Reaction & Commentary
President Trump is fighting a war with many battlefields.
It’s a nine-front crusade, although I could easily double that number.
If there’s a common thread here, it’s the president taking on elite institutions that he has long resented or reviled.
That’s why his first three months seem stuck on hyperspeed – critics would say chaos – because he’s broken with the traditional model of tackling one or two issues at a time. Voters gave him a second term to shake things up. It’s the first Trump term on steroids.
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The president is surrounded by loyalists who encourage his flood-the-zone approach, unlike some of the more traditional figures (Rex Tillerson, Jim Mattis, Gary Cohn) who tried to restrain him the last time he lived in the White House.
One advantage is that he uses Truth Social as a weapon, unloading on those who displease him.
And yet he still finds time to abolish rules limiting shower pressure, call for the abolition of pennies, and come out against changing clocks (though his stance on daylight savings is unclear) – all matters that affect people’s daily lives.
Here, in no particular order, are Donald Trump’s nine battlegrounds:
1. TOP PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES
Although Trump himself went to the Wharton School, he is constantly attacking Columbia and other top Ivy colleges. Harvard, where he has frozen more than $2 billion in federal funding and another $7 billion is at risk, is fighting back. Plus, the IRS is looking at revoking the university’s tax-exempt status.
Trump has publicly criticized Harvard University multiple times in recent weeks. (Getty Images | iStock)
The White House now admits that the letter a Trump official transmitted to Harvard was “unauthorized” and should not have been sent. Harvard officials were stunned because they thought they were in the process of negotiating a settlement with the administration.
2. LAW FIRMS
One giant law firm after another, under pressure from Trump, has caved and reached settlements with the White House. This involves agreeing to provide up to $100 million or even $125 million in pro bono services on matters important to the administration. The alternative is an executive order pulling its members’ security clearances, making it impossible to serve their corporate clients without access to secret data. A few firms have fought back, and some attorneys have resigned in protest, but most are volunteering to settle.
3. MEDIA
President Trump has sued CBS, NBC and Gannett. He won a $16-million lawsuit against ABC–approved by Disney–after George Stephanopoulos repeatedly called him a rapist when he was actually held liable for sexual abuse. Even if the suits go nowhere, journalists and news outlets have to hire lawyers and go through an ordeal.
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Trump has long used the press as a foil, but now he ridicules the likes of CNN’s Kaitlan Collins when she tries to ask questions. He refused to take a question from an NBC reporter, saying the network has no credibility. And yet Trump provides an absolutely stunning degree of access. He takes questions virtually every day and has taken over the press pool (with the AP still excluded). The coverage is overwhelmingly anti-Trump–sometimes that’s self-inflicted–but that also boosts clicks and ratings. It’s a love-hate relationship.
4. FEDERAL RESERVE
The markets nose-dived again yesterday as Trump stepped up his personal assault on Fed Chairman Jerome Powell in an obvious attempt to pressure him into resigning. Powell’s job is to worry about inflation, not to goose the economy because the president wants him to cut interest rates.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell responds to a question from David Rubenstein (not pictured) during an on-stage discussion at a meeting of The Economic Club of Washington, at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C., U.S, February 7, 2023. (REUTERS/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/File Photo)
The entire tariff war has spooked Wall Street and alienated such allies as Canada (the 51st State???), Mexico and the European Union. He repeatedly promised a tariff war during the campaign, but no one expected tariffs of this magnitude, even against China, which has retaliated. Now Trump says he’ll even work out a deal with China. The 90-day pause briefly seemed to stabilize things, but whether the president can strike deals with 90 countries in 90 days remains to be seen.
5. COURTS
Donald Trump has a long history of attacking judges and prosecutors. Now he is going up to the line, and perhaps crossing it, when it comes to challenging court rulings, even with a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court.
The other day, the president deflected questions about the wrongful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, telling reporters to speak to the lawyers. The next day, he unloaded at length on Abrego Garcia, saying he’s a violent man who deserves to be in prison and criticizing Chris Van Hollen’s trip to visit him in a carefully staged photo op.
Abrego Garcia may well be a gang member, but a previous court ruling had found he should not be sent to El Salvador. Politically, this is a winning issue for Trump. But when SCOTUS ruled 9-0 that he should “facilitate” Garcia’s return, Trump pretty much ignored it.
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In a separate case, the Supreme Court, 7-2, ordered Trump not to move a second wave of Venezuelan migrants from where they are being held. This time, the administration agreed to follow the ruling.
6. FORMER AIDES
The president is going after two of his appointees from the first term.
He has ordered an investigation of his former cybersecurity chief, Chris Krebs, for “falsely and baselessly” denying that the 2020 election was rigged. He called Krebs a “significant bad-faith actor who weaponized and abused his government authority,” meaning Krebs found what every other probe, including one by Attorney General Bill Barr, found–no evidence of significant fraud.
Trump also ordered a probe of Miles Taylor, better known as “Anonymous,” for the New York Times op-ed he wrote ripping the president.
Taylor, a former Homeland Security official, “wrote a book under the pseudonym ‘Anonymous,’ making outrageous claims both about your administration and about others in it,” the president was told in a memo. So he too is under investigation. Trump even accused Taylor of committing “treason.”
7. HILL REPUBLICANS
The president has pressured members of his own party into going along with just about anything he wants. Other than the Matt Gaetz fiasco, that has meant approving all his nominees, despite doubts about the likes of Pete Hegseth and RFK Jr.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth prepares to give a television interview outside the White House, on Friday, March 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP/Mark Schiefelbein)
He has openly warned that he will use Elon Musk’s money to launch primary opponents against those who defy him. Musk has been a heat shield for Trump, though he has broken with him on tariffs. Remember that Musk poured money into that Wisconsin Supreme Court battle and lost. The chainsaw looks very different now.
While the violent attacks against Tesla have been despicable, Musk has also had to admit, after vowing to cut $1 trillion, that he’ll only be able to save $150 billion. Musk also admitted firing and having to rehire bird flu experts and nuclear bomb specialists, but remains the world’s richest man.
Lisa Murkowski just came out and said it: They are all afraid to criticize Trump for fear of political retaliation.
8. KENNEDY CENTER
It’s never been done, but the president fired all the Democratic board members and named himself chairman. He’s even suggested that he should host the annual awards given out for the glittering building on the Potomac named for JFK – not because he needs the attention, he says, but because it would be good for ratings.
The board has always been bipartisan, but that doesn’t bother Trump.
Some performers, led by Lin-Manuel Miranda of “Hamilton” fame, have already pulled out. Will only conservative performers get the green light?
I’ve picked the Kennedy Center as an example of Trump’s culture wars, but he’s also taken aim at the Smithsonian Institution and the National Zoo.
9. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY
The president, with help from JD Vance, utterly humiliated the Ukrainian president during that meltdown meeting at the White House. Now Zelenskyy bears a good bit of responsibility for the clash – he should have kept his mouth shut and walked away with an agreement, but took the bait.
Trump went a step further, kicking him out of the White House and sending him home.
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Now Trump, through Marco Rubio, says he may give up on negotiating a cease-fire in Ukraine. That’s exactly what Vladimir Putin wants, so he can keep on seizing land from the brave Ukrainians. One thing that Trump said he would do, but hasn’t done, is pressure his pal Putin. He still blames Zelenskyy and Ukraine for having the temerity to be invaded by the Kremlin.
That’s the list. Feel free to create your own. Sometimes it works for Donald Trump, sometimes it doesn’t. But it helps explain the dizzying pace of change and sends an unmistakable message that he is in charge.
