The Donald J. Trump Plan to Stop Donald J. Trump

After 100 Days, the President Has Started to Make It Clear How He Will be Defeated

As we approach the completion of our 47th president’s first 100 days in office, we have learned a great deal. As they say, no pain, no gain.

Certainly, it has been, as the White House has asserted, a record-breaking first 100 days. No administration has done more damage, more quickly to the U.S. economy, to America’s standing in the world, to the rule of law in the United States, and to important institutions at home and abroad than this second tenure of Donald J. Trump.

The Worst First 100 Days of Any Administration in History

What is more, it is fair to say, few administrations if any have had fewer constructive achievements to show for their first days in office than this one. Look at their campaign promises. Ending the war in Ukraine in 24 hours? No. Revitalizing the economy? No. Beating inflation? No. Restoring America’s standing in the world? No. Rounding up millions of illegal immigrants? No. Making sure we no longer have an addled old man in the White House? Nope.

In fact, in each of these areas, Trump has made matters worse. We switched sides in Ukraine, becoming a propaganda arm and errand boy for the Kremlin, and we are no closer to a lasting end to that war than we ever were. Worse, we have strengthened the aggressor and made the world more dangerous in so doing. Trump’s erratic trade policies have brought the world to the brink of recession, trashed financial markets, and weakened the U.S. by every conceivable metric. And of course, the huge tariffs introduced—illegally—are worse than even the Smoot Hawley tariffs of 1930 that deepened that helped turned the depression into The Great Depression.

Our standing in the world after threatening to attack our neighbors and allies, breaking our word on international agreements (including those negotiated by Trump first time around), and weakening international institutions hasn’t been lower since America emerged as a global power over 100 years ago. Trust in the U.S., a great source of our strength, is broken. Our role as an example and a champion of democracy is broken. The international system we helped build is broken. Alliances…broken. Our leadership in education and science…broken.

Our system of justice is, if not quite broken yet, breaking. Yet, even so, even as the administration ran roughshod over the law, it is just barely keeping up with Biden levels of deportations…and remains far behind the levels seen during the Obama Administration. Nonetheless, they have through their contempt for the law and the courts and the rights of Americans and visitors to our country, attacked fundamental freedoms from the right to due process to freedom of expression.

They have scared away for many years to come the students, new immigrants and tourists who have contributed so much for so long to our economy. They have threatened war against our friends and embraced those who threaten us. They have rejected science and taken steps that will make every American at great risk of suffering and diseases. And they have gutted vital government services, costing the jobs of tens of thousands, the economic vitality of communities and eliminating critical means of support for tens of millions of the most vulnerable Americans.

They have done all this while passing zero—zero—major pieces of legislation despite controlling both houses of Congress. The executive orders by which they have chosen to govern have often been illegal, regularly promoted vile ideas founded in racism, sexism and ignorance, and are now, as they should be, bogged down in the courts.

The senior appointees to the administration have ranged from being embarrassments to putting our national security at risk. Chaos and dysfunction across the government are the rule. Efforts to cut spending will, it is already clear, actually only end up increasing costs…expenses that will then be compounded adding to our massive deficits when the administration finally advances through the Congress its one primary legislative objective, more tax cuts for the rich and powerful that will add perhaps as much as 10 trillion dollars in red ink to our books over the decade ahead (many many times the “savings” produced by eliminating often vital government functions.)

But, as all of us know now, none of the above represents the worst of this administration. Their efforts to strip away our rights have turned America into a police state, in the eyes of experts already rendered this country an authoritarian nation and put the future of democracy in America in grave doubt. Since this country was founded, we have never faced such a threat from without or within and there is every reason to expect that the past 100 days or so are just prologue to much worse to come.

The Silver Lining

Despite the above, there are reasons to remain hopeful. We are still, for now, a democracy. The inherent goodness of the majority of Americans is translating into growing resistance to the damage this government is doing. Issues that might seem remote from the lives of many—such as the illegal detention and expulsion to a foreign prison camp of apparently innocent individuals—have stirred anger and activism in every corner of the country. Protests are increasing. New entrants to politics are signing up, standing up and speaking out.

The Resistance is real.

But if we examine the past few months closely, something else emerges that should also be a source of guarded hope. We are beginning to see how Trump can be stopped and ultimately defeated. We are learning what works in the face of the administration’s bullying and threats and what does not. There is a roadmap being laid before us and it is coming directly from the president himself.

Core to this is seeing again that Trump is, like many sociopaths, defined and guided by his weaknesses. Greed, retribution and profound ignorance guide his actions and those of the people closest to him. The cock-of-the-walk president is like most preeners and boasters and bullies fundamentally weak, a damaged man. Further, he is old, on his last legs in this life and, like all narcissists, has no concern for a world without him in it or for anyone else and that includes many of the people around him. While there is danger lurking in each of these flaws, there is also opportunity as we have seen.

In the past few months, as clear as it has been that Trump’s promises were empty and most of his words were lies, it has also been made manifest that capitulating to his bullying only leads to further bullying. The examples of universities like my alma mater, Columbia, or big law firms or countries that have sought to win him over by bending the knee has not been a pretty one. In every case, he demands more. In every case, perceived weakness is seen as blood in the water to our shark-in-chief.

