©  AP Photo/Ben Curtis

PRESIDENT TRUMP'S JOB APPROVAL RATING after three weeks in office is near all-time highs, despite outrage in Washington over his push to slash thousands of federal jobs, the scores of lawsuits challenging his dismantling of agencies, a blizzard of culture war executive orders and the media frenzy that follows him everywhere.

Trump’s current honeymoon period is surprising because he’s almost never had a positive job approval rating over the course of his two non-consecutive terms in the White House.

As recently as six months ago, Trump’s aggregate approval rating in the 538 average stood at 38 percent positive and 57 percent negative — nearly 20 points underwater. Now, he’s near break-even in the 538 average, and he's in positive territory in the RealClearPolitics average.

A CBS News survey released over the weekend underscored the current dynamics, finding 53 percent approve of the job Trump is doing, against 47 percent who disapprove.

A strong majority in that poll described Trump as "tough," "energetic," "focused" and "effective."

Seventy percent said Trump is keeping his campaign promises.

“We’re living in a different world,” CNN polling analyst Harry Enten posted on X. “Trump's had a net positive approval rating for all 21 days of his 2nd term vs. just 11 days during his entire 1st term! Big reason? 70% say he's doing what he promised vs. just 46% who felt that way by April 2017.”

Some Republicans attribute Trump’s ascendance to his taking sides in hot-button cultural issues that have widespread support, including the move to ban transgender athletes in sports.

A New York Times/Ipsos poll from January found that 79 percent of all voters — and 67 percent of Democrats — oppose allowing transgender female athletes to participate in women’s sports.

Trump has also recently promised to eliminate paper straws and the penny.

Colorado’s Democratic Gov. Jared Polis called the halt on penny production a “great move.”

Trump is meeting resistance for key parts of his agenda in the courts.

• A third federal judge indefinitely blocked Trump’s executive order to restrict birthright citizenship.

• A federal court issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from sending three Venezuelan immigrants to the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention center.

• A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to comply with his order to unfreeze federal grants, after attorneys general for several Democratic states claimed the directive was not being followed.

• A judge blocked Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing Treasury payment systems. The Trump administration has asked a court to lift the order, arguing it could be seen as preventing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and other senior department leadership from accessing the systems.

Musk has called for the U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer, an appointee of former President Obama, to be impeached over the blockage.

Vice President Vance fumed that the courts are going too far in restraining Trump’s actions.

“Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” he posted on X.

UP NEXT: A court will rule on the legality of the Trump administration’s proposed buyouts for federal workers. There’s a midnight deadline to take the buyout, which about 65,000 government employees have already accepted.

Trump’s trade wars are kicking into high gear.

The president on Monday announced 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum. Canada and China are among the top steel importers into the U.S.

Trump believes tariffs are a useful bargaining chip that puts the squeeze on U.S. trading partners, while economists warn the costs are handed down to ordinary Americans.

The tariffs on Canada and Mexico that were delayed for a month are still in play, with Trump telling Fox News during his Super Bowl interview that the moves the countries made to address his concerns were “not enough.”