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“I am in blood stepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o’er”.
This famous quote, from Act 3, Scene 4 of Shakespeare’s Macbeth reflects the moment when Macbeth realises that he has gone so far down the path of evil that there is no turning back from it.
Reflecting on the destructive and lawless nature of Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office, one has to wonder whether he too, like Macbeth, will conclude that his presidency has gone too far down the path of extremism to be able to course-correct.
Instead, despite his tanking poll numbers, he may be tempted to just keep upping the ante.
Trump is already well-known for his pathological aversion to admitting mistakes. Rather than reversing course, in an effort to reassure voters and calm the markets, he could decide to accelerate the chaos in the hope of keeping his opponents off-balance.
He could also try to exploit the non-stop turmoil to justify taking even more extreme measures – such as clamping down further on free speech; tasking the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to slash the budgets of even more federal agencies and bodies designed to oversee the executive; and weaponising institutions of the state, such as the FBI and Department of Justice, to go after even more political opponents.
His list of perceived enemies already includes officials from his first administration, such as Chris Krebs, former Secretary of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, who challenged his claims that the 2020 Presidential Election was rigged; and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, who has publicly criticised him.
The Psycho-Social-Techno Politics of ‘MAGA’ Trumps Democracy – And the Liberal Left Has No Answer
Donald Trump’s second victory in the United States is a warning sign to democracies everywhere of the centrality of emotions – and their manipulation – in the new politics of gross inequality and psychic rebellion fuelled by tech-driven alternative realities, writes Hardeep Matharu
It includes media outlets and journalists who report critically on his administration. It includes law firms that represented clients in lawsuits against him or his businesses, which have been blacklisted from government contracts or bullied into signing agreements to provide it free legal services. It includes respected academic institutions such as Harvard and Columbia Universities, which have been hit or threatened with budget cuts on the flimsy grounds that they have failed to take sufficient action against antisemitism.
This list is now widening to include judges who have issued court orders against his administration, who are now being accused of judicial overreach. Last week, the administration even arrested a judge on the grounds that she had allegedly hindered the detention of an immigrant by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
His list includes non-profit organisations, think tanks, and independent entities which advocate for causes his administration opposes such as climate change; diversity, equity or inclusion (DEI) initiatives; or democracy promotion.
The list even includes entire towns, cities and states which are accused of not cooperating with his policies. On 28 April, the President signed an executive order directing the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security to identify within a month those cities and states that are not complying with federal immigration laws, and designate them as “sanctuary jurisdictions”. These could face federal funding cuts and possible criminal and civil lawsuits if they refuse to change their practices.
The administration has also gone after the state of Maine for failing to comply with the President’s executive order to ban transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports, which the state’s Governor has argued violates a Maine anti-discrimination law.
Both the Education Department and the Department of Health and Human Services have launched inquiries into the state over alleged Title IX violations (Title IX is the federal civil rights law which bans sexual discrimination). Various federally-funded programmes for the state have been suspended, such as ones supporting its coastal economy or its correction programme.
Attorney General Pam Bondi declared that California and Minnesota should also “be on notice” for alleged non-compliance with the Trump administration’s transgender policies.