©  AP Photo/Ben Curtis

PRESIDENT TRUMP’S JOB APPROVAL RATING after three weeks in office is near all-time highs, despite outrage in Washington over his push to slash thousands of federal jobs, the scores of lawsuits challenging his dismantling of agencies, a blizzard of culture war executive orders and the media frenzy that follows him everywhere.

Trump’s current honeymoon period is surprising because he’s almost never had a positive job approval rating over the course of his two non-consecutive terms in the White House.

As recently as six months ago, Trump’s aggregate approval rating in the 538 average stood at 38 percent positive and 57 percent negative — nearly 20 points underwater. Now, he’s near break-even in the 538 average, and he’s in positive territory in the RealClearPolitics average.

A CBS News survey released over the weekend underscored the current dynamics, finding 53 percent approve of the job Trump is doing, against 47 percent who disapprove.

A strong majority in that poll described Trump as “tough,” “energetic,” “focused” and “effective.”

Seventy percent said Trump is keeping his campaign promises.

“We’re living in a different world,” CNN polling analyst Harry Enten posted on X. “Trump’s had a net positive approval rating for all 21 days of his 2nd term vs. just 11 days during his entire 1st term! Big reason? 70% say he’s doing what he promised vs. just 46% who felt that way by April 2017.”

Some Republicans attribute Trump’s ascendance to his taking sides in hot-button cultural issues that have widespread support, including the move to ban transgender athletes in sports.

A New York Times/Ipsos poll from January found that 79 percent of all voters — and 67 percent of Democrats — oppose allowing transgender female athletes to participate in women’s sports.

Trump has also recently promised to eliminate paper straws and the penny.

Colorado’s Democratic Gov. Jared Polis called the halt on penny production a “great move.”

Trump is meeting resistance for key parts of his agenda in the courts.

• A third federal judge indefinitely blocked Trump’s executive order to restrict birthright citizenship.

• A federal court issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from sending three Venezuelan immigrants to the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention center.

• A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to comply with his order to unfreeze federal grants, after attorneys general for several Democratic states claimed the directive was not being followed.

• A judge blocked Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing Treasury payment systems. The Trump administration has asked a court to lift the order, arguing it could be seen as preventing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and other senior department leadership from accessing the systems.

Musk has called for the U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer, an appointee of former President Obama, to be impeached over the blockage.

Vice President Vance fumed that the courts are going too far in restraining Trump’s actions.

“Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” he posted on X.

UP NEXT: A court will rule on the legality of the Trump administration’s proposed buyouts for federal workers. There’s a midnight deadline to take the buyout, which about 65,000 government employees have already accepted.

Trump’s trade wars are kicking into high gear.

The president on Monday announced 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum. Canada and China are among the top steel importers into the U.S.

Trump believes tariffs are a useful bargaining chip that puts the squeeze on U.S. trading partners, while economists warn the costs are handed down to ordinary Americans.

The tariffs on Canada and Mexico that were delayed for a month are still in play, with Trump telling Fox News during his Super Bowl interview that the moves the countries made to address his concerns were “not enough.”

💡Perspectives:

• The Hill: Trump ignores inflation for his familiar culture war fights.

• John Kass: Democratic madness triggered by sunlight of common sense.

• The Atlantic: The new authoritarianism.

• American Greatness: How the Democratic Party is ruining itself.

• New York Times: Trump’s shameful campaign against transgender Americans.

• First Things: Trump for women.

Read more: 

• GOP gains in voter registration raise red flags for Democrats

• GOP senators terrified of crossing Trump, facing Musk-funded challengers.

• House, Senate Republicans race each other to advance Trump agenda.

• Trump might be stuck with Biden spending for longer than GOP hoped.

• Trump accelerates Guantánamo Bay migrant directive: What to know.

• President Trump is being sued after quietly firing the top whistleblower protector at the Office of the Special Counsel.
  

   

• President Trump is expected to pardon former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D), who was convicted and incarcerated on public corruption charges.
  
  

• The four airline crew members killed in the midair collision with a military helicopter last month in Washington, D.C., will receive posthumous awards in their honor.

©  Alex Brandon, Associated Press File

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is drawing new lawsuits from federal workers and Democratic-led states, even as it opens new offensives on the government bureaucracy.

During his Super Bowl interview with Fox News, President Trump said he’d have Musk address the Department of Education next.

And Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo he’d welcome DOGE’s efforts to reduce spending at the Pentagon.

“We need to know when we spend dollars. We need to know where they’re going and why,” Hegseth said. “That’s simple accounting, and that has not existed at the Defense Department.”

The latest:

• The National Institutes of Health (NIH) made a significant reduction in grants reserved for research institutions, saying it will save up to $4 billion annually.

Republican Sen. Katie Britt (Ala.) is sounding the alarm for what this means for the University of Alabama, which receives NIH funding.

Britt called for a “smart, targeted approach” so as not to “hinder life-saving, groundbreaking research at high-achieving institutions like those in Alabama.”

Twenty-two states are suing to block the cuts.

• Democrats are seething after the Trump administration ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to stop all its work. The CFPB was the brain child of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and mortgage-lending scandal.

“If you have a bank account, or a credit card, or a mortgage, or a student loan — this is a code red,” Warren said in a video posted on X. “I am ringing the alarm bell.”  

It would require an act of Congress to officially shutter the agency, but Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought is bringing work there to a halt. Democrats believe Vought’s moves are illegal.

The White House on Monday called the CFPB “another woke, weaponized arm of the bureaucracy that leverages its power against certain industries and individuals disfavored by so-called ‘elites’.”

• How are Democrats responding?

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) unveiled a new task force Monday to respond to the “harm” inflicted by the Trump administration.

“The American people are counting on us to stop them,” Jeffries wrote to his colleagues.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) reminded Senate Democrats that they have the power to make or break any bill to fund the government past March 14, which he said could lead to a potential

“Trump shutdown.” 

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) unveiled a multipart plan to push back on Trump and Musk, while Senate Democrats launched a portal for whistleblowers within the Trump administration.

💡Perspectives:

• CNN: Musk charges on with Trump’s blessing.

• The Hill: Trump’s budget cuts are unconstitutional.

• The Liberal Patriot: Is Elon the punching bag Democrats think he is?

• Los Angeles Times: Trump and Musk crippled an important global aid agency.

• Joni Ernst: USAID is a rogue agency.

Read more: 

• Musk’s expanding role triggers efforts to check his power.

• Where the fight over USAID’s future stands.

• How Elon Musk is using tech to DOGE the government.

• Trump sued after quietly firing top whistleblower protector.

• Vance proves pivotal in pushing through controversial Trump nominees

©  AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana

Hamas said Monday it will delay the release of hostages after accusing Israel of violating conditions of the ceasefire.

The fragile truce between the two was already under duress after three Israeli hostages were returned in poor health over the weekend after spending 16 months in captivity with Hamas.

“At some point we’re going to lose our patience [with the Palestinians],” President Trump said. “When I see that scene that I saw today with [hostages] coming out of helicopters and airplanes that are emaciated, that look like they haven’t had a meal in a month — there’s no reason for that, and I don’t know how much longer we can take… They look like they’ve aged 25 years. They literally look like the old pictures of Holocaust survivors.”

Trump on Monday continued to muse on the U.S. taking over and developing Gaza, saying in an interview with The Associated Press that Palestinians would not have a right to return to Gaza because “they’re going to have much better housing” elsewhere.

• JD Vance is making his first trip abroad as vice president, arriving in Paris for a summit on artificial intelligence, followed by a trip to Munich for a national security conference.

Top administration officials are also in Europe to discuss bringing an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Trump says he’s been talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin about ending the war, although the Kremlin says U.S.-Russia relations are nearing collapse.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he’s open to making a deal with Trump to provide valuable minerals to the U.S. in exchange for military aid.

💡Perspectives:

• The Hill: Don’t expect Hamas to surrender any time soon.

• New York: The lessons from 2024 Democrats really need right now.

• New York Post: Trump is not the radical — he’s undoing radical things Dems did.

• The Hill: A tidal wave of resistance is coming for Elon Musk.

Read more: 

• State Department announces $7B arms sale to Israel.

• Trump halts aid to South Africa citing new land law.

• 7 competitive primaries to watch in 2026

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