Unelected Bureaucrat Shuts Down USAID

An entire Congressionally-created agency seems to have been shut down by fiat.

WaPo (“Trump moves to wrest control of USAID as Musk says, ‘We’re shutting it down’“):

The Trump administration and its allies moved to tighten control of the U.S. Agency for International Development over the weekend, signaling an intent to act forcefully to bring the U.S. foreign policy apparatus in line with the president’s “America First” approach to engaging with the world.

Current and former officials said the administration removed two top security officials at USAID on Saturday after they refused to allow representatives of the office led by billionaire Elon Musk access to restricted spaces at the agency.

The placement of the security officials — John Voorhees and his deputy — on administrative leave is alarming several lawmakers concerned about security protocols as the Trump administration and Musk aim to wrest control of the world’s largest provider of food assistance. Since President Donald Trump took office two weeks ago, the agency has been under siege and whipsawed by aid freezes, personnel purges and confusion.

Musk, heading a government efficiency effort under Trump, said on X early Monday that he is in the process closing the agency with Trump’s blessing.

“I went over it with him in detail, and he agreed that we should shut it down,” Musk said. “And I actually checked with him a few times [and] said ‘are you sure?’”

The answer was yes, he said.

“And so we’re shutting it down,” Musk said.

[…]

Amid the turmoil, Matt Hopson, the USAID chief of staff and a political appointee, resigned, according to a current and former USAID official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive situation. Hopson did not respond to requests for comment.

Voorhees was put on leave after he did not allow officials from the “Department of Government Efficiency” to access a sensitive compartmented information facility — commonly known as a SCIF — an ultra-secure room where officials and government contractors take extraordinary precautions to review highly classified information, according to three current and former USAID officials.

A group of about eight DOGE officials entered the USAID building Saturday and demanded access to every door and floor, despite only a few of them having security clearance, according to a Senate Democratic staff memberwho spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the incident.

When USAID personnel attempted to block access to some areas, DOGE officials threatened to call federal marshals, the aide said. The DOGE officials were eventually given access to “secure spaces” including the security office.

The Senate staffer also said top officials from USAID’s office and the bulk of the staff in USAID’s Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs were put on leave later Saturday. Some of them were not notified but had their access to agency terminals suspended.

CNN (“USAID workers at Washington HQ told to stay home on Monday in unexpected, early-morning email“):

The main office of the US Agency for International Development in Washington was unexpectedly closed Monday and workers were emailed shortly after midnight that they should not come in, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

“At the direction of Agency leadership, the USAID headquarters at the Ronald Reagan building in Washington, D.C. will be closed to Agency personnel on Monday, February 3, 2025. Agency personnel normally assigned to work at USAID headquarters will work remotely tomorrow, with the exception of personnel with essential on-site and building maintenance functions individually contacted by senior leadership,” said the email, of which CNN has obtained a copy.

It’s the latest ominous sign for the longtime international aid agency, which has found itself in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s effort to reform the federal government. Trump and his allies have said the agency, created by Congress as an independent body, is overtly partisan and favorable to Democrats

[…]

USAID logos and photos showing the humanitarian work the agency does around the globe were removed from its offices last week, multiple sources familiar with the situation told CNN.

“All of the visuals have been taken down. These are like large-scale photos of our work in developing countries that are in our lobbies, in our galleys, in communal kitchens, hallways,” a USAID employee said. “An order also came down to individual bureaus and offices to remove all USAID artwork and signage.”

Another USAID worker told CNN: “They’ve taken the photos off the walls, and we’re missing half of our colleagues because our colleagues are gone and have been let go, and everyone sort of feels like they’re walking around with a target on their back.”

A source who works in a USAID annex building told CNN they have no word on whether they should go to work on Monday.

When asked if leaders in their department appeared to have any more information on the future of the agency’s work, the source said: “Our senior leaders have all been fired.”

Around 60 senior USAID staff were put on leave last week on accusations of attempting to circumvent Trump’s executive order to freeze foreign aid for 90 days. Many more junior staff and contractors within the agency have been placed on furlough as well, multiple sources told CNN.

On Saturday, USAID’s website went dark and a new page for the agency appeared on the State Department website. USAID’s X account also went offline Saturday, and a source told CNN that the entire USAID public affairs office was put on leave and locked out of their systems.

And, of course, USAID seems to be just part of a larger scheme.

