• President Donald Trump burst into office hellbent on showing vigorous momentum in his first weeks. After all, that’s his whole brand: a self-styled gold-plated winner who never admits defeat, even when it smacks him in the face like a cream pie hitting a clown. His refusal to ever admit weakness, though, means that sometimes even his critics overlook the gaps between what he says is happening, and what’s really going on. Plenty of those gaps have emerged, however, to show just how bumbling and shambolic his start has been. 

• Things simply aren’t going smoothly. Take immigration, Trump’s single biggest issue. Trump is “angry” that more people aren’t being deported, as immigration raids in Los Angeles and Colorado were thwarted by leaked information, according to one person who spoke to NBC News. The logjam is “driving him nuts,” the person said. Meanwhile, his top officials are freaking out and blaming “crooked deep state agents” for leaks undermining their efforts. 

• Trump’s rash decisions are rattling even his top fans in Congress. A recent example: Trump’s move to cut billions in administrative overhead funding from the National Institutes of Health to medical research institutions. The policy hits red states hard, prompting MAGA Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) to publicly warn that “a smart, targeted approach is needed in order to not hinder life-saving, groundbreaking research at high-achieving institutions like those in Alabama.” The White House attacked reporting of the funding cuts as “fake news” — a sign the negative press is getting to them. Today, a judge temporarily blocked the change. 

• Then there are the reversals. Trump tried to freeze federal funding, only to rescind his own order… which was blocked by judges anyway​. He threatened to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico, whose leaders duped him into dropping them with meaningless concessions. Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, aka DOGE, realized the government can’t function if you fire everyone, so it backtracked on who can resign. A 25-year-old DOGE staffer was outed for being so racist that he resigned. Today, another judge blocked Trump’s birthright citizenship​ executive order. Nineteen states are suing Trump and the Treasury Department for giving DOGE access to sensitive data.

• Many of the Trump administration’s issues have been caused by its own comical stupidity. Trump mistakenly appointed FBI agent Brian Driscoll to temporarily lead the agency, refusing to correct the mistake, probably to save themselves the embarrassment. Well, “Drizz” has become a symbol of resistance, thwarting the Trump administration’s plans and developing his own cult-following inside the agency. What’s more, the dude looks like “John Bernthal, with a dash of Matthew McConaughey’s roguish energy,” Slate writes​. They aren’t wrong! This problem could’ve been easily avoided if Trump’s buddies used two brain cells.

• Vice President JD Vance grumbled over the weekend about the constraints of, y’know, following the law. “Judges aren't allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” Vance wrote on X, comparing Trump’s actions to a general commanding a military. The word “legitimate” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here, as the vice president raises the question of how much power his boss has, rather than directly calling for him to defy the courts.

• The court system is the single biggest obstacle now facing Trump. And, to be sure,  the situation could change dramatically if he opts to start ignoring the courts altogether. “They are prepared to smash a system they control, simply because it won’t move at the frantic pace they demand,” The Atlantic’s Jonathan Chait writes. “Quite possibly, cooler heads will prevail. 

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