What happened

At least two Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) operatives assigned to the Social Security Administration accessed and shared sensitive data on unsecured servers, in violation of agency rules, a court order and possibly some laws, the Justice Department said in “corrections” to previous testimony made public Tuesday. The disclosure was a “notable reversal by Social Security officials, who had previously claimed there was no evidence that DOGE had potentially compromised personal data,” The Washington Post said.

Who said what

Two unidentified DOGE workers were secretly in contact with an unidentified advocacy group seeking to “overturn election results in certain states,” DOJ official Elizabeth Shapiro said in the filing, and one of them signed an agreement with the group and may have aided it “by accessing SSA data to match to the voter rolls.” The agency also “acknowledged for the first time that DOGE members had shared data with each other using an unsanctioned third-party service,” Cloudflare, the Post said. Social Security has been unable to access or “determine exactly what data were shared to Cloudflare,” Shapiro said.

The corrections affirm many of the allegations made by former SSA chief data officer Charles Borges in whistleblower testimony to Congress in August. “We have been warning about privacy violations at Social Security and calling out Elon Musk’s ‘DOGE’ for months,” Reps. John Larson (D-Conn.) and Richard Neal (D-Mass.) said in a statement. They called for the DOGE employees to be prosecuted.

What next?

Federal lawyers “referred the two DOGE employees to the Office of Special Counsel for a potential violation of the Hatch Act,” The New York Times said. Outside privacy law experts said the operatives also appeared to have violated much more serious laws, like the Privacy Act.

The growing ubiquity of artificial intelligence remains a divisive topic among the public, but the White House is fully leaning into the AI boom. President Donald Trump has announced the creation of a new AI-based ‘United States Tech Force’ that will seek to poach employees from the private sector to lure them to government jobs. But this initiative follows a year in which the Trump administration cut thousands of federal employees.

How will this program work?

The U.S. Tech Force will be a two-year program intended to “tackle the most complex and large-scale civic and defense challenges of our era,” according to the Tech Force website. The program will involve on-the-job training in the areas of “software engineering, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data analytics or technical project management.”

The program is set to partner with 28 major tech companies to accomplish this. Some of the most notable brands include Adobe, Amazon, Apple, Dell, Google, Nvidia, OpenAI and Oracle. It will aim to hire about 1,000 people to start, with salaries ranging from $130,000 to $195,000, said Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor to reporters, though the Tech Force website states salaries will range from $150,000 to $200,000.

What “sets the Tech Force apart from most federal positions is its accessibility,” said Fortune. Unlike most other jobs in the U.S. government, candidates for the Tech Force “need not hold traditional degrees or meet minimum experience thresholds,” though they must “demonstrate strong technical skills through work experience.” This differs from many other federal jobs, which “require a college degree with a certain major field of study or specific academic courses,” said the federal government’s employment website, USAJobs.

What next?

It is unclear how successful this program will be, given that the “government has long needed more tech workers, but that deficit most likely worsened this year, when an unknown number departed,” said The New York Times. This is largely due to players like Elon Musk, whose Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) sought to hire tech workers but “made sweeping job cuts as well — including senior technologists in the Digital Service.” DOGE slashed about 260,000 total federal jobs through firings, buyouts or early retirement, according to Reuters.

DOGE also oversaw the elimination of key programs like 18F, a “digital services agency created in 2014 that developed software and technology products for various federal agencies and employed nearly 100 people,” said the Times. Trump’s new Tech Force is likely just an “effort to replace the more senior tech talent that DOGE had fired,” said Mathias Rechtzigel, a former government employee with the U.S. Digital Corps, to the Times. It is a “reaction to DOGE not going well.”

The administration has seemingly admitted that the purpose of Tech Force is to “address a technical and early career talent gap across the government,” said CNN. The government is looking to lure engineers away from private AI companies, which often offer “sizable salaries and other perks to attract top engineers and researchers.” Earlier in 2025, Trump also signed a set of “initiatives and policy recommendations that centered on growing U.S. AI infrastructure and scaling back regulation.”

Many lawmakers are working to head off a shutdown come next week when the federal government is scheduled to run out of allotted funds. The White House, meanwhile, is taking what some observers see as an extraordinary step to capitalize on a potential disruption of federal services. In a memo shared with multiple agencies on Wednesday, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) instructed agency heads to prepare plans for permanent mass layoffs of certain employees should the government shut down on Oct. 1.

‘Attempt at intimidation’

Agency heads are “directed to use this opportunity to consider reduction-in-force notices” for all employees involved in programs that will run out of funds, do not have alternate funding avenues and are “not consistent with the president’s priorities,” said the OMB. The threat of mass layoffs “escalates the stakes” ahead of next week’s deadline and is a “significant break” from how shutdowns have been handled over the past several decades, said Politico.

The administration’s “extraordinary ultimatum” appears “designed to pressure Democrats,” coming hours after President Donald Trump “refused to negotiate” with party leaders Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) over the budget showdown, said The New York Times. This is an “attempt at intimidation,” Schumer said in a statement Thursday. Shutdown firings will eventually be “overturned in court,” or the administration will “end up hiring the workers back, just like they did as recently as today.”

This latest and “perhaps furthest-reaching” effort by the Trump administration to fire huge swaths of the federal government comes months after the White House’s Elon Musk-led DOGE enterprise yielded “mixed” results on that front, said CNN. Hundreds of federal employees who “lost their jobs in Musk’s cost-cutting blitz” were asked to return to work this week, said The Associated Press.

In “another unusual move,” the OMB has “yet to post agencies’ shutdown contingency plans on its website,” said the AP. Ordinarily, those plans direct “which functions and employees are deemed essential during a shutdown and will continue despite the impasse,” said CNN.

By continuing to agitate for a potential shutdown after the administration’s memo, Democrats are “eagerly marching forward into a box canyon,” said the National Review. Stuck between being in the minority and avoiding being tagged by the left flank of his party as a “man unwilling to ‘fight,’” Schumer will “likely have to concede and lose the fight in the not-so-distant future.”

To CR or not to CR?

At its core, the shutdown fight centers largely on whether Democrats will support a GOP-backed “clean” continuing resolution (CR) to essentially fund the government at its current levels through Nov. 21 or force a vote on a shorter stopgap CR that includes “several of their priorities,” predominantly focused on health care, said The Washington Post. While Democratic leadership was loath to risk a government shutdown earlier this year, Schumer now says the situation has changed and Democrats must “fight to improve health care in the wake of cuts implemented under the GOP tax and spending law,” said the Post.

What happened

DOGE operatives uploaded a full copy of a crucial Social Security database to a vulnerable cloud server only they can access, putting the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans at risk, Social Security Administration Chief Data Officer Charles Borges said in a whistleblower complaint Tuesday. The database contains every Social Security number plus corresponding full names, addresses, birthdates and other information coveted by identity thieves.

Who said what

Borges said in his complaint, filed by the nonprofit Government Accountability Project, that DOGE workers ignored internal warnings and copied the Numident database to the digital cloud in June, after the Supreme Court lifted a block on Elon Musk's government downsizing operation accessing Social Security data. Borges said he only learned about the data transfer afterward by piecing clues together.

If "bad actors gain access" to the database, "Americans may be susceptible to widespread identity theft" and loss of "vital health care and food benefits," and would likely need "a new Social Security Number, at great cost" to taxpayers, Borges said in the complaint. The DOGE actions "potentially violated multiple federal statutes," he added.

What next?

An SSA spokesperson said the "data referenced in the complaint" is "walled off from the internet," and the agency was "not aware of any compromise" to the servers. Borges "would not risk his career" if "he did not think that this was a huge security risk for the American public," his attorney Andrea Meza told The Washington Post. The complaint asked Congress and the Office of Special Counsel to "take appropriate oversight action."

What happened

U.S. Agency for International Development employees gathered Monday to mark the humanitarian and development organization's final day as an independent agency. Former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush were among the officials who thanked the outgoing staffers via videoconference, while U2's Bono read a poem he had written about the agency and its gutting by the Trump administration.

Who said what

President John F. Kennedy created USAID in 1961 as a "peaceful way of promoting U.S. national security by boosting goodwill and prosperity abroad," The Associated Press said, and it was "one of the first and most fiercely targeted" agencies uprooted by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's DOGE operation. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced in March that the administration had slashed 83% of USAID programs, with the remaining ones to be absorbed into the State Department today.

Monday's farewell event was "billed as a closed-press event to allow political leaders and others privacy for sometimes angry and often teary remarks," said the AP, which viewed parts of the video. Obama told the staffers that dismantling USAID would "go down as a colossal mistake" that "hurts the most vulnerable" in the world and ultimately "hurts the United States."

"Is it in our interest that 25 million people who would have died now live?" said Bush, citing the estimated number of lives saved through his President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief program. "I think it is." Bush's initiative retained "significant funding" after "bipartisan blowback from Congress" to steeper cuts, the AP said. But its "future, like much of U.S. foreign aid, is unclear," The New York Times said. "It's not left-wing rhetoric to feed the hungry, heal the sick," Bono said. "If this isn't murder, I don't know what is."

What next?

A study published in the journal The Lancet Monday estimated that USAID prevented 91 million deaths in 133 countries between 2001 and 2021 and that its dismantling could lead to more than 14 million preventable deaths by 2030, including over 4.5 million young children. The State Department told the AP it would be introducing USAID's successor agency, called America First, this week, ensuring "proper oversight and that every tax dollar spent will help advance our national interests."

Elon Musk says it was X Æ A-Xii, his 5-year-old son, who gave him the black eye he sported during last week's farewell Oval Office meeting with President Trump. But that bruise was "an unmistakable metaphor for his tumultuous government service," said Jonathan Allen and Zoë Richards in NBCNews.com. From the start of his 130-day stint as a "special government employee," the Department of Government Efficiency boss waged open war on the federal bureaucracy, firing workers by the thousands and gutting entire agencies—most notably USAID—with the stated goal of slashing $2 trillion from the federal budget. Musk never came close. By DOGE's own dubious figures, it saved a mere $175 billion, and Musk's "haphazard, inhumane, and counterproductive" cuts could end up costing taxpayers $135 billion this year alone, by one analysis. "Trump's favorite weird billionaire" destroyed his own reputation in the process, said Monica Hesse in The Washington Post. Tesla sales are in free fall and his favorability rating now hovers in the 30s. This isn't just a result of the Nazi salute, or the chain saw, or the "14-ish children," or allegations—denied by Musk—that his rampage through Washington was fueled by a cocktail of ketamine, MDMA, Adderall, and psychedelic mushrooms. It was that the planet's richest person, with the freedom to do anything he wanted, "chose to bring American governance to its knees."

Musk is leaving with understandable bitterness, said Dace Potas in USA Today. He made a "genuine effort" to cut government waste, at great personal cost, only for Republicans to draft a "big, beautiful" spending bill that will add $3.6 trillion to the deficit over a decade. Musk slammed the bill this week as a "disgusting abomination" and hinted he might try to unseat Republicans who backed it in the 2026 midterms. DOGE was doomed from the start, said Mark Antonio Wright in National Review. The "government's financial crisis" stems from decades of overspending on Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare—programs that only Congress can cut—not now-terminated funding for "transgender puppet shows in Guatemala." With his "sky-high promises" of balanced budgets, Musk set himself up for failure.

