Story
Judges Put Trump’s Federal-Downsizing Blitz on Ice
A federal judge halted much of the administration’s mass workforce-reduction push, forcing the White House to pause one of its signature chaos projects.
Edition · May 10, 2025
The Daily Fuckup: May 10, 2025 Edition
Trump’s downsizing crusade hit a legal wall, the Ukraine minerals deal became a diplomacy hostage, and the administration kept finding new ways to turn policy into self-inflicted chaos.
May 9, 2025 was a pretty good day to be a judge and a terrible day to be pretending the Trump White House had its act together. The most important blow came from San Francisco, where a federal court moved to freeze much of the administration’s mass federal-downsizing push. Elsewhere, the Ukraine minerals deal that Trump had sold as a hard-nosed win kept looking more like an awkward bargain with unclear upside and plenty of diplomatic baggage. Put together, it was another day of maximalist promises colliding with law, process, and the basic nuisance of reality.
Closing take
Trump world keeps trying to govern like the Constitution is a suggestion and the courts are a vibe check. On May 9, 2025, the vibe was no, not so fast.
Ranked by how bad the fuckup was
5 stars means maximum fallout. 1 star means a smaller self-own.
Story
Trump’s Ukraine Minerals Deal Keeps Looking Like a Complicated Mess
Ukraine ratified the minerals agreement, but the deal’s real-world value, political symbolism, and wartime baggage made Trump’s victory lap look premature.