Trump’s War on the Administrative State Is a Class War
Donald Trump’s attacks on environmental regulation and the administrative state are part of a right-wing class war — one that pits patriotic citizens against perceived liberal experts defending what’s left of the New Deal order.
Donald Trump during a news conference in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 12, 2025. (Chris Kleponis / CNP / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In support of the absurdly named “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” — which has passed the US House of Representatives and is currently under consideration in the Senate — the fossil fuel front group Americans for Prosperity has launched an equally absurd national advertising campaign. Their latest missive targeted the Green New Deal (GND):
Some things are simple.
More money in your family’s wallet: good; wasting trillions on Biden’s Green New Deal handouts: not good.
Lowering tax bills for hard-working families: good; reckless spending on green energy fantasies: not good.
Washington taking less of your money: good; green energy scams, ripping off tax-payers: not good.
It really is simple. Eliminating Joe Biden’s Green New Deal helps pay for President Trump’s tax cuts.
This attack on the GND — one which has been echoed by Donald Trump and congressional Republicans over the past four months — is both curious and revealing. It is curious because the GND — an initiative that would have tethered a federal jobs program to measures aimed at climate mitigation and environmental justice, as well as several far-reaching social democratic projects, like Medicare and Housing for All and the PRO Act — never passed into law.
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