The billionaire didn't fail because "his ambitions were too grand," said Matt Bai in The Washington Post. He failed because "they were so pathetically small." Back in January, even some Trump-hating liberals were quietly hopeful that the "mad genius" of Silicon Valley might deliver the lean, responsive government "of our sci-fi dreams." After all, this is the visionary who revolutionized the electric-car industry and slashed the cost of rocket launches with SpaceX. Yet Musk's "only Big Idea" for revolutionizing government was "to fire as many people as he could, in as humiliating a way as possible."

Musk did achieve one of his goals: shredding USAID, said Michelle Goldberg in The New York Times. About 80% of its grants have been terminated, and as a result starving people in South Sudan are going without food aid and Kenyan HIV patients without antiretroviral meds. According to a Boston University study, Musk's cuts to USAID have "already resulted in about 300,000 deaths, most of them of children," and that figure will only rise. Maybe Tesla's share price will also rise with Musk back at the helm. And maybe his rockets will one day carry humanity to Mars. But Musk's legacy in Washington is one of "disease, starvation, and death," and it "should shape how he's seen for the rest of his public life."

What happened

Acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson left staff "baffled" Monday when he told an all-hands meeting "he had not been aware the country has a hurricane season," Reuters said. Richardson, who took over in May and has no disaster management experience, said FEMA would stick with last year's hurricane plan instead of a new plan he had promised would be finished two weeks ago.

The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecast last week that this year's hurricane season, which began Sunday and runs through November, would be above average, with up to 10 hurricanes.

Who said what

"Yesterday, as everybody knows, first day of hurricane season," Richardson said at Monday's meeting, according to The Wall Street Journal. "I didn't realize it was a season." A Homeland Security Department spokesperson said Richardson was making a "joke," but his comment "flustered many who genuinely believe Richardson was truly surprised" about hurricane season, CBS News said. Others suggested if it was a joke, it was "delivered in poor taste" given the "low morale" at the agency "amid a flurry of resignations, firings, leadership overhauls and polygraph tests distributed to staffers."

FEMA has lost about 2,000 full-time staff, or a third of its workforce, "amid Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) mandated cuts" enforced by President Donald Trump, The Associated Press said. "Scholars who study emergency management are concerned by both the reduction in capacity and the 'brain drain' of experienced staff" at FEMA and NOAA.

FEMA employees say the agency is "months behind schedule in its preparations for the hurricane season," and Richardson has acknowledged struggling to "put together a disaster-response plan amid uncertainty over Trump's intentions," the Journal said. Some staff were "confused" over how using last year's hurricane plan would be possible, "given the agency had already eliminated key programs and sharply cut its workforce."

What next?

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has said she plans to "eliminate FEMA," but she approved Richardson's request to "retain more than 2,600 short-term disaster response and recovery employees" this year, Reuters said. And the National Weather Service has permission to hire 126 meteorologists, hydrologists and other experts to "stabilize" the service after nearly 600 employees were laid off or retired, a spokesperson told The New York Times. NOAA said the National Hurricane Center is fully staffed.

What happened

Elon Musk said Wednesday night that his time as a "special government employee" in the Trump administration had come "to an end." His exit, confirmed by the White House, followed a federal judge's ruling on Tuesday that 14 states could pursue their claim that Musk's appointment and his DOGE operation's data grabs were illegal. A group of Tesla shareholders also wrote to the company's board Wednesday demanding his "full-time attention on Tesla" or replacement as CEO.

Who said what

Musk had recently "pivoted to damage control," seeking to "claw back the credibility he torched during his toxic tenure in Washington," Axios said. But "that won't be easy: SpaceX and Tesla both saw their brand reputations crater over the past year."

Musk "struggled" in Washington and "accomplished far less than he hoped," The Associated Press said. He "dramatically reduced his target for cutting spending — from $2 trillion to $1 trillion to $150 billion" — and federal spending actually increased. The "cuts he wanted to enact were far more difficult than he expected and his lack of interest in learning more about the bureaucracy he considered toxic impeded his efforts," The New York Times said, citing people familiar with his efforts.

What next?

Musk said on social media that despite his departure, the "DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government." Some of his "most prominent deputies appear to be ensconced in their new government roles," the Times said. But it's "unclear how much power the group will maintain without its famous leader," USA Today said.

Only two months ago, "the world's richest person seemed unstoppable," said David Smith in The Guardian. Now Elon Musk is "hanging up his chain saw." White House chief of staff Susie Wiles confirmed this week that the billionaire is "not physically present as much as he was" during his first months leading President Trump's Department of Government Efficiency. And the Tesla CEO recently announced that he'll spend less time on DOGE as he refocuses on rescuing his car company, which saw profits plunge 71 percent in the first quarter amid a backlash over his gleeful assault on government. But even harder to undo will be the "devastating" human toll of DOGE. The project fired or forced out more than 260,000 federal workers, deleted humanitarian aid for millions of desperate people overseas, and scrapped more than $2 billion in biomedical research grants. And for what? asked Zeeshan Aleem in MSNBC.com. Musk originally promised he'd save taxpayers $2 trillion, a total he's since lowered to $150 billion. But even if his numbers are correct—which they frequently aren't—research suggests those savings will be outweighed by the cost of DOGE-related firings, rehirings, and court battles, and by a substantial drop in tax collection from a shrunken IRS. Whatever one thought of Musk's "cost-cutting crusade" at its outset, surely no one wanted this result: "a worse government at roughly the same cost."

For anyone hoping Musk would single-handedly erase the extra $2.5 trillion added to the deficit by the Biden administration, DOGE has been "a massive letdown," said Christian Britschgi in Reason. But compared with the unchecked spending likely under a President Kamala Harris, DOGE was a "smashing success," fulfilling its pledge to "shrink the federal workforce" and reduce regulatory sprawl. "I don't blame Musk one bit" for stepping back, said Ingrid Jacques in USA Today. As leftists vandalize Cybertrucks and firebomb Tesla dealerships—with hardly a peep of condemnation from elected Democrats—it may be the only way Musk can save his company. The rest of us should "thank him, not hate him," for trying to save America from fiscal ruin.

Musk tried nothing of the sort, said Jessica Riedl in the New York Post. The federal budget is indeed full of waste—from overlapping education programs to overbudget defense procurements. But Musk had no appetite for the "quiet, boring work of deficit reduction." He pursued vendettas against foreign aid, staffers' Politico subscriptions, and similar "high-profile culture-war targets" rather than dig into Social Security and other mandatory programs that consume three-quarters of federal spending. Musk's baby-faced operatives did succeed in "grabbing" troves of Americans' personal data from multiple government agencies, said Julia Angwin in The New York Times. That information is now being merged at the Department of Homeland Security into "a sprawling domestic surveillance system—the likes of which we have never seen in the U.S."

DOGE no longer needs its "turbulent creator," said Ed Kilgore in New York magazine. Its "employees are now routinely 'embedded' in federal agencies," and leadership of the assault on the federal bureaucracy is expected to pass to Russell Vought, director of Trump's Office of Management and Budget. The Project 2025 co-author and self-declared Christian nationalist shares Musk's loathing of the "Deep State" but will be cannier and more methodical in effecting its destruction. The soft-spoken Vought will never match Musk's "cartoon-villain malevolence," but his "dull knife will cut even deeper than Musk's chain saw, and a lot less noisily."

Donald Trump wasn't kidding when he promised "the most extraordinary first 100 days of any presidency in American history", said Jonathan Chait in The Atlantic. Since his 20 January inauguration, Trump has passed an avalanche of executive orders (139 and counting) designed to dismantle traditional constraints on presidential power, and to advance his agenda: threatening law firms, universities and media owners into compliance; authorising Elon Musk's Doge to "cripple" the federal bureaucracy; firing the heads of 18 federal watchdogs; "disappearing" innocent migrant workers; and deporting foreign students who have written anti-Israel articles.

It's "less a new administration", said Andrew Sullivan in The Times, and more a "vengeful monarchy". The "trappings of a republic remain", but they are increasingly mere "facades". And for what, asked Andrew Rawnsley in The Observer. King Donald's assault on US universities has triggered a brain drain. His attack on the global order has been "ruinous" for the reputation of the US. He promised Americans he would bring down costs, but his trade war is set to fuel inflation and perhaps trigger a recession. "Make America Great Again? Trumpism doesn't do what it says on the baseball cap."

Tell that to Trump's supporters, said Kimberley A. Strassel in The Wall Street Journal. "Creative destruction" is exactly what they wanted: they're fed up of the waste and "indolence" of Washington elites, and they voted for Trump to tear it all up. Besides, said Harry Cole in The Sun, who says his "manic" approach isn't working? "Woke and trans sacred cows have been slaughtered" by presidential decree; wasteful spending has "gone up in smoke". Countries are begging for new trade deals, and illegal border crossings, according to the administration, are down by 95%.

I've "detested" almost all of Trump 2.0, said David Brooks in The New York Times, but even I have to admire his team's "energy". It's like "a supercar with 1,000 horsepower", while his Democratic opponents coast around on "mopeds". If they want to win back power, they'll need to whip up some of that élan vital.

The resistance is already building, albeit not yet in Congress, said the FT. The bond markets have forced Trump to rein in his tariffs. The Supreme Court has taken a stand against illegal deportations. American voters, fretting about their wallets and retirement plans, are starting to abandon him too: Trump has one of the lowest approval ratings of any president after 100 days, at 40%.

If Democrats win next year's midterm elections, said Katie Stallard in The New Statesman, he could spend his last two years in office fighting off investigations and impeachments, ensuring his authoritarian agenda is derailed. But that's assuming, of course, the midterms actually happen. On the current trajectory, we may not get "free and fair elections in 2026, let alone a peaceful transfer of power in 2028".

What happened

Tesla Tuesday reported a 71% tumble in profits and a 9% drop in revenue last quarter versus a year earlier, a steeper-than-expected decline it attributed in part to a "changing political sentiment" that "could have a meaningful impact on demand for our products in the near term."

Who said what

Investors and shareholders have "become increasingly frustrated" with Telsa CEO Elon Musk, attributing "many of the company's woes to the upheaval he has caused in the federal government" by helming President Donald Trump's DOGE operation, The Washington Post said. Musk defended his DOGE work in a call with Wall Street analysts but said he would be "allocating far more of my time to Tesla" starting next month and spending just "a day or two per week on government matters."

Tesla's 13% drop in global vehicle sales last quarter was due to "intense competition from Chinese carmakers" and its "lack of new models," not just Musk's support of Trump and "far-right causes," The New York Times said. Musk said Tesla's future was in artificial intelligence and long-promised fully autonomous vehicles.

What next?

