Trump and Musk's radical overhaul: The government agencies on the chopping block

Since his return to the White House, President Donald Trump has wasted no time in pushing forward his long-standing ambition to dismantle major federal agencies. However, rather than directly abolishing them—an effort that would require congressional approval—Trump, alongside billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, has adopted a different strategy: gutting agencies from within. Through mass layoffs, administrative paralysis, and aggressive restructuring, the administration is effectively sidelining critical government institutions, leaving them in a state of suspended animation.

Three agencies have already borne the brunt of this unprecedented assault: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Department of Education. Each faces a systematic effort to either dismantle its influence or outright erase its existence.

Created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the CFPB was designed to protect consumers from predatory financial practices. However, Republicans have long opposed the agency, viewing it as an overreach of government power. Within days of taking office, Trump fired CFPB Director Rohit Chopra, cutting his five-year term short. In his place, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was installed as acting head, immediately halting all regulatory enforcement and ordering a sweeping review of agency policies.

With enforcement effectively frozen, key consumer protections—including efforts to cap overdraft fees and remove medical debt from credit reports—are now in jeopardy. While the Supreme Court recently upheld the CFPB’s funding model, Trump’s administrative freeze poses an existential threat to its continued operation.

For more than six decades, USAID has been a cornerstone of American foreign policy, providing aid to developing nations and reinforcing U.S. influence abroad. That mission is now in serious doubt. Employees have been locked out of their headquarters, the agency’s website has been taken offline, and staff worldwide have been ordered to return to the United States.

Elon Musk has been vocal in his disdain for USAID, calling it "evil" and claiming it funds unnecessary diversity initiatives abroad. Trump, in turn, has described the agency as a "radical left" operation. Acting USAID head, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, has vowed to reorganize the agency to better align with “national interests.” In a particularly inflammatory social media post, Musk boasted that he had spent the weekend "feeding USAID into the woodchipper," a comment widely interpreted as a reference to the agency’s effective shutdown.

A temporary waiver was granted for life-saving programs, such as AIDS medication distribution in Africa, after significant backlash from the international community. However, many organizations that rely on USAID funding are struggling to obtain these waivers, leaving crucial humanitarian efforts in limbo.

Perhaps no agency has drawn Trump’s ire more than the Department of Education. Calling U.S. schools “failures,” Trump has argued that education should be left to individual states. While the department has existed in some form since the 1800s, it was officially elevated to Cabinet-level status in 1979—something Trump now seeks to undo.

An executive order is in the works that would direct incoming Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin “diminishing” the agency’s authority. Trump has openly stated his desire for McMahon to "put herself out of a job." However, given Congress's likely resistance to outright eliminating the department, Trump and McMahon are expected to significantly weaken its functions through budget cuts and policy rollbacks.

Ironically, Trump’s administration has also proposed exerting greater federal control over curriculum by withholding funds from schools that teach so-called "critical race theory" or other race and sexuality-related topics. This contradiction highlights the administration’s selective approach to federal oversight—diminishing it where convenient while reinforcing it elsewhere.

The impact of Trump and Musk’s efforts extends beyond these three agencies. Reports indicate that a wider plan to reduce the federal workforce is underway, with large-scale layoffs potentially on the horizon. Employees who do not accept a voluntary buyout offer by the administration’s deadline risk termination. In addition, federal workers—particularly those in diversity and inclusion roles—have been placed on administrative leave or reassigned.

Despite these drastic measures, Trump lacks the unilateral authority to abolish these agencies outright. Instead, he is employing a strategy of attrition: stripping them of resources, removing key personnel, and rolling back their core functions to the point where their continued existence becomes untenable.

As legal challenges mount and federal employees brace for further upheaval, the ultimate fate of these agencies remains uncertain. What is clear, however, is that Trump and Musk’s aggressive reshaping of the federal government is well underway—and shows no signs of slowing down.