15 hours ago
4
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.
The new president has left virtually no corner of the nation’s capital untouched in a wide-ranging effort to tear down the federal government and refashion it to his liking.
By Peter Baker
Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent, is covering his sixth presidency. He reported from Washington.
Feb. 4, 2025Updated 10:50 a.m. ET
President Trump in just two weeks back in office has moved with astonishing speed and boundless ambition to overturn the existing political, economic, cultural and international order in an even more far-reaching way than many of his supporters or critics had imagined possible.
Mr. Trump has thrown the nation’s capital into turmoil by purging enemies at home, attacking allies abroad, shuttering one agency while targeting others, handing the tools of government to an unelected billionaire, ignoring multiple laws, trying to rewrite the Constitution and even flirting with staying in power beyond his two-term limit.
Taking a Gatling gun approach to governing, firing shots in all directions at the same time, Mr. Trump has left virtually no corner of Washington untouched as he seeks to tear down the old apparatus and refashion it to his liking. Day after day, the city has been roiled with one political shock after another, starting with provocative social posts early in the morning, moving to personal conflicts in the middle of the day and finally to threatening staffwide emails after midnight.
A protest on Monday at the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development turned confrontational when several congressional Democrats tried to enter the building after employees were locked out. Security guards blocked the lawmakers, who vowed to get a court order to prevent Mr. Trump from subsuming the agency into the State Department. Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared on Monday that he was now the agency’s acting director.
The aid agency was created through an executive order by President John F. Kennedy implementing the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 passed by Congress, and critics of Mr. Trump argue that only Congress can close it. But the showdown over the agency reflects just one front of the battle.
Mr. Trump effectively moved on Monday to dismantle another agency disliked by conservatives and corporate chieftains. After firing the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Mr. Trump designated as its acting director Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who then ordered a halt to all rule-making, enforcement and other activities.