Tesla shares, down more than 40% this year, rose 5% in extended trading as investors took "comfort in Tesla reaffirming plans to launch more affordable models later this year," The Wall Street Journal said. But the company has not "displayed a prototype or provided many details about" this cheaper model, the Times said, and "analysts doubt" it will roll out "anytime soon."

What happened

Former President Joe Biden Tuesday criticized the Trump administration's "damage and destruction" to Social Security, telling a conference of disability advocates in Chicago that President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's DOGE crew have "taken a hatchet" to the federal retirement program and Americans' broader well-being.

Who said what

"In fewer than 100 days, this new administration has done so much damage and so much destruction," Biden said in his half-hour speech, his first major public address since leaving office in January. "It's kind of breathtaking."

Trump — who Biden did not mention by name — and Musk's DOGE operation are "taking aim at Social Security now" in accordance with "that old line from tech startups" to "move fast and break things," he said. "They're certainly breaking things. They're shooting first and aiming later." And "they want to wreck it so they can rob it," Biden added, "in order to give tax cuts to billionaires and big corporations."

The "drastic" staffing and service cuts by Musk — who recently called Social Security the "biggest Ponzi scheme of all time" — and DOGE have led to "website outages, technical glitches, unanswered phone lines, attempts to access private data and other problems" at the agency, The Washington Post said.

The Social Security Administration said on its official X account that Biden "is lying to Americans." White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump has pledged to protect Social Security benefits "for law-abiding, taxpaying American citizens." She also mocked Biden's age, telling reporters "I'm shocked that he is speaking at nighttime. I thought his bedtime was much earlier than his speech tonight."

What next?

Biden will continue to speak up about topics that are "real to people" and "matter to him," a former Biden administration official told Politico. "No one would be talking about Social Security tomorrow if Joe Biden wasn't giving this speech."

"Money can buy a lot of things," said Allison Morrow in CNN.com. The $288 million Elon Musk spent to help elect President Trump and other GOP candidates, for instance, secured him a job heading the previously nonexistent Department of Government Efficiency, with apparent authority to fire 280,000 federal workers and shutter entire agencies. But money can't buy all things, as shown by the "parade of humiliations" Musk suffered in the space of 24 hours last week. First, Wisconsin voters rejected the conservative judge whom Musk spent $25 million trying to install on the state Supreme Court. Hours later, Tesla reported a 13 percent sales slump, its largest drop ever. Soon after, anonymous White House insiders told Politico that Musk had "overstayed his welcome in Washington," and President Trump told his inner circle that Musk would soon be "stepping back" from DOGE. Musk dismissed that report as "fake news," said Aaron Blake in The Washington Post, and the White House issued a "non-denial denial," saying Musk was always scheduled to step aside "once his incredible work at DOGE is complete." But with Republican lawmakers privately grumbling that they're paying the price for the Tesla CEO's high profile and personal unpopularity—voters dislike him by 60-38 percent—it's getting harder to deny that the "Musk experiment looks like a political failure."

Musk may be a liability, said Jonathan Swan in The New York Times, but White House sources say Trump "has no intention of cutting ties." For a president who "avoids blame at any cost," the deeply unpopular Musk is a useful "heat shield" who can absorb voter anger over Trump's anti-government rampage. Add Musk's unlimited resources, his promise to fund primary challenges against disloyal Republicans, and his ownership of X—"the most important media channel in GOP politics"—and there is "far more upside than downside" for Trump in keeping Musk close and engaged. "I suspect we haven't seen peak Musk just yet," said Richard Waters in the Financial Times. Trump still needs Musk's money, and with Tesla in trouble, Musk needs "his influence in the Oval Office" more than ever.

Democrats hope he sticks around, said Nick Catoggio in The Dispatch. In the final days of the Wisconsin race, Musk wore a "cheesehead" hat and presented Wisconsin voters with oversize, legally dubious $1 million checks...only for his candidate to lose in a 10-point drubbing exceeding every polling estimate. In the charisma-free Musk, Democrats may finally have found a "Republican bogeyman" who can drive their own voters to the polls "while not turning out right-wingers at a similar clip." Some Republicans still think Musk is a net positive for the GOP, said Joe Lovinger in Bloomberg. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) this week described the White House's chaotic tariff debate as a battle of "angels and demons," and declared that the anti-tariff "Elon is one of the angels."

Why would he want to stay in Washington? asked Jeffrey Blehar in National Review. After the last week, Musk can surely see the lesson of his failed political adventure: that "most forms of genius are nontransferable" and that "a figure of his authentic talents belongs in the private sector," building technology that dazzles and changes the world. That would be nice, said Richard L. Hasen in Slate. But the more likely lesson Musk and fellow billionaires will take from Wisconsin is that overt displays "of money being converted to raw political power" can backfire, and that they can distort and control our politics far more effectively by retreating "into the shadows."

Donald Trump may be president, but ever since Inauguration Day, it has been Elon Musk who's seemingly held the power of the federal government in the palm of his hand. As a leader of this administration's DOGE effort, Musk has directed the dismantling of major government agencies and initiatives. While Trump is the one granted constitutional authority, Musk has often seemed more interested in actually wielding executive power — at least until now.

"At some point," Trump told reporters on Monday, Musk is "going to be going back" to run his various companies, including the financially struggling Tesla car manufacturers in which the majority of his vast fortune is tied. "He wants to." A day later, Wisconsin voters delivered a stinging rebuke to Musk, decisively voting against the conservative Supreme Court candidate he had backed. This defeat was quickly followed by a Politico report that Trump had begun forecasting Musk's imminent departure to his inner circle, predicting it could take place "in the coming weeks."

What did the commentators say?

Musk's DOGE enterprise was "never supposed to become a permanent fixture in Washington," said The Associated Press. Musk had initially been hired as a "temporary government employee," a congressionally created position that allows both executive and legislative branches to hire workers for "specific short-term initiatives" up to 130 days, said Fox News. DOGE itself is slated to be "dissolved" on July 4, 2026, "according to Trump's executive order."

Nevertheless, Musk's work appears to be concluding "faster than anticipated," said the AP, and Musk has offered differing timelines for his potential exit. The world's richest man recently said he was "confident" he'd be able to "finish most of his stated aim of cutting $1 trillion in federal spending" before May, when his official governmental status is slated to end, Reuters said. But when asked by Fox Business' Larry Kudlow last month whether he planned "to go another year," Musk said, "Yeah, I think so."

Trump, too, has denied Politico's report, despite having offered a similar sentiment just days earlier. The "murkiness" of Musk's potential departure, including the possibility that he may simply "downgrade his public involvement" in the Trump administration, is "typical for a president who hates to be boxed in or give his critics validation," said Time.

Rumors of Musk's chronologically nebulous departure come amid a "parade of humiliation for the world's richest edgelord" due to the Wisconsin Supreme Court election and sinking Tesla sales, CNN said. "The question," said The Washington Post, is whether the GOP's Wisconsin loss could be the "beginning of a bigger loss of influence" for Musk within the White House. It's unclear whether the episode will "sour the relationship between him and Trump," said Barry Burden, the director of the University of Wisconsin's Elections Research Center, to the Post. While Trump has steadfastly supported the man many consider his de facto co-president, the recent election loss "could be the start of a slow divorce between the two of them."

What's next?

Musk's governmental role is "one factor weighing on Tesla's stock," CNBC said. Politico's report on the CEO's pending departure from the administration was enough to push the company's stock "more than 5% higher" shortly after it was published, as investors hoped the move would allow Musk to "return his focus on the struggling electric vehicle maker."

Conversely, Musk's presence in Washington has been a "colossal distraction and a magnet for controversy" among "what should be a unified Republican team," said Time. "Traditional Republicans have been counting on" Musk to follow Trump's penchant for ignominious dismissals. But even if Musk is encouraged to "play a lower-profile role" in the White House, said The Wall Street Journal, "that may not be an easy sell to a flamboyant billionaire."

What happened

Tesla stock has fallen back to where it was trading before President Donald Trump won in November and named CEO Elon Musk to lead his "Department of Government Efficiency." The Tesla slump has cost Musk a fortune on paper, but the world's richest person is now "positioned to profit off billions in new government contracts" with SpaceX, The New York Times said Sunday, even as Musk has "taken a chain saw to the apparatus of governing."

Trump and his aides have also "stepped in to help Musk and Tesla weather the storm and boost the company's sagging stock," USA Today said, "raising questions about the ethics — and the legality — of an administration actively working to benefit a business owned by the president's biggest financial backer."

Who said what

Musk allies in the Trump administration and current employees on loan to DOGE have already started laying the groundwork for a big "boost in federal spending for SpaceX" and its Starlink subsidiary, the Times said, detailing efforts at the Pentagon, NASA, Commerce Department, FCC, FAA and other agencies. SpaceX was already "one of the nation's largest federal contractors," securing $3.8 billion in commitments in fiscal 2024, but the "overall value of the work expected to be delivered to SpaceX" due to actions by Trump and Musk allies in his administration is expected to grow significantly.

"We will never know if SpaceX would authentically win competitions for these awards because all of the offices in government intended to prevent corruption and conflicts of interest have been beheaded or defunded," Danielle Brian, the executive director of Project on Government Oversight, told the Times.

What next?

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Times that Musk had received briefings on ethics limits and conflicts of interest, and would abide by all applicable federal laws.

Elon Musk can either run Tesla, or he can carry on as President Trump's first buddy. "But he can't do both," said Matthew Lynn in The Daily Telegraph. The tech billionaire's controversial role as Doge's slasher-in-chief is starting to inflict "real damage" on his electric car firm, with sales plummeting by more than 70% in Australia and Germany, and 45% in Europe overall compared with this time last year. Tesla's share price has halved; showrooms are being picketed; and liberals are covering their Teslas with stickers reading "I bought this before we knew Elon was crazy".

The carmaker was already facing a "much more crowded market", said Jim Norton in the same paper, because Chinese rivals have muscled their way in with cheaper alternatives. But Musk's political antics – slashing federal jobs in the US, blasting European leaders, endorsing far-right parties – have turned one of the most coveted electric vehicle brands "toxic".

This is not how oligarchy is meant to work, said Gaby Hinsliff in The Guardian. And both Musk and Trump seem to be "rattled": just look at last week's tragic Tesla sales pitch on the White House lawn, where the US president tried to flog Musk's electric vehicles to his gas-guzzler, pick-up-driving Maga faithful. Trump is all about winning, so he'll hate the impression that being on Team Trump has the "reverse Midas touch".

As for Musk, said Charlie Warzel in The Atlantic, I've never seen the poor centi-billionaire looking so "defeated". It's not just Tesla. European governments are also looking for alternatives to replace Musk's Starlink satellites. His personal brand is crumbling under the weight of his brash political interventions – and that's a big problem for the world's richest man.

Musk's value rests on a certain "image": that he, a brilliant "Tony Stark type", can bend the world to his will through the force of his "singular ability". That perception has fuelled confidence in his firms, even as the mogul took "wild business bets". But "slashing" government services relied upon by millions of Americans, as he is doing at Doge, is a risk "orders of magnitude" larger than anything he's done before. "Musk is playing a dangerous game, and he looks to be losing control of the narrative."

