Letters from an American, May 23, 2025 Heather Cox Richardson May 23, 2025
I’m going to take an early night tonight, but I want to record three things that jumped out at me today because they seem to tell a story.
After S.V. Date of HuffPost noted last week that the White House had published fewer than 20% of Trump’s speeches, the White House has stopped publishing a database of official transcripts of President Donald J. Trump’s announcements, appearances, and speeches altogether and has taken down those it had published. Instead it will just post videos. And yet it is publishing just a few of the videos of the president’s term: so far, fewer than 50 videos of the first 120 days of his term, according to Brian Stelter of CNN.
A presidential administration traditionally publishes the president’s words promptly to establish a record. The Trump White House, in contrast, says removing the transcripts will enable people to get a better sense of Trump by watching his videos. But it’s likely closer to the truth that Trump’s appearances since he took office have been erratic, and removing the transcripts will make it harder for people to read his nonsensical rambles.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “The Trump White House is the most transparent in history,” but of course, it’s objectively not. White House officials have made it impossible to tell who is making decisions at the Department of Government Efficiency, for example, or who gave the order to render migrants to El Salvador. Now the president’s words, too, will be hidden.
Trump’s erratic behavior was on full display this morning when he announced that he will impose a 50% tariff on goods from the European Union on June 1, suggesting he is frustrated because his promises of a new trade deal have failed to materialize. Trump had threatened to stop negotiating and simply dictate terms, and that is apparently the direction he’s moving. “I’m not looking for a deal,” he said this afternoon. “We’ve set the deal—it’s at 50%.” Trump also threatened a 25% tariff on Apple products unless the company begins to make the iPhone in the U.S.
Elisabeth Buchwald of CNN reported that three major European stock market indexes fell after Trump’s threat. U.S. stock market indexes fell for the fourth day. They rose from their lowest point after the White House said Trump’s tariff comments were not a formal statement of policy.
So the president of the United States can tank world markets, only to have his own staff inform the media that his comments should not be taken seriously.
The third story is that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has denied North Carolina’s request that it honor a commitment made by President Joe Biden to pay for 100% of the costs for removal of debris after Hurricane Helene devastated the western part of the state in September 2024. That storm killed 107 people in western North Carolina and destroyed or damaged 75,000 homes, as well as destroying roads and leaving mounds of debris.
As Zack Colman of Politico reported yesterday, the storm hit in the last weeks of the 2024 presidential campaign, and Trump undermined FEMA’s response, lying that it was not present and telling North Carolinians that the Biden administration could not help them because it had taken money from FEMA for undocumented immigrants. None of what he was saying was true, but MAGA mouthpieces picked up his criticisms and exaggerated them, claiming that the federal government intended to steal people’s land, that Biden had directed the storm to western North Carolina, and that 28 babies had frozen to death in FEMA tents—all lies, but lies that slowed recovery as riled-up people who believed them refused assistance, threatened officials, and demanded investigations.
Trump suggested he would respond more effectively to voters in North Carolina, and two of the hardest-hit counties there, Avery and Haywood, backed him in 2024 by margins of 75.7% and 61.8%, respectively, similar to those it had given him in 2016 and 2020.
Once in office, though, Trump began to talk of eliminating FEMA. Now the White House has told North Carolina residents they’re on their own as they try to dig out from Hurricane Helene.
Taken together, these stories from today seem to provide a snapshot of this moment in American history. They show an erratic president whose own officials discount his orders even as power is concentrating in the executive office and who won election through lies that are now being exposed as his policies disproportionately hurt the very people who backed him most enthusiastically.
— ChristopherBlackwell
Yeah, but they aren't trying to conceal how absolutely BONKERS he is
No wonder they insist that the previous admin wasn't being led by Biden, but by others around him, including Jill, who somehow made all of the decisions.
BUPKIS!! Biden has certainly lost a number of steps, but his successor is the one constantly claiming ignorance of what his admin is doing and who makes radical and stupid announcements that his people contradict afterwards.
It's been revealed that he wanted to withhold disaster relief for states that were not Republican leaning during his first term in office. Now it appears that he doesn't even care about relief for those who have supported him all along.
Whenever he points his fingers at others for some dastardly deed or motivation, you can bet that he is really talking about himself.
He is a disgrace. A stain on our history that will not go away any time soon.
Seems that every day, he works to keep the country divided....
Posted by Skye on May 24, 2025, 3:55 pm, in reply to "Par for the course..." Valued Poster
Here's another headline.
He says the "big bill" should only help GOP states... as he doesn't want it to benefit dem governors.
In reality, of course, the 'big beautiful bill' would likely hurt red states even more than blue states. But that doesn't matter to him. Dividing the country with unending lies is what worked to get him elected, and he believes that continuing to keep it divided will keep him where he is. It's what he lives for... spreading lies, hate and division.
"As Republicans peddle propaganda about their purported desire to “Make America Healthy Again,” they’re pursuing a literally toxic agenda, one that’s rolling back anti-pollution measures and putting Americans at risk.
For me, this came to mind last week, when the Trump administration announced that it was rolling back guidelines meant to prevent the spread of “forever chemicals,” which have been linked to cancer and heart disease.
on May 24, 2025, 2:30 pm
