President Donald Trump returned to Washington at midday Nov. 9 after a Palm Beach County weekend sojourn in which he frequently lashed out on his social-media platform. Despite the slew of commentary, the president was silent on two significant measures rolled out while he was in Palm Beach, air travel cutbacks and the end of Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans.
The president issued roughly a dozen seething social-media posts, many of them about the government shutdown, the stalemate over Obamacare and the so-far ignored demand that Senate Republicans end the filibuster rule.
Trump also revealed frustration, if not concern, over last week’s U.S. Supreme Court hearing on a challenge to his ability to impose tariffs, calling the case “ridiculous.” The president pledged to provide a $2,000 “dividend” per person from the tariffs collected that “will be paid to everyone” except “high income people.” He offered no details.
Mostly, though, the president fulminated.
He implored the GOP Senate members in several irate-sounding posts to eliminate the filibuster and to “be the smart Party, Not the Stupid Party.” The move would allow the 53-member Republican majority in the Senate to approve a bill to open the government without 60 votes.
He called critics of his tariff policy “fools,” although economists have explained why they have led to spikes in consumer prices.
The president also fired off diatribes about the Affordable Care Act, in which Florida leads the country in enrollment. He said Obamacare “SUCKS,” in all capitals post for emphasis, and called for “the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars” he claimed is being sent “to money sucking Insurance Companies” to be diverted directly to individuals. Again, he provided no details.
Trump argued the American people are “being terrorized by Democrats” through the shutdown.
Congressional Democrats have offered a compromise — a one-year extension of tax credits that make Obamacare policies more affordable for some while a bipartisan panel looks at ways to improve the health insurance plan. The president and the Senate Republicans, however, insist they will not consider the measure until a funding bill to reopen the government has been approved.
In one rant, Trump tore into “Sleepy Joe Biden” and rehashed a litany of 2024 presidential campaign talking points about border security, climate regulations, the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Gaza war, in addition to other salvos.
US President Donald Trump speaks at the American Business Forum at the Kaseya Center in Miami on Nov. 5, 2025.
Flurry of posts do not mention airport chaos, Venezuelan TPS
The president’s posts, however, were oblivious to two major policy initiatives that were rolled out during his two days at Mar-a-Lago and Trump International Golf Club.
Namely, the president did not address the chaos at U.S. airports that followed the Transportation Department’s directive for flight reductions. By the time Trump left PBIA on Nov. 9, more than 7,200 flights had been delayed and 2,200 canceled nationally in an effort that the Trump administration said is aimed at safety but that critics have speculated is yet another maneuver by the White House to pressure Democrats to cave on the shutdown.
Polls up to the imposition of the flight travel order had indicated the U.S. public is more disposed to fault Trump and the GOP for the government closure that stretched into its 40th day this weekend, a record.
Other pressure tactics by Trump have so far failed. Democrats called the administration’s bluff early on in the shutdown when administration threatened mass firings and layoffs of federal workers. Democrats have also not given in despite Trump’s decision not to pay out food assistance payments to 42 million Americans.
Trump has said those depending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits are “largely” Democrats. In an email to constituents, U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Palm Beach County Democrat, ripped the maneuvering to “play politics” with the lives of Americans.
“SNAP isn’t a luxury. It’s a lifeline. When those who were sworn to serve stop working, families stop eating. And let’s be clear: nobody wins when the family feuds,” she wrote. “While extremists play politics, I’m focused on feeding solutions— fighting to reopen the government, restore funding for families, and protect those who make this country run.”
Nor did Trump comment on the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to end Temporary Protective Status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who have lived and worked in the United States after being granted safe harbor due to the oppressive nature of their country’s government and the political violence that has played out in the South American nation.
The end to TPS for Venezuelans, many of them have been working and living in South Florida, was carried out despite a plea from a Trump ally, Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado.
In a statement, Machado said she was worried about the end of TPS and let it be known she and others are “working day and night” with the objective of achieving a revision of the TPS order and restoring safe harbor protections for Venezuelans formerly covered by TPS.
Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at [email protected]. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
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This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Trump in Palm Beach blasts on social media, silent on airport mess