America's national railway service could be heading off the tracks, as Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner announced on March 19 that he was stepping down from his position. Gardner's resignation comes amid a flurry of criticism aimed at Amtrak by the Trump administration — specifically from Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency.

The White House has been at odds with Amtrak over its desire to privatize the company, something that Musk has mused over several times. Gardner's resignation came at the specific request of the Trump administration, according to a report from Reuters. His resignation, along with continuing pushes for privatization, have left some wondering where the for-profit company goes from here.

Push to privatize

Amtrak is one of several institutions, along with the U.S. Postal Service, that Musk has suggested privatizing, claiming that a national rail service is a burden on taxpayer dollars. President Donald Trump himself hasn't spoken on the privatization issue, but this anger toward Amtrak isn't new for his White House. Trump "tried to cut federal funding for the company in half during his first administration — but it's taken a sharper turn this time around," said Gizmodo. Billions of federal dollars for Amtrak "got caught in Trump's federal funding freeze," putting further strain on the country's train commuters.

Gardner had "tried to go along with as much of the Trump administration's demands as possible," but it "seemed inevitable that he and the company would continue to receive significant scrutiny," said Gizmodo. Musk, meanwhile, has "mused about the privatization of Amtrak, claiming that the railroad's service pales in comparison to the high-speed rail systems in other countries," said Bloomberg.

Musk reportedly "called Amtrak 'kind of embarrassing' — while comparing the U.S. carrier to passenger rails seen in other countries, such as bullet trains in China," said The Associated Press. While countries like China have fully state-owned railway systems, others, like Canada, have a mix of both. Musk has further claimed that privatization is the "only way to fix the national rail system," said The New York Times. Amtrak has indeed "struggled with aging infrastructure and frequent delays" and has never turned a profit.

Amtrak's future

Amtrak could be brought in a different direction if Musk's wishes comes true. The company is the nation's largest high-speed rail provider, and privatizing it "could have a huge impact on the technology's future," said Newsweek. Such an effort "could prompt investment and improve services for passengers," a spokesperson for AmeriStarRail, a company considering a private sector investment with Amtrak, said to Newsweek. AmeriStarRail and other "private-sector investors recognize a significant opportunity to grow ridership, revenue and profits," the spokesperson said.

However, while Trump and Musk lament over Amtrak, the company seems to be heading in the right direction, at least on paper. During the 2024 fiscal year, Amtrak said it saw an all-time ridership record of 23.8 million people. This represented a 15% boost from 2023. Ticket revenue also reached $2.5 billion, a "first in Amtrak's history and 9% higher year-over-year." It also dropped its losses 9% to $705.2 million. And while "profitability is not Amtrak's objective," according to the company itself, Amtrak expects to make a profit sometime during the next four years.

What happened

Federal judges in Maryland and California Thursday ordered the Trump administration to rehire thousands of probationary workers they said were improperly fired across 19 agencies. Thursday was also President Donald Trump's deadline for federal agencies to submit plans for further "mass" workforce reductions and significant budget cuts.

Who said what

The "back-to-back rulings were the most significant blow yet" to efforts by Trump and Elon Musk's DOGE team to "drastically shrink the federal bureaucracy," Reuters said. Judge William Alsup in San Francisco and, hours later, Judge James Bredar in Baltimore both said the White House had not followed the proper legal procedures to lay off at least 24,000 probationary employees. They also criticized the administration for blaming the mass firings on performance reviews, with Alsup calling that a "sham to avoid statutory requirements."

Alsup said the White House Office of Personnel Management had unlawfully directed the firings of probationary employees at six agencies, taking advantage of their fewer worker protections. "It is a sad, sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that's a lie," he said. Bredar's ruling, covering 18 agencies, focused on efforts to sidestep federal "rules intended to ensure that states are ready to bear the load cast upon them when mass layoffs occur."

Government lawyers said Trump has broad authority to fire workers and claimed that individual agencies directed the firings, not OPM. The administration "faces dozens of legal challenges to agency dismantlings" and other DOGE-related cuts and information access, The Washington Post said. Several "federal judges have grown frustrated by the inability of the government's own lawyers to answer straightforward questions" about DOGE's structure or activities, The New York Times said. Two judges in Washington this week ordered DOGE to hand over documents and answer questions about its role in Trump's government downsizing, and submit to Freedom of Information Act requests.

What next?

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Trump administration "will immediately fight back" against the "absurd and unconstitutional" rulings. The White House also said it would release the details of each agency's second round of cuts and mass layoffs "once the plans are enacted."

What happened

President Donald Trump Tuesday held an elaborate Tesla showcase on the White House lawn to support CEO Elon Musk, who he said was being "treated very unfairly" for "being a patriot" and working to slash the size of the federal government as the head of DOGE Services.

Hours later, the Education Department laid off 1,315 employees, effectively cutting its workforce in half ahead of an expected Trump executive order to shutter the department. NOAA also began laying off another 10% of its workforce, or 1,029 weather and storm forecasters, marine scientists and other workers, The Associated Press said.

Who said what

With Tuesday's Education Department cuts, Trump is "effectively gutting the agency that manages federal loans for college, tracks student achievement and enforces civil rights laws in schools," The New York Times said. Eliminating it entirely would take an act of Congress, and Trump is "unlikely" to "find enough support to do so," particularly as recent polls have "consistently shown roughly two-thirds of Americans oppose closing the department."

Senior Education Department officials said the layoffs, and closure of offices around the country, "wouldn't affect department functions," The Wall Street Journal said. But "critics said it was impossible to reduce staff so dramatically without affecting the services that states, school districts and students have come to rely on," The Washington Post said.

What next?

Agencies across the government "need to submit plans for large-scale layoffs" by Thursday, as stipulated in Trump's Feb. 11 executive order and a subsequent directive from the Office of Personnel Management, USA Today said. DOGE and other part of the administration have already laid off more than 100,000 probationary workers, gutted USAID and scheduled at least 76,000 cuts at the Veterans Affairs Department.

Cuts to U.S. foreign aid have “slammed humanitarian projects worldwide,” said Gerald Imray in the Associated Press, and will inflict suffering on untold millions. Having ordered a 90-day freeze and review of all foreign assistance in January, the Trump administration announced last week that it was terminating 90 percent of USAID’s contracts and cutting $60 billion in U.S. assistance. The assault has “stunned” nonprofits whose efforts to fight hunger, disease, and instability are now shuttering. Among the 10,000 contracts canceled was funding for a nutrition program run by U.S-based NGO Alight, which fed 1,700 malnourished children daily in Somalia. Some “absolutely” will die, said Alight head Jocelyn Wyatt. Food assistance for more than 1 million Ethiopians has been halted, as have maternal health-care programs in Syria, refugee assistance in Thailand, and HIV-prevention efforts that have saved millions of lives in Africa. “We are being pushed off a cliff,” said an HIV doctor in South Africa.

When aid was frozen, Secretary of State Marco Rubio promised waivers would be granted for “lifesaving” programs, said Jennifer Hansler in CNN.com. But that didn’t happen, according to senior USAID official Nicholas Enrich. He was put on leave this week after releasing a 20-page memo detailing the “intentional and/or unintentional obstacles” put in place by the Trump administration that stopped waivers from being approved. The blocks will result in harm “on a massive scale,” Enrich wrote, including an extra 200,000 children paralyzed with polio annually; severe malnutrition untreated in a million children; and up to 166,000 additional malaria deaths. Ebola prevention is another casualty, said Dan Diamond and John Hudson in The Washington Post, no matter what Elon Musk claims. The DOGE head recently said Ebola programs had been “accidentally canceled,” then restored. But current and former USAID officials report teams have been dismantled and programs gutted; “capacity is now a tenth of what it was,” said one.

The cuts are vulnerable to legal challenge, said Anna Maria Barry-Jester and Brett Murphy in ProPublica. Rubio and a top aide had told a federal judge that all canceled grants and contracts would be reviewed “case by case.” But internal documents and the “breakneck pace” of the cuts point to a “cursory and haphazard” effort, raising “fresh questions about the legality” of the administration’s evisceration of the aid system. Lawsuits will continue, but irreversible harm is being done, and it’s not only the world’s most vulnerable who will suffer. America “is losing its influence,” a laid-off USAID worker said through tears. “We’re now more unsafe as a country.”

'Why the fight against online extremism keeps failing'

Tamar Mitts at Time

"Content moderation takedowns have soared on major sites," so "perhaps the question we should be asking isn't whether platforms are doing enough in isolation — it's whether we are addressing a problem that is bigger than any one site," says Tamar Mitts. The "approach to fighting online hate and extremism focuses too often on individual platforms" and "too little on the fragmentation of content moderation." Smaller "trust-and-safety teams mean more opportunity to radicalize a dedicated audience."

Read more

'The lost do-gooders'

Nick Summers at Intelligencer

Trump and Musk "have portrayed federal workers as lazy and wasteful," but many are "academically ambitious and impeccably credentialed types who have forsworn more lucrative work," says Nick Summers. The "people I'm talking about are not unicorns." The "fact that they're being binned en masse puts the lie to the idea that the DOGE effort is sincerely interested in efficiency." But "explaining the value of government to those who want to burn it down is useless."

Read more

'I'm an NFL player, yet malaria nearly killed me. Kids will die without foreign aid.'

Calvin Anderson at USA Today

Malaria "nearly killed me, and I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have survived," says Calvin Anderson. People "around the world — primarily young children — are not as lucky, and if we as a country continue to halt critical malaria-fighting foreign assistance, the consequences will be devastating." The "recent freeze on funding for foreign aid programs has jeopardized critical initiatives that support global health and development." Having "personally experienced the horror of malaria, I am deeply saddened by this decision."

Read more

'No, "playing dead" is the last thing Democrats should be doing'

Megan Romer at The Guardian

The "rapid-fire destruction of institutions that we've seen from the Republicans since Trump's second inauguration should tell any thinking person that these are not the bumbling incompetents that the pundit class claims," says Megan Romer. There is "no guaranteed Republican self-destruction coming down the pike; we cannot simply wait this out." By "abdicating their responsibility to the working class, the Democrats" are "telling on themselves." They "cannot be credible opposition to a political movement."

Read more

What happened

President Donald Trump said he told his Cabinet secretaries Thursday that they were in charge of staffing decisions and policies at their agencies, not Elon Musk and his DOGE team. Trump's comments, after a closed-door Cabinet meeting that Musk attended, followed mounting "complaints about DOGE's blunt-force approach from agency heads" and "frustrated Republican members of Congress all over the country, some of whom have faced anger from constituents at home," Reuters said.

Who said what

Trump's message marked his "first significant move to narrow Musk's mandate," publicly relegating the world's richest person and his DOGE staff to an "advisory role," Politico said. But the message was mixed. Cabinet secretaries should "go first, keep all the people you want, everybody that you need," Trump told reporters, recounting his guidance. But "we're gonna be watching them. And Elon and the group are gonna be watching them. And if they can cut, it's better. And if they don't cut, then Elon will do the cutting."

