Donald Trump’s first full week in office was an abject disaster.
The just-inaugurated president tried to implement a freeze on all congressionally appropriated federal funding. The blatantly unlawful effort would have led to massive human suffering had the administration not backed down amid a massive pressure campaign by Democratic lawmakers and a lawsuit filed by 23 Democratic attorneys general.
He blamed the DEI bogeyman, aka diversity, equity, and inclusion, for the tragic Wednesday plane crash in Washington, D.C., before any investigation had taken place into what could have caused the disaster—and before all 67 victims had even been identified.
He announced 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada that will spike grocery prices and effectively lead to tax increases for all Americans.
And he started implementing his purge of the federal workforce, which could have damaging impacts on Americans, all in an effort to get revenge on the people he thinks wronged him.
But instead of standing up to Trump, Republican lawmakers gave mealymouthed statements trying to defend his lawless and cruel behavior.
Basically, nothing has changed since 2016.
In what also feels like a bad case of deja vu, Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan reported that Republicans are back to expressing private frustration with Trump, while publicly supporting his every whim.
Republican lawmakers, including those most supportive of the president, are beside themselves with anxiety. When you speak to them—off the record, between friendly acquaintances—and ask how it’s going, they shift, look off, shrug: You know how it’s going.
A GOP senator who supports the president had a blanched look. “He doesn’t do anything to make it easy,” he shrugged.
What is the meaning of the averted eyes and anxious faces? It means Trump 2.0 isn’t better. It means for all the talk of the new professionalism in the Trump operation, they have to get used to the chaos again and ride it, tempting the gods of order and steadiness. After one week they concluded the first administration wasn’t a nervous breakdown and the second isn’t a recovery; instead, again they’re on a ship with a captain in an extended manic phase who never settles into soothing depression.
Here’s a rundown of the chaos Republicans have been defending all week:
Republicans on Trump blaming DEI for the plane crash
While Democrats were quick to lambast Trump for his vile statement that diversity somehow caused the plane crash, GOP lawmakers were not.
Rep. Eric Burlison of Missouri went on Fox News to back up Trump’s baseless claim.
The Federal Aviation Administration “is riddled with DEI problems and hiring problems and it’s inevitable that something is going to happen,” Burlison told Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo.
REP. ERIC BURLISON: The FAA is riddled with DEI problemsBARTIROMO: Do you have any evidence though that any of those hires were DEI hires?BURLISON: Not until we get into the investigation [image or embed]— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) January 31, 2025 at 6:46 AM
Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama, agreed with Fox News host Will Cain, who said that, “DEI is a policy that exacerbates human error. We need to cut out every policy that allows for anything where we maximize the potential for human error.”
“Yeah. President Trump is going to keep America safe,” Britt said in response to Cain’s assertion.
WILL CAIN: DEI is a policy that exacerbates human error. We need to cut every policy that allows for anything where we maximize the potential for human error.SEN. KATIE BRITT: Yeah. President Trump is going to keep America safe. [image or embed]— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) January 30, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Instead of criticizing Trump for blaming DEI for the crash, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, gave Trump deference.
“Well, he knows more about it than I do,” Hawley told reporters. “I’m sure he’s been briefed on it now, multiple times, we haven’t been briefed yet at all, so we need to be briefed on everything that we know so far.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina opted to play dumb.
“I don’t know what happened last night,” Graham told HuffPost. “I don’t know if there’s any DEI component to it or not. I’ve heard nothing about that.
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas didn’t criticize Trump, but he did tell HuffPost that people should “wait to see the results of that investigation” before blaming DEI.
“Obviously one or more people made a devastating and catastrophic mistake, but we should wait to examine the evidence and understand exactly what went on,” Cruz said.
Republicans on Trump’s federal funding freeze
After Trump’s Office of Management and Budget sent out a memo ordering the funding freeze, Republicans were quick to defend it, even though unilaterally halting funding that Congress already approved and signed into law strips lawmakers of their constitutional power of the purse.
“I fully support it,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Tuesday. “This is the appropriate thing for a new administration to do.”
“I think that’s normal practice at the beginning of an administration until they have an opportunity to view how the money is being spent,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said.
Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee that crafts the spending bills Trump tried to freeze, told CNN’s Manu Raju that he “doesn’t have a problem” with Trump’s actions.
“I think that’s probably what you ought to do when you’re coming in as a new administration,” Cole said.
Rep. Rich McCormick of Georgia defended the freeze, which could have impacted childhood cancer research, grants for low-income families to afford preschool, and free school lunches for needy children. A heartless McCormick said poor kids should work to earn those lunches.
“When you talk about school lunches, hey, I worked my way through high school,” McMormick said during an interview on CNN. “I don’t know about you, but I worked since before I was even 13 years old. I was picking berries in a field before they had child labor laws that precluded that. I was a paper boy, and when I was in high school I worked my entire way through. You’re telling me that kids who stay at home instead of going to work at Burger King or McDonalds during the summer, should stay at home and get their free lunch?”
BROWN: Would you support getting rid of school lunch for vulnerable kids and getting rid of childhood cancer research?REP. MCCORMICK: Philanthropy is where you get most of your money for childhood cancer research. When you talk about school lunches, hey, I worked my way through high school. [image or embed]— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) January 28, 2025 at 8:18 AM
Then there were the shameless flip-floppers.
“President Trump campaigned on getting our spending under control. I support that objective, and as a former CEO, I know that sometimes you need to press pause to make sure spending lines up with your strategic plan,” freshman Sen. Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania wrote in a post on X, initially defending the freeze. “I am hearing from constituents about the spending pause and am closely monitoring what it means for PA. I understand this pause will not affect direct benefits to Pennsylvanians. If there are problems, I want to get them fixed, fast.”
But after the Trump administration folded, he acted as if he was worried all along and was glad that the pause was pulled.
“I’m grateful to all the Pennsylvanians who reached out about the Administration’s spending pause over the last 24 hours. The pause has been rescinded. Your input made a difference- thank you,” McCormick wrote.
Republicans on Trump firing inspectors general
In a Friday night massacre, Trump fired 17 inspectors general who are tasked with running investigations into waste, fraud, and abuse in federal agencies, violating a law that says presidents must give a written notice to Congress 30 days in advance of the firings that gives a “substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons” for their dismissal.
Instead of criticizing the lawless behavior, Republicans defended it.
“Well listen, under the Constitution, Article 2 of the Constitution gives the president the executive authority, and the executive authority is over every officer, every employee of the executive authority,” Ted Cruz said in an interview on CNBC.
Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas also defended Trump.
“Ultimately, these inspectors general serve at the pleasure of the president. He wants new people in there. He wants new people focused on getting out waste and fraud and abuse and reforming these agencies. He has a right to get in there who he wants,” Cotton said during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.”
Graham admitted that Trump probably broke the law when he fired the inspectors general, but said he doesn’t care.
“He won the election. What do you expect him to do, just leave everybody in place in Washington before he got elected?” Graham said in an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “This makes perfect sense to me. … These watchdog folks did a pretty lousy job. He wants some new eyes on Washington.”
BROWN: Would you support getting rid of school lunch for vulnerable kids and getting rid of childhood cancer research?REP. MCCORMICK: Philanthropy is where you get most of your money for childhood cancer research. When you talk about school lunches, hey, I worked my way through high school. [image or embed]— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) January 28, 2025 at 8:18 AM
According to Graham, Trump can disregard laws because he won an election. Something tells me he would never say the same thing about a Democratic president.
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