Fissures?
TRACKING THE CRISIS
Week of February 21-27, 2025
Welcome to TRACKING THE CRISIS, a weekly round-up from The Democracy Collaborative tracking the administrative, legislative, and other actions of the new Trump Administration as well as the many forms of legal and movement response from across a broad range of social, political, and economic actors. TDC is providing this service for collective informational purposes, as a tool for understanding the times during a period of disorientingly rapid flux and change in the U.S. political economy. TDC should not be understood as endorsing or otherwise any of the specific content of the information round-up.
TRUMP TRACKER: Administration actions
Fissures form within the Trump coalition as GOP lawmakers balk at DOGE cuts.
As DOGE-fueled federal layoffs and funding cuts hit red states, Republican lawmakers and some Trump appointees are beginning to voice objections to the Trump/Musk agenda. Politico reports that since last week, GOP lawmakers have been flooding White House backchannels with calls expressing worry over funding cuts and impacts to public safety. Confronted with constituent backlash, some Congressional Republicans have pleaded with DOGE to show ‘compassion’ for fired federal workers, and Senate Republicans privately voiced concerns with the White House chief of staff; while others, like Rep. Lisa Murkowski, have been more outspoken with their objections. Senior advisers on the Trump team have reportedly also expressed concerns. More conventional conservatives held a ‘Principles First’ summit this week to discuss the threats they perceive from the Trump administration. Within the MAGA movement itself, the feud between Elon Musk and Steve Bannon has intensified, with two distinct factions appearing to emerge; Bannon issued a warning to Republicans saying “the oligarchs will abandon us.” CUNY Professor Corey Robin has posted a running thread on Facebook tracking the dividing lines that appear to be developing within the Trump coalition.
House budget bill advances with drastic cuts to Medicaid, social services as Senate Republicans make opposing moves.
On Tuesday, House Republicans narrowly passed a budget framework to advance their version of Trump’s fiscal agenda, which includes Trump’s tax cuts along with deep cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and other federal services. The New York Times has published an infographic guide to the details of the House budget plan, and the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities has published an analysis of the plan’s major impacts to social services. Senate Republicans on Wednesday indicated their rejection of the House framework, while pivoting from their original plans to introduce a competing bill; on Thursday, GOP Senators announced their intentions to propose major changes to the House plan to advance their own priorities and vision for implementing Trump’s agenda. The New York Times has published an analysis of the proposed budget’s implications for state Medicaid programs, and Huffpost has reported on its potential impacts for red states in particular.
Trump holds his first Cabinet meeting, featuring Elon Musk.
On Wednesday, Trump convened the first Cabinet meeting of the new Administration, conceding a significant amount of floor time to non-Cabinet advisor Elon Musk. The White House barred reporters from AP and Reuters from attending the meeting, in keeping with its new policy on Presidential media coverage. CNN has fact-checked erroneous claims Trump made during his remarks at the meeting; and AP reports on how Cabinet members have already backtracked from promises and statements made during their confirmation hearings. The Washington Post compared the diversity of Trump’s new Cabinet relative to previous presidential Cabinets.
New Trump executive order expands DOGE’s authority to cut federal spending, directs agencies to prepare for a second round of mass firings.
On the heels of Elon Musk’s controversial directive to federal employees over the weekend to email the Office of Personnel Management justifying their jobs, on Wednesday, OPM and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sent a joint memo informing the heads of all federal agencies to brace for a second wave of mass layoffs, directing agencies to submit plans for “initial agency cuts and reductions” by March 13. The memo was followed up on Wednesday with a new executive order expanding DOGE’s authority to cut costs, ordering agencies to review and justify all contracts and expenses and report the results to DOGE. The order also freezes all agency travel and credit cards for 30 days, and orders the General Services Administration to provide a list of federal office buildings to sell off within 60 days. The OMB/OPM memo also includes a directive for federal agencies to propose “relocating agency bureaus” from Washington DC to “less-costly parts of the country” by April 14. A full list of agency offices facing lease terminations is available here from Propmodo.