Musk has "wielded unprecedented authority in implementing mass firings, canceling billions of dollars in contracts and programs and gaining access to sensitive computer systems," Reuters said. But "initial court rulings have undercut Musk and the president's ability to direct firings," The Washington Post said, and Trump's new messaging "signals a tactical shift, as his administration seeks to guard against possible legal challenges in its next round of federal workforce cuts."

DOGE has already cut more than 100,000 federal workers, though "scores" are "being recalled back to work across the federal agencies" after their firings were deemed counterproductive or dangerous, The Associated Press said.

What next?

Trump said on social media it was "important to keep the best and most productive people" in government, and jobs should be cut with a "scalpel" rather than a "hatchet." Meanwhile, the administration is reportedly preparing to cut roughly 80,000 employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs and 45,000 from the IRS — half its workforce — and to close at least a dozen consulates abroad, possibly more. Newly confirmed Education Secretary Linda McMahon is also widely expected to dismantle her department on Trump's orders.

Elon Musk is “trying to convince Americans that our Social Security system is overrun by massive fraud,” said Nancy Altman in The Hill. He’s sent his DOGE minions in and come out with a claim that Social Security is paying out funds to millions of beneficiaries over 100 years old. That’s completely false, and in reality “the hardworking civil servants at the Social Security Administration are extremely diligent in tracking the deaths of beneficiaries.” But finding fraud isn’t DOGE’s real aim here. “Musk has made no secret of his disdain for our Social Security system.” It’s the same disdain that a few ultra-wealthy conservatives have expressed for decades. The difference is that now President Trump “is giving Musk the power to steal our earned benefits.”

Musk’s assertions about outrageous Social Security fraud have been almost instantly debunked, said Philip Bump in The Washington Post. Last week, Musk tweeted that DOGE had found records of Social Security recipients who claimed to be as old as 150. “It didn’t take long for other tech guys to point out” that this was obviously “a data error in an old system.” In 2023, the department’s inspector general released a report on the same thing: “There are millions of probably-dead people in the SSA system.” However, only 13 beneficiaries aged 112 or older were being sent checks. “But Musk isn’t very interested in the truth.” He wants to create enough skepticism about Social Security that “all government funding will be rejected as dubious.”

Fraud or not, Social Security is like the Titanic heading toward an iceberg, said Star Parker in RealClearPolitics, and we’ve set it “on automatic pilot.” Our Founding Fathers “would be aghast that today practically every young American is forced to pay into a Social Security that cannot fiscally honor its promised benefits” by the time they retire. “We must free young Americans” from this tragic course. A year ago, 178 House Republicans proposed “modest adjustments to the retirement age” for future Social Security recipients, said Paul Brandus in MarketWatch. “The vast majority of those Republicans were re-elected in November.” Voters no longer see Social Security as untouchable, and “entitlements are on the table.”

Musk’s bluster “would be less scary if not for other missteps,” said Gabriel Rubin in Reuters. DOGE has already made the government stumble into blunders like mistakenly firing critical nuclear safety workers, who then had to be urgently rehired. Giving Musk the power to “meddle” with Social Security risks similar mistakes that could cut off payments to the program’s 69 million recipients—many of whom rely on the benefit. Even if you want changes to Social Security, brazenly sowing doubt about the program with baseless claims of fraud “is playing with fire.”

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency is taking aim at wide swaths of the federal government, which could mean cuts to research and U.S. expeditions in Antarctica. With programs' funding continually being slashed, scientists worry this could lead to a geopolitical struggle at the South Pole and bring vital Antarctic research to a halt.

Most notable are cuts to the National Science Foundation (NSF), which coordinates the majority of American scientific research in Antarctica, overseeing the Office of Polar Programs and the United States Antarctic Program. But the future of these programs could be in jeopardy with continued NSF cuts.

About 10% of NSF workers fired

The NSF is a $9 billion agency that "supports scientific advancement in practically every field apart from medicine," said The New York Times, which reported that DOGE eliminated about 10% of the foundation's 1,450 career employees. The NSF helps manage the three U.S. research bases in Antarctica that are staffed year-round: Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, McMurdo Station and Palmer Station.

Research at these stations has been the "bedrock of the [United States'] presence" in Antarctica, said the Times. But it is not just the staff at the bases themselves that could see cuts. The U.S. Coast Guard's "Polar Security Cutter program remains in disarray," and could be a "perfect target" for Musk's "team of cost-cutters," said Forbes. These icebreaker ships help support Antarctic research, but are "years late, wildly over-budget, and both the budget and the schedule are at risk of slipping even further into the red," meaning DOGE might target them.

Cuts with widespread implications

At these research stations, scientists "operate a number of major research projects, studying everything from climate change and rising sea levels to the cosmological makeup and origins of the universe itself," said Wired. With large funding cuts, many "Antarctic scientists and experts don't know if their research will be able to continue, how U.S. stations will be sustained, or what all this might mean for the continent's delicate geopolitics."

Many of the fired NSF employees were program managers for Antarctic projects. These individuals are "critical for maintaining communication with the infrastructure and logistics arm of the NSF," said Wired, as well as "planning deployment for scientists to the continent, keeping track of the budgets, and funding the maintenance and operations work."

Even if these cuts were reversed, it might take a long time for these programs to get going again. Even "brief interruptions will result in people walking away and not coming back," Nathan Whitehorn, a Michigan State University professor and Antarctic scientist, said to Wired. It "could easily take decades to rebuild." Without these project managers, "everything stops," another NSF scientist said to Wired. This scientist had "no idea who I am supposed to report to now or what happens to submitted proposals."

This could also provide an opportunity for other nations to expand their reach onto the continent. Countries "such as Korea and China have been rapidly expanding their presence, while the U.S. has been sort of maintaining the status quo," marine scientist Julia Wellner said to the Times. It is possible that American scientists could simply collaborate with other countries, but those "other countries have their own scientists," said Wellner. "I don't think South Korea or the U.K. is just going to make room for all of us."

Mystery solved — sort of. After weeks of intense speculation and contradictory chaos across the federal government, the White House this week revealed who sits atop the convoluted cost-cutting entity DOGE, even as both Elon Musk and President Donald Trump continue to operate as if Musk is the ultimate authority for the amorphous group. While that may be the case in practice, the administration's revelation this week that Amy Gleason, a little-known Trump associate, is DOGE's "acting administrator" has only served to heighten speculation as to how the agency functions.

Gleason, who was reportedly unaware that the White House was planning to make her identity public, has a long history of working with Trump and his associates but has maintained a low profile throughout her time in the president's orbit. So who is Gleason, and why has she been placed in the eye of this Musk-fueled storm?

From USDS to DOGE

Gleason is a "career official" who worked for Trump's "digital service unit" during his first administration, The New York Times said. As part of that posting, she was assigned to coordinate with the Health and Human Services department, where she "worked on Covid response." According to a brief bio accompanying her 2020 TEDx talk, "A 360⁰ View of Patient History," Gleason "began her career in nursing" and had "worked on several different electronic medical records applications." That was prompted, in part, by her daughter's rare medical condition and her subsequently discovering "firsthand how difficult being a patient and caregiver is in the health care system." Accordingly, Gleason has "long been an advocate" for curing juvenile myositis, the autoimmune condition that affected her daughter, said The Associated Press. She was initially assigned to the first Trump administration's COVID task force because of "her technology background," said CNN.

Gleason's LinkedIn profile has shown her serving as a "senior adviser at the United States Digital Service" — the official government agency that was transformed into and subsumed by DOGE to establish its legal foothold in the administration — since January, Politico said. It's "unclear" when she was appointed to the acting administrator role for DOGE, and "what exactly her relationship with Musk" is regarding running the group's operations.

Gleason's appointment to the upper echelon of DOGE's still-nebulous chain of command "came as a surprise" to her colleagues, CBS News said. Many of those coworkers learned of her elevated title only in the "past few hours" after her name was made public this week.

Longstanding ties to Trumpland

Before rejoining the Trump administration for his second term, Gleason remained in the president's extended orbit in the private sector, working at several health care focused startups helmed by fellow Trump insider and "key DOGE leader" Brad Smith, said The Washington Post. It was Smith who "looped" Gleason "into DOGE conversations" over the past few months, Fox News said. Smith, a "health care executive," had previously worked with former Trump adviser and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner, said The New York Times. He has been advising Musk's DOGE effort since "late last year."

Before her position had been publicly reported, Gleason's colleagues had identified her as a "liaison between legacy USDS, DOGE, and other agencies," said Wired, even if "little" was known about her "official role" at the time. This week, as Gleason's identity was being made public, nearly two dozen of her USDS-turned-DOGE colleagues resigned from their government roles. In a joint resignation letter, the group said that DOGE's work meant they could "no longer honor" their oaths to serve the Constitution made before their department was folded into Musk's effort.

President Donald Trump gets a lot of his political support from farm country. But those who put food on our tables are worried that his policies, from tariffs to funding freezes, will make it harder for them to do their jobs.

The prospect of a Trump-created trade war has farmers "on edge," said The Washington Post. One Iowa farm family said the president's tariffs will drive up the costs of Chinese-made herbicides and tractors they use, and will likely cut off the markets for soybeans (China) and corn (Mexico) that the state produces in abundance. Hawkeye State producers "don't know where we're going to be as far as our soybean and corn markets," said Suzanne Shirbroun, whose family grows both crops. It's a "fresh element of worry" as the nation's farmers deal with an "unforgiving business environment," said the Post.

The concerns go beyond tariffs. The "rapid-fire array of directives" from the Trump administration has "paused federal funding on a range of programs and grants" that benefit farmers, said The New York Times. The DOGE-driven funding freeze at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) briefly "left hundreds of millions of dollars worth of food and supplies sitting in ports," while other federal programs — including those that pay farmers for energy production and soil conservation — have also been halted. The nation's farmers "don't need any more uncertainty than they already have," said Nick Levendofsky, the executive director of the Kansas Farmers Union.

What did the commentators say?

Farmers have been "played for suckers" by Trump, said Ben Palen, a fifth-generation farmer, at the Kansas Reflector. Palen's fellow farmers supported Trump "because he promised less regulation and greater prosperity" to the agriculture sector. That's not what has happened so far. Instead, the "only constant is chaos." But Trump won't pay the price for the uncertainty he has created for agriculture. Instead, the pain will be felt by "farmers, small towns and Main Street businesses" in the rural red states that gave him their votes. The resulting "economic and social consequences could be unprecedented," said Palen.

"Every consumer feels it at the grocery store" when farmers feel pain, said Rob Larew, the president of the National Farmers Union, at MSNBC. Farmers take on an "immense amount of financial risk" to plant crops and raise livestock when all that work could be wiped out by bad weather or a turn in the financial markets. The programs Trump has frozen have traditionally helped those farmers "stay afloat when times get tough." The new administration has added "more uncertainty to a stressed farm economy."

What next?

