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We remember the good old days: when we had the strongest and best economy in the world. America was firing on all cylinders. Wages, consumer spending and corporate profits were up. Unemployment was at a record low. The stock markets were at a record high. The labor market added 7.9 million new jobs. And inflation, which popped up for a few months, was falling.

Believe it or not, that was just a month ago. We remember the good old days, under Joe Biden. It took Donald Trump only a month to destroy it all. Today, the markets are plummeting; unemployment – thanks to tens of thousands of workers fired by Trump – is soaring; inflation is creeping back up; and consumer prices are about to explode as Trump pursues his mindless, confusing, on-again-off-again trade war against Mexico, China, Canada and Western Europe.

And Americans don’t like it. In the latest CNN/SRSS poll, 56% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy and 61% oppose his position on tariffs. Overall, only 45% of Americans approve of the way he’s handling the presidency so far; 55% disapprove. Trump’s honeymoon with voters lasted about as long as his honeymoon with Melania.

There’s a good reason why Americans, even many who voted for him in 2024, have turned sour on Donald Trump so soon. Because, while it’s easy to see what he’s against, he’s almost impossible to figure out what he’s for.

Clearly, he’s against education. What used to be a major plank of the Republican Party – that nothing was more important than giving American child the best possible education – means nothing to Donald Trump. He’s determined to end any federal role in public schools – and has already, just this week, fired one-half of all employees of the Department of Education, on his way to eliminating it altogether.

Clearly, he’s against science. With his blessing, Co-President Elon Musk has taken a chainsaw to several federal agencies where scientists are doing unsung but critical scientific research. Scientists have been fired and labs are shuttered in the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Clearly, he’s against veterans. Trump’s clobbered them twice. Roughly one-third of all federal employees are veterans (under a priority hiring program begun under President Barack Obama) so many of them are likely to face firings. On top of that, Trump has announced plans to fire 80,000 employees of the Veterans Administration, which will mean drastic cuts in medical care for America’s 9 million veterans in 170 VA medical centers.

Clearly, he’s against the environment. He’s rolled back most of Biden’s moves on climate change and renewable energy. He’s repealed dozens of environmental regulations, including on pollution from tailpipes and smokestacks. Lee Zeldin, Trump’s EPA chief, says the agency’s new goal is to “lower the cost of buying a car, heating a home and running a business” – no mention of “protecting the environment and public health,” for which the EPA was created by Richard Nixon in 1970.

Clearly, he’s against national parks. He’s already fired 1,000 National Park Service employees and demanded that NPS come up with a plan to cut costs by 30%, while shutting down 34 park service centers nationwide. This despite the fact that national parks – which attract 300 million visitors annually – represent only one-fifteenth of 1% of the federal budget, yet contribute $55.6 billion in revenues to the federal budget.

Clearly, he’s against the arts. He took over the Kennedy Center, for which he named a new MAGA chair and board of trustees. He disbanded the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, created by President Ronald Reagan in 1982. He fired one-half of the General Services Administration staff responsible for overseeing 26,000 public artworks in federal buildings, including the huge, red, iconic Alexander Calder “Flamingo” sculpture in Chicago.

No need to mention how much Trump’s against immigrants. Still, you must ask: While he’s busy destroying so much, is there anything Donald Trump is actually for?

Yes, as we discovered this week. He’s for anything to help the richest man on the planet get even richer, including turning the revered South Lawn of the White House into a used-car lot and urging Americans to buy a car most of them can’t afford, especially after he’s fired so many of them.

After just one disastrous month, the big question for 77 million Americans is: Are you still glad you voted for this clown?

(Bill Press is host of The BillPressPod, and author of 10 books, including: “From the Left: My Life in the Crossfire.” His email address is: bill@billpress.com. Readers may also follow him on Twitter @billpresspod and on BlueSky @BillPress.bsky.social.)

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