 In my first blog post of 2025 I wrote that the start of Trump’s second term was a blitzkrieg of executive orders, policy pronouncements and personnel purges. With a neutered Congress and compliant Supreme Court, Trump’s campaign of “shock and awe” continued unabated. For the average American it has been difficult to keep up with, much less understand all the implications of Trump’s actions this year. That’s where Santa comes in. Santa has been keeping an extensive list of the president’s words and deeds to determine if he makes his “naughty’ or “nice” list this year. I put together a partial list of Trump’s actions so that you would have an opportunity to determine which list you would put the president on. We will leave it up to Santa to compile the complete list and render a final judgement. There are still a few weeks left in the year, so there’s no telling what mischief our commander in chief will get up to.  Words and Deeds of Donald Trump Granted pardons or clemency to everyone charged in Naughty □ Nice □ connection with the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Terminated diversity, equity and inclusion programs Naughty □ Nice □ across the federal government. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to “Gulf of America”. Naughty □ Nice □ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Antagonized Canada by calling for it to become the 51st Naughty □ Nice □ state of U.S. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement. Naughty □ Nice □ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Halted approvals for new wind farms. Naughty □ Nice □ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Ordered the expansion of the mining and burning of coal. Naughty □ Nice □ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Ended the subsidies for electric vehicles. Naughty □ Nice □ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Ordered the E.P.A. to unwind more than two dozen Naughty □ Nice □ protections against air and water pollution. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Pressured law firms he opposed to provide a total of Naughty □ Nice □ $600 million in free legal services to causes he supports. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Pressured major news outlets to pay multi-million-dollar Naughty □ Nice □ fines for broadcasting segments he disapproved of. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Threatened major colleges and universities with funding Naughty □ Nice □ cuts if they didn’t implement his policy changes and accept monetary fines. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Declared a national emergency at the border with Mexico. Naughty □ Nice □ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Sent 1,500 additional troops to secure U.S. border with Naughty □ Nice □ Mexico. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization. Naughty □ Nice □ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Triggered a trade war by imposing import tariffs on nearly Naughty □ Nice □ every country in the world. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Ordered the treasury to stop producing pennies. Naughty □ Nice □ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Accepted a $400 million luxury jet from Qatar. Naughty □ Nice □ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Gave federal recognition to the Lumbee Tribe of Naughty □ Nice □ North Carolina. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Instituted changes to support the growth of the Naughty □ Nice □ cryptocurrency industry. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Called for the annexation of Greenland. Naughty □ Nice □ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Offered a private dinner and White House tour to the top Naughty □ Nice □ buyers of his Trump meme coin. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Eliminated most foreign aid spending. Naughty □ Nice □ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development Naughty □ Nice □ (USAID). ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Eliminated most funding for the broadcaster Voice of America. Naughty □ Nice □ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Eliminated funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Naughty □ Nice □ which finances NPR and PBS. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Pushed to ban petroleum-based food coloring. Naughty □ Nice □ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Fired nearly 10,000 employees from the Department of Health Naughty □ Nice □ and Human Services. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Cancelled funding for dozens of studies on new vaccines and Naughty □ Nice □ treatments for Covid-19 and other infectious diseases. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Canceled flights for refugees already approved to travel to Naughty □ Nice □ the U.S. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Imposed a moratorium on immigration from Africa and other Naughty □ Nice □ 3rd world countries except for white Afrikaners from South Africa. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport immigrants to Naughty □ Nice □ El Salvador. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Sent thousands of I.C.E. agents to American cities to roundup, Naughty □ Nice □ detain and deport suspected illegal immigrants, denying them due process of law. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Deployed the National Guard to Democratic led cities to Naughty □ Nice □ support I.C.E.’s immigration enforcement. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Denigrated Somali immigrants living legally in this country by Naughty □ Nice □ calling them “garbage”. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Fired most staff of the Department of Education and called Naughty □ Nice □ for its elimination. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Extended tax cuts to the wealthy while cutting federal food and Naughty □ Nice □ medical assistance programs for the poor. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Authorized the military to target and kill suspected drug Naughty □ Nice □ traffickers on boats in the Caribbean. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Demeaned female reporters by calling some “stupid”, “ugly”, Naughty □ Nice □ “piggy” and “terrible reporters”. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Demolished the East Wing of the White House to build a Naughty □ Nice □ $300 million ballroom. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________  By now you are probably rolling your eyes and would rather be thinking about the upcoming holidays. Just know that Santa is on the job and will continue to monitor our dear leader and keep his “naughty” or “nice” list up to date.
I am looking forward to 2026 for the many opportunities it will provide to get things “right”, as individuals and as a country. No one man, faction or party define who we are as Americans. I still believe in the basic decency of the American people and the notion that we can rise above the politics that divide us. The new year will provide us the opportunity to celebrate our 250th anniversary as a country and remind us of the foundational principles which we can all agree on. The mid-term elections will provide Americans a real chance to participate in our democracy, let our voices be heard and help to forge a more perfect union.  If you enjoy reading this type of commentary, please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776 @gmail.com. Thanks, Armchair American
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