American farmers are "struggling to make critical decisions ahead of the spring thaw," said NBC News. The funding freeze comes at a crucial moment in the "seasonal cycle of many farms." It's when most crops are planted and animals are born, and nature keeps moving even if the federal government does not. Farmers find it "difficult — if not impossible — to pause or reverse course." The delays in federal funding "might not seem like a big deal for someone who is not a farmer," said Ang Roell, a farmer and beekeeper in Massachusetts. "But it actually is."

What happened

Workers across the federal government received emails Saturday afternoon instructing them to reply with approximately "5 bullets of what you accomplished last week" by the end of Monday. Earlier Saturday, Elon Musk said on X that "failure to respond" to the upcoming email would be "taken as a resignation."

The emails were sent from the White House Office of Personnel Management, which "has been largely taken over by Musk's U.S. DOGE Service," The Washington Post said.

Who said what

Federal employees and administration officials "scrambled throughout the weekend to interpret Musk's unusual mandate," The Associated Press said. After issuing sometimes confusing and contradictory guidance, "appointees of President Donald Trump" at the FBI, Directorate of National Intelligence and the Departments of Defense, State, Energy, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services told their employees not to respond to the email.

Those instructions effectively "countermanded" Musk's order, "challenging the broad authority" Trump has "given the world's richest man to make drastic changes to the federal bureaucracy," The New York Times said. "The public pushback reflects a growing unease — and, in some cases, alarm — behind the scenes across the Trump administration" about Musk's apparent "unchecked power." The email scheme "came together in a matter of hours" after Trump said on social media he wanted Musk and DOGE to "get more aggressive" in shrinking the government, The Wall Street Journal said.

What next?

The episode set in motion a "power struggle between Musk" and Trump appointees, Politico said, marking the "first sign that even staunch Trump loyalists are beginning to flex their political muscle against Musk, an unelected 'special government employee.'"

Despite all the ambiguities surrounding the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency effort, there is little doubt that the Elon Musk-helmed enterprise is among the most consequential features of President Donald Trump's second term so far. Largely undeterred by various legal attempts at constraint, Musk and company have pushed ahead with DOGE's campaign promise of a slash-and-burn rampage through the federal government.

Democratic lawmakers have scrambled to form a coherent bulwark of opposition, but lately, a new line of DOGE criticism has emerged from an unlikely source: Republican lawmakers who have begun cautiously raising concerns about how the program is affecting their home districts and constituents.

What did the commentators say?

Capitol Hill conservatives are "growing unnerved" by a sense that DOGE is an "imprecise exercise," said Axios, as "job and funding cuts are now hitting GOP lawmakers' districts and states." All this is occurring amid a "larger conflict" over the White House's legal authority to "bypass Congress on these decisions." While most Republican lawmakers are opting for a "quieter approach" rather than frontal criticisms of Musk and the Trump administration, their anxieties "underscore the clash between shrinking government and parochial interests," said CBS News.

"Congress can't do anything except complain about it," said Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley during a press call this week. The comment was a "stark admission" that there is "little the GOP might be able or willing to do" despite party members' growing "discomfort" over DOGE's impact and effects, Politico said.

It's "far from a full-fledged GOP mutiny," said U.S. News & World Report. The "overwhelming majority" of Republican lawmakers have either cheered or "ducked questions" about DOGE's work. One move that has received particular pushback from Republicans is the limiting of National Institute of Health grants. Those caps are "poorly conceived," said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), and should instead be a "smart, targeted approach" so as to "not hinder life-saving, groundbreaking research at high-achieving institutions," said Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.).

Republicans are "particularly uneasy" with how DOGE's cuts have affected veterans who have been "disproportionately affected" by the group's expansive layoffs, Politico said. And this past week a "coalition" of New York Republican lawmakers offered a "rare sign of pushback" against the White House over cuts to the World Trade Center Health Program, which oversees aid for emergency workers who have been medically affected by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, The New York Times said. Although the conservative lawmakers' reactions began as "more muted" than that of their Democratic colleagues, their outcry became more "vocal" in a sign that "blowback to the firings was widespread."

What next?

Republicans have been receiving a "deluge of calls from worried constituents," said CNN, prompting some to begin "testing the waters for what a new era of pushback in a second Trump term looks like." To that end, some GOP lawmakers are "privately sitting down with representatives" from the largest federal employee union. Others remain "in the dark on what changes or cuts are occurring" and have resorted to using "back channels" to understand the scope and scale of DOGE's efforts before making any public moves. Republicans have unleashed a "frantic flurry of calls and texts" to members of the Trump administration, resulting in some "some small, scattered successes" such as the rehiring of Department of Agriculture employees involved in tracking cases of bird flu, said Politico.

Ultimately, Republicans are "not without leverage" when it comes to guarding the legislative branch's financial authority against potential executive branch overreach, said Axios. Trump will need to keep "nearly every GOP lawmaker sated" to pass his budget bill later this year. Given the party's "razor-thin majority" in the House, the administration simply "cannot afford more than a couple of defections" when the vote comes to the floor.

The Department of Government Efficiency is in a state of flux thanks to a recent court filing by the Trump administration stating that billionaire Elon Musk, the man personally named by President Donald Trump as being in charge of DOGE, is not running the advisory body at all. And whether Musk is officially in charge or not could affect DOGE's authority.

DOGE has spent the past few weeks hacking its way through the inner workings of the federal government, firing thousands of public servants. Given Trump and Musk's many public statements about the latter's role at DOGE, this new court filing has thrown the entire operation into uncertainty.

What did the commentators say?

Despite Trump's previous claim that Musk "will lead the Department of Government Efficiency" alongside since-departed co-leader Vivek Ramaswamy, the president's day-one executive order establishing the group "did not say who its 'administrator' would be," said The New York Times. Nevertheless, Trump "often" refers to Musk as the "functional leader of the DOGE effort" — an ambiguity that deepened with White House official Joshua Fisher's court filing this week, which stated plainly that Musk was simply a White House "adviser" and "not the U.S. DOGE service administrator" or even "an employee of the U.S. DOGE service." Instead, the White House's position is that Musk "can only advise the president and communicate the president's directives" to their intended recipients, Reuters said.

The "mystery" surrounding DOGE's structure and ambiguous leadership "does not appear limited to members of the public" said ABC News. Trump administration officials have "similarly struggled with the question in court."

The White House's claims that "legally, on paper" Musk is not in charge of DOGE are likely to "shield Musk from ethics and court scrutiny," said Vox. They also place his role on "firmer legal footing" by framing his participation in the context of the president "running the executive branch — through Musk, his instrument." This may be true in the strictest, most literal sense, but is "quite misleading in practice." While "technically" Musk can only advise the various DOGE teams established as employees of their respective government agencies and departments, "practically, his advice is not really optional."

Sussing out Musk's "exact role" within the DOGE effort "could be key in the legal fight" over the group's activities, said The Associated Press. Framing Musk as a mere adviser can be used to push back against criticism that he has "too much power for someone who isn't elected or Senate-confirmed." The filing creates "legal insulation" for Musk, agreed former Deputy Attorney General John Yoo at Fortune. As an adviser without any ability to enact policy on his own, "Musk cannot be sued for DOGE activities," and any subsequent suits would "really be against the president or the United States government" instead.

What next?

The true as-of-yet unstated DOGE administrator could "conceivably" be Musk's longtime "right-hand man" Steve Davis, said the Times. Alternately, it could be Brad Smith, who served in the first Trump administration and who has been "intimately involved in DOGE's moves." Whoever the administrator is, they have until early October to "submit a report to the president regarding implementation" of various DOGE initiatives and objectives detailed in an executive order issued on Feb. 11.

Ultimately, though, the "issue is not who is 'technically' the administrator, who has the title," Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said to CNN. "Elon Musk is clearly running the show."

What happened

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Tuesday it was trying to reverse last weekend's mass firing of employees working on the H5N1 bird flu epidemic. The layoffs were part of the weekend purge led by Elon Musk's secretive Department of Government Efficiency team, focusing on "probationary" employees hired or promoted less than a year ago. The Energy Department earlier this week struggled to rescind the firing of hundreds of employees working on U.S. nuclear weapons programs.

Who said what

"Several positions" supporting America's bird flu response "were notified of their terminations over the weekend," but "we are working swiftly to rectify the situation and rescind those letters," a USDA spokesperson told NBC News. When the Energy Department tried to rescind layoffs for all but 28 of the roughly 350 employees it fired at the National Nuclear Security Administration, they "could not all be reached" because they had lost access to their government email accounts, The Associated Press said, "and some were reconsidering whether to return to work, given the uncertainty created by DOGE."

"The DOGE people are coming in with absolutely no knowledge of what these departments are responsible for," said Daryl Kimball, the executive director of the Arms Control Association. The Trump administration was sticking with its mass firings at other agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Emergency Management System, despite "experts cautioning that DOGE's blind cost cutting will put communities at risk," AP said.

What next?

The FAA "purge" includes employees working on radar, landing and navigational systems and maintenance, and despite assurances from Musk and the White House, it "could certainly affect air safety going forward," Rolling Stone said, citing current and former officials. "Holy hell — that was my response," one FAA official said. "How do they think airports and airplanes work?"

Elon Musk set up a website for his Department of Government Efficiency to track cuts to the federal budget, but it had a lot of trouble getting off the ground. The DOGE site went live on Feb. 12 as part of a commitment by Musk to be "as transparent as possible" but immediately appeared prone to a number of pitfalls.

The website seemed to be partially fixed once Musk discovered the problem, but not before online users were able to take advantage of it at DOGE's expense. Some are wondering if the debacle is indicative of things to come.

What happened with the website?

The website, www.doge.gov, was set up as a "portal tracking the size of the federal workforce and documenting the number of federal regulations," said The Washington Post. It currently includes a stream of X posts showing a "running log of the actions" that DOGE is taking to slash government funding, including one "applauding the Department of Education, for example, for canceling grants in line with Musk's effort to cut $1 trillion in federal spending."

Before this, though, it appeared that the website got off to a haphazard launch. At the outset, the website was simply a "default WordPress sample page that includes language about an imaginary architecture firm," according to tech publication 404Media. The only thing identifying it as a government website appeared to be a tagline at the top that read: "Waste.gov: Tracking government waste."

Eventually, this was fixed, but a new problem emerged: the website was found to be "insecure and pulls from a database that can be edited by anyone," said another report from 404Media. This was largely because the website was not hosted on a government server but on an open platform called Cloudflare Pages. This led to several posts on the site that read, "This is a joke of a .gov site" and "THESE 'EXPERTS' LEFT THEIR DATABASE OPEN."

The website "feels like it was completely slapped together. Tons of errors and details leaked in the page source code," an anonymous coder said to 404Media.

What is happening now?

It "appears that the DOGE team has since fixed the issue with their website, as the messages are now gone," said Newsweek. But this is not the only government website that has experienced issues under the new Trump administration; the "newly created Waste.gov site was hidden behind a password after going live with a default WordPress template," said Mashable, in a manner similar to the DOGE website.

