During Donald Trump’s first term, Steve Bannon explicitly laid out what the administration’s strategy would be to get things done: “flood the zone with shit.” The theory is pretty simple: throw out as much bullshit as possible—knowing that there is only so much attention, outrage, and resistance that people can muster—and take wins while everyone […]
‘Most Transparent Administration in History’ Is Shredding Documents and Ignoring FOIA
The Trump administration has given itself the moniker “The Most Transparent Administration in History.” It seems like it’s an “in name only” kind of thing, because the New York Times reports that a senior administration official at the U.S. Agency for International Development—the agency that has been stripped for parts by Elon Musk and the extremely […]
Trump Administration Fires Hundreds of Weather Forecasters and Other NOAA Employees
Hundreds of federal workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were fired on Thursday, in the latest of a series of moves by the Trump administration to cull the numbers of federal workers in the sciences. The purge of the federal payroll is being led by the Department of Government Efficiency, which despite its […]
Trump Just Made Life More Dangerous for One of the Rarest Whales on Earth
Add endangered whales to the list of things the Trump administration doesn’t give a rat’s ass about. On February 20, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, an agency belonging to the Department of the Interior, announced it was cancelling a notice that recommended ship operators in waters occupied by Rice’s whales to restrict their speed […]
We Finally Know Who’s (Supposedly) Running DOGE
After weeks of the Trump administration giving everyone—the press, the court system, its own staff—the runaround on who is in charge of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, we finally have an answer. According to a report from Semafor (and confirmed by government sources at numerous outlets), Amy Gleason is the acting administrator of DOGE. […]
USDA Inspector General Who Refused to Leave Post Escorted From Office by Security
Last Friday, President Donald Trump purged several agencies of their inspectors general, demanding that at least 17 people in the role immediately turn in their work laptops and ID badges. One of those IGs, Phyllis Fong at the US Department of Agriculture, decided not to leave, believing the order to be illegal. According to a […]