On May 1, the 101st day of his presidency, Donald Trump fired National Security Advisor Michael Waltz. Around the same time, Elon Musk announced he was stepping back from public life — while likening government service to Buddhism. Just days earlier, right in front of the president, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had shouted “F**k you!” at Musk and nearly came to blows with him. Meanwhile, a petty thief stole Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s purse — along with all her personal belongings and the keys to her home — while she was dining out. Over at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had been discussing classified U.S. military operations in a Signal chat with his wife, his brother, his lawyer, and several other non-relatives.
From the very start, Trump’s administration has operated like a conveyor belt for downright bizarre, humiliating, and darkly comic headlines. As his White House plows forward into its second hundred days, The Insider takes stock — by ranking ten of his officials, judged by a combination of their influence, and the sheer outrageousness of their behavior.
10. Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture
In an interview with Fox News, Brooke Rollins encouraged Americans to raise chickens at home, saying she does exactly that: “People are sort of looking around and thinking, ‘Wow, maybe I could get a chicken for my backyard,’ and it’s awesome.”
During Trump’s first term, Rollins oversaw the White House Office of American Innovation and served as acting director of the Domestic Policy Council. In 2021, she became president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think tank focused on developing and promoting the “America First” agenda.
As avian flu swept through the U.S. and millions of birds were culled, egg prices soared — reaching a record $6.27 per dozen in March. The country began importing eggs from Turkey and South Korea. Rollins announced a $1 billion federal program to combat the shortage. Prices began to drop in April, prompting Trump to blame former president Joe Biden for the earlier spike.
9. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services
A committed anti-vaxxer, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told reporters that the measles vaccine “causes all the illnesses that measles itself cause — encephalitis and blindness, etc.” Since the start of 2025, the U.S. has recorded over 900 cases of measles, three of them fatal. None of the patients had been vaccinated.
Kennedy plans to launch a study into the alleged link between vaccines and autism. Leading the research will be David Geier, whose work Kennedy frequently cites as proof that vaccines do more harm than good. Geier has been accused of practicing medicine without a license and holds neither scientific credentials nor formal medical training.
The HHS secretary initially started to run as an independent in the 2024 presidential election before dropping out and endorsing Trump in exchange for the promise of a cabinet post. Kennedy is a conspiracy theorist and HIV/AIDS denialist — in his book The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health, he claimed the link between HIV and AIDS is unproven. He is also an avid rafter and falconer. In his youth, he was convicted of heroin possession.
Since taking office, Kennedy has begun a sweeping overhaul of the Department of Health and Human Services, slashing programs responsible for medical research, food and drug safety, disease prevention, and care for vulnerable populations. In effect, the “reorganization” has gutted the American public health system.
8. Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security
The first woman to serve as governor of South Dakota, staunch Trump loyalist Kristi Noem was once considered a contender for vice president. But that changed after she revealed in her memoir, No Going Back: The Truth About What’s Wrong With Politics — and How We Move America Forward, that she had shot a disobedient dog and an old goat some twenty years ago. The VP nod went instead to J.D. Vance.
In Trump’s first month back in office, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers under Noem’s command deported 37,660 people — 20,000 fewer than the monthly average during Biden’s tenure. The leadership of ICE was soon dismissed.
At the end of March, Noem traveled to prisons in El Salvador that are housing terrorism suspects deported from the U.S. While there, she posed for a photo shoot in front of inmates behind bars while wearing a $50,000 Rolex.
On April 20, during an Easter dinner, the homeland security head had her purse stolen. Inside were her driver’s license, passport, department entry pass, apartment keys, medications, makeup bag, blank checks, and around $3,000 in cash.
7. Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury
The treasury secretary famously told off Elon Musk — reportedly shouting “Fuck you!” at him in the White House, according to an Axios source. The outburst occurred after Musk secretly maneuvered to install his ally as the head of the IRS.
Bessent, a former director at Soros Fund Management who went on to found his own firm, was once a major Democratic donor before switching allegiance to the Republicans. He’s also an outspoken crypto enthusiast.
The billionaire has become the chief mouthpiece for Trump’s economic agenda — particularly when it comes to tariffs. He said that China’s refusal to negotiate mutual tariff cuts would leave it isolated, and he warned the EU against cozying up to Beijing, comparing such a move to “slitting your own throat.” After Trump claimed the administration was in talks with China, Bessent admitted he wasn’t sure whether the president had actually spoken to Xi Jinping.
In early April, Bessent criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for blowing “the easiest resource deal in the world.” Yet following further negotiations, he ended up signing a mineral extraction agreement with Ukraine — one revised to include terms more favorable to Kyiv.
6. Kash Patel, FBI Director
After Trump’s first term in office, Kash Patel published a series of children’s books about “King Donald” being persecuted by a villain named “Hillary Queenton.” In these tales, Patel himself appears as a wizard named Kash, who uncovers a devious plot against the king. He also authored Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy.
Just before his confirmation as FBI director, Patel was found to own stock in Elite Depot valued between $1 million and $5 million. The company, registered in the Cayman Islands, sells Chinese-made Shein clothing. In 2023, Shein was accused of using Uyghur forced labor and of evading import tariffs.
In 2024, Patel received $25,000 from the film company Global Tree Pictures, owned by Russian national Igor Lopatenko, for his participation in a documentary series titled All the President’s Men: The Plot Against Trump, which aired on a platform run by talk show host Tucker Carlson. In the film, Patel vowed to “shut down FBI headquarters and turn it into a Deep State museum.”