Ongoing terminations of federal workers reported this week include:
Trump’s “Friday Night Massacre” of top military staff, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff and top Navy and Air Force officials;
90% of USAID staffers, who were given 15 minutes to clear their desks;
The resignation of Acting IRS Commissioner Doug O’Donnell amid over 7,000 layoffs at the IRS, as the agency announced plans to close up to 110 IRS taxpayer assistance centers nationwide;
Plans from the Department of Labor to lay off up to 90% of staff at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission;
Notices sent to personnel at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency overseeing election systems;
Another 1,400 employees laid off at the VA, bringing the total of veterans fired across agencies to nearly 6,000 so far;
Plans to cut 84% of staff at HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development, responsible for overseeing homeless service programs;
More than 10% of staff at the Mental Health Services Administration, impacting up to 988 crisis centers nationwide;
76 employees laid off at the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, joining layoffs of other bank regulators at the FDIC and CFPB;
Up to 1,000 employees at NOAA, including personnel responsible for maintaining the country’s weather models, fired with 1 hour notice;
Over 200 layoffs of TSA personnel; and
Planned layoffs of over 5,400 staffers at the Department of Defense
NBC News reports this week that unemployment claims filed in DC have spiked to over 7,000 since the start of 2025, a 55% increase from the previous reporting period. The Federal News Network has released a story warning of the long-term impacts of federal cuts that have already been made. On Bluesky, reports surfaced that at least 3 terminated workers have died by suicide after their firing. CNN is tracking aggregate totals of federal worker terminations at this site; and has also published a fact-checker refuting many of DOGE’s claims regarding federal waste. The New York Times has also reported on DOGE’s erroneous claims of cost savings from the “wall of receipts” posted on its website.
DEI cuts impact historic gains for Black communities.
New anti-DEI guidance disseminated from the Department of Education over the weekend reportedly threatened “to pull federal funding from any school district or college that considers race in virtually any way for any reason.” This week, the USDA announced the suspension of the 1890 National Scholars program, a scholarship funding undergraduate students in agriculture or related fields at 20 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). NBC News notes how federal cuts may reverse decades of economic mobility for Black workers, for whom the reliability and equal-rights protections provided by federal jobs helped to “build the Black middle class” over the 20th century. Adam Serwer of The Atlantic explores how “The Great Resegregation” is built into Project 2025’s objectives by design, and argues that the Trump administration’s cuts should be understood as “central to the administration’s central ideological project…of restoring America’s traditional hierarchies of race and gender.”
Trump cuts target public lands, climate change, and environmental regulation.
Federal cuts and layoffs have hit the government’s environmental regulation and public land management agencies especially hard, with thousands of layoffs at the National Park Service impacting visitor services and a ‘decimated’ US Forest Service reckoning with the diminished capacity to fight wildfires. Employee spending and travel was reduced to just $1 at the Department of Interior, leaving field staff unable to perform their duties to manage over 500 million acres of public lands. These moves to de-staff public land agencies have led to speculations that a mass selloff of public lands may be on the horizon. On Wednesday, EPA head Lee Zeldin asked the Trump Administration to revise the landmark 2009 Clean Air Act ruling on greenhouse gases that underpins the nation’s commitment to addressing climate change, as the Administration moved to withdraw funding and other support for climate-related research. On Tuesday, the Administration effectively removed implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act, a ‘bedrock’ of environmental safety and public health regulation.
Measles outbreak turns deadly as RFK Jr. guts vaccination programs.
On Wednesday, Texas officials reported the death of an unvaccinated child from measles, the first U.S. measles fatality in over a decade. The Trump Administration has drawn criticism from public health experts for cutting key health staff and hampering the government’s response to the outbreak, which now spans hundreds of cases in Texas and New Mexico. Health Secretary RFK Jr. downplayed the significance of the measles death, dismissing the outbreak as ‘normal.’ Days after the Trump Administration terminated the CDC’s flu vaccine campaign, the Department of Health and Human Services canceled an annual FDA meeting to select flu strains for next season’s vaccination program. On Thursday, the Trump Administration weighed pulling Biden-approved funding for development of a bird flu vaccine, and HHS paused a major contract to develop a next-generation vaccine for COVID-19. The Infectious Diseases Society of America has released a statement in response to the removal of vaccine information and freezing of vaccination development and implementation programs.
Immigration updates: Trump Administration establishes immigrant registry, as private paramilitaries bid for enforcement roles.
