Week One Whirlwind 

This week, a smirking Elon Musk, towering over his small entourage, strolled past me just outside the Oval Office. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son walked by multiple times, his face beaming with quiet confidence, while Oracle chairman Larry Ellison lingered nearby, deep in thought.

Border czar Tom Homan cut a commanding figure, striding purposefully between the offices of the press secretary and the communications director. Meanwhile, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, forceful and focused, called for a huddle with a calm yet determined demeanor. Around the corner, near the entrance to the West Colonnade, Doug Burgum, Trump’s nominee for secretary of the interior, walked by briskly, exuding a sense of urgency.

Each of these figures brought a unique energy, their ambitions and expertise colliding in a dynamic interplay that exemplified the complexity of governance. These fleeting moments in the West Wing corridors are where power converges — not just in formal meetings or press briefings, but in the hurried exchanges, quick nods, and whispered strategizing of those steering the nation’s future. .

That same urgency and intensity defined the first week of President Donald Trump’s second term, a whirlwind of action that tested the boundaries of executive authority, redefined norms, and set the stage for a transformative presidency. Bureaucratic inertia was placed on notice as critics scrambled to find their safe spaces.