80 candles, one costly record: Trump’s legacy of waste and chaos

SACRAMENTO – Day after day, Trump and his crony administration are asking working families to swallow cuts while his allies chase monuments, jets, clubs coins, ballrooms, and payouts. More than ever, on Trump’s 80th birthday, Americans are reminded that Trump always put himself first and the American people last.

President Donald Trump is no stranger to retaliatory executive actions, exorbitant corruption, attempts to silence his critics on social media and in the press, and a long list of costly wrongdoing. From vanity arches, birthday cage fights, luxury jets, donor clubs, ballrooms, crypto cash grabs, and taxpayer-funded payout schemes, Trump’s record has come at an unprecedented cost to taxpayers and communities in every corner of our nation.

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As he marks eight decades around the sun, here are 80 ways Trump and his allies have used not-so-subtle political moves to protect his financial and personal interests, enrich his inner circle, fuel waste, corruption, and chaos, and leave working Americans to shoulder the cost.

1. LED AN ATTACK ON DEMOCRACY by inciting the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol to try to overturn an election he lost.
2. Tried to bankroll a $1.8 BILLION SLUSH FUND for Trump allies — including January 6 defendants — before backlash forced Trump’s DOJ to back off.
3. Was convicted on 34 FELONY COUNTS for falsifying business records to cover his hush-money payments.
4. Turned the presidency into a taxpayer-backed travel agency for his own properties, spending hundreds of days at Trump properties while taxpayers and federal agencies picked up the tab.
5. Created chaos through FIVE government shutdowns or partial shutdowns across his administrations, dragging Americans through roughly 160 days of Trump shutdown pain.
6. Kept families and children HUNGRY, withholding around $4 BILLION in SNAP benefits for struggling families during a government shutdown.
7. Tried to find $1 BILLION in taxpayer-funded security upgrades tied to a $400 MILLION White House ballroom boondoggle after demolishing the 123-year-old East Wing — while telling working families there was no money for health care.
8. Turned tariffs into a TRUMP SALES TAX, costing American families about $1,000 per household in 2025 and another estimated $700 hit in 2026.
9. Turned the Army’s 250th anniversary into a $45 MILLION birthday SPECTACLE for himself, staging a military parade on his own birthday.
10. Turned the White House South Lawn into a $60 MILLION UFC cage match for his 80th birthday, complete with a full Octagon, federal-agency support, and a fight-week event at the Lincoln Memorial.
11. Opened the government up to INSIDER TRADING SCRUTINY, with well-timed Wall Street bets CASHING IN before Trump’s market-moving decisions became public.
12. Played favorites with POLITICAL GET-OUT-OF-JAIL-FREE CARDS, pardoning cronies, fraudsters, January 6 extremists, and loyalists who served Trump’s political aims.
13. Created GAS PRICE CHAOS as Trump’s foreign policy and tariff games cost families at the pump.
14. Hammered farmers with a FERTILIZER PRICE SHOCK, as Trump’s tariff mess pushed up the costs of production that ripple into food prices.
15. Turned the National Endowment for the Humanities into a TRUMP VANITY ARCH ATM, with a $15 MILLION taxpayer-funded down payment for a 250-foot monument — and there is still no full official cost estimate.
16. Claimed his handpicked “unbelievable” pool guy could fix the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool for just $1.8 million, only for taxpayers to get stuck with a no-bid vanity project now topping $14.2 million.
17. Pulled a STRONGMAN NAME-GRAB at the Kennedy Center until a federal judge forced his name off.
18. Turned public lands into another Trump branding exercise by putting his face on the National Parks Pass after STARVING parks of resources.
19. Cut THOUSANDS OF JOBS by letting Elon Musk take a DOGE CHAINSAW to the federal government, pushing more than 260,000 workers out.
20. Allowed Elon Musk to PERSONALLY BENEFIT from government contracts while leading DOGE.
21. Allowed a RESURGENCE OF MEASLES to take hold, creating a public health emergency in multiple states.
