Trump’s Policy Chaos: From Shock and Awe to Cleanup Mode

Trump’s Policy Chaos: From Shock and Awe to Cleanup Mode

It didn’t take long for Donald Trump’s second White House to end up in clean-up mode. Trump’s budget office has rescinded his proposed freeze on large swathes of federal aid, capping off a whirlwind 48 hours in which the president’s push to rein in spending sowed chaos across levels of government that administration officials were left scrambling to contain.

White House officials had already issued a flurry of statements and memos on Tuesday attempting to clarify which assistance programs would be affected amid outcry over potential disruptions to public health care benefits and other services for the elderly and low-income people.

Concern was coming from all corners even before the White House walked its plans back. Even as they broadly backed his attempt to scrutinize government spending, some of Trump’s allies on the Hill said they planned to press the president for more details on his proposed funding pauses. Republican governors similarly pushed the administration for clarity amid concerns the freeze could interrupt critical services in their states and jeopardize their financial stability.

It culminated Wednesday afternoon in the White House yanking Trump’s plan from the table — a reaction, in their words, to a judge’s order Tuesday blocking the freeze and media coverage but a seemingly tacit acknowledgment that there may be limits to the president’s shock-and-awe strategy.

The broad backlash to Trump’s plan, the first example that the president isn’t invincible in pushing through his broad agenda, offered a potential preview of the level of blowback Republicans could face if they pursue deep spending cuts to fund the president’s sweeping policy agenda. It also showcases the difficult spot Trump places Republicans in as he pursues a slash-and-burn approach to governing that could have far-reaching negative effects on their constituencies back home.

Democrats who have struggled to land on a unified message against Trump pounced on the order as their best opportunity yet to cast his second presidency as chaotic and harmful to everyday Americans. But they didn’t get to fully seize on it: the reversal was revealed just as House Democrats were joining a virtual emergency caucus meeting to discuss the initial action clawing back federal spending, a meeting announced a full day prior.

“Donald Trump’s reckless and unlawful decision to freeze nearly all domestic federal funding wreaked havoc yesterday,” said Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) on X. “Now that Trump has rescinded this order following a federal judge’s stay, I urge him to stop issuing half-baked, disastrous policies that harm American families.”

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Democrats’ top Senate appropriator, told reporters at the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon that she would take the Trump administration’s walkback “as a victory for now that they listened to the American people” but remained concerned that “we’re still holding billions of dollars in a freeze.”

Rubio was the first Cabinet official on Tuesday evening to begin to backtrack on Trump’s wide-ranging stoppage of government spending by exempting life-saving humanitarian assistance from an earlier pause on foreign aid. Rubio’s carve outs included “medicine, medical services, food, shelter” and other crucial forms of support, he said in a memo first reported by the Washington Post. Trump’s initial order stopping all foreign aid left many humanitarian groups confounded.

The fallout — and the cleanup — only grew from there. The confusion over the domestic freeze spilled out far beyond Washington as trillions of federal dollars were suddenly jeopardized, propelling a blistering news cycle detailing all the ways the pause in spending would impact many facets of American life.

On Tuesday, some state health departments were reporting that they could no longer access the online Medicaid portal used to process payments and reimbursements — a hiccup that providers said threatened health insurance for more than 72 million Americans.

And nonprofits that rely on federal assistance were fearful that their operations could no longer continue, like Meals on Wheels, which supplies meals to millions of seniors, and Head Start, which gives preschool funding to low-income children.

Questions over the reach of the freeze dominated White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s first briefing Tuesday afternoon. She insisted that the pause would not directly affect assistance that goes directly to individuals, and was intended to target parts of the government that conflict with Trump’s agenda. The White House later blamed an outage for locking out the online Medicaid system, and also released a fact sheet attempting to explain the contours of the president’s action.

Senior White House aide Stephen Miller appeared on CNN that afternoon and continued to pile blame on the media, arguing with host Jake Tapper that the order did not apply across the board and instead was intended to eradicate “wokeness” from the federal government.

It all accumulated in a federal judge temporarily blocking the order just minutes before it was set to go into effect on Tuesday. That judge’s order remains in effect through Feb. 3. On Wednesday, another federal judge signaled he will block the freeze, despite the White House walking back its “hugely ambiguous” order.

The White House, in a statement, said the reversal was intended to end confusion caused by the court ruling and “dishonest media coverage.”

But the two-line memo rescinding the initial order did not end the confusion. On X, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the latest memo was not a recession of the federal funding freeze and instead “simply a rescission of the OMB memo.” She added that Trump’s executive order on funding remains “in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented.”

Still, some in the GOP believed the spigot was turned back on — and acknowledged the intense public reaction.

“I’m grateful to all the Pennsylvanians who reached out about the Administration’s spending pause over the last 24 hours,” said Sen. Dave McCormick on X. “The pause has been rescinded. Your input made a difference- thank you.”