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Musk Connections: Intern at SpaceX; Intern at Starlink
Other Corporate Affiliations: Thiel Fellow
DOGE Deployment: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; State Department; USAID; General Services Administration; Education Department; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Energy Department

After a week of rumors that the Trump administration was planning to implement severe cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), it happened—though the White House reportedly denied that it would. This past Friday, senior officials were informed that 5200 relatively recent hires would be fired across multiple agencies at HHS, with 1300 at the CDC specifically. 

In a recent episode of Pod Save America, the hosts argued there was a “right” and “wrong” way to reduce the size of the federal government. We wholeheartedly disagree with that perspective. What the Trump administration is doing is indeed incredibly destructive and “wrong” and ostensibly center, center left and left wing voices need to push back against the idea that there’s a “right” way to slash the federal budget and workforce. We should be pushing for more resources for non-defense agencies, not less. 

Since the start of the Trump administration, there have been no less than 16 aviation crashes, killing a total of 95 people. The American Airlines crash at Reagan National Airport marked the first fatal commercial crash since 2009. This tracker will be continuously updated to reflect any further cuts to these federal agencies, as well as any aviation-related disasters. 

RDP senior researcher Kenny Stancil spoke with Counterpoint’s Scott Harris about his article, “Where Is the Democratic Opposition?”, and the need to organize an effective and aggressive national Trump opposition movement both inside the Democratic Party and across civil society.

Week 4 of Trump’s presidency proves yet again that Trump is only in it for his billionaire buddies. This past week, Trump and Musk repeatedly reminded us that the federal government is ready to serve the interests of their wealthy friends. In fact, in one case, Trump managed to pair this ongoing corruption with another core theme of his administration: demonization of immigrants. As our Jeff Hauser noted, by reassigning Internal Revenue Service agents to the immigration crackdown, Trump has essentially granted billionaires a “get out of taxes free card.”Let’s take a look at some other recipients of Trumpworld’s largesse (Spoiler alert: The biggest is of course Elon Musk):

Unelected billionaire Elon Musk and his DOGE demolition crew have infiltrated the Treasury Department’s payments system. We’re tracking this crisis as it unfolds.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was asked about the Elon Musk-led DOGE team’s meddling in the Treasury Department’s payments system. His answers raise additional questions.

With rumors growing that Trump plans to sign an executive order which would effectively dismantle the Department of Education, this factsheet highlights the likely deleterious effects for millions of students across the country.