Trump brings blitzing strategy back to White House

Donald Trump's return to Washington has been defined largely by bombarding the country with a dizzying amount of brash actions and rhetoric that opponents admit is exhausting.

Donald Trump's return to Washington has been defined largely by bombarding the country with a dizzying amount of brash actions and rhetoric that opponents admit is exhausting.

"He’s throwing a lot of things at us at once. Lots of executive orders and lots of changes," Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the minority whip, told USA TODAY. "Some of them are confusing, chaotic. I don't think…we are going to keep up with it."

Hours after a catastrophic mid-air collision between a passenger jet and a military aircraft above the nation's capital, Trump entered the White House press briefing room Thursday offering a moment of silence.

But he immediately attacked his predecessors with unsubstantiated claims that offered diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives as a possible reason for the tragic accident, which killed 67 people.

Asked later in the Oval Office if he planned to visit the crash area, Trump said: "I have a plan to visit, not the site. Because you tell me, what’s the site? The water? You want me to go swimming?"

The day was vintage Trump in that it sparked an outrage among Democrats and their progressive allies before he added more indignation to the situation as bodies were still being fished out of the Potomac River.

"Politics is motion and Donald Trump is a study in motion," Craig Shirley, a Republican consultant who worked on then-Vice President George H.W. Bush's 1988 president, told USA TODAY.

"That is good for achieving his policy goals... but it's also good at keeping your opponents on the defensive."

Whether it is pardoning violent Jan. 6 defendants; firing inspectors general; revoking security detail for past critics; looking to end birthright citizenship; investigating media outlets; or having Dr. Phil join televised raids apprehending undocumented immigrants, the so-called "flood the zone" strategy, popularized in the first administration by former chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, has returned.

What's different, experts say, is the rapid fire appears to be have striking accuracy even as some actions − such as freezing federal grant funding − cause heartburn for friends and foes alike.

"As chaotic as it's been in the first few weeks, Trump 2.0 came in with a much better understanding of the federal government, and a team dedicated to helping him get his wins, including members of Congress," said Casey Burgat, director of the legislative affairs program at the George Washington University Graduate School of Management.

"It's clear that many of the Trump 1.0 folks stuck around D.C. and have been gearing up for a second Trump term."

Whether Americans are exhausted or elated by the frenzied pace is something, the president's second term begins with a wider berth than he had almost a decade ago when he first rocked Washington's traditions.

Trump carries a Republican-controlled Congress that has largely deferred to their party leader on serious questions about executive overreach.

"We're getting a lot done," Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said in an interview. "I think the President's quick movement is inspiring to his supporters and, yes, demoralizing to his opponents."

The first round of polling in the embryonic stages of Trump 2.0 bear this out, with a Quinnipiac University poll of registered voters released Wednesday finding 46% of voters approve of the job Trump is doing versus 43% who disapprove.

That is within the survey's 3% margin of error, but the same national poll was conducted about a week into his first term in 2017 and it showed Trump holding a 36% approval compared to 44% disapproval.

Trump fared even better in a poll released Thursday by Emerson College, which showed him carrying a 49% job approval rating versus 41% disapproval, well outside its 3% margin of error.

Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, who worked in the first Trump administration, said Trump is doing much of what he said he would during the campaign. The president will be "in a hurry" to achieve his stated goals with a single term left and two years ticking before the 2026 midterm elections.

"When he ran the first time around, he didn't quite know how he wanted to achieve his goals," Gilmore said. "Now it's clear that he does. He came into the office this time with his eyes wide open."

Part of the whiplash at Trump's pacing is tied to the contrast with former President Joe Biden, who exited office with some of the lowest approval ratings ever by an outgoing president. The late-night policy sessions and social media posts,