“to transform America’s politics” – U.S. President Donald Trump’s attacks on the rich affect almost every part of life in the United States

President Donald Trump is stepping up his attacks on what his fans see as an elite establishment. He is doing this by using his full presidential power to control the media, the government, public health, foreign policy, education, and even the arts.

During his campaign last year, Trump made it clear that he would use his power as president to get back at people who were against him politically. But his plan to change American politics and society is about a lot more than just getting back at people who hurt him.

He is going after Ivy League schools, top law firms, the bureaucracy, and 80 years of elite dogma about American leadership in the world. He is also using tariffs to break up the global trading system that supporters of “Make America Great Again” see as the self-serving betrayal of global elites.

As an example from recently, the White House told Columbia University it had to limit protests, review its Middle East program, ban masks at protests, and make police more strict. Other top schools now worry that Trump dogma could be used to try to force their beliefs on students. The plan could make the political opening that was made when conservatives put pressure on top schools over anti-Israel protests during the war in Gaza bigger.

Also, at the end of last week, Trump told Attorney General Pam Bondi to go after lawyers and law companies that he thinks are suing the US for “frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious reasons.” After the White House said the top white-collar firm agreed to do $40 million in free legal work to back administration initiatives and promised to drop diversity, equity, and inclusion, he dropped the punishment against the firm. This is when the memo came out. The firm, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, disagrees with how the government describes the deal. However, many Washington lawyers were against the deal.

Trump’s overall plan has the same anti-establishment fervour that made his campaign rallies so exciting. It’s also part of a larger effort to replace what critics see as a liberal elite that controls Washington, D.C., and Western global power with what many conservatives believe are more authentic American values. This is why the president got rid of a lot of the Department of Education. Republicans have long seen it as a tool of Democrats’ backed teachers’ unions and a way to get more policies that include gender, race, and inclusion, which many conservatives don’t like.

Linda McMahon, Trump’s choice for education secretary, has no experience in the field but made a lot of money marketing highly staged professional wrestling matches. This is a slap in the face to the education establishment. On CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, McMahon told Dana Bash, “The Department of Education does not educate one child.” This was her plan to lower the department’s status. It doesn’t tell any states what they should teach. The school doesn’t hire teachers. “It doesn’t set up programs,” she said, promising to send government money straight to states.

Trump chose to put Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine sceptic, in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services because he felt the same way about the establishment that he did about McMahon.

Trump wants to change both the politics and the society of the United States.
Trump’s views have always been against intellectuals. People in power made fun of the president for years, and now he is using his second term to settle the score.

But his efforts to get colleges, the media, and the medical establishment to follow the rules are making people worry about the freedom of the press and academia and the importance of science in public health. And he wants to do even more. He’s taken over the Kennedy Centre in Washington, D.C., put Fox News hosts on its board, and promises to replace high culture with more mainstream shows.

All of this fits with a president who gets most of his support from places other than American cities and the wealthy suburbs of those cities. He also thinks he has a mandate to change things after winning all seven swing states and the overall vote in 2024. In addition, it refers to the change he brought about in the Republican Party, which no longer caters to the wealthy and is now reaching out to working-class voters who used to vote Democratic.

But the latest actions by the administration are also eerily similar to those of strongman leaders who attacked universities, the media, the law, and businesses. These attacks destroyed basic freedoms, democracy, and the spread of oligarchical corruption. One example of this is Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary, who was a hero of the MAGA movement.

Trump’s strong nationalist views and support for dictators like Russian President Vladimir Putin go against decades of US foreign policy that has been aimed at stopping Kremlin expansionism. This makes people question the international system that was created by national security elites after World War II and the system of alliances with democracies that support US power around the world.

The president’s administration says that what it sees as a small group of elite liberal district court judges shouldn’t be able to interpret the Constitution in a way that limits the power of an all-powerful president. This goes against the rule of law in the United States, even though the White House hasn’t yet challenged the Supreme Court. They may be waiting because they think that the court’s conservative majority will support some of the president’s own beliefs.

What the MAGA project thinks about how leftist insiders hurt American greatness
In his fiery inaugural speech, Trump laid out his plans for a number of policy areas. It was a statement of his belief that he was “saved by God to make America great again” and his determination to make sure that his second term brings about the kind of fundamental change that his first failed to do.

In Trump’s view, that greatness has been harmed by policies from the leftist elite that have destroyed American manufacturing, limited freedom with public health mandates, imposed radical liberal values on schools, let people immigrate without limits, made the US weak abroad, and let its friends take advantage of its generosity. After being sworn in, Trump said, “For many years, a radical and corrupt establishment has taken power and wealth from our citizens while the pillars of our society lay broken and seemed to be in complete disrepair.”

His plan is similar to the goals of Project 2025, which is Trump’s disavowal of the playbook for conservative presidential leadership during his campaign but which now helps explain why his administration makes the choices it does. Ahead of the document, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts said, “The next conservative president must have the courage to consistently put the needs of the average American ahead of the wants of the ruling elite.” “Their anger can’t be stopped; it just needs to be ignored, which can be done.”

Trump’s fight with the big law companies Paul, Weiss was caused by his desire to punish sources of power that he thinks have wronged him and the administration’s larger goal to stop any attempt to limit power. The president signed an order that stopped the firm’s lawyers from getting security clearances. This could have made it harder for the firm to work on issues that involve the federal government. The order fit with the president’s plan to stop what he calls the “weaponization” of justice by going after lawyers or law firms that helped bring charges against him in the past.

In a letter to Paul, Weiss employees, the company’s chairman, Brad Karp, explained why he chose to deal with the president and warned that the executive order “easily could have destroyed our firm.” It made the government’s full weight fall on our company, our employees, and our customers.

But the company’s choice made more people worry that the president will use his power to ruin law companies that help people who disagree with him.