One of his claimed accomplishments as FBI director is the arrest of Henry Villatoro Santos, an allegedly high-ranking member of the Mexican gang MS-13. However, Santos was only charged with illegal possession of a firearm and being unlawfully present in the U.S. — charges that were later dropped.
5. Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense
Hegseth made international headlines after discussing upcoming airstrikes against Yemen’s Houthi rebels in a private Signal chat with his wife, brother, lawyer, and several other people with no ties to the Department of Defense. He also discussed the operation in a classified Cabinet chat that had mistakenly included Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic.
A veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hegseth has faced allegations of sexual misconduct and misuse of funds at nonprofit organizations set up to aid veterans. A conspiracy theorist and former Fox News commentator, his nomination deeply split the Senate, requiring Vice President J.D. Vance to cast the tie-breaking vote. Republican Senator Roger Wicker said Hegseth had promised to quit drinking, a step that even some members of Trump’s party insisted upon.
Once in office, Hegseth ordered the installation of a makeup room next to the Pentagon’s press briefing area so that he could prep for TV appearances.
4. Michael Waltz, former National Security Advisor to Trump, U.S. Ambassador to the UN
It was Waltz who added Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to a classified government Signal chat. A National Guard colonel, Afghanistan war veteran, and former advisor at the White House and Pentagon, Waltz worked at Fox News between 2016 and 2018. From 2019 to 2025, he served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida.
According to Politico, Waltz managed at least 20 Signal chats in order to coordinate policy on Ukraine, China, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. As one source said, “Waltz built the entire NSC communications process on Signal.” The Washington Post reported that NSC staff used Gmail to transmit work-related documents.
Waltz falsely described Ukraine as “one of the most corrupt countries in the world” and claimed the previous administration had failed to properly oversee U.S. aid to Kyiv.
3. Pam Bondi, Attorney General
Bondi was nominated for attorney general after the previous contender, Matt Gaetz, withdrew following accusations of drug use and involvement with sex workers, including minors. In addition to her main role, Bondi leads a task force “to combat anti-Christian bias,” which is mandated with examining Biden-era administrative documents for signs of such prejudice while monitoring the presence of anti-Christian bias in society.
In her first months on the job, Bondi shut down the FBI team investigating election interference by Russia, China, and Iran, and dismantled the KleptoCapture unit, which had monitored sanctions compliance and sought accountability for corrupt Russian oligarchs.
In the widely publicized case of Kilmara Garcia’s deportation to El Salvador, the attorney general publicly labeled him a “terrorist” and “MS-13 gang member,” despite the Justice Department, immigration authorities, and the government’s representative at the Supreme Court all acknowledging that Garcia had been mistakenly deported.
Commenting on Fox News about the FBI’s arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan, Bondi called the entire judiciary “deranged” — “We are sending a very strong message today. If you are harboring a fugitive, we will come after you and we will prosecute you.”
2. Elon Musk, senior presidential advisor on a voluntary basis
During the inauguration festivities on January 20, Musk made a gesture resembling a Nazi salute, drawing sharp criticism worldwide.
The billionaire entrepreneur holds an ambiguous status in the Trump administration. De facto, he oversaw the work of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), established as a temporary, contract-based non-governmental entity.
“This is essentially a private citizen directing an organization that’s not a federal agency that has access to the entire workings of the federal government, fire, hire, slash contracts, terminate programs all without apparently any congressional oversight,” said Judge Tanya Chutkan during federal court hearings challenging Musk’s authority.
“In his role as a Senior Advisor to the President, Mr. Musk has no greater authority than other senior White House advisors. Like other senior White House advisors, Mr. Musk has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself,” emphasized White House Administrative Director Joshua Fisher in his testimony.
Musk pledged that DOGE would cut $2 trillion from the federal budget. According to his own estimates, $165 billion was ultimately saved, but confirmed contract cancellations amounted to only $12.6 billion. Court challenges are ongoing over defunding and/or mass layoffs at USAID, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Voice of America, and other organizations.
During the Wisconsin Supreme Court election, Musk spent a record $25 million on campaigning, but the Republican candidate still lost to the Democrat.
On May 1, Musk announced that he planned to step away from DOGE without naming a successor. “It’s a way of life, like Buddhism,” the billionaire said. “You wouldn’t ask who’s in charge of Buddhism.”
1. J.D. Vance, Vice President
During a meeting between Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump in the Oval Office, Vance sparked a scandal over a proposed mineral extraction deal, aggressively accusing Zelensky of failing to say “thank you” to his American benefactors even once and of having “come to Pennsylvania to campaign for the opposition.” As for his understanding of Ukraine, Vance said he had “watched and seen the stories.”
A Marine Corps veteran and author of the bestseller Hillbilly Elegy, Vance called Trump “America’s Hitler” during the 2016 campaign — a remark he later apologized for. After being named as Trump’s running mate for the 2024 campaign, Vance claimed that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were eating pets, a claim that Trump echoed.
Two weeks before the Oval Office scandal (and after a phone call between Trump and Putin), Vance appeared at the Munich Security Conference, where he named not Russia or China, but democratic countries in Europe as the main threats to freedom in the world — accusing them of violating the rights of far-right parties and of losing control over migration. “If American democracy survived 10 years of lectures from Greta Thunberg, you guys can definitely handle a few months of Elon Musk,” Vance declared.