22. Added $2.3 BILLION to his family fortune from their crypto ventures with the $TRUMP meme coin.
23. While taxpayers SUFFER at the pump because of the Iran war, Trump has been putting his face on the $1 coin, the U.S. passport, and a proposed $250 bill.
24. Instead of supporting U.S. farmers, Trump is making deals with other countries for beef and cutting funding for the program that monitored and responded to the New World screwworm.
25. Let DHS build a LUXURY JET FLEET — spending $172 MILLION during the shutdown to buy two Gulfstream G700s, plus a $70 MILLION Boeing 737 Max 8 — even as families struggled to put food on the table. ICE also purchased 2,500 vehicles that agents won’t even drive.
26. Calls himself “the most transparent President in history,” yet spent years fighting to keep his tax returns in the dark.
27. Redirected billions from the Pentagon toward his border wall, raiding military construction money for Trump’s signature political prop.
28. Tried to turn research funding into an IDEOLOGICAL LOYALTY TEST, pushing universities to prioritize conservative ideas and screen international students for so-called “anti-American values.”
29. Has retained ownership of the Trump Organization, creating conflicts of interest that pad his pockets with taxpayer dollars.
30. Has been repeatedly sued for receiving unconstitutional financial benefits from foreign governments through his hotels and businesses.
31. Was IMPEACHED for a UKRAINE AID SHAKEDOWN, withholding military aid unless Ukraine’s president investigatedhis political enemies.
32. IMPEACHED a SECOND time for trying to STEAL the 2020 election.
33. Targeted veterans with draconian cuts that have led to historic staffing losses at the Department of Veterans Affairs, increased wait times for life-saving mental health care, and have placed veterans’ care and benefits at risk.
34. SLASHED the Educational Opportunity Grant program and student debt relief, leaving students on the hook while protecting giveaways for the rich.
35. Put the Department of Education on the CHOPPING BLOCK, trying to gut the agency that protects students, families, and civil rights.
36. Tried to DESTROY election integrity by pressuring Georgia officials to “find 11,780 votes” and overturn the 2020 election results.
37. Called up his buddy, MAGA Governor Greg Abbott, to redraw congressional maps in his favor because he felt ENTITLED TO 5 additional House seats in Texas.
38. DEMOLISHED the White House Rose Garden lawn, and used nearly $2 MILLION to pave it into a Mar-a-Lago-style patio for his ‘private-club’ aesthetic.
39. Peddled PARTISAN PROPAGANDA at the White House, using official plaques to attack predecessors and rewrite history.
40. Passed the One Big UGLY Bill, SLASHING HEALTH CARE and threatening coverage for millions of Americans.
41. Tried to AXE nearly $2 BILLION in mental health and addiction grants — then reversed course after bipartisan blowback.
42. AUTHORIZED $4.5 TRILLION in revenue cuts through the Big Ugly Betrayal, tilting the tax code toward the rich while blowing up the deficit.
43. TYRANNICALLY and UNNECESSARILY deployed the National Guard to L.A. and other cities to terrorize communities.
44. IGNORED centuries of history and the rest of the world by renaming the Gulf of Mexico the GULF OF AMERICA … because apparently even geography needed Trump branding.
45. Allowed the DOJ to quietly CLOSE more than 23,000 criminal cases in the first six months of his administration, abandoning investigations into terrorism, FRAUD and white-collar crime, drug trafficking, and other offenses.
46. Created a GOLD-PLATED CASH-FOR-VISAS SCHEME, turning U.S. residency into a multimillion-dollar fast lane for wealthy foreign nationals and a magnet for corruption, influence-buying, and money-laundering concerns.
47. Turned the White House lawn into a Tesla showroom, staging an official photo op for Elon Musk.
48. Proposed deep cuts to wildfire prevention funding, THREATENING West Coast states under severe wildfire risk.
49. CONTINUES TO STONEWALL THE EPSTEIN FILES and DECEIVES the public by denying his involvement after reporting found DOJ withheld records that mentioned Trump and included allegations he denies.
