As of the close of the day on April 15, my positive/negative score on the Trump administration stands at
-483. The total was offset by two executive orders that on their face appear to have positive benefits.
15 April 2025
+1: Executive Order:
Lowering Drug Prices by Once Again Putting Americans First
+1: Executive Order:
Ensuring National Security and Economic Resilience through Section 232 Actions on Processed Critical Minerals and Derivative Products
-1: Executive Order:
Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement (see note)
-1: Executive Order:
Restoring Common Sense to Federal Office Space Management (see note) [146]
-1: Headline: Trump threatens Harvard’s tax-exempt status after freezing $2bn funding (BBC)
-1: FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) decries Trump’s pressure on Harvard University [147]
-1: Trump to Fox News on deporting Americans to a gulag in El Salvador: “We want to do it. I would love to do that.”
-1: Leavitt publicly lies about Abrego Garcia (none of the things she said are true) [148]
-1: JD Vance complains about the press reporting on Garcia’s illegal deportation [149]
-1: Levitt mentions a poll by the Daily Mail (of all places!) showing Trump’s approval rating is at an all time high [150]
-1: A whistleblower’s disclosure details how DOGE may have taken sensitive labor data
Note: Any communication from a right-leaning organization containing the phrase “common sense” I automatically score as a negative unless it can be demonstrated otherwise.
References
146. Revokes Clinton's Executive Order 13006: Locating Federal Facilities on Historic Properties in our Nation’s Central Cities
147: FIRE: “The letter is unprecedented in its scope. It would essentially render Harvard a vassal institution, subjecting much of its corporate and academic governance to federal directives. If Harvard acceded to these demands, faculty hiring, student admissions, student and faculty disciplinary procedures, university programming decisions, student group recognition processes, and much more would be transformed to align with the government’s ideological preferences.”
148. Leavitt: “Abrego Garcia was a foreign terrorist. He is an MS-13 gang member. He was engaged in human trafficking.”
149. JD Vance: “The entire American media and left wing industrial complex has decided the most important issue today is that the Trump admin deported an MS-13 gang member (and illegal alien)”
150. Leavitt: “A brand-new poll published from The Daily Mail found Trump’s approval rating at an all-time high. That is because the president’s working tirelessly to keep his promises to the American people.”
bsky.app
www.bbc.co.uk
www1.internationalskeptics.com
