Elon Musk meddling in the Ministry of Education

Trump's intended Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, must "put herself out of a job", in the words of the president himself. She still needs to be confirmed by the US Senate, but that seems to be a formality.

But why must she make herself redundant? Trump wants to get rid of the Department of Education, as he announced during his election campaign. To do so, he will need the permission of the US Congress, but the department can start downsizing in the meantime.

Helping hand from Musk
Elon Musk has been tasked with helping the president do this. The tech entrepreneur has been using AI to look for ways the federal government can save money. According to the American media, the Ministry of Education is next on the list.

Protecting information does not seem to be a priority for Musk, whose rather young employees are reportedly using Microsoft Azure, which means a lot of sensitive personal and financial data is out in the cloud. It is also unclear which AI programmes they are using.

Student loans
Trump's pursuit of ways to reduce federal spending also puts student debt relief at risk, which could be terminated with a blunt axe. Business magazine Forbes has even published a list of tips on how university graduates can prepare for the worst-case scenario. One of the things the publication suggests is taking screenshots of everything related to the student loan, especially anything related to debt relief, as this information could simply disappear from the website. Students and graduates are also advised to change their passwords for the American equivalent of MijnDUO, where they can check their student debt. That's because their passwords could be leaked if Elon Musk puts their data through the AI mill.

Gender
Scientific research is also on Trump's radar. Researchers at the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were banned from using several terms related to gender, including "non-binary", "pregnant people" and "transgender". As a result, they must withdraw or modify scientific articles that have been submitted but not yet published if they contain any of the forbidden words. 

Funding for research into diversity and equal opportunities is also under threat. According to Insidehighered.com, the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have withdrawn grants and put application procedures on hold due to Trump's objection to research into diversity, equal opportunities, gender and other topics.

Emigrate
Some researchers may try to continue their careers outside of the US. D66 asked the cabinet if it would be a good idea for the Netherlands to welcome highly skilled migrants emigrating because of Trump. The Minister of Economic Affairs, Dirk Beljaarts, replied that the Netherlands has an "inviting, country-neutral policy for knowledge migrants". There will be no special campaign to bring Americans to the Netherlands. The leader of Beljaarts' party, Geert Wilders, is a huge fan of Trump.