Citing dissatisfaction over the pace of deportations, the Trump Administration removed acting ICE head Caleb Vitello from his position this week. On Tuesday, Politico reported on a proposal circulated to the White House by Blackwater CEO Eric Prince and other private military contractors, ‘pitching’ the Administration on a mass deportation plan that would be implemented through a “network of ‘processing camps’ on military bases, a private fleet of 100 planes, and a ‘small army’ of private citizens empowered to make arrests.” Also on Tuesday, the Administration announced the creation of a mandatory registry for all undocumented immigrants in the United States, threatening fines and prosecution for immigrants who fail to self-report. On Wednesday, sources reported that the Trump Administration is preparing to invoke an obscure wartime law to ‘speed up’ the Administration’s mass deportation pledge, as Republican lawmakers across the country introduce bills aimed at punishing sanctuary cities. Meanwhile, the Trump Administration also announced its intention this week to sell $5 million ‘gold cards’ to wealthy foreigners, which would allow millionaire buyers to live and work in the United States and have a path to citizenship.
Federal agencies target LGBTQIA+ workers, as Pentagon announces purge of trans servicemembers from the military.
Advocates and members of the LGBTQIA+ community are warning of a new ‘Lavender Scare’ as federal cuts specifically aimed at queer and trans workers began implementation this week. On Wednesday, NSA head Tulsi Gabbard fired over 100 NSA employees who allegedly participated in “sex chats,” although employees and advocates claim the “explicit chats” were ‘falsely mischaracterized’ messages from an LGBTQ+ support group functioning as a ‘safe space’ to discuss topics like “gender-affirming surgery, hormone therapy, workplace LGBTQ+ policies, and broader queer issues.” On Thursday, the Pentagon issued new guidance on the removal of all trans servicemembers from the military; according to the text of the new policy, trans servicemembers who refuse to resign will be required to pay back their signing bonuses to the Department of Defense. Also this week, transgender women prisoners were slated to be transferred to men’s prisons despite a Monday ruling blocking the transfer. At the State Department, officials following Trump’s transgender athlete ban have reportedly been instructed to deny all visa applications whose gender marker does not match the traveler’s assigned gender at birth, potentially blocking entry for any trans person traveling to the United States.
Economic data signals deepening systemic strain and bear market reaction as economists warn of potential impact of Trump, DOGE actions.
World markets fell across the board this week amidst an investment climate of “extreme fear” as the Trump administration announced new tariffs on Mexico, Canada, China and the EU to take effect next week. Economists warned this week of a “chilling” effect on the U.S. economy as tariffs, federal cuts, spiking unemployment, consumer worries around inflation, and impacts of cuts and tariffs on small businesses and local economies sent investors fleeing to the safer terrain of bond markets; all signs that the Trump administration’s actions are straining the U.S. economy and could trigger a possible recession. DOGE’s cuts to the FDIC are also stoking fears that the agency would not have the capacity to forestall a potential banking crisis, as money managers return to high-risk leveraging strategies that infamously led to the 2008 economic crash.
Tracking the Money: Conflicts of interest and privatization in the Trump Administration.
This week’s news that the FAA is considering cancelling a $2.4 billion systems contract with Verizon with the intention to award it to Elon Musk’s Starlink company has prompted more media scrutiny into Musk’s conflicts of interest with government programs being reorganized by DOGE. Wired reports that SpaceX engineers are already working within the FAA, using a sole-source contracting exemption generally reserved for disabled workers. On Wednesday, the Washington Post released an exclusive report on the $38 billion Musk companies have been awarded from the federal government over the past 20 years, based on publicly available contract information; the Independent also reported on the numerous classified contracts Musk companies hold with the Department of Defense. A report issued this week also revealed new details about the planned $400 million State Department contract to buy Tesla cybertrucks, which has been placed on hold due to objections from lawmakers. ProPublica released a report this week on the $40 million cash infusion to fund DOGE activities since its inception, noting how DOGE is exercising its power at the scale of a federal agency while the White House is shielding the organization from the public scrutiny mandated from such agencies.
The Washington Post also reported this week on Leland Dudek, the new head of Social Security, who was under investigation for leaking information to DOGE at the time he was appointed to lead the agency. Wired reports that two DOGE staffers with admin-level access to HUD data also work for a real estate firm and mobile home park operator. Nathan Tankus, on his blog “Notes from the Crises,” released details this week on how Trump and Musk’s plan to “review Fort Knox” is apparently connected to a scheme to “get Congress to back an accounting gimmick that will fund a Bitcoin reserve.” The New York Times reported this week on Medicare nominee Dr. Oz’s potential conflicts of interest and the millions he stands to make on pushing privatized Medicare Advantage plans. Vanity Fair also published a report this week on newly appointed Food Safety commissioner Kyle Diamantas, a lawyer with limited experience with personal connections to Donald Trump Jr.
