DOGE, plastic straws, and tariffs: White House lists week four wins as Trump executes agenda

EXCLUSIVE — The White House is trying to ensure President Donald Trump‘s political and policy achievements are not overshadowed by what senior administration officials have described as their “shock and awe” strategy for the president’s first 100 days back in office.

In a memo obtained by the Washington Examiner, the White House underscored Trump’s week four accomplishments ahead of that April 30 deadline, from securing the release of Pennsylvania teacher Marc Fogel from Russia, announcing steel, aluminum, and reciprocal tariffs, and getting rid of pennies and paper straws to becoming the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl.

• Received his highest-ever approval rating (53%), with 70% of respondents saying Trump was keeping his campaign promises, per a CBS poll. He even received a positive rating from 20% of Democratic voters in a J.L. Partners-Daily Mail poll. 
• Secured release of Pennsylvania teacher Marc Fogel from Russian captivity. Fogel had been held in Russia since 2021, with the Biden administration securing the release of Brittney Griner before Fogel despite Fogel being incarcerated before Griner for a similar infraction. 
• Directed the U.S. Treasury to stop minting new pennies — a move 58% of all likely voters support. Pennies cost 3.7 cents to make and distribute. 
• Fired the Board of Visitors for the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard following years of “Woke Leftist Ideologues” infiltrating U.S. service academies.
  • Heritage: “Professor Lynne Chandler Garcia recently published an op-ed in the Washington Post in which she defended indoctrinating her students on the concepts of critical race theory, or CRT. Normally, this wouldn’t raise any eyebrows. A member of the intelligentsia teaching her students a boutique academic theory? Hardly shocking. What did get people’s attention was Garcia’s place of employment. None other than the U.S. Air Force Academy.”
  • In March, West Point removed its “Duty, Honor, Country” motto from its mission statement. 
• Ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — an Elizabeth Warren brainchild that funneled cash to left-wing nonprofit groups — to halt operations.
• Became first sitting president to ever attend a Super Bowl and brought back the tradition of pre-Super Bowl interviews. 
• Signed an executive order rolling back Biden-era push to phase out plastic straws. 
• Declared Feb. 9 Gulf of America Day in order for “our great Nation to come together and commemorate this momentous occasion and the renaming of the Gulf of America.”
• Resumed repatriation flights to Venezuela. 
• Disney dropped two of its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs amid backlash, including the company’s “Reimagine Tomorrow” program — defined as the “Company’s digital destination for amplifying underrepresented voices and features some of Disney’s DE&I commitments and actions” — which hosted a controversial 2022 leaked “all-hands” meeting in which a Disney executive touted her “not at all secret gay agenda.”
• Fired slew of Kennedy Center board members, including former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
  • Kennedy Center hosted drag-themed show “Dragtastic Dress-up,” aimed at “LGBTQ+ youth under 18,” performances from drag queen Kris Anderson in its “Family Theater,” and drag brunches at its rooftop restaurant. The Kennedy Center also gave out multiple DEI-focused awards: 
• The Paula Vogel Award in Playwriting is “offered for the outstanding student-written play that … explores issues of gender, diversity, and sexual orientation.”
• The True Voice Award, announced on International Transgender Day of Visibility, was “developed to create more space in opera for artists who identify as transgender or nonbinary.”
• FBI discovered 2,400 records tied to the John F. Kennedy assassination that were never provided to the board tasked with reviewing and disclosing the documents. 
• Chicago Lurie Children’s Hospital paused gender surgeries for patients under 19 as it “work[s] to understand the rapidly evolving environment.”
• Eliminated the Federal Executive Institute, a training program for government bureaucrats. 
• Paused enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which overregulated American business practices abroad, thereby threatening U.S. national security.
• Implemented a 25% global tariff on steel and aluminum imports, protecting the American steel and aluminum industries from unfair foreign competition. 
• Issued DOGE “workforce optimization initiative” instructing DOGE and federal agencies to “undertake plans for large-scale reductions in force,” with an edict for agencies not to hire more than one employee for every four who leave their post. 
• U.S. crude oil stockpiles have risen every week since Trump came to office, growing by 4.1 million barrels in the week ended Feb. 7 — 1.7 million barrels more than analysts had expected. Oil prices fell 1% on Feb. 12 as a result.  
• Senate confirmed Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., bringing the total number of Cabinet confirmations to 16. 
• Held calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, with both sides reportedly open to making peace.
• Secured the release of an American hostage from Belarus, bringing the total number of hostages released to 11 since Trump took office. 
• Secured the resignations of over 75,000 federal workers — roughly 3.75% of the federal workforce, with Judge George O’Toole permitting the deferred resignation program to roll forward.
• Established one clear, unified voice for American foreign relations, reforming America’s corps of careerist diplomats. 
• Hamas agreed to free three more Israeli hostages after previously saying it would delay the releases. The change in Hamas’s stance comes after Trump said that “all hell is going to break out” if Hamas delayed the hostage releases.
• Introduced the “Fair and Reciprocal Plan” to counter nonreciprocal trading arrangements with foreign trading partners. 
• Established the “Make America Healthy Again” Commission to fight chronic disease and improve health outcomes. 
• Hosted Abdullah II of Jordan on Feb. 11, who offered to take in 2,000 Gazan children with cancer and other serious medical problems.
• Hosted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Feb. 13 and announced the following agreements:
  • Set a target of $500 billion in mutual trade between the U.S. and India, more than double the $190 billion in trade between the countries in 2023. 
  • Agreed to increase military equipment sales to India “by many billions of dollars starting this year” in a bid to deepen defense ties. 
  • Modi stated India was ready to take back verified illegal Indian migrants. 
  • Announced the launch of the U.S.-India TRUST initiative to enhance government-to-government, academia, and private sector collaboration on artificial intelligence.
  • Agreed to move forward on U.S.-India nuclear energy cooperation, with the countries working together to build U.S.-designed nuclear reactors in India. 
• Instructed Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin to terminate Biden-era environmental water/flow and lightbulb standards.
• Justice Department sued New York state, Gov. Kathy Hochul, and New York Attorney General Letitia James over sanctuary policies. 
• FCC launched an investigation into Soros-funded radio station KCBS after it leaked ICE raid details
  • Prior to the 2024 election, Soros purchased a $400 million stake in 227 U.S. radio stations. 
• FCC launched an investigation into NBC-news parent Comcast’s promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
  • “The FCC will be taking fresh action to ensure that every entity the FCC regulates complies with the civil rights protections enshrined in the Communications Act … including by shutting down any programs that promote invidious forms of DEI.”