May 30

Elon Musk departs DOGE after reaching 130-day Special Government Employee limit

Elon Musk leaves his role co-leading the Department of Government Efficiency after reaching the 130-day statutory limit for Special Government Employees. Trump hosts a farewell ceremony in the Oval Office. Amy Gleason continues as acting USDS administrator.

Vance Delivers Memorial Day Address at Gettysburg National Cemetery

Vice President JD Vance delivered the Memorial Day address at Gettysburg National Cemetery in Pennsylvania on May 26, 2025. Gettysburg, site of the Civil War's largest battle in July 1863, holds the remains of 3,512 Union soldiers; the National Cemetery was dedicated by President Lincoln in November 1863. Vance's selection of Gettysburg for the Memorial Day address framed the administration's public messaging on national identity and the obligations of military sacrifice.

Supreme Court Lets Trump End CHNV Parole and Venezuelan TPS

The Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to immediately terminate the CHNV humanitarian parole program and Venezuelan Temporary Protected Status (TPS), affecting hundreds of thousands of migrants who had legally entered or resided in the U.S. under Biden-era protections. The ruling sidestepped lower court injunctions, setting a major precedent for executive immigration authority.

+1 others

White House Claims Authority to Direct FTC, SEC, and FCC Despite Humphrey's Executor

The Trump White House formally asserted presidential authority to issue binding directives to the FTC, SEC, and FCC — independent regulatory agencies historically shielded from direct executive control. The claim directly challenged Humphrey's Executor v. United States (1935), the Supreme Court precedent protecting commissioners from at-will removal, escalating a constitutional showdown over the separation of powers.

A

Commerce Department Raises Steel Tariffs as EU Files WTO Complaint

The Trump administration's Commerce Department raised tariffs on imported steel, while the European Union simultaneously filed a formal complaint with the World Trade Organization. The move escalated a transatlantic trade dispute, threatening retaliatory measures on American exports and raising prices for U.S. manufacturers dependent on steel inputs.

Trump budget proposes $4.5B K-12 cut and eliminates 21st CCLC

The White House released the full FY2026 budget on May 30, 2025, proposing to consolidate 18 K-12 grant programs into a single $2 billion K-12 Simplified Funding Program, cutting combined funding from roughly $6.5 billion. The proposal zeros out the $1.329 billion 21st Century Community Learning Centers program serving 1.4 million students at 10,000 sites. Overall Department of Education discretionary funding would drop 15.6%, from $78.7 billion to $66.7 billion.

+2 others

Biden pardons thousands for simple marijuana possession and orders federal cannabis review

President Biden pardons all U.S. citizens and permanent residents convicted of simple possession of marijuana under federal law, the first such mass clemency for a federal drug offense. He simultaneously directs the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice to begin a formal review of whether cannabis should remain a Schedule I controlled substance, a classification that has defined federal marijuana policy since 1970. The DEA later proposes reclassifying cannabis to Schedule III in May 2024. Advocates call the pardon notable but limited, since most marijuana arrests occur under state law.

Trump threatens George Floyd protesters with vicious dogs and most ominous weapons

On May 30, 2020, as hundreds of peaceful demonstrators gathered outside the White House to protest the killing of George Floyd, President Trump tweeted threatening them with violence: "They would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen. That is when people would have been really badly hurt." The tweet came as protests spread across the nation following Floyd's death on May 25. The use of "vicious dogs" against Black protesters drew widespread condemnation as an explicit callback to Bull Connor's use of attack dogs against civil rights marchers in Birmingham in 1963. The tweet preceded Trump's June 1 order to use tear gas to clear peaceful Lafayette Square protesters for a Bible photo op.