
For now, the House and Senate are on different wavelengths when it comes to doing one reconciliation bill, which only requires a simple majority in the Senate, or two. Senate Republicans support a two-bill deal, with tax relief in one bill and border security, defense, and energy deregulation measures in the other. Trump appears to prefer the one-bill approach but hasn’t rejected a two-bill strategy, either. The Senate, in an effort led by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), passed a bill over the weekend with the border, defense, and energy aspects but without the Trump tax cuts.
“I think if you put all the measures into one package, it increases greatly the probability of us achieving all of its objectives. That’s why we’ve been focused on the one-bill strategy,” Johnson told Larry Kudlow on Fox Business recently. And he’s right.
The second huge item that could be resolved in Trump’s second month is achieving peace between Russia and Ukraine. Such a deal would involve European peacekeepers to ensure Ukraine’s security, a raw minerals partnership to pay the U.S. back (and then some) for all the billions sent to Ukraine, with zero accountability, that has resulted in a hopeless stalemate between the countries in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. Russia would likely keep the land it currently holds. The death toll is estimated to be approaching 150,000.
If Harris had won, it is assured that the war in Ukraine would have gone on in perpetuity, with the U.S. endlessly funding the stalemate. There would be no talk of peace or partnerships. So, for those complaining that Team Trump is giving away too much to Russia, those arguments are not based in reality, and those making the argument have offered nothing in terms of a solution or exit plan.
Trump’s first month was the very essence of controlled chaos through nonstop action to undo all the wrongs the Biden-Harris administration unleashed on the country.
Executive orders were the easy part.
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Now comes the hard part: Pass one, or two, big, beautiful bills in the second month and achieve a treaty between Ukraine, Russia, the U.S., and Europe to provide permanent peace.
If Trump can accomplish these two mammoth tasks, he will go down as the most impactful president in his first 60 days of our lifetimes.