After decades of <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/">failing grades</a>, the Department of Education is being scrapped by the Trump administration. Attorney General Pam Bondi charges several suspects with “domestic terrorism” after targeting Tesla, and the Trump IRS is slamming the brakes on major audits as the agency braces for radical change.
It’s Friday, March 21st, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/education-department-dismantled-tesla-terrorism-continues/id1576594336?i=1000700243845" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
<h2>Trump Dismantles the Department of Education</h2>
<div id="attachment_895193" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-895193" class="size-large wp-image-895193" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/US-Department-of-Education-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" />(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)</div>
Topline: On Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to disband the Department of Education.
At a ceremony at the White House on Thursday, President Trump signed an executive order that will “begin to eliminate” the Department of Education. The department was created by an act of Congress, and dissolving it entirely would require Congressional approval, but in the meantime, the Trump administration will continue to cut the department’s staff, as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/education-dept-staff-expected-to-be-slashed-by-half-as-trump-mulls-closing-it">nearly half of its employees have already been let go</a> since Trump took office.
&#8220;We are going to be returning education very simply back to the states where it belongs,” Trump said to a crowd of governors, educators, and students from around the country. “This is a very popular thing to do, but much more importantly, it&#8217;s a commonsense thing to do – and it&#8217;s going to work.&#8221;
The Numbers: The Department of Education was founded under the Carter administration in 1979. Republicans have campaigned on abolishing the department for nearly as long as it’s existed – President Reagan pledged to end it in his 1980 campaign but failed to garner enough support from <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-01-29-mn-13948-story.html">Congressional Democrats</a>, who controlled the House of Representatives for the length of his presidency. From 1979-2017, U.S. spending per pupil (adjusted for inflation) has <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d19/tables/dt19_236.55.asp">nearly doubled</a>, while <a href="https://www.thebalancemoney.com/the-u-s-is-losing-its-competitive-advantage-3306225">relative standing</a> compared to other nations with respect to education has gone down, and test scores have remained mostly flat.
<div id="attachment_895195" style="width: 970px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-895195" class="size-large wp-image-895195" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/page-1-960x576.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/page-1-960x576.jpg 960w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/page-1-300x180.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/page-1-768x461.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/page-1.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px" />(Image by NAEP)</div>
“We can spend those dollars so much more efficiently and effectively than the federal government can,” Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee told Morning Wire. &#8220;Part of the taxpayer money that Tennesseans send up to D.C., and then they send back to us – if it&#8217;s filtered through a bureaucracy of thousands of employees, it siphons off a large part of that tax money to support that bureaucracy before it comes back to educate our kids.”
At the moment, total abolition of the department seems unlikely – it would require 60 votes in the Senate to overcome a filibuster, and the chamber is currently split 53-47. Democrats remain <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/mar/20/donald-trump-executive-order-department-of-education-us-politics-latest-updates-news">fiercely opposed</a> to cuts. But Trump can still use executive authority to strip the department of most of its responsibilities and funding. Many of the department’s most important functions will remain in place but shift to other departments.
After signing the executive order, President Trump assured the public that “Pell Grants, Title 1 funding, and resources for children with disabilities and special needs will be fully preserved and redistributed to various other agencies and departments that will take very good care of them.”
<h2>Suspected Tesla Attackers Charged As Terrorists</h2>
<div id="attachment_895197" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-895197" class="size-large wp-image-895197" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Tesla-Graffitti-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Tesla-Graffitti-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Tesla-Graffitti-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Tesla-Graffitti-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Tesla-Graffitti-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Tesla-Graffitti-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Tesla-Graffitti-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Tesla-Graffitti-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)</div>
Topline: United States Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the Department of Justice is charging three suspects with domestic terrorism after a series of attacks on Tesla.
“If you&#8217;re going to touch a Tesla, go to a dealership, do anything, you better watch out, because we&#8217;re coming after you,” Bondi said. “And if you&#8217;re funding this, we&#8217;re coming after you. We&#8217;re going to find out who you are.”
The Allegations: The names of the suspects are not yet public. One suspect allegedly lobbed eight Molotov cocktails at a Tesla retailer in Oregon. Another in Colorado is charged with “attempt[ing] to light Teslas on fire.” A third in Charleston, South Carolina, allegedly spray-painted obscene graffiti about President Trump at a Tesla charging station and set three charging stations on fire.
This violence is especially concerning as it&#8217;s now putting ordinary citizens at risk. On Wednesday, a number of Tesla owners confirmed that their names and home addresses were published on an online map. The site also encouraged protestors to “unleash [their] artistic flair” by vandalizing Tesla vehicles and recommended other “creative expressions of protest.”
Fellow Travelers: Some Democrats and public figures have made light of the violence. On Wednesday night, talk show host Jimmy Kimmel responded to a clip of Elon Musk saying these attacks make no sense by saying, “When you pull out a chainsaw to celebrate firing thousands of people, they get mad.”
Prominent elected Democrats have taken a more active role in supporting the anti-Tesla movement: Former vice presidential candidate and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/loudmouth-tim-crows-about-tesla-stock-dropping-minnesota-had-millions-of-shares-in-tesla">celebrated Tesla’s declining stock price</a>, claiming he checks the downward ticker “to give [himself] a little boost during the day.”
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) <a href="https://x.com/atensnut/status/1902735220589154433">said</a> during a livestream with the protest group Takedown Tesla, “All I want to see happen on my birthday [March 29] is for Elon to be taken down.”
<h2>Changes At The IRS</h2>
<div id="attachment_895199" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-895199" class="size-large wp-image-895199" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/IRS-Forms-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/IRS-Forms-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/IRS-Forms-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/IRS-Forms-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/IRS-Forms-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/IRS-Forms-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/IRS-Forms-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/IRS-Forms-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Photo by masterSergeant via Getty Images)</div>
Topline: It’s been a busy few days for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and not just because it’s tax season. The agency is halting major audits and adjusting to new management.
The IRS is reportedly halting a number of major audits and seems likely to pursue fewer down the line. Now, critics are pointing to this as a huge red flag. They say pausing the audits is leaving billions of dollars on the table and basically means allowing the rich to get away with tax fraud. But remember, the Biden administration had expanded the IRS’ auditing power in a way that left people concerned. Democrats had plans to bring on more than 80,000 new agents who would largely be tasked with <a href="https://www.heritage.org/budget-and-spending/commentary/fact-checking-team-biden-who-those-87000-new-irs-agents-would-audit">auditing</a> people making less than $400,000 a year.
On NBC&#8217;s &#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvrSxTE8GOw">Meet the Press</a>&#8220; last weekend, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent discussed those cuts and shared his vision for the future of the agency. “There were about 15,000 probationary employees that we could have let go. We kept about 7,500, 8,500 because we viewed them as essential to the mission. … I have three priorities for the IRS: collections, privacy, and customer service. And we&#8217;ll see what level is needed to prioritize all those.”
Whistleblower Promotions: On Tuesday, the agency announced that Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler had been brought in to the Department of Treasury as senior advisors to Bessent. Those two are the IRS employees who the department says were “wrongfully targeted” after blowing the whistle on Hunter Biden’s tax evasion. For the next year, they will serve as senior advisors to Bessent and then transition back into senior positions at the IRS. In a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-promotes-hunter-biden-whistleblowers-after-they-were-wrongly-punished-by-superiors">statement</a> announcing the moves, Bessent praised them as “veteran civil servants” who will “help further the agency’s focus on collections, modernization, and customer service, so we can deliver a more effective and efficient IRS experience for hardworking American taxpayers.”