WSJ (“Musk Moves With Lightning Speed to Exert Control Over the Government“):

Elon Musk’s allies are moving swiftly to exert control over vast swaths of the U.S. government, as they demand access to sensitive information at federal agencies and lay out plans to block spending they deem excessive.

Musk, the billionaire adviser to President Trump who runs the Department of Government Efficiency, oversaw a successful effort by his representatives to get direct access to a payment system that distributes trillions of dollars to Americans each year. And individuals working for DOGE accessed the U.S. Agency for International Development following a clash with security officials.

The moves marked the start of a far-reaching campaign by Musk to upend the federal government agency by agency, according to his allies. The effort prompted outrage from Democrats, and some Republicans, who said Musk doesn’t have the authority to overturn programs and spending priorities decided by Congress. They also raised concerns about the nature of Musk’s operation, which is run by individuals with ties to the tech sector who haven’t been confirmed by the Senate and could benefit financially from the actions DOGE takes.

“This is completely unprecedented,” said Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer under former President George W. Bush. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

DOGE had initially been conceived as an outside advisory panel. But Trump signed an executive order shortly after taking office that established the group within the executive branch. Much about DOGE’s operations remains murky. The Trump administration hasn’t released a list of people working for DOGE or outlined their potential conflicts of interest, and officials haven’t detailed which contracts they have canceled.

Elon Musk’s allies are moving swiftly to exert control over vast swaths of the U.S. government, as they demand access to sensitive information at federal agencies and lay out plans to block spending they deem excessive.

Musk, the billionaire adviser to President Trump who runs the Department of Government Efficiency, oversaw a successful effort by his representatives to get direct access to a payment system that distributes trillions of dollars to Americans each year. And individuals working for DOGE accessed the U.S. Agency for International Development following a clash with security officials.

The moves marked the start of a far-reaching campaign by Musk to upend the federal government agency by agency, according to his allies. The effort prompted outrage from Democrats, and some Republicans, who said Musk doesn’t have the authority to overturn programs and spending priorities decided by Congress. They also raised concerns about the nature of Musk’s operation, which is run by individuals with ties to the tech sector who haven’t been confirmed by the Senate and could benefit financially from the actions DOGE takes.

“This is completely unprecedented,” said Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer under former President George W. Bush. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

DOGE had initially been conceived as an outside advisory panel. But Trump signed an executive order shortly after taking office that established the group within the executive branch. Much about DOGE’s operations remains murky. The Trump administration hasn’t released a list of people working for DOGE or outlined their potential conflicts of interest, and officials haven’t detailed which contracts they have canceled.

[…]

Trump offered support for Musk on Sunday night, speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews. “I think Elon is doing a good job,” Trump said. “He’s a big cost-cutter. Sometimes we won’t agree with it, and we’ll not go where he wants to go. But I think he’s doing a great job. He’s a smart guy.” Trump added that “radical lunatics” are running USAID.

[…]

“The potential access of sensitive, even classified, files, which may include the personally identifiable information…of Americans working with USAID, and this incident as a whole, raises deep concerns about the protection and safeguarding of matters related to U.S. national security,” Democratic lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee wrote in a Saturday letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The episode unfolded as Musk worked to disassemble the 10,000-person, $40 billion agency and rein in its autonomy. Musk posted on X over the weekend that USAID was a corrupt organization filled with Marxist staffers, providing no evidence for his broadsides. “USAID is a criminal organization,” he wrote in one post. “Time for it to die.” Trump planned to release an executive order folding the USAID into the State Department.

USAID.gov, the agency’s website, was taken offline and placed into a subsection of State’s website. Then USAID’s X account was also removed, leaving behind a message that reads: “This account doesn’t exist.”

That this is all entirely illegal is simply an interesting side note, it seems. We’re hearing some mild muttering from Congressional Democrats but there’s no sign that anything is being done about any of this.

The notion that a foreign aid agency is somehow partisan is just . . . weird. I’m quite sure that most of its employees lean Democratic, but its mission is entirely overseas and proscribed by Congress. It also happens to nest very neatly in the national security strategies of the last several US Presidents, notably that of Trump 45.

Regardless, the fallout from this and the bizarre trade war with our closest ally will be hard to undo.

