Trump update

Washington Times - President Trump’s return to the White House has pushed American optimism about the economy to a seven-year high in Gallup polling, released Monday.  The public opinion firm said 53% of adults responding to an early January poll expected the economy to grow over the next six months, the highest since it started asking the question annually in 2019. Another 61% of respondents anticipated stock market growth, with both numbers up from seven-year lows in last year’s poll.

The poll also registered seven-year highs in the shares of Americans who expected interest rates to drop (41%), inflation to go down (33%), and unemployment to decline (38%) by the end of June.  

Daily Kos -The Trump administration’s unprecedented, sweeping freeze on $3 trillion in federal grants and aid sent shockwaves through vulnerable communities and every level of government on Tuesday, but Democratic attorneys general quickly banded together to fight back. Twenty-three states filed a lawsuit just minutes after U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan blocked the freeze Tuesday afternoon. The administrative stay pauses the action until Monday, according to the Associated Press.

Donald Trump’s latest stunt would have halted essential programs like Medicaid and Head Start, which are vital lifelines for low-income communities who rely on them for school meals, health care, and early childhood education. The funding freeze also jeopardizes critical education initiatives like Pell Grants and ESSA funding, which help students access college, and child care block grants that support working families.

Daily Kos - President Donald Trump signed a handful of executive orders Monday, reshaping the U.S. military to fit his MAGA values. One in particular revives his old quarrel with transgender military personnel....Per the executive order, the military has been “afflicted with radical gender ideology,” which is an indirect way of referring to transgender people without ever actually using the word “transgender.” 

It goes on to state that “expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service.” The language of the order gives power to the highly controversial Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to determine who falls into the category of someone who is ready or not ready for war.