<script async src="https://www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<script async src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script><div data-widget-host="revcontent" data-pub-id="165152" data-widget-id="290588"></div><script src="https://delivery.revcontent.com/165152/290588/widget.js"></script>

Morning Brief: Trump Guts Education Dept, Suspected Tesla Vandals Charged As Terrorists, IRS Shakeup

CONTINUE READING

Morning Brief: Trump’s High-Stakes Address To Americans & Tourists Trapped In Cartel Crossfire

Morning Brief: Iran Talks Heat Up, Mar-A-Lago Intruder, & Team USA On Fire

Morning Brief: Trump Warns Iran & Prince Andrew Arrested

Morning Brief: U.S. Surrounds Iran, Prisoners Get ‘Gender Surgeries,’ & FDA’s Moderna Reversal

Morning Brief: Trans Gunman Kills Family, Iran Stalls For Time, & Trump Stays Neutral In Texas

Morning Brief: Rubio Rocks Munich & A Shocking Army Contract Exposed

News

Bill Lee

Department of Education

Donald Trump

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

Politics

Scott Bessent

Tesla

A video goes viral showing a baby being refused his mother by two gay "dads". This is just the tip of the iceberg, which is why we will have an important discussion today about surrogacy. 

Hour 1

The Matt Walsh Show

Ep. 1765 - This Video Is One Of The Worst Things I've Seen In A Long Time 

The Strait of Hormuz officially opens for business (kind of), the Pope makes “shocking” comments on immigration, and President Trump promises UFO disclosure at TPUSA. 


The Michael Knowles Show

Ep. 1956 -  Pope Leo's "SHOCKING" Immigration Comments EXPLAINED

A false miscreed has corrupted our leadership class.


The Andrew Klavan Show

Ep. 1275 - Dumb, Dumber and Progressive

President Trump announces a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, a murder-suicide involving former Democratic Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax shakes Virginia, and France and Britain hold a conference to secure the Strait of Hormuz – after the Iranian conflict ends. Get the facts first with Morning Wire.

- - -

Ep. 2738

- - -

Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3

- - -

Today's Sponsors:

Alliance Defending Freedom - Visit https://JoinADF.com/WIRE or text 'WIRE' to 83848 to learn more.

Pocket Hose - Text MORNING to 64000 to get a FREE pocket pivot and their 10-pattern sprayer with the purchase of ANY size Copper Head hose. Message and data rates may apply.

Morning Wire

U.S. Expands Hormuz Blockade & VA Fairfax Deaths Investigated | 4.17.26

U.S. Expands Hormuz Blockade & VA Fairfax Deaths Investigated | 4.17.26 [Member Exclusive]

A ceasefire goes into effect between Israel and Lebanon, a tragic murder-suicide rocks Virginia, and Dairy Queen deploys AI in the drive-thru. Get the facts first with Evening Wire.
- - -
Ep. 2737
- - -
Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3 
- - -
Today’s Sponsor:

Alliance Defending Freedom - Visit https://JoinADF.com/WIRE or text “WIRE” to 83848 to learn more.


Evening Wire: Lebanon Ceasefire Begins & Murder-Suicide Rocks VA | 4.16.26

The Pendragon Cycle

Menu

— News —

Morning Brief: Trump Guts Education Dept, Suspected Tesla Vandals Charged As Terrorists, IRS Shakeup