Is Donald Trump improving the US government?

Short answer: it depends on what you mean by “improving.”

A quick, current snapshot (as of September 30, 2026):

•Service delivery and “digital government”: The administration launched America.gov as a single “front door” for federal services and set policy to make Login.gov the universal sign‑on across agencies—moves meant to simplify access and reduce paperwork. Early coverage notes promise but also growing pains with the AI-powered answers.[1]

•Border enforcement and operations: Border encounters fell sharply in 2025–2026; Pew reports the 2025 fiscal year saw the lowest southwest border totals in more than 50 years, a change supporters frame as government functioning more effectively at the border.[2]

•Regulation and management: The White House says its deregulation drive (EO 14192 and related actions) produced very large net cost savings; outside analysts note such tallies are contested and that past “regulatory budgets” had mixed, hard‑to‑verify effects.[3]

Concerns often raised:

•Oversight and rule‑of‑law guardrails: The mass firing of inspectors general in January 2025 was ruled unlawful in process by a federal judge (the court declined to reinstate them), prompting worries about weakened internal oversight.[4]

•Workforce capacity and morale: OPM canceled the 2025 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (later saying it would relaunch a new version), and an independent 2025 survey by the Partnership for Public Service found very low engagement scores (32/100), suggesting deterioration in the federal workplace climate that can hinder performance.[5]

•Transparency: Government-wide FOIA demand hit record levels in FY2025; while agencies processed a record number of requests, watchdogs and reporters have flagged delays and litigation pressure—raising questions about day‑to‑day transparency.[6]

What hasn’t obviously changed:

•Longstanding structural problems (e.g., items on GAO’s High‑Risk List) persist despite periodic attention, and Congress’s productivity hasn’t surged (72 public laws in the 119th Congress’s first session, 2025). Those make it hard to claim broad institutional “improvement” or “decline” on a single metric.[7]

Bottom line: If you value tighter border control and a push to streamline digital access and regulations, you may see improvement. If you prioritize independent oversight, workforce stability, and robust transparency, you may see backsliding. If you tell me which dimensions (e.g., service quality, ethics/oversight, fiscal management, hiring and staffing, transparency) you care about most, I can go deeper on just those with data.

Citations (7)

1whitehouse.govGovernment
Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Streamlines Access to Government Services Through America.gov – The White House
Backs: “Early coverage notes promise but also growing pains with the AI-powered answers.”
2pewresearch.orgNonprofits and think tanks
Migrant encounters at US-Mexico border at lowest level in over 50 years | Pew Research Center
Backs: “Pew reports the 2025 fiscal year saw the lowest southwest border totals in more than 50 years, a change supporters frame as government functioning more effectively at the border.”
3whitehouse.govGovernment
White House Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Releases End of Year Deregulatory Stats: Showing the Trump Administration Has Best Deregulation Year in History – The White House
Backs: “The White House says its deregulation drive (EO 14192 and related actions) produced very large net cost savings; outside analysts note such tallies are contested and that past “regulatory budgets” had mixed, hard‑to‑verify effects.”
4washingtonpost.comNews and mediaquality 0.82
Federal judge declines to reinstate inspectors general fired by Trump - The Washington Post
Backs: “The mass firing of inspectors general in January 2025 was ruled unlawful in process by a federal judge (the court declined to reinstate them), prompting worries about weakened internal oversight.”
5federalnewsnetwork.comNews and mediaquality 0.93
After months of postponing, OPM opts to fully cancel 2025 FEVS | Federal News Network
Backs: “OPM canceled the 2025 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (later saying it would relaunch a new version), and an independent 2025 survey by the Partnership for Public Service found very low engagement scores (32/100), suggesting deterioration in the federal workplace climate that can hinder performance.”
6foiaadvisor.comNot yet classified
FOIA News: OIP publishes summary of agency annual reports — FOIA Advisor
Backs: “Government-wide FOIA demand hit record levels in FY2025; while agencies processed a record number of requests, watchdogs and reporters have flagged delays and litigation pressure—raising questions about day‑to‑day transparency.”
7gao.govGovernment
High Risk List | U.S. GAO
Backs: “Those make it hard to claim broad institutional “improvement” or “decline” on a single metric.”