President Donald Trump begins the 10th week of his fast-paced second term in office with a Cabinet meeting on Monday.
The question on many people’s minds is whether DOGE chief Elon Musk will be in attendance.
In the previous meeting, it was reported that discussions were tense between Musk and some Cabinet members, particularly between Musk and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, over DOGE’s broad and deep cuts. Rubio and Trump both denied these claims.
The Cabinet meeting comes against the backdrop of White House attorneys going to court on various aspects of the president’s second-term agenda on issues like the removal of illegal immigrants, slashing the federal workforce, cutting foreign aid, his executive order banning transgender soldiers in the military and allowing transgender Americans to have passports with alternate designations than the binary ‘male’ and ‘female’ genders assigned at birth.
Also on Monday, Trump will appear with Louisiana Republican Gov. Jeff Landry. Trump appointed Landry to the Council of Governors last month.
Landry recently praised the president’s near elimination of the federal Education Department, saying, ‘The United States spends the most on education, yet we are ranked at the bottom of nearly every poll. The time for change is NOW! Thank you President @realDonaldTrump for returning education where it belongs – the states!’
In the wake of the Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID, advocates are calling for Trump to extend the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which was launched by President George W. Bush and is scheduled to expire on Tuesday. The Bush Institute has urged the administration to reconsider cuts to the program.
Bush previously said that the program has saved more than 25 million lives in developing countries, according to a Politico report.
Trump will also be closely watching as U.S. negotiators are meeting separately with Russian and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia this week. Trump spoke to both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin last week when a partial outline of a ceasefire was agreed to.
On Thursday, Trump is sending a team from his administration to Greenland, including second lady Usha Vance and national security advisor Mike Waltz.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute B. Egede is not offering a welcoming hand to the U.S. delegation, calling the trip ‘highly aggressive’.
‘What is the national security advisor doing in Greenland? The only purpose is to demonstrate power over us,’ Egede said.
On Sunday, Vice President JD Vance told Fox News, ‘So you have to ask yourself: How are we going to solve that problem, solve our own national security?’
‘If that means that we need to take more territorial interest in Greenland, that is what President Trump is going to do, because he doesn’t care about what the Europeans scream at us,’ he continued.