50. Has attempted to TAKE OVER other countries and their governments, including trying to OVERTHROW the Venezuelan government and take control of its oil reserves.
51. WITHDREW the U.S. from 66 international organizations, including the WHO, and environmental treaties, undoing YEARS OF GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS.
52. Rolled back EPA regulations meant to protect the health of millions of Americans and RESCINDED the Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding.
53. MOVED TO WEAKEN longstanding wildlife protections through the Endangered Species Act.
54. Slashed funding for the National Weather Service, leaving communities defenseless against extreme weather disasters.
55. Signed off on RACIAL PROFILING for ICE in MULTIPLE INSTANCES.
56. Handed Peter Thiel a $30 MILLION ICE surveillance contract to help build Trump’s deportation machine.
57. Accepted a $4 million inauguration donation from a GOP megadonor and nominated him to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to the U.K. the same day.
58. WEAPONIZED the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by dismantling tools to fight discrimination.
59. SHRANK the Forest Service while wildfire season loomed, leaving firefighters and field staff stretched thin.
60. HAS THREATENED ACCESS TO HOUSING for vulnerable communities by attacking fair housing rules and proposing to zero out fair housing enforcement resources.
61. PUSHED a taxpayer-funded PAYOUT SCHEME by suing his own DOJ for $230 million in compensation for investigations into himself.
62. MOBILIZED Border Patrol to show up to Governor Newsom’s L.A. rally to intimidate his political opponents.
63. UNLAWFULLY fired transgender troops actively serving their country.
64. DEFUNDED public broadcasters such as NPR and PBS because independent media would not play Trump TV.
65. GUTTED the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, costing Americans up to $19 BILLION in one year alone.
66. Pressured ABC until Jimmy Kimmel Live! was pulled off the air, showing how far Trump will go to punish media outlets that refuse to kiss the ring.
67. Pushed an immigration crackdown that could blow a $479 BILLION hole in federal tax revenue over 10 years.
68. THREATENED TO ANNEX Greenland MULTIPLE TIMES.
69. Protected Mar-a-Lago from offshore drilling while REVERSING protections nationwide and allowing pollutants to contaminate Americans’ water.
70. Issued a court-blocked executive order to end birthright citizenship, taking direct aim at the 14th Amendment.
71. Took a BUTCHER KNIFE to life-saving aid, canceling programs, killing U.S. jobs, wrecking alliances, and risking more than 14 MILLION deaths by 2030.
72. Helped his son, Don Jr., launch an invite-only club that costs more than $500,000 to join and offers proximity to Trump Cabinet officials.
73. Invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime law from 1798, triggering legal challenges across the country over due process and deportations.
74. TOOK AWAY free access to national parks on Juneteenth, switching it to his birthday.
75. DODGED the Vietnam War draft yet puts our troops in DANGER by sending them to fight the ILLEGAL Iran war.
76. Tried to blind the public to corporate pollution by proposing to end mandatory greenhouse gas reporting for roughly 8,000 industrial facilities.
77. Used wartime powers to shovel nearly $700 MILLION into coal, dressing up a dirty-energy bailout as national security.
78. Abandoned L.A. fire survivors by WITHHOLDING federal recovery funds while communities waited to rebuild.
79. Published an executive order to roll back federal support for education programs in K-12 schools.
80. Personally profited from buying $5 MILLION in Boeing and Nvidia shares as both companies benefited from his China trip.

For working families, the cost of Trump’s record continues to be felt in everyday life: tighter budgets, fewer resources, and communities forced to do more with less. For Trump and his allies, that same record means private perks and political rewards, serving as another reminder of where their priorities lie.

As Trump blows out his 80 candles, the celebration says it all: his allies got the party while the American people are left with the smoke.