MOVEMENT TRACKER
Republican constituents revolt against the Trump agenda as polls reflect growing anger and voters’ remorse.
GOP lawmakers holding town hall meetings in their home districts during the Congressional recess this week “faced sometimes-hostile crowds furious about the sweeping cuts and mass firings” in the federal government. Georgia Rep. Rich McCormick was met with boos and heckles from angry constituents, one of whom called Trump a ‘megalomaniac.’ Angry constituents around the country bombarded their Republican representatives with questions about cuts to services and veterans’ benefits, firings of local staff, and DOGE’s power and access to private data. Republican party leaders responded by advising Representatives to cancel townhalls or hold them virtually so they would not be confronted in person. A Washington Post-Ipsos poll last week found that 57% of Americans felt Trump exceeded his authority as President, and a Hart Research poll released Tuesday found that 71% of Trump voters oppose Medicaid cuts in the budget. Trump’s approval ratings have declined between 5 and 13 points since taking office, a slide that worries some Republican strategists. A YouGov poll shows a significant decline in Americans’ opinion of Elon Musk. More polling summaries can be found from Vox and Axios. Crowds totaling over 5,000 people packed Bernie Sanders’ red-district townhall events in Iowa City and Omaha this weekend.
Federal workers mobilize across the country against layoffs and cuts.
Federal workers continue to protest this week against DOGE and the mass layoffs and service cuts at federal agencies. The New York Times details the ‘many levers’ with which federal workers are pushing back against the cuts. Federal workers also staged various direct actions around the Capitol on Tuesday to protest DOGE cuts at several agencies. In Chicago, federal workers rallied at the VA building to protest mass layoffs, and began organizing with other local labor unions and organizations, including Jobs with Justice, to plan future actions. National Park Service workers staged a protest at Yosemite National Park, hanging an upside-down U.S. flag off the face of El Capitan in the widely recognized symbol of distress in front of thousands of tourists viewing the once-a-year Firefall phenomenon. On Wednesday, the National Association of Letter Carriers staged a Day of Action to protest the potential takeover of the U.S. Postal Service by the Trump Administration.
The AFL-CIO issued a press release detailing the over 100 actions taken by federal workers in 31 states this week, organized under the banner of the new “Department of People who Work for a Living.” Fired USAID workers and HIV activists staged a die-in at a Capitol office building on Wednesday to protest the dismantling of foreign aid for HIV and public health programs. This week also saw the high-profile resignations of at least five Social Security regional commissioners, and 21 legacy tech staffers from the U.S. Digital Services office resigned in protest of that agency’s takeover by DOGE. On Wednesday, U.S. Forest Service chief Randy Moore, the first Black person to head the USFS, announced his resignation, stating in a message to employees that “I have been silent these last few weeks because these decisions are being made at a level above our organization…[I] am learning about these changes at the same time as many of you.”
Legal aid and organizing resources for fired federal employees.
The Guardian reports on #AltGov, a growing network of rogue social media accounts through which federal workers are coordinating actions and sharing inside information in real time;
Democratic state governors announced initiatives to employ fired federal workers in state and local jobs;
Federal workers launched the We The Builders website, a secure outlet for government workers to share personal stories and share inside information about DOGE;
The Public Service Legal Response Center launched an initiative this week calling for lawyers willing to connect with federal workers seeking redress through the legal system;
Help4Feds is a clearinghouse for fired federal workers seeking assistance with unemployment benefits, union resources, community support, and more;
Montgomery County, MD offers state and local resources for fired federal workers in the DC area;
Emergency resources for fired workers are available from the Federal Employee Education & Assistance Fund;
FedOath launches a legal fund to support federal workers pursuing lawsuits
The Fed Resource Directory was also launched as a clearinghouse of resources for fired federal workers navigating the current crisis
Boycott movement surges with Feb 28 blackout, targeted corporate boycotts.
Today is the day of the 24-hour ‘Economic Blackout’ organized by People’s Union USA, a mass action call which has gained momentum across the country in recent weeks. Organizers encourage consumers to drop spending at major retailers, fast food restaurants, and gas stations, and direct their money to local small businesses instead. A schedule outlining a series of targeted corporate boycotts has also been circulated over social media, with the following key dates and actions:
March 7-14: Amazon boycott
March 21-28: Nestle boycott
April 7-14: Walmart boycott
April 18: Economic Blackout #2
April 21-28: General Mills boycott
May 1: Protests and Economic Blackout #3
Scientists join the protest movement.
