Five months into President Donald Trump’s second term, the consensus narrative is to characterize his initial actions as strong, bold and aggressive. But as I travel around Illinois — and hold town hall meetings both live and virtually — a different impression has emerged for me. Put bluntly — we are all at risk from Trump, not because he is so strong, but because he is weak. In instance after instance, it is Trump’s weakness — his inability to stand up for any principle or against those with the most access to him — that is the most threatening aspect of his chaotic, reckless presidency.
One topic on the minds of my constituents is the determination of Trump and his congressional minions to make dramatic cuts to Medicaid. The President does not truly understand the impact of these cuts on the lives of people. He pushes forward with the strategy of gutting these critical programs because he is too weak to stand up to his millionaire and billionaire supporters who demand deep tax cuts for the wealthy. The only way to pay for those tax cuts is to make deep reductions in government spending that serves other people — including nearly $1 trillion to Medicaid.
I heard from people who know firsthand the harm in these cuts. One father of a disabled child — who relies on Medicaid to cover health needs so that the father can stay home and provide round the clock care — told me through tears that he may have to surrender his child to state care if the family loses Medicaid coverage. Another mother told me that when Trump was elected, her son who has autism asked, “What will happen to my future?” Less than 100 days into Trump’s first term, she had an answer: Trump’s crusade to dismantle public education and healthcare will jeopardize her son’s future as a successful, independent adult.
There are thousands of these stories in towns and communities — large and small — across my district and Illinois. These families are facing hard, heartbreaking choices simply because the President is not courageous enough to stand up to his wealthy donors and advisors and protect the needs of these families. That is not strength.
Trump may pretend to be bully on the world stage, but like any playground bully, his facade buckles under pressure. He is weak in dealing with dictators and tyrants like Vladimir Putin, a man who launched an unprovoked war against Ukraine, bombed hospitals and orphanages, and even kidnapped Ukrainian children and disappeared them away to Russia. Rather than stand up to this ruthlessness, Trump cowers in fear when confronting Putin, demanding that the Ukrainians sacrifice territory and natural resources to get a temporary cease fire. That is not strength.
The President’s weakness was also on display in the Oval Office with the dictator of El Salvador. Trump is so fragile that he simply cannot admit publicly what his Department of Justice lawyers have said in court — namely, that the administration mistakenly removed Kilmar Abrego Garcia from the U.S. and sent him to a prison that has been described as a gulag in El Salvador. And, so, he cannot bring himself to demand that El Salvador return Mr. Garica to the U.S. — even though the U.S. government is paying El Salvador for detaining Mr. Garcia and others. This weakness is imposing unnecessary anguish each day on Mr. Garcia and his family.
Trump supporters regularly repeat the notion that he is a strong, vigorous leader. But his pretense of strength reveals his true weakness. It is not strength to look at any problem and cast blame on those seen as “other” — from immigrants to members of the opposite political party. True strength is rolling up one’s sleeves, partnering across the aisle and with all those committed to finding solutions and doing the arduous work of serving all people. The President reveals his weakness not by taking bold action, but by taking reckless steps in a trade war only to back off and blame others when it appears to be unpopular.
It is critical that we oppose President Donald Trump. We do not oppose him because we fear his strength — but because we know the consequences of his weakness.