If Trump policy insiders were stunned, imagine the impact on Democrats and the federal bureaucracy?


Continued from page 61


return to the offi ce, federal workers received a buyout off er via email from the Offi ce of Personnel Management: Resign by Feb. 6, it said, and they could draw full pay and benefi ts through Sept. 30.


Aff airs Doug Collins, a former Georgia con- gressman, was also on the “Trump Train” from the start. Rather than Abra-


ham Lincoln’s Team of Rivals immortalized by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin — in which the 16th president named his major rivals for nomi- nation to his Cabinet — Trump’s is more akin to Franklin D. Roos- evelt’s “Cabinet of Con- venience” in 1933. FDR did not have a


single rival for the Demo- crat nomination and in- stead turned to friends such as Hyde Park neigh- bor Henry Morgenthau as secretary of the Trea- sury, and early support- ers such as Tennessee Sen. Cordell Hull as sec- retary of state. FDR’s fi rst Cabi-


net even had two Repub- licans who had broken party ranks to support him, just as Trump had Democrats Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard. Luke Nichter, a pro-


fessor at Chapman Uni- versity and author of 1968: The Year That Broke Politics, tells Newsmax: “Like any new admin- istration, their perfor- mance will be measured against campaign prom- ises, carrying out Presi- dent Trump’s agenda, and how they react to crises when they pop up. “No matter what they


might do in the future, there is no question that the Trump team has a diff erent energy and mo- mentum this time than at this point following the 2016 presidential election.”


The changes came so fast and furious that a seemingly leaderless Democratic Party was caught fl at-footed. “The eff ect,” noted


Blow, “was that many people, including many politicians, were left too stunned and disoriented to begin forming a cogent opposition.” Especially unnerving


for Democrats: Early polls indicated Trump was winning the policy argument with voters. When CNN data


analyst Harry Enten reported Trump began his second term with higher voter approval than he had at any point during his fi rst presidential term, CNN’s own anchors seemed astounded. Trump’s poll numbers were higher than ever? How could this be? “This is true,” the


CNN reporter pushed


back. “I don’t make stuff up; the numbers are the numbers.” Then there was the


experience of Tucker Carlson, a lifelong Washingtonian. Speaking on Michael Savage’s new Savage Nation program on Newsmax TV, Carlson said he’d been stunned by the warm reception Trump and his supporters received during the inauguration ceremonies. “Not one person


was rude to me, not one person was anything but nice to me, and that’s all because of Trump — it had nothing to do with me,” Carlson told Savage. “Trump’s total control of the city was shocking.” Washington


offi cialdom was shellshocked, not only by Trump’s policy avalanche, but by the strong, positive reaction from the public. This 2.0 version of


Trump appeared more determined than ever to reform the swamp, and far more eff ective in doing so after the painful lessons of his fi rst term. With each passing


hour, Trump continued his unprecedented barrage on issue after issue: No federal funding


MARCH 2025 | NEWSMAX 65


CHAVEZ-DEREMER/BILL CLARK/CQ-ROLL CALL, INC VIA GETTY IMAGES / MCMAHON/CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES / COLLINS/ CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES / RFK JR./TOM WILLIAMS/GETTY IMAGES / GABBARD/BILL CLARK/GETTY IMAGES


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