Trump
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Things have been bleak, y’all–news broke this week that major corporations and rich executives helped President Donald Trump’s inaugural fund raise $239 million, as working class folks struggle to feed their families and more federal workers continue to lose their jobs.
Meanwhile, it’s been reported that another group of people were sent sensitive military information via Signal, this time by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth–and the White House is largely playing it down.
But as Trump prepares to hit his 100th day in office, polling shows the public isn’t a fan of his job so far. According And a New York Times analysis of most publicly-released polls show that his approval rating averages out to about 45 percent.
Here’s what else you may have missed this week.
Anti-democratic actions
After the New York Times reported that Hegseth shared sensitive military information about strikes in Yemen, the White House said it “stands strongly behind” Hegseth, who is facing calls from Democrats to resign or be fired by the president.
- NPR reported the White House is looking for Hegseth’s replacement.
- In an op-ed published in POLITICO Sunday, former Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot–who resigned last week–wrote that under Hegseth’s leadership, the Department of Defense has been in “total chaos.” Ullyot called for Trump to hold Hegseth accountable, writing, “the building is in disarray under Hegseth’s leadership.”
- The Wall Street Journal first reported that the Trump administration plans to revoke another $1 billion in funding for Harvard University, in addition to the more than $2 billion it pulled last week.
- In response to the aforementioned $2-plus billion in revoked funding, Harvard sued the Trump administration and accused it of trying to “gain control of academic decision-making at Harvard,” the New York Times reported.
- Nearly 500 academic leaders have signed a letter condemning “unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education.” Signees came from a range of institutions, from community colleges and Ivy Leagues, to academic honor societies like Phi Beta Kappa, to the National Council on Family Relations.
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced plans to overhaul the State Department, shutting down more than 100 global bureaus and implementing a 15-percent reduction in domestic staff, the Associated Press reported.
- The Intercept reported that most Barnard College professors received text messages on their personal devices this week asking them to fill out a voluntary survey from a federal agency that asked, among other questions, whether they were Jewish, Israeli, had Jewish/Israeli ancestry, or practiced Judaism.
- Trump issued an executive order targeting the donations platform ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s fundraising platform.
- A federal judge blocked part of Trump’s executive order requiring proof of citizenship to vote–but earlier this month, the House of Representatives passed the SAVE Act, which would also require proof of citizenship to vote if it succeeds in the Senate and makes its way to Trump’s desk.
- Twelve states are suing Trump over his far-reaching tariffs, the New York Times reported.
- DOGE
A CNBC survey found that nearly half of Americans have a negative view of Elon Musk, who leads the “Department of Government Efficiency,” which is not an official government agency. And as Tesla stocks and sales tanked, Musk said he’d take a step back from his work with the federal government, though he won’t abandon it fully, NPR reported.
- Immigration
The FBI arrested a Wisconsin judge, Hannah Dugan, on two felony accounts after she allegedly helped an undocumented immigrant in her courtroom avoid arrest, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
- The Trump administration suddenly walked back on its revocation of more than 1,500 international students’ visa statuses, saying it will create a new system for evaluating and terminating student visas, the New York Times reported.
- A 19-year-old U.S. citizen was held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for ten days while reportedly visiting family with his girlfriend in Tucson, Arizona, according to Arizona Public Media. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin wrote on X that “this arrest was the direct result of
- own actions and statements.”[the teenager’s]Democratic Reps. Maxwell Frost, Robert Garcia, Yassamin Ansari, and Maxine Dexter traveled to El Salvador to demand Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s release. A The Khalil is still detained.
- A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction preventing the Trump administration from barring federal funding for sanctuary cities.
- Reproductive rights
- The White House is reviewing pro-natalist proposals that advocate for setting aside Fulbright Scholar spots for people who are married or have kids, providing $5,000 to people after they give birth, funding programs that educate people on the menstrual cycle, and issuing an executive order that would grant a “National Medal of Motherhood” to people with six or more children, the New York Times reported.
- The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is representing the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association in a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its revocation of more than $65 million in Title X funding.
- Health and science
- Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a plan to phase out eight petroleum-based synthetic food dyes used in the U.S. Some of these dyes are already banned or restricted in other countries, NBC News reported.
The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to cancel millions in grant funding for research into the environmental hazards children in rural areas deal with, how to reduce wildfire smoke exposure, and other health issues, according to the New York Times.
- Trump issued an executive order that would allow the U.S. to mine large swaths of the floor of the Pacific Ocean, which most other coastal nations agreed not to do in a 1990s-era treaty, the New York Times reported.
- The Trump administration eliminated funding for the Women’s Health Initiative–a landmark, long-term study researching heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, and more in postmenopausal women–before reversing course and restoring the funding roughly one day later.
The Department of the Interior will accelerate approvals for projects that aim to mine coal, natural gas, minerals, and other resources on public lands.
- Trump denied Arkansas’ request for federal recovery aid following tornado damage in the state in March, CNN reported.
- LGBTQ+ rights
- The Trump administration filed an emergency application asking the Supreme Court to allow it to carry out its ban on transgender people serving in the military, NBC News reported. The trans military ban is currently under a nationwide injunction.
- Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Department of Justice will investigate health-care providers and drug manufacturers who provide gender-affirming care to transgender minors, according to CNN.
- DEI and civil rights
- In an executive order titled “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy,” Trump moved to eliminate disparate impact liability–established via the Civil Rights Act–which aims to prevent agencies and employers from participating in hiring practices that could discriminate against a marginalized group, whether purposefully or not.
Multiple judges temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to force Title I schools to stop programming that constitutes diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) or lose billions in funding, the New York Times reported.
- Recommended reading
- Unwind
