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Here’s what’s been happening this week:
1) As President Donald Trump and allies such as Elon Musk continue their attacks on foreign assistance, particularly on the U.S. Agency for International Development, Americans are mobilizing to fight back. Over the weekend, Musk said USAID is “evil” and “has to die,” and thousands of USAID employees are set to be placed on administrative leave starting tonight. Closing USAID altogether would require an act of Congress, which Congress seems unlikely to do. For example, Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii has responded to the administration’s targeting of USAID by placing a blanket hold on all of Trump’s nominees for the State Department until the president backs off, which other senators have joined. Protestors rallied in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday in support of the agency, which manages more than $40 billion in federal spending on humanitarian and development assistance annually (which, to put it in perspective, accounts for less than 1 percent of the federal budget). 2) Trump made waves around the world this week with an outrageous proposal for the U.S. to take control of Gaza and resettle millions of Palestinians elsewhere in the region. After the plan was vehemently rejected by Palestinians themselves, as well as by nations throughout the region and around the world, the Trump administration has tried to give the appearance of softening some of its most brazen aspects, claiming that the plan would not require the involvement of U.S. troops and that any relocation of Palestinians would be temporary. The Israeli government, meanwhile, announced it had ordered its military to prepare to “facilitate the emigration of large numbers of Palestinians from Gaza,” according to the Associated Press. Human Rights Watch and other groups have warned that the plan, if implemented, would amount to ethnic cleansing. 3) As Trump’s nominees continue to make their way through the Senate confirmation process, some senators are increasingly recognizing that the nominees themselves and the ongoing crises precipitated by Trump and Musk’s assault on federal bureaucracy require a stronger response from the Senate. In addition to Sen. Schatz’s aforementioned block on State Department nominees, senators such as Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Chris Murphy of Connecticut are saying they will oppose all future nominees or that both nominees and legislation should be put on hold amid the “chaos and confusion” the administration has unleashed. Democratic senators also staged a 30-hour marathon to hold the Senate floor in opposition to Russell Vought, a Project 2025 author who has been nominated to lead the White House’s Office of Management and Budget. 4) Activists have been energized by the new administration’s overreach and abuse of power across a broad variety of issues. A call convened by Indivisible, MoveOn, Working Families Party, and other coalition partners drew more than 65,000 attendees on Sunday. Thousands rallied in cities all over the country on Wednesday to protest everything from Trump’s Gaza plan, to his attacks on transgender rights, to his efforts to conduct mass deportations of migrant people, to Elon Musk’s attacks on federal civil servants. Meanwhile, organizations, state and local governments, and unions have taken the administration to court on many of these issues, such as a lawsuit filed by federal employees union to block the Musk-run Department of Government Efficiency from accessing confidential federal employee data from the Treasury Department.
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