Just so you know: GDPR has (mostly) nothing to do with those cookie banners. It’s a very broad text that doesn’t go into specifics like that.
What you’re seeing is a result of the 2002 E-Privacy directive that has been reinterpreted by data privacy authorities in light of the new definition of consent brought by the GDPR.
Basically, since 2002, websites are required to ask users for consent before depositing cookies. The issue was that there was no definition of what this consent meant. What the GDPR did is simply to define the concept of consent as a free expression of will that must come from a positive act (i.e. it must be explicit rather than implicit).
The GDPR was supposed to come out with a sister regulation called the E-Privacy regulation, but due to intense lobbying that text was buried. Local data protection authorities in Europe then decided to reinterpret that old directive in light of the GDPR to fill the gap.
All in all, blame the lobbyists, not the GDPR
Honestly I don’t think it’s that complicated. I’m convinced he just threw a temper tantrum because his ego couldn’t handle being let go of his position has head of DOGE, and since Trump’s ego is just as big as his things just escalated from there