The DOGE page is "still very much a work in progress," said Fortune, and it is unclear if similar problems could arise in the future. The agency has "come under considerable fire for its rapid pace changes to several government departments over the past several weeks." Aside from the cuts to the Education Department, this also includes the controversial shuttering of the nation's primary foreign aid agency, USAID.

The website rollout doesn't seem to have generated much of a response from Musk, who often interacts with people directly on X. He has "yet to comment on the hacks as he continues promising 'transparency,'" said The New Republic. The website has also "posted classified information" about the country's satellite intelligence-building agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, according to HuffPost, which could create further controversy.

What happened

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency is seeking access to Social Security Administration and Internal Revenue Service databases with highly personal information about most Americans, including tax returns, bank records and Social Security numbers, The Washington Post and other newspapers reported over the weekend. Acting SSA Commissioner Michelle King stepped down on Sunday, becoming the latest agency head to resign rather than give DOGE engineers access to closely held data.

The Trump administration also fired several thousand government workers over the weekend, including "scores of employees who work to bolster the nation's nuclear defense, only to realize its error and start reversing the firings," the Post said.

Who said what

The Trump administration said Musk's engineers need access to the tightly guarded databases to "eliminate waste, fraud and abuse." But "White House officials, when asked, wouldn't specify why DOGE needed access to the sensitive taxpayer information to execute on its mission," The Wall Street Journal said.

It was unclear Monday if DOGE operatives had successfully gained access yet, but the Social Security database "has our bank information, our earnings records, the names and ages of our children, and much more," said Nancy Altman, the president of the advocacy group Social Security Works. "There is no way to overstate how serious a breach this is." Someone with "an evil intent" could "erase your earnings record, making it impossible to collect the Social Security and Medicare benefits you have earned," she added.

The "potential unlawful release of taxpayer records" could also be used to "maliciously target Americans, violate their privacy and create other ramifications," The Associated Press said. In his first term, the Post said, President Donald Trump "openly mused about sending IRS agents after political opponents, leaving agency officials on edge about the IRS's independence."

What next?

Trump bypassed several higher-ranking officials to replace King with Leland Dudek, who oversaw the SSA's anti-fraud office. Dudek had praised Musk's team in a LinkedIn post, "saying he had been assisting its efforts," the Times said. He has now "deleted his account."

'The game that shows we're thinking about history all wrong'

Spencer Kornhaber at The Atlantic

The game "Civilization VII" makes a "radical change by firmly segmenting the experience into — here's that word — eras," says Spencer Kornhaber. "Eras are an imprecise tool to make sense of the messy past." Game developers have "argued that the eras system is realistic," but in the most recent version of the game, "history also feels overdetermined." Playing "Civilization" used to "feel like living through an endless dawn of possibility," but this time, you're not in command of history; history is in command of you, and it's assigning you busywork."

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'Learning cursive is an important skill, but should it be mandatory in today's tech age?'

Yvette Walker at The Kansas City Star

Some "think cursive is an important skill," but there's debate over whether it should be required in the modern technological age, says Yvette Walker. One "factor against it is the extra level of rigor for left-handed students." You "might not be able to write it, but you should be able to read it." If there is a "way to build an understanding of cursive into the system without busting the budget or losing another important skill, I'd be up for that."

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'What anti-Musk Democrats can learn from Steve Bannon'

Ross Barkan at Intelligencer

Steve Bannon has made it his "mission to destroy Elon Musk, the new bête noire of Democrats," says Ross Barkan, and "liberals who share that goal — and want to boost their working-class credibility — might want to pay attention to how he's doing it." Bannon's "attacks are potentially potent because he understands the stakes of this battle." Musk "cares far more about his business and tech interests than the fate of working-class America."

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'Cut climate emissions by ticketing the worst offenders, like speeding drivers'

Antoine Rostand at The Hill

If the world "rolls over on methane regulations, we'll need to change tack to bring down methane quickly," says Antoine Rostand. The "best way to do this is to narrow the scope of the regulations and target so-called 'super-emitters.'" Holding "methane super-emitters to account, as opposed to scrutinizing the entire lifecycle emissions of fossil fuels, would be a much more straightforward and effective policy" than the "more arcane rules that the United States is set to tear up."

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What happened

Elon Musk Tuesday answered questions for the first time since his "Department of Government Efficiency" burrowed into more than a dozen federal agencies, telling reporters in the Oval Office that he viewed his team of government-cutting operatives as "maximally transparent." President Donald Trump, who mostly watched as Musk defended his operation for about 30 minutes, signed an executive order giving DOGE even more power to shape the federal workforce, including approval over almost all new hires.

Who said what

Musk called his team's work "not draconian or radical" and said he checked in with Trump almost every day and before making big changes. He criticized the federal workforce as an "unelected, fourth, unconstitutional branch of government" that was thwarting the "will of the people," and he insisted DOGE was transparent because he and his team post on X — though he acknowledged that "some of the things that I say will be incorrect and should be corrected."

DOGE has "provided no information on whom it employs, where it is operating or what actions it is taking inside government agencies," Reuters said. "It posts few actual results from its work, providing only dollar figures for purported cuts in specific agencies and little specific detail." Musk's team is "operating in deep secrecy," The New York Times said, and Musk, a "special government employee" not required to disclose financial interests, "serves as an unelected appointee with vast reach across the government." Federal judges have paused many DOGE initiatives, saying they likely violated the law or the Constitution.

What next?

Trump's new executive order directed federal agencies to prepare for "large-scale" job cuts and hire one person for every four who leave, with exceptions for personnel "related to public safety, immigration enforcement or law enforcement." The "bulk of the federal workforce" is tied to "security-related agencies," Reuters said, though "hundreds of thousands" work across the country "overseeing veterans' healthcare, inspecting agriculture and paying the government's bills, among other jobs." Successfully "eliminating 25% of federal employees would cut the overall budget by about 1%," The Washington Post said.

What happened

The Trump White House Sunday told all 1,700 employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that the Washington, D.C., headquarters was closed for the week, and employees who went to the office to retrieve their laptops or other belongings were reportedly turned away. President Donald Trump on Friday named Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought acting head of the CFPB.

On Saturday, Voght ordered "all employees at the consumer watchdog to stop virtually all work — including fighting financial abuse," CNN said, and said he would eliminate its budget.

Who said what

The CFPB, created as an independent agency in the wake of the 2008 financial collapse, has "clawed back $21 billion for consumers," transformed mortgage lending rules, "slashed overdraft fees" and "forced banks and money transmitters to compensate fraud victims," The New York Times said. All that has "made it a lightning rod for criticism from banks and Republican lawmakers," including Trump and his allies.

Elon Musk tweeted "CFPB RIP" on Friday, hours after his "Department of Government Efficiency" operatives gained access to the bureau's headquarters and computer systems. Vought's Project 2025 called for the bureau's elimination. As acting director, he can sharply curtail its activity, but "since the CFPB is a creation of Congress, it would require a separate act of Congress to formally eliminate it," The Associated Press said.

DOGE has already gutted USAID, without assent from Congress, but going after the CFPB "highlights the tensions between Trump's more populist promises to lower costs for working-class families and his pledge to reduce government regulation," the AP said. The CFPB, for example, had already started work on how to implement Trump's campaign proposal to cap credit card interest rates at 10%.

What next?

The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents CFPB employees, filed lawsuits Sunday night seeking to prevent Vought from freezing its congressionally mandated work and bar DOGE employees from accessing employee records.

What happened

A federal judge Thursday issued a temporary restraining order limiting access by Elon Musk's "Department of Government Efficiency" to a Treasury Department payment system that contains personal and financial information of millions of Americans.

The agreement maintained access for two DOGE officials, Tom Krause and Marko Elez, but Elez later resigned after The Wall Street Journal asked the White House about a social media account that "advocated racism and eugenics."

Who said what

"Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool," the now-deleted X account reportedly tied to Elez posted in July, according to the Journal. In September the user wrote "You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity" and "Normalize Indian hate." Elez, a 25-year old former SpaceX and X employee, and Krause gained access to the Treasury's central government payment system last weekend, and despite White House and Treasury claims, Elez "had the ability to rewrite the code of the payment system" until Wednesday, Wired said.

Thursday's restraining order, based on an agreement between labor unions and the Justice Department, prohibits Elez and Krause from sharing sensitive Treasury data outside the agency and limits their access to "read only." When DOGE moved in to Treasury, the goal was to gain full access to the system to cut off funding to USAID, The New York Times and other news organizations reported Thursday, citing emails and people familiar with the plan.

If a "DOGE technologist" like Elez was originally granted the "ability alter the code on these systems," Wired said, it would "in theory" give him — "and, by extension, Musk, President Donald Trump or other actors — the capability to, among other things, illegally cut off congressionally authorized payments to specific individuals or entities." Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox Business host Larry Kudlow on Wednesday that "our payment system is not being touched."

What next?

The Trump administration plans to cut USAID's workforce from more than 10,000 employees to about 292, according to multiple news organizations.

There is perhaps no clandestine institution on Earth more storied than the CIA, but over the past three weeks, the agency's goals have shifted significantly as President Donald Trump continues his unprecedented efforts to reshape the federal government. Less than a month into the Trump administration, the Central Intelligence Agency finds itself in the president's rapidly changing crosshairs, joining the many federal programs that have offered employees legally dubious buyout offers. As Trump, who has long railed against a supposed "deep state" of nebulous law enforcement and national security interests, casts his attention toward the CIA, experts are left wondering what the world's premier spy enterprise might look like should the president realize his vision.

Infusing the agency with 'renewed energy'

The buyout offers are a "signal to those who oppose Trump's agenda to find work elsewhere," said The Wall Street Journal. The goal is to "bring the agency in line with President Trump's priorities, including targeting drug cartels," and to have a workforce suited to the agency's "new goals, which also include Trump's trade war and undermining China." More broadly, Trump's vision for the agency is to have a "greater focus on the Western Hemisphere."

The buyouts and renewed focus on CIA priorities are part of a "holistic strategy to infuse the Agency with renewed energy," a CIA spokesperson said to CBS News. The goal is to "provide opportunities for rising leaders to emerge, and better position the CIA to deliver on its mission." The decision to include the CIA in Trump's broader federal buyout initiative appears to have come from newly installed Director John Ratcliffe — a longtime Trump loyalist — who "personally decided he also wanted the CIA to be involved," CNN said. However, one source said to the outlet, the effort may be "far less sweeping" than for agencies "not considered to be doing national security work." For instance, "some employees," such as those "handling high-priority tasks," would "not be eligible for the offer," said NBC News.

'Radical, unplanned and self-contradictory'

The CIA's overarching mission of protecting U.S. interests "requires depth of thought, strategy and long-term planning," said The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Trump's plan to remake the agency exhibits "none of those qualities," and is instead "reactive, poorly designed and likely to achieve the opposite of its stated goal." Already there is "panic within the broader national security community," said NPR. Experts are worrying about the possibility that "years of experience, talent and secrets could soon be heading out the door." It's still unclear whether other intelligence agencies would "follow suit with a buyout offer," said the Journal.

