A month into Donald Trump’s extraordinary assault on the Deep State, there is an aspect of sadism and self-promotion in his attack. Tens of thousands of federal employees have reportedly accepted buyouts engineered by the extraordinary partnership of Donald Trump and Elon Musk. The superheroes are working with a comic book hammer called the Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, a too-cute reminder of Musk’s cryptocurrency also called DOGE.
Take the rape of USAID, as an example of what they are up to. Prompted by Musk and his merry band of cost-cutting kid crusaders, on the day Trump took office he halted all foreign aid. Defying generations of tradition, the staff of the once ubiquitous aid organization was given the bum’s rush. Come home now and look for another job because yours no longer exists. The dynamic duo has removed the name from your headquarters.
The agency’s announced demise happened so fast shipments of wheat and rice and other humanitarian assistance headed for Africa were stranded on docks in Houston.
Another USAID program now crippled by DOGE provided drugs to millions in Mozambique to prevent the spread of AIDS and to care for the 389,000 living with H.I.V. Other than getting sicker and more infectious, what are untreated millions to do now? Trump brushes off the plaintive wailing of critics and advocates, saying of USAID “the whole thing is a fraud.”
An escalating reaction to Trump’s hyperactivity is mustering on the streets and law offices of the nation. Numerous agencies, NGOs, and unions, including the AFL-CIO, have sued. One bundle of cases aims to deny Musk’s posse of twentysomethings access to sensitive Treasury Department information, which would place the private lives of every American in the hands of Musk and company. Do we trust this unelected clique of Bros with our Social Security numbers?
Perhaps unfairly, I picture these young crusaders vaping and face timing their girlfriends as they raid federal offices looking for waste, fraud and abuse.
The Supreme Court’s next session will be pre-occupied with defining and probably limiting the authority of the White House to create or crush programs authorized by Congress.
Don’t get me wrong. The federal government is a vast, wallowing $4.5 trillion Jaba the Hut behemoth. Billions are being wasted and I applaud Trump and Musk for attempting to trim it down.
Reform is necessary but must be responsible — unlike President Trump’s plan for Gaza. Kudos to him for getting the Gaza ceasefire and hostage exchange done, but his plan going forward seems half-assed.
As I have previously noted, the United States will have a viable habitation on the planet Mars before Gaza is rebuilt as an idyllic seaside New Vegas or Atlantic City East. Gaza is where dreams of peace and prosperity go to die. Ask Israel, Jordan, Syria or Lebanon how their plans for Palestinian refugees have fared.
It is naïve and potentially catastrophic to think that a brave new Middle East could happen without a huge and bloody commitment of our military that would make Afghanistan and Iraq seem modest. In 1983, 241 U.S. Marines were blown apart by a terrorist in Beirut the last time we tried to undo and overcome centuries of bad blood. Keep creating. Be bold and energetic. Just don’t do anything cruel or stupid.
