Government Ethics

Among the most pressing issues is the fact that Trump’s top Senate ally is working to ensure Trump is able to handpick his own ethics overseer, the person in charge of ensuring Trump and his appointees comply with ethics laws. If successful, the move could have major implications for tech billionaire and Trump booster Elon Musk, since the ethics chief will determine whether Musk needs to divest from conflicts of interest if he’s appointed to an official administration role, as he’s requested — and if so, whether he’s entitled to a gargantuan tax break.

Dark Money

We tracked the unprecedented spread of untraceable dark money in the 2024 presidential campaign and how it was used to fund the far-right plan for Trump’s second term, suppress voting, and blackmail legislators into surrendering to oligarchs. And we were among the first outlets to sound the alarm about cryptocurrency companies launching a political spending spree to influence the election.

Since Trump has abandoned all pretense of opposing corporate power, the stage is now set for even more untraceable corporate money flooding into politics. Vice president–elect J. D. Vance, for example, is helping to spearhead a lawsuit designed to convince the Supreme Court to move beyond its landmark Citizens United decision and tear down some of the last remaining guardrails preventing megadonors’ money from influencing public officials. What’s more, another lawsuit being pushed by Trump operatives could make dark money donations tax deductible, further incentivizing untraceable election spending.

Climate

The next four years will be pivotal in the fight to stop climate change, as the artificial intelligence boom consumes ever more electricity and water, and mounting climate disasters claim lives, endanger communities, shred the insurance safety net, and threaten to bring about the next financial disaster.

Trump can be expected to make matters worse. While corporate media largely ignored Trump’s climate denialism on the campaign trail, he’s been clear about his plans to expand fossil fuel production and sell off key parts of the government’s climate operations. His efforts could be boosted by pending Supreme Court cases designed to gut environmental laws, staunch GOP opposition to declaring a climate emergency, and far-right plans to weaken environmental safeguards.

Consumer Rights

Corporate interests made no secret of the fact that they wanted to oust consumer-protection reformers like Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Rohit Chopra, no matter who won the election. With Trump back in office, big business will surely make good on their threats, and push to erase anti-monopolist and pro-worker wins under the Biden administration.

A hint of what’s to come may be found in the Supreme Court, which is currently considering a Big Tech case that right-wing legal groups and pro-business trade associations are using to demand the evisceration of long-standing consumer protections.

Health Care

While the subject was rarely discussed on the campaign trail, much is at stake for the American health care system once Trump is in office. Trump surrogates have suggested he could once again try to repeal the Affordable Care Act, or at least eliminate the subsidies that helped make individual health insurance premium costs more affordable for 20 million people. Trump also plans to turbocharge the privatization of Medicare and has suggested he would weaken reforms letting government regulators use Medicare to lower the cost of skyrocketing drugs.

Perhaps most troubling is the danger to reproductive freedoms. As the Lever uncovered earlier this year, Vance tried to pressure regulators into killing a rule preventing police from tracking people who have abortions; now that Trump and Vance are in office, they could rescind the rule altogether.

Govern Through Fear

While such sweeping government action may seem impossible to accomplish, Trump operators already have the tools to pull it off. As a recent Lever Time episode explored, Project 2025, the radical plan to reshape the government under Trump, highlights the key to his agenda: Schedule F, a policy that would expose federal workers to political interference and gives the president broad leeway to govern through fear.

The first step in countering these efforts is to expose them; it’s why we have been reporting on these matters and aim to redouble efforts in the months and years ahead. As Trump and his team assume power, we’ll still be working to hold them accountable.