President Trump is at war with many battlefields.
It’s a nine-sided crusade, but it could easily double the number.
If there is a common thread here, the President is taking on elite agencies, he has long resented and revised.
That’s why his first three months seem trapped in hyperspeed – critics say chaos – because he’s broken with traditional models that tackle one or two problems at a time. Voters gave him a second term to shake things up. It is the first Trump terminology for steroids.
Education Department. Reopening default federal student loan collection for the first time since 2020
Unlike some of the more traditional figures (Rex Tillerson, Jim Mattis, Gary Korn) who tried to restrain him when he last lived in the White House, the president is surrounded by loyalists who encouraged his approach to flooding.
One advantage is that he uses social social as a weapon and puts him down on people who make him uncomfortable.
Still, he still abolished the rules limiting shower pressure, called for penny to abolish, and found time to come out against clock changes (although his attitude in daylight savings time is unknown) – all the issues that affect people’s everyday life.
Here, in no particular order, there are nine battlefields of Donald Trump.
1. Top Private Universities
Trump himself went to Wharton School, but he’s constantly attacking Columbia and other Top Ivy Colleges. He has frozen more than $2 billion in federal funds, with another $7 billion at risk being hit back by Harvard University. Additionally, the IRS is considering revoking the university’s tax-free status.
Trump has publicly criticised Harvard University multiple times in recent weeks. (Getty Images | istock)
The White House now acknowledges that letters sent by Trump officials to Harvard are “fraud” and should not be sent. Harvard officials were stumbling because they thought they were in the process of negotiating a settlement with the administration.
2. Law office
Under pressure from Trump, one after another, huge law firms fell into the settlement with the White House. This includes agreeing to provide free services up to $100 million or $125 million on issues that are important to the administration. An alternative is an executive order that elicits security clearance for members, making it impossible to provide services to corporate clients without access to confidential data. Several companies have fought back, and some lawyers have resigned in protest, but most have volunteered to settle.
3. media
President Trump sued CBS, NBC and Gannett. He won a $16 million lawsuit against ABC, approved by Disney. He repeatedly called him a rapist when George Stephanopulos actually blamed him for his sexual abuse. Even if the lawsuit doesn’t go anywhere, journalists and news outlets must hire lawyers to go through the ordeal.
Mark Zuckerberg on the stand: “Crazy”, “Scary” idea led him to buy Instagram and WhatsApp
Trump has been using the media as foil for a long time, and now he’s ridiculing things like CNN’s Kaitlan Collins when she tries to ask questions. He refused to ask questions from the NBC reporter, saying the network was not reliable. Still, Trump offers an absolutely incredible degree of access. He effectively asks questions every day and takes over the press pool (AP is still excluded). Coverage is overwhelmingly anti-Trump, and sometimes self-harm, but it also increases clicks and ratings. It’s a romantic relationship.
4. Federal Reserve System
Yesterday, the market snorted again. Powell’s job is to worry about inflation rather than chickening out the economy, as the president wants him to cut interest rates.
US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell answered a question from David Reubenstein (not photographed) during a stage discussion at a Washington Economic Club meeting at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C. on February 7, 2023 (Reuters/Amanda Andrade Lard/File Photo)
The entire tariff war surprised Wall Street and alienated allies such as Canada (51st State???), Mexico and the European Union. He repeatedly promised a tariff war during the campaign, but even on China, which retaliated, did not expect tariffs of this magnitude. Now, Trump says he even makes a deal with China. The 90-day suspension seemed to stabilize things temporarily, but it remains to be seen whether the president will be able to do business with 90 countries in 90 days.
5. court
Donald Trump has a long history of attacking judges and prosecutors. Now he’s gone up to the line and perhaps beyond that when it comes to challenging the court’s decision, even a conservative majority of 6-3 in the Supreme Court.
The other day, the president biased questions about Kilmer Abrego Garcia’s illegal deportation and told reporters to speak to his lawyer. The next day he dropped off at Abrego Garcia at length, criticising Chris Van Hollen’s trip to visit him in a carefully staged photo shoot, saying he was a violent man worthy of prison.
Abrego Garcia may be a gang member, but the previous court decision held that he should not be sent to El Salvador. Political, this is a matter of victory for Trump. But when Scotus ruled 9-0 that Garcia should “promote” Garcia’s return, Trump largely ignored it.
Trump says he’s “not happy” with Fed chief Jerome Powell
In another case, the Supreme Court ordered Trump to move a second wave of Venezuelan immigration from where they were detained. This time, the administration agreed to comply with the ruling.
6. Former assistant
The president has been following two appointees since his first term.
He ordered an investigation into former cybersecurity chief Chris Krebs, denying the consolidation of the 2020 election. He called Krebs “an important bad faith actor who weaponized and abused government authority.” That is, Krebs found all the other investigations, including Attorney General Bill Barr.
Trump also ordered an investigation into Miles Taylor, known as “anonymous.”
Taylor, a former Homeland Security Officer, “I wrote the book under the pseudonym that he makes outrageous claims about both your administration and others within it,” the president said in a memo. So he’s also investigating. Trump accused Taylor of committing “treason.”
7. Hill Republican
The president pressured members of his own party to go with what he wanted. Other than Matt Gaetz Fiasco, Pete Hegseth and RFK Jr.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegses is preparing to hold a television interview outside the White House on Friday, March 21, 2025 in Washington. (AP/Mark Schiefelbein)
He openly warned that he would spend Elon Musk’s money on setting up a major enemy against those who oppose him. The mask was a heat shield for Trump, but he’s broken with him at tariffs. Don’t forget that Musk poured money into that Wisconsin Supreme Court fight and lost. The chainsaw looks very different now.
The violent attacks on Tesla were mean, but Musk had to admit that after vowing to cut $1 trillion, he could only save $150 billion. Musk also admitted that he must rehire shooting and avian flu specialists and nuclear bomb specialists, but remains the wealthiest man in the world.
Lisa Murkowski came out and said that: They are all afraid of criticizing Trump for fear of political retaliation.
8. Kennedy Center
It never happened, but the president fired all Democratic board members and nominated himself as chairman. He even suggests that the annual awards given for the sparkling building in Potomac, named after JFK, should be held. Not because he needs attention, but because he is good at ratings.
The board has always been bipartisan, but that doesn’t bother Trump.
Some performers, led by “Hamilton” fame Lynn Manuel Miranda, have already withdrawn. Are only conservative performers green light?
I chose the Kennedy Center as an example of Trump’s culture war, but he also looks to the Smithsonian Association and the National Zoo.
9. VolodymyrZelenskyy
The president, with the help of JD Vance, completely humiliated the Ukrainian president during a meltdown meeting at the White House. Zelenskyy is fully responsible for conflicts. He should have closed his mouth and agreed to leave, but he got the food.
Trump took it a step further, kicking him out of the White House and sending him home.
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Now, Trump may give up on negotiating a ceasefire in Ukraine through Marco Rubio. That’s exactly what Vladimir Putin wants, so he can continue to seize the land from the brave Ukrainians. One thing Trump said he would do but he wasn’t doing is putting pressure on his peer Putin. He still accused Zelensky and Ukraine of having the extremes of being invaded by the Kremlin.
That’s the list. Feel free to create your own. Sometimes I work for Donald Trump, but sometimes I don’t. But it helps explain the dizzying pace of change and sends an undeniable message that he is in charge.
Howard Kurtz is the host of Fox News Channel’s MediaBuzz (11am to 12pm Sunday). The Washington, D.C.-based member joined the network in 2013, regularly appearing in special reports with Bret Baier and stories with Martha MacCallum among other programs.
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