Researchers across the science community have been mobilizing to protest Trump and DOGE’s cuts to scientific research. On Tuesday, scientists rallied at HHS and NIH to protest funding freezes and staff cuts. The science journal Nature published an editorial this week declaring that “an assault on science anywhere is an assault on science everywhere.” Scientists have also been quietly mobilizing behind the scenes to resist Trump and Musk’s censorship of research. Dr. Anne Toomey has published a list of “Eight things scientists can do” to resist Trump’s attacks on research, education, public health, and the environment. A mass action has been called by STEM students to protest Trump and Musk with nationwide ‘Stand Up for Science’ rallies scheduled for March 7.
Labor Union actions.
Labor unions continued to mount protest and resistance actions this week, including the following:
NTEU 335 rallied at the CFPB in Washington DC and Chicago on Thursday to protest Trump’s dismantling of the consumer protection agency;
The American Federation of Teachers held a rally in Washington DC on Tuesday to protest DOGE cuts to education;
AFGE organized federal worker town halls in Maryland and Virginia this week to give workers a chance to let their voices be heard;
Union coalition Labor 4 Higher Education held a press conference and rally in DC on Tuesday to say “Hands Off our healthcare, research, and jobs”;
Fired U.S. Forest Service workers held organizing meetings in Montana to share experiences and discuss next steps;
Federal workers rallied at the Iowa State Capitol on Monday to protest DOGE cuts to government services;
AFT leaders organize to pressure Tesla owners and shareholders to divest from the company over Musk’s role in cutting government services.
Creative protest actions add flavor to widespread resistance.
A number of creative protest actions have gone viral on social media this week, including:
An AI-generated video of Trump kissing Musk’s feet, which appeared on monitors throughout the HUD building in Washington on Monday;
Online activists flooded the OPM email inbox this week in response to Musk’s demand for federal workers to send “5 bullet points” justifying their jobs;
The U.S. Army Chorus sparked confusion by singing the Les Miserables protest anthem “Do You Hear the People Sing” at the White House Governors Ball;
WWE Superstar CM Punk entered the ring at WWE’s weekly RAW show wearing a Chicago Teachers Union shirt in protest of Linda McMahon’s cuts to education and showing solidarity with public schools
Upcoming protest actions
San Francisco Bay Area: Protest called for Saturday, March 1st, at 12 noon in Dublin to block ICE from re-opening the Dublin prison as an immigration detention facility;
Downtown Los Angeles: A ‘March For Dignity’ to protect immigrants is called for Saturday, March 1st, at 10am at Broadway & Olympic Blvd in Downtown LA;
Philadelphia activists are calling for a “No Kings, No Trump” rally on Saturday, March 1st at 1:11 PM at Independence Hall;
A nationwide March 4th For Democracy Day of Action has been organized by the 50501 Movement with a calendar of local events
The National Writers’ Union, UNIFOR, NewsGuild-CWA, and International Federation of Journalists are holding a virtual townhall via Zoom on March 4 to discuss Trump’s attacks on press freedom and their global repercussions;
Lawsuit Updates
U.S. District Judge William Alsup signed a temporary restraining order late Thursday requiring OPM to rescind its directives initiating mass firings of federal workers at more than a dozen agencies, a ruling the Washington Post characterized as one of the “biggest roadblocks so far to Trump’s effort to slash the federal workforce”;
The Office of Special Counsel issued a ruling on Monday finding DOGE’s firing of six federal employees to be illegal, a precedent-setting decision backed up later in the week by the Merit Systems Protection Board, which halted the firings;
Maine Governor Janet Mills took Trump to court over the ban on transgender athletes and threats to freeze funding for universities that continued to allow transgender participation in sports;
CNN reports on Trump’s three court losses in 90 minutes as judges ruled against foreign aid and federal program funding freezes;
Democracy Forward filed a suit against OPM on Thursday to compel the agency to release information on targeted firings of federal workers enforcing civil rights protections;
A federal judge signed a preliminary injunction blocking implementation of Trump’s anti-DEI initiatives last Friday in response to a lawsuit brought by education and restaurant worker unions and the City of Baltimore;
The National Federation of Federal Employees, allied labor unions, and veterans won an injunction on Monday to prevent Elon Musk and DOGE from accessing the private information of federal workers;
A coalition of farmers and environmental advocates filed suit on Monday against USDA after the agency deleted climate change data the plaintiffs claimed was essential to research and agricultural decision-making.
