Two months ago, in a sub-headline published eight days after Inauguration Day, The New York Times declared, “A deliberate effort by the president and his team to roll out an unceasing flow of initiatives has knocked his rivals off balance in the first days of the new administration.” The Times called the new administration’s strategy “flood the zone.”
Flooding probably was apt imagery, but how has the strategy fared? Two months later, where does the administration stand on key metrics like nominees confirmed and executive orders issued? And what do Americans think about the “flood the zone” approach?
Let’s take a look.
The Trump Cabinet Is Nearly Full
While there have been one or two high-profile nominee withdrawals, President Donald Trump has had remarkable success when it comes to getting his top appointments through the U.S. Senate confirmation process. Indeed, 21 of the 22 top cabinet slots are filled. Only Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), President Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to the United Nations, has yet to receive a final vote, and the relatively slow pace of her proceedings has nothing to do with support for her or for President Trump.
Rep. Stefanik is, of course, a voting member of the U.S. House of Representatives. With a razor-thin majority, Republican leaders have not been willing to let her leave her current post just yet. That will likely change early in April when the GOP is expected to pick up two House seats in two different special elections in Florida. In fact, Washington insiders say the Senate is likely to vote on Rep. Stefanik’s nomination in early April, shortly after the House GOP adds to its ranks.
Having a fully confirmed cabinet in place certainly helps President Trump to advance his agenda, but, when it comes to the pace of nominations, the current commander-in-chief is hardly breaking historical records. U.S. senators have been largely deferential to new presidents when it comes to personnel.
As the Center for Presidential Transition (CPT) reported in 2020, under Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, cabinet secretary nominations announced during the transition period were confirmed by the full Senate in an average of just 2.4 days of consideration by the full body. The Senate confirmed President Clinton’s initial nominees in less than one day, while President Bush’s and President Obama’s took an average of two days and five days, respectively. During President Trump’s first term, his initial cabinets got through in an average of 24 days, but, according to the CPT, that “experience was the exception rather than the rule. Because of the transition’s leadership changes immediately following the election, the Trump transition had a late start selecting and vetting candidates.” Paperwork delays also plagued the first Trump administration’s initial round of nominees.
President Joe Biden’s cabinet was full by March 22, 2021.
President Trump On Pace To Break Executive Order Records
Even with a nearly full cabinet in place, most of the major policy announcements from the Trump administration seem to be coming from the White House, not federal agencies. Indeed, as of early this week, President Trump had issued 93 executive orders. (That number does not include less formal executive actions or the issuance of presidential memoranda, which do not always have the force of law. Including those actions would increase the tally into the hundreds.)
By contrast, President Biden issued a total of 162 executive orders over his entire four years in office. That means that while President Biden averaged 0.11 executive orders per day, President Trump is averaging about 1.48 orders per day. At his current pace, it will take just 85 more days before the second Trump administration surpasses the number of executive orders, 220, issued during President Trump’s entire first term.
In his first year back in office, President Trump also could easily surpass the number of executive orders President Clinton (364), President Bush (291), and President Obama (272) issued in all of their respective eight years in office. Americans would have to go all the way back to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s nearly four terms in office to witness such a rapid pace of executive order releases. (President Roosevelt’s predecessor, Herbert Hoover, also was prolific. He issued more than 1,000 executive orders.)
President Trump has boasted about his record-breaking pace. “Over the past six weeks, I have signed nearly 100 executive orders and taken more than 400 executive actions — a record — to restore common sense, safety, optimism, and wealth all across our wonderful land,” he said in his remarks to members of the U.S. Congress earlier this month, “The people elected me to do the job, and I’m doing it.”
Of course, President Trump may not have the last word on these orders. They are subject to judicial review, meaning federal courts can review their legality and potentially strike them down if they violate the U.S. Constitution or other laws approved by Congress. Indeed, many have already been challenged through litigation.
So: is the flood the zone strategy working in the courts?
Trump Administration Having Limited Success In The Courts
U.S. News & World Report has been tracking lawsuits challenging some of President Trump’s biggest executive orders. The magazine found that, based on the 10 most high-profile cases, President Trump’s batting average before the courts is pretty poor. Six of 10 orders — including cases related to birthright citizenship, suspending refugee programs, and freezing foreign aid — have been blocked by the courts. Cases regarding four other high-profile executive orders are still pending before the court. The orders at issue in these cases concern:
- Banning transgender people from serving in the military;
- Making it easier to fire federal employees;
- Reversing the offshore drilling ban; and
- The very existence of the Department of Government Efficiency.
According to AXIOS, federal district courts have issued 15 rulings freezing Trump administration policies during this second term. During President Trump’s first term in office, district courts issued 64 total injunctions, or about 16 per year. (Under Presidents Bush, Obama, and Biden, district courts issued a grand total of 32 injunctions. Combined.)
There is, of course, another court that is very important to the success of President Trump’s flood the zone strategy — the court of public opinion.
How are his policies doing here?
Public Polling Shows Americans Divided On President’s Performance
According to the RealClearPolitics average of presidential approval polls, as of this Monday, 47.9 percent of Americans approve of the job President Trump is doing in his second term, while 48.8 percent disapprove.
Those numbers have barely budged since President Trump retook the White House on January 20, 2025. They also are, perhaps, not surprising given that Republicans who voted for the president are still largely in his camp and Democrats are unlikely to ever say they approve of the opposition’s policies.
In other words: presidential approval may not be the best barometer of how Americans are feeling about flood the zone. Indeed, other indicators show Americans are increasingly nervous.
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index declined by seven points in February to 98.3, for example, mostly due to Americans’ growing worries about the economic future. The drop was the largest monthly decline since August 2021. “For the first time since June 2024, the expectations index was below the threshold of 80 that usually signals a recession ahead,” the Conference Board noted. “Of the five components of the Index, only consumers’ assessment of present business conditions improved, albeit slightly,” senior economist Stephanie Guichard explained. “This is the third consecutive month-on-month decline, bringing the index to the bottom of the range that has prevailed since 2022. Views of current labor market conditions weakened. Consumers became pessimistic about future business conditions and less optimistic about future income. Pessimism about future employment prospects worsened and reached a ten-month high.”
Employment and jobs are a particular worry for Americans. Last week AXIOS reported that, according to the Bank of America Institute, the share of consumers who expect unemployment to rise over the next year surged to 66 percent in March, the highest level in a decade. AXIOS also noted the ZipRecruiter Job Seeker Confidence index fell 3.6 points in the first quarter of 2025, another indication Americans are worried about the economy.
So, while the Trump administration does not seem to be letting up on flood the zone, questions remain. Will that strategy hold up in the courts? How will public opinion fare as time goes on? Stay tuned.