Though headlines and analysts repeatedly claim that the anti-Trump “resistance” is in disarray and that Democrats are struggling to form a coherent message against the administration, many of the cogs in the resistance’s machine continue to turn as though it were the first Trump administration. The only difference is that, this time, Trump is having none of it and driving through his agenda at such a pace that his opposition can’t get its footing.
During the first Trump term, the so-called “deep state” mounted consistent opposition and managed to effectively obstruct his keynote projects. Leakers inside the Department of Homeland Security often thwarted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. Pentagon officials opposed to his foreign policy realignment slow-walked his withdrawal orders, notably in Syria. He further saw an antagonistic media repeatedly twist his words and fixate on the Russia collusion narrative. In 2025, intransigent career officials continue to make their frustrations known and the media remains as anti-Trump as ever.
But it’s a new term and a new Donald Trump. A host of executive orders, unconventional nominees, and sweeping agency reforms have the Washington, D.C., establishment in a panic and, ultimately, unable to do much about anything.
Bureaucrats who slow-walk or otherwise obstruct the implementation of the White House’s orders are on their way out. The media’s emotional appeals on immigration, parading desperate migrants denied entry to the U.S., carry no weight with Trump. Cries of “respect for institutional norms” go unheard. And protesters with multi-colored hair are left to scream into the wind.
As he enacts sweeping reforms in rapid succession, moreover, he maintains a favorable rating with the public, who seem to view the blitz as an attempt to deliver on what he promised. As of week two, Trump enjoyed a 53% favorability rating in the latest Napolitan News Survey. He enjoys a 49.4% approval in the RealClearPolitics average, compared to 44.8% who disapprove of him.
“We knew the mainstream media was going to come out against anything Trump did,” former National Security Council chief of staff Fred Fleitz said Tuesday on the “John Solomon Reports” podcast. “But the brilliance of rolling out so many ideas so quickly is [that] Trump is flooding the zone, and the media doesn’t know what to focus on.”
The blitz of executive orders, legislative initiatives, and internal agency reforms has even some of his conservative skeptics amazed and opining that the four years of President Joe Biden ultimately produced a more aggressive Trump administration.
“By leaps and bounds. I am legitimately stunned with this level of focus on rooting out the communist filth from the government. 4 years of Biden was well worth it in exchange for this version of Trump,” Jesse Kelly posted.
Codification by Congress
Complicating President Joe Biden’s unilateral student loan debt cancellations was a Supreme Court finding that he lacked congressional authorization to address a fundamentally budget-based issue on his own. Trump is likely to address that issue preemptively in what is expected to be a major budget and border package. The courts have already blocked some of Trump’s initial executive orders, though some went through the litigation process during his first term and have landed more softly.
Immigration items, in particular, are expected to be part of the House’s plans, as are the extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts. The process will also present an opportunity for Republicans to give legislative weight to the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) slashing of key agencies.
On the Senate side, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, is leading legislative efforts to support DOGE and back the termination of federal employees, especially in the IRS.
“My Audit the IRS Act will audit the auditors and fire the more than 800 IRS agents who owe millions of dollars in back taxes,” Ernst posted Tuesday in response to a query from Musk about whether the public would like his agency to audit the IRS.
“Prairie Dogging”
Recent efforts by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to gut federal agencies have normally faceless bureaucrats and those with vested interests coming forward to defend them. Such was the case when DOGE visited the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday stepped in as acting USAID director as the agency scrutinizes its disbursements and appears poised to recommend its elimination outright after Musk paid a visit to the agency’s office.
USAID officials, however, evidently tried to put up a fight. Reports emerged over the weekend that senior security officials were placed on leave after they attempted to prevent Musk from accessing restricted portions of the building. That move came on the heels of the administration placing dozens of personnel on leave, bringing the total to roughly 100, according to Reuters.
Musk has openly suggested that USAID engaged in “money laundering”, called it a “criminal organization,” and stated that Trump supports the organization’s elimination. His social media platform, X, meanwhile, has seen a series of stalwart USAID advocates speak up for the organization, only for users to flag their receipt of money through the agency or indirectly through a recipient of USAID funds.
Online pundits noted how beneficiaries of USAID funds came out of the woodwork to object or interfere, with some likening the phenomenon to a prairie dog poking its head out of the ground.
“DOGE already drilled through untold layers of government bureaucracy and found the heart of the Deep State beast. USAID,” Dilbert comic creator Scott Adams posted. “Amazingly, this made all the Deep State puppets in our government ‘prairie dog’ to complain, so we can easily spot them going forward. Don’t miss that part of the show.”
Administrative insubordination and “malicious compliance”
While some officials, such as those USAID security personnel, have opted toward what Secretary of State Marco Rubio called “rank insubordination,” others have taken a more passive-aggressive approach: that of so-called “malicious compliance.” The term addresses situations in which individuals deliberately insist on following every guideline or rule for the purpose of slowing down the process or in which they enforce a provision to a degree beyond what was intended.
Such a development occurred within the Department of Defense over Trump’s order terminating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs. In what Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., called an act of malicious compliance, the Air Force opted to stop teaching about the Tuskegee Airmen. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speedily reversed the move.
Some agencies have taken to begging Congress and the courts for intervention. The FBI, notably, has faced the prospect of sweeping personnel changes as the Senate appears poised to confirm Kash Patel to lead it. The FBI Agents Association, for instance, wrote to Congress after agents were sent a questionnaire about their roles in Jan. 6 prosecutions.
“We urge you to work with President Trump to prevent acting officials from taking personnel actions that undermine our shared goal of keeping the FBI out of politics,” the association wrote, according to Reuters.
Other FBI agents on Tuesday filed a suit aiming to stop the government from compiling information about the agents who worked on those cases, arguing that they are likely to face some form of retaliation should the administration learn of their involvement.
“Plaintiffs legitimately fear that the information being compiled will be accessed by persons who are not authorized to have access to it,” they wrote, Politico reported. “Plaintiffs further assert that even if they are not targeted for termination, they may face other retaliatory acts such as demotion, denial of job opportunities or denial of promotions in the future.”
Senate Republicans fall in line
In the first term, Trump regularly faced opposition from within the Senate GOP, with many of its members ultimately voting to impeach him after Jan. 6. Many of those figures retired or otherwise left office, however, and the Republican roster is more aligned with Trump this time around.
Nevertheless, a number of old guard Republicans have been hesitant to commit to Trump’s Cabinet nominees, especially those poised to make sweeping changes to major institutions. Republican intransigence was ultimately enough to convince Matt Gaetz to withdraw as Trump’s attorney general nominee, but has not been enough to stop Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. thus far.
Meetings with Vice President JD Vance and pressure from the MAGA movement were ultimately enough to win over Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La.; and Todd Young, R-Ind.; on Kennedy and Gabbard, respectively.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, for his part, managed to get over the line to secure confirmation, but only with the tie-breaking vote of Vance as Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; Susan Collins, Maine; and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; joined Democrats to oppose him.
The latter trio are expected to remain obstacles to some Trump nominees and agenda items, but a combination of public pressure and private assurances appears to have kept the overwhelming majority of the conference from breaking ranks.
Ben Whedon joined the Just the News team in March of 2022 after previously working as an editor and national security reporter for Breitbart News.
Reprinted with permission from Just the News – By Ben Whedon
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.