More importantly, we have started to see where counterbalances to his power lay. We have seen how he can be contained, deterred and even forced to reverse his actions. Financial markets have twice forced him to reverse course on reckless tariff policies. While he still has imposed disastrous trade taxes that are a burden on Americans and American companies while achieving none of the positive results he has promised, some of his worst actions were stopped by markets going into free fall. As recently as this week, market reactions have forced him to back off of threats against Central Bank Governor Jay Powell. Trump knows that if stocks continue to plummet, if Treasury yields continue to rise, if talk grows of the end of the dollar as a reserve currency, that the people around him whose approval he seeks—his billionaire and ceo friends—will abandon him because they will be crushed by losses.

He may ignore the courts. He may run roughshod over a supine Congress. But Wall Street holds the whip hand with Trump and those who want to influence him are starting to realize it.

We have also seen that once again, Trump the egomaniac is sensitive to the perception that he is a loser. He doesn’t care about us or about history. But he does care how he is perceived by his rich pals. This has already led him to repeat a pattern from his first administration. He is loyal to no one. Therefore, in a big enterprise like a government (and he has once again demonstrated how bad he is with core competencies like, say, management), in which responsibilities must be delegated, all his top aides know they must keep feeding the beast of the boss’ ego or they will fade in influence and access or worse, be pushed out.

This has already happened with Trump’s “co-president” Elon Musk. Musk is on his way out not because the law requires it (Trump doesn’t care much about law), but because a.) the stories that he rivaled Trump in power, fueled by Musk’s behavior, were a wedge between the two and b.) he has alienated far too many people in a DOGE effort that is far, far from producing the results Musk once promised.

Further the Musk case has revealed another aspect of the power of markets…in this case, of markets driven by resistance activism. By being prominently associated with Trump, Musk has made two of his brands—Tesla and X—toxic, destroying tens of billions of value in those companies and wiping away more than $130 billion of Musk’s wealth. This was no accident, not entirely organic. Activists and collective action made it happen. And the message should be taken clearly, when activists get Trump’s inner circle where they live, in their pocketbooks, it produces results.

Activism targeting markets…a formula to remember.

Further, when Musk is out of the government, especially given the scars he has received in battles with the likes of Peter Navarro on tariffs or Stephen Miller on immigration, he is likely to be a loose cannon causing more damage to the administration. His foray into politics has been both costly and has shown the limits of the power of his checkbook (see the Wisconsin and German elections he tried to influence) but it has also been triggering for the world’s richest man (who disproves RFK, Jr.’s theory that people on the autism spectrum cannot lead productive lives…even as he proves the theory that they may not pay taxes). Will he stay in line some of the time to ensure he gets the fruits of corruption he showed up for in the first place? Yes. Will he seek to advance the idea that he and his tech bro and assorted other oligarch friends are more important to the future of American and world politics than the aging, lame duck Trump? Also yes. (Because, let’s be honest, they are. By far.)

This suggests that Trump’s base is already showing signs of fraying. Plummeting poll results support this. Shrinking GOP margins in special elections support this. But just wait until that big GOP reconciliation bill comes up to be voted on. While it will contain the MAGA-GOP Holy Grail of more tax cuts for those who need them least, to help “justify” that (it’s unjustifiable) they will also seek to indulge another longtime right wing fantasy of gutting key social programs, notably Medicaid. The current view is to cutting almost $1 trillion from this very popular, vital program depended upon by tens of millions of Americans. It may have seemed like a good idea at a distance. But the closer the vote on cutting the program gets to the 2026 elections, the worse it is going to look to Republicans who are up for re-election. Some may defect or push back, which will underscore how thin GOP margins are. But even if the bill passes, it will—if we have anything even remotely approaching free and fair midterm elections—result in massive GOP losses, the loss of the House majority and a growing awareness that aging, lame duck Trump is not the star he once said he was. He has always cost other Republicans but whereas in the past the threat he posed to them in primaries gave him influence, that will fade as it becomes clearer and clearer that he is nearing the end of his political life. (No. He will not be able to run for reelection. There are some bridges that are too far even for the corrupt right wing majority on the Supreme Court. The reason that the third term stuff even comes up is to vaccinate, sorry, Trump to prevent lame duck-itis. But as he approaches his sell-by date, he will increasingly be seen as a liability and a power struggle to succeed him the GOP will further sap him from influence.)

Further, we are beginning to see what works for Democrats who want to stand up to Trump—as the examples of AOC, Cory Booker, Chris Van Hollen, Bernie Sanders, Jasmine Crockett, J.B. Pritzker, and others show. We are also seeing what does not work, as the examples of Chuck Schumer, Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer and superannuated old school Dem commentators demonstrate. These are the early signs of a remaking of the country’s opposition party to address the unprecedented threats we face.

Dems are even learning from Trump recognizing how to win the attention of modern media and the essential role that convey strength plays (as opposed to offering up loads of white papers, wonkery and traditional Dem unease with the use of power.)

Finally, the efforts of organized groups to use the courts to challenge Trump are working. Not always. But sometimes. And that matters too in the search for guardrails.

Trump Is Showing Us How to Defeat Trump

The first 100 days for Trump 2.0 have been a debacle. The damage done and soon to be done will take many years from which to recover. But we are also beginning to recognize where Trump is weak, where he responds to pressure, what kind of activism works, and even the important message that activism works.

These are dangerous times. But if we know where to look, they also are times offering important lessons that can help preserve and ultimately restore the America we so value.