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As our stories this week illustrate, there are plenty of examples of how Trump’s corruption is making our lives demonstrably worse — from mining and oil extraction pollution that threatens the health of our communities and monopolists’ tightening stranglehold on our pockets and labor to corrupt machinations attacking our increasingly fragile democracy.

Why should you care about this obscure office with a funny name and the investment banker to whom Trump is entrusting it? Meet Kevin Lilly, Trump’s nominee for Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife, and Parks of the Interior Department.

The Trump administration has refused to allocate federal disaster aid in a timely manner. Check out our interactive map for more details on the White House’s careless approach to major disaster declarations.

Trump’s antagonistic relationship with facts is well documented. His most egregious attacks on reality aren’t just rhetorical. They threaten physical safety and American democracy. They target the ways we define what we know about the country and ourselves. Trump’s assault on public data is not a side project, it’s a core feature of his authoritarian approach to governance. By hollowing out federal statistics, limiting information gathering, and redacting inconvenient reports, the Trump administration is warping reality to suit its political narrative. The goal isn’t just to obscure the effects of the president’s policies, it’s to prevent the public from seeing them at all.

The United States federal government knows a lot about you. If you’ve ever applied for federal student aid, the Department of Education has records of your income and assets. The Social Security Administration begins collecting information from the moment your parents apply for your Social Security number at birth, adds new data every time Social Security taxes are deducted from your paychecks, and continues to monitor you until the day you die.

McMahon, Trump, and Republicans are targeting LGBTQ kids.

Welcome back to Watchdog Weekly. We’ve been busy so far this hurricane season, tracking the literal and metaphorical storms gathering on the horizon as elite immunity spreads its shadow over the American landscape. Here are some of the projects we’ve been working on lately:

TRACKER: Federal Contracts for Trump’s 250th 

Vought’s attempts to shred our social safety net also comes at a moment when Americans are increasingly at risk of infection from foodborne illnesses and vaccine-preventable diseases because of Trump’s “health” policy agenda.

The confirmation hearing of OMB nominee Hal Duncan confirmed he will be henchman executing Trump and Vought’s agenda.

Underwriting income soared to $68.7 billion in 2025, delivering windfall profits to the industry.

Soaring insurance premiums, fewer disasters, and massive investment income fuel high industry profits and CEO pay.

A collection of RDP’s work trying to shed light on the deeply intertwined crises of fossil fuel-driven climate change, rising insurance premiums and declining coverage, and housing injustice.

OMB Director Russell Vought is weaponizing federal funding for child care, food, and Medicaid in blue cities and states, seriously endangering people’s lives and livelihoods.