The Trump administration has mired the United States in multiple crises, from manufactured election insecurity to an outbreak of cyclosporiasis causing explosive diarrhea, while hamstringing the federal government's ability to respond. Over the past year, the administration has shrunk the federal workforce, rolled back environmental protections, reduced scientific research funding, and advanced legislation imposing new voting restrictions.
Election Security Under Attack
Trump's zeal to downsize the federal government has weakened offices intended to safeguard elections. Despite his professed concerns with election security, his administration has dramatically undermined those efforts. Staffing cuts cost the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency a third of its workforce, according to Senator Mark Warner. The administration also proposed slashing the agency's budget by $707 million. Earlier this month, Trump ousted the only three commissioners left on an independent federal commission that assists states with election administration. The FBI has lost as many as 2,800 agents since January 2025, and the acting director of national intelligence fired dozens of staff members, according to CNN. On his first day back in office, Trump pardoned about 1,500 people convicted for the January 6 insurrection.
Public Health Crises Worsen
Funding cuts have led to worsening outbreaks. Public health officials in five states, including hard-hit Michigan, faced one of the nation's largest cyclospora outbreaks this summer, causing explosive and watery diarrhea for weeks. The administration cut $11.4 billion in funding from state and local health departments a year prior and reduced the remit of a program coordinating foodborne illness information. Although the source was linked to iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell, officials warned the outbreak could continue through August. The US is also on course for another record year of measles cases in 2026, surpassing last year's worst in three decades. Some officials worry the US may lose its measles elimination status. The outbreak of new world screwworm has caused concern across ranching and conservation. Former officials told Politico that Trump's federal spending reviews slowed efforts to contain the issue, delaying a $100 million research initiative. Shaughnessy Naughton, president of 314 Action, said: “We’ve already seen what happens when Donald Trump’s political appointees are put in charge of health and science funding – disaster ensues. Screwworm monitoring, food safety surveillance and vaccine programs have been arbitrarily cut and less than a year later, we’re facing multiple infectious disease outbreaks. All of this was preventable.”
Environmental Upheaval
The Trump administration has embarked on a far-reaching assault on environmental protections, rolling back clean air and water standards and promoting fossil fuels. Even as Canadian wildfire smoke spreads over swaths of the US, experts warn of greater vulnerability to environmental disasters. The administration's efforts to exempt polluting companies from emissions controls could expose Americans to more unhealthy air. Research shows Trump's pro-fossil fuel agenda has already helped push up greenhouse gas emissions, increasing the severity of wildfires, hurricanes, and other disasters. The agency repealed the 2009 endangerment finding, the legal foundation for all federal climate regulations. The president pulled the US from the United Nations' main climate treaty and top climate science body, while slashing funding for climate science. Officials have shuttered climate and weather research offices, terminated climate science projects, and scaled back environmental monitoring. Taken together, these actions could leave Americans facing greater risks while weakening the nation's ability to anticipate them.