FILED UNDER: Bureaucracy, Congress, The Presidency, US Constitution, US Politics, World Politics, , , , , , , , , , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is a Professor of Security Studies. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Neil Hudelson says:

    Dems doing nothing? Why, they scheduled a press conference Friday for sometime Monday afternoon. Schumer has even promised to grimace a bit, give a tut tut, before heading off to vote yes on more trump appointees.

    6
  2. Daryl says:

    President Doughboy is clearly saying, “go ahead and do something about it.”
    And no one dares. Certainly not mamby-pamby Democrats.
    I’ve said it, here, before; there is no one is coming to help us. There is no Lincoln sitting at his desk signing the Emancipation Proclamation. There is no FDR and Churchill waiting offshore to storm the beaches. The evil, this time, is within.
    This is all money democratically appropriated by Congress. It is being “stolen” by members of the MAGA cult.
    Democracy is ending before your eyes. At least you’ll be able to tell your grandkids you watched the end of America.

    5
  3. Kathy says:

    Handing the world over to China one boneheaded move at a time.

    4
  4. Jen says:

    Again, this leaves sensitive information potentially (likely?) accessible to foreign intelligence services.

    These clowns are putting us at risk.

    And laying this at the feet of Democrats to do something about? No. Just no. Republicans are the ones breaking things, and they are the only ones with any sway here. If there are any grownups at all left on the R side, they need to do something. NOW.

    8
  5. Pylon says:

    It never ceases to amaze me that when Trump/Musk do these things, people always crab about Democrats not doing anything.

    The Republicans have power in every body and in every branch. They have agency here.

    14
  6. Pylon says:

    @Kathy: As a Canadian, let me say that China sure feels more benign than the US right now.

    2
  7. @Jen: @Pylon: While I really would like to see (and, honestly, expect) more fight out of Democrats, I have to admit that I am quite weary of the notion that its the Democrats’ fault everything the Republican Party misbehaves.

    12
  8. Neil Hudelson says:

    I dunno, if my house was on fire I’d grab a hose, raise an alarm, do anything I could to save it, even if another guy started it and the fire department has more agency. I’m not saying the Democrats have a magic wand to magically fix it, but they could be stonewalling all trump nominees, threatening to refuse to raise the debt limit, raise bloody hell in the media. I rarely have been on the “democrats need to do something, anything” side. I understand how levers of power in government work. But to just entirely fade into the background and provide absolutely no alternative vision in the time of wanton destruction is criminal negligence on their part. Elected Dems have forgotten how to throw a goddamn punch.

    4
  9. ptfe says:

    @Pylon: They have agency, but Democrats are still ceding the microphone. Republicans won’t do anything unless they’re shamed into it. They’re not going to stand up on their own because fundamentally they’re cowards.

    Democrats are out there saying “just wait until the next shoe drops!” and begging for cash. There’s no press to make the absolute illegality obvious, or to smear that stench all over its Congressional enablers. They’re just, like, waiting for it to shake out in the courts in 30 or 60 days or whatever.

    We’re watching Pearl Harbor and the Democrats are like, “Call me when they reach Wichita.”

    4
  10. Neil Hudelson says:

    Has a single elected Dem tried to get on media this weekend and defend USAID? I’m looking through google news and the most I can find is four congress critters wrote a letter expressing their displeasure to the acting USAID administrator. Chris Coons used his interview with the New York Times to say “man its a shame that’s gonna be shut down. Tut tut.”

    Meanwhile the GOP is pushing out how USAID was responsible for global abortions and the department is ran by lunatics. Guess which tactic gets more media play.

    4
  11. ptfe says:

    Here’s an example: DOGE is being run by a small cadre of unelecteds that has just invaded and tried to shut down a Congressionally-created agency and stolen national security information.

    The Executive is in on it. The president is acting without Congressional approval. Democrats on the floor should be loudly demanding that the Sergeant at Arms step in to arrest these hooligans, and a large group of them should be directly confronting DOGE (physically in their space) with cameras in tow. Own the media.

    Democrats need to make a show of absolutely everything, instead they’re meekly saying, “they’ve stepped in dog shit this time!” while Musk lobs hand grenades everywhere.

    3
  12. Joe says:

    even if another guy started it and the fire department has more agency.

    The problem is that it is the fire department burning down your house. You can go complain to the county board, but its their fire chief who is burning your house down, even if the minority county board party votes against it.

    5
  13. Neil Hudelson says:

    @Joe:

