Donald Trump's decision to hand newly appointed FBI Director Kash Patel the reins as the interim head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), has to the department being adrift with Patel reportedly ignoring his duties.

According to a report from the Washington Post, since being tasked with running the department and overseeing its 5,000 employees, Patel made a brief appearance and has since been a no-show at the headquarters leaving staffers adrift and wondering what is next.

As the Post's Perry Stein and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez wrote, "Patel arrived at ATF’s Northeast Washington headquarters, snapped photos in the lobby, met career leaders and commended their work, according to multiple people familiar with the visit. But since then, Patel has not returned, and there appears to be scant communication between the acting director and the people who work for the 5,000-person agency, said the people familiar with the situation."

ALSO READ: ‘I miss lynch mobs’: The secretary of retribution's followers are getting impatient

The controversial Patel, who was made the new FBI director by the scantest of margins in a Senate vote, now has ATF staffers wondering about their jobs going forward.

Reporting that worries about the department has "been percolating for weeks," the Post reports adds, "Multiple people familiar with hiring process said the Trump administration has interviewed candidates to lead the agency, but the president so far has not nominated anyone. The administration hasn’t made major personnel changes at ATF during its first two months, though there have been some shake-ups."

RELATED: Kash Patel had floor cleared at FBI with staffers told to pack up their desks: MSNBC

According to one White House insider, "“By tapping Patel as Acting Director, the President may well be telegraphing his intent to eventually abolish the ATF, first by eliminating its bad parts and then by folding the good parts, like the arson and ballistics labs, into the FBI."

You can read more here.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk's losing streak continued on Wednesday.

Hours after Republicans in Wisconsin lost a state Supreme Court race in Wisconsin where Musk spent tens of millions of dollars of his own money, shares of his flagship electric car company fell upon news that it had badly missed Wall Street estimates for the number of vehicles it had delivered in the first quarter of 2025.

As reported by Market Watch, Tesla revealed that "it delivered more than 336,000 vehicles during the first quarter, down from 387,000 deliveries a year ago."

To put this number into context, Market Watch notes that it "was well below the average analyst estimate compiled by FactSet of 404,000 vehicles" and it "was also lower than the 'whisper' number, or what Wall Street was quietly expecting, with even the most bullish analyst projecting a number in the 360,000 range."

ALSO READ: 'Mad king': Trump baffles observers by suggesting he'll tariff illegal drugs

Although Tesla blamed the disappointing deliveries on what Market Watch describes as "the changeover to refreshed Model Y production lines" that "led to several weeks of lost production," it's also a reality that the company has been the target of a concerted boycott campaign led by progressive groups to protest Musk's role as the head of President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency.

Sales of Tesla in Europe have fallen off a cliff in recent months, as car buyers on that continent have revolted against Musk's support for far-right political parties such as Germany's Alternative für Deutschland.