Crucially, none of the Trump administration's planned reforms "freeze the actual new and emerging threats" eager to "pounce on any perception of polarization or additional vulnerabilities," said the Robert Lansing Institute for Global Threats and Democratic Studies. It is "entirely possible," then, that a host of American adversaries "stand to benefit the most" from a pivot from "reasonable, dedicated, thoughtful and necessary reform and review toward a radical, unplanned and self-contradictory near-elimination of the intelligence agencies in their conventional sense."

What happened

Members of Elon Musk's secretive "Department of Government Efficiency" have been granted access to "systems and technology" at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency said Wednesday, after The Wall Street Journal reported that DOGE had "gotten access to key payment and contracting systems." Musk and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy also said DOGE had agreed to "upgrade" the Federal Aviation Administration's air traffic control system.

Thousands of people gathered in cities and outside capitols across the U.S. Wednesday to protest Musk's rapid takeover of the federal government and President Donald Trump's early flurry of executive orders.

Who said what

DOGE is "going to plug in to help upgrade our aviation system," Duffy said on X. Musk replied that his team would "aim to make rapid safety upgrades to the air traffic control system." The details were "murky" on what role DOGE would play, Politico said, or which "upgrades" they would attempt on the aging and "complex web of software, hardware, facilities and people that keep planes from crashing into each other."

CMS is a "highly politically and economically sensitive agency," the "nerve center of much of the nation's complex health care economy," the Journal said. But a person familiar with DOGE's work at the agency said its access was "read only" and "that, to their knowledge, Musk’s allies hadn’t yet been given access to databases that include identifiable personal health information of Medicare or Medicaid enrollees." DOGE operatives met with the Labor Department Wednesday, "seeking access to sensitive data," The Washington Post said.

What next?

Musk's efforts are "part of a massive government restructuring by Trump, who has fired and sidelined hundreds of civil servants in his first steps toward downsizing the bureaucracy and installing more loyalists," Reuters said. "Multiple government officials have already privately warned" that some DOGE actions "appear to be illegal," the Post said. But "critics have struggled to keep up" with the onslaught and "the Republicans who control Congress have largely applauded its work" and dismissed Democrats' "protests that an unelected billionaire should not be able to dismantle the bureaucracy without lawmakers' consent."

What happened

Members of Elon Musk's "Department of Government Efficiency" over the weekend gained access to a Treasury Department system that pays out more than $6 trillion a year in Social Security and Medicare benefits, tax refunds and federal salaries, among other items, according to several news organizations. And the Trump administration put the top security officials at the U.S. Agency for International Development on leave after they tried to block a DOGE team from a secure area of USAID headquarters.

Who said what

Acting Deputy Treasury Secretary David Lebryk, a longtime nonpolitical official, was "ousted" after refusing to "turn over access" to the tightly controlled, sensitive payment system to "Musk's surrogates," The Washington Post said. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had approved access for Musk's team Friday.

Musk spent the weekend "expressing fury" at USAID and "voicing conspiracy theories about it," The New York Times said, and foreign policy veterans "struggled to understand" his "seeming animus" to an agency that distributes billions in humanitarian, medical and pro-democracy aid worldwide yet makes up less than 1% of the federal budget. "USAID is a criminal organization," Musk posted on X Sunday. "Time for it to die."

Musk's "lackeys," who had "already taken control" of the federal human resources and property management offices, include a "coterie of engineers" age 19 to 24 with ties to Musk's companies, Wired said. These "aren't really accountable public officials" and we have "very little eyes" on what they are doing with the "most sensitive data in government," Don Moynihan, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan, said to the outlet. "So this feels like a hostile takeover of the machinery of governments by the richest man in the world."

What next?

"Confusion over who will be granted access to Treasury's payments rails — as well as whether their responsibilities could allow them to cut off payments — has opened a new front in the political fight" over Musk's DOGE, Politico said.

'Milking the system'

Jack Shafer at The Washington Post

Dairy makers want to "prevent foods from being labeled 'milk,' 'yogurt' or 'cheese' unless they owe their provenance to lactating farm animals," says Jack Shafer, a "brazen attempt to steal power, status and money from plant-based milk makers." The "dairy interests seek to carve up resources and markets for their own gain while returning few gains for their subjects." But it's "never wise to position yourself between two trade associations when they're warring for the last word."

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'By killing remote work, DOGE will only bleed taxpayers dry'

Gleb Tsipursky at The Hill

Remote work has been "shown to increase productivity, reduce costs and improve employee satisfaction," says Glen Tsipursky. Attempts to "dismantle telework ignore the wealth of data proving its value and threaten to disrupt essential government services while imposing significant costs on taxpayers." The "Republican push to dismantle telework is dangerous for taxpayers," and "proposals from DOGE to mandate a full return to the office, framed as a cost-saving measure, are likely to have the opposite effect."

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'On the Auschwitz anniversary, Europe cannot ignore its far-right problem'

Farid Hafez at Al Jazeera

European leaders are "releasing statements about the 'civilizational rupture' the Holocaust represented," but "many of these declarations do not seem to take stock of the political reality in Europe, in which the successors of the fascist and Nazi forces behind the Holocaust are now gaining popularity and even taking power," says Farid Hafez. The "resurgence of the far right is a chilling reminder of the fragility of European commitment to 'never again.'"

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'Abolish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau'

David B. McGarry at the National Review

The CFPB "deserves to be terminated for its blunders, and the sake of sensible economic regulation and the American constitutional order," says David B. McGarry. The CFPB "writes law with the pen of enforcement action and rulemaking, its authorities constrained only a little," and "Congress unleashed the agency to pursue whatever projects it thinks might lie within the borders of its continent-sized statutory bailiwick." The "task of restoring constitutional order can be accomplished only with a sledgehammer."

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President Donald Trump has charged Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency with slashing large portions of the federal budget, and one idea Musk has proposed targets a longstanding grievance among politicians: the penny. DOGE (which is not actually a government agency but rather an advisory group) has suggested that stopping the production of the penny would save American taxpayers millions.

The group said as much in a post on X, claiming that eliminating penny production was a "penny (or 3 cents!) for your thoughts." The idea of halting penny production is not new, as the one-cent piece has been the ire of politicians for years. However, the conversation is being turbocharged with Trump back in power and Musk at his side.

How much does it cost to produce pennies?

Producing 4.5 billion pennies "cost U.S. taxpayers over $179 million" in the fiscal year 2023, meaning each one "costs over 3 cents to make," said DOGE on X. However, government statistics show this is only partially true; the $179 million taxpayers paid was the combined cost to produce both pennies and nickels, according to the U.S. Mint's 2023 annual report. Pennies alone cost taxpayers $86 million.

The high cost of producing relatively small amounts of money goes back a long time. In 2013, taxpayers lost $105 million on penny and nickel production, and that year, the "cost of making pennies and nickels exceeded their face value for the eighth year in a row," said The Washington Post. However, pennies in particular remain the major target for potential spending cuts.

Would stopping penny production be a meaningful cut?

DOGE and Musk are "taking aim at an issue that has sparked debate for years," but these costs represent "mere metaphorical pennies when it comes to DOGE's mandate to cut federal spending," said CBS News. Musk originally claimed he could cut $2 trillion from the federal budget. He then walked this figure back, and has since said DOGE "will aim to trim $500 billion in annual federal spending." Even this figure represents a lofty goal compared to the production cost of the penny.

Despite this, lawmakers have continued to push for price cuts related to pennies. Both Democrats and Republicans have proposed eliminating pennies from circulation, but there "could be a costly downside to ditching the cent, as transactions would be rounded to 5-cent intervals," said the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond in a 2020 blog post, according to CBS.

It's "not clear from one post if DOGE plans to officially take on eliminating the penny — and Musk's group alone doesn't have the power to get rid of the coin," said Business Insider. Congress "would need to pass a law stopping the distribution of the coin or, in theory, the Treasury secretary could decide that the nation doesn't need to make any more." And some argue that this isn't worth it. Economists "don't want any of these discussions to lead to a conversation about penny elimination, because that, quite frankly, won't save money," Mark Weller, the executive director of the pro-penny organization Americans for Common Cents, said to Fortune.

While the penny is in their crosshairs, DOGE "might want to set its sights beyond the lowly penny, as it's not the only coin that costs more to mint than it's worth," said CBS. The U.S. Mint's 2024 annual report "noted that it spends about 14 cents to make and distribute each nickel."

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have attracted a lot of attention (not all of it positive) for the government-slashing proposals from their Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE. A few Democrats are ready to jump on the bandwagon.

DOGE is attracting lawmakers like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. John Fetterman (D-Penn.) who see a "chance to reduce defense spending and cut red tape," said the Financial Times. The defense industry has been "fleecing the American people for far too long," said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). That doesn't mean Khanna and other Democrats like Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) are fully behind cost-cutting proposals from Musk and Ramaswamy. The California congressman told the Financial Times he "fiercely opposes" any ideas to cut social programs "such as Medicare, Social Security and benefits for veterans"

Not everybody is happy. In a podcast appearance, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) asked why his Democratic colleagues have decided to "take this government efficiency task force seriously," said The Hill. DOGE is "not a department," Murphy said — it's an advisory board that is really an attempt "by the billionaire class to privatize government to benefit themselves." Democrats, he said, should not act like the effort is "legitimate."

What did the commentators say?

Defense contracting is plagued by "waste and abuse," Khanna said at MSNBC. Democrats can work with Musk and Ramaswamy to trim bloated programs like the F-35 fighter jet and other systems where costs have been allowed to soak taxpayers for "egregious" sums of money. The Pentagon needs resources to "counter increasingly sophisticated threats from our adversaries," Khanna said. Democrats should "put politics aside and work with DOGE to reduce wasteful defense spending."

DOGE-friendly Democrats should "tamp down some of this naivete," said Ja'han Jones, also at MSNBC. Musk and Ramaswamy are "right-wingers" who have used "pretty ominous language" to describe their goals. Ramaswamy has talked about his desire to "crush the bureaucracy" while Musk has said the radical austerity he envisions will cause some temporary "hardship" to Americans. That is the "language of destruction," Jones said. DOGE is designed to "kneecap the government." Democrats thinking about joining the group's efforts should ask if it "will do anything but that."

What next?

Republicans are trying to bring more Democrats aboard, said Yahoo Finance. The GOP objective is to "create a safe harbor where everybody feels welcome," said Rep. Aaron Bean (R-Fla.). One of the obstacles may be Musk himself, especially after he "all but single-handedly killed" a bill to avoid a government shutdown late in 2024, Yahoo said. It's also a real question whether bipartisanship will be possible in Congress when "new heights of partisan bickering" are expected. "It will take both parties" to pass big cuts, Bean said.

Any Democratic backing DOGE could give Musk and Ramaswamy a "serious bipartisan boost," said Business Insider. Moskowitz, though, said he'd vote against any "stupid" stuff that comes out of the effort. If the DOGE conversation is going to happen, he said, "I'm happy to be at the table."