US politics newsletter - Expect the unexpected

By James Oliphant

Jan 30 (Reuters) - If President Donald Trump has spent much of his early days in office trying to dictate the action in Washington and keep critics on their heels , this week was a reminder that unexpected and uncontrollable events will always disrupt even the best plans.

On Wednesday, an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with a passenger jet over Washington, DC’s Potomac River in a horrific accident that authorities say no one appears to have survived. The crash provides the fledgling administration with its first real public test.

Trump’s new transportation secretary, former U.S. congressman Sean Duffy, and his recently confirmed defense secretary , Pete Hegseth, will be tasked with finding out how the tragedy occurred.

The crash presents the new president with a stark reality: While Trump has been hyper-focused on trying to dramatically shrink the size of the federal government, he needs professionals at the ready when incidents like this happen.

I’m James Oliphant, national political correspondent for Reuters, and having covered the Trump campaign, I know first-hand how determined Trump and his team were to start quickly and avoid the misfires that characterized much of his first term.

But Trump’s second week in office has been challenging, with his plans sparking outrage, confusion and legal fights .

A federal judge stopped his plan to freeze federal outlays in its tracks. Two unions representing federal government workers sued Trump over his plan to reclassify thousands of career employees as political appointees.

Trump appears serious about wanting to swing a wrecking ball through the federal bureaucracy. Along with the career employee reclassification plan, the White House is offering buyouts to more than 2 million federal workers, an announcement many civil servants and unions said they did not trust .

Nothing sparked more chaos than the White House’s order on Monday suspending billions of dollars in federal loans and grants. While officials claimed the order was only intended to apply to diversity programs and other governmental initiatives that Trump wants to eliminate, it wasn’t interpreted that way in some sectors. Democrats said the order effectively prevented doctors and preschool teachers from receiving federal payments.

Facing a second lawsuit by 22 states that argued Trump was usurping Congress’ power to oversee spending, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget on Wednesday rescinded the directive implementing the order.

It was not a great look for a president who as a candidate questioned the Biden administration’s competence at every turn, though the White House does not seem to be concerned whether its steamroller agenda carries risk of political blowback.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll this week showed a majority of Americans disfavor Trump’s proposals to end birthright citizenship for some immigrants and change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “ Gulf of America .”

The public is also less than enthusiastic about Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico, the poll found. And while voters generally support his government reform efforts, they oppose ending efforts to hire women and other workers of color.

You know what voters care about? The same thing they did last year: the price of groceries. Trump complained this week he’s not getting much help there either after the Federal Reserve declined to cut interest rates as he had demanded.

Trump is learning the same lessons he learned eight years ago. Not everything is going to go the way he wants.

FACT CHECK OF THE WEEK:

The flurry of executive actions during Trump’s first week in office generated confusion and misinformation about his policies online. Reversal of a Biden-era executive order on lowering prescription drug costs was misinterpreted as Trump canceling the $35 insulin co-pay cap and companies announcing a 2,000% price increase for the drug, which they did not.

Other new policies were just invented, including a new law on claiming child tax benefits , a $750 reward for tips on illegal migrants, billions in new FEMA funding and a plan to give Staten Island to New Jersey. Find more fact checks from around the world here .

THE VIEW FROM …. BANGKOK:

Trump’s move last week to suspend global aid to ensure it aligns with his foreign policy alarmed advocates around the world. The U.S. accounts for 42% of all global humanitarian aid. Clinics at camps in Thailand providing shelter for about 100,000 refugees from Myanmar were ordered to shut after the U.S. froze funding to the International Rescue Committee.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR:

Feb. 4 : Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Trump at the White House

THE WHO, WHAT AND WHEN:

• What aircraft were involved in the Washington DC plane crash?

• Trump's spending pause and its legality

• Where do the legal cases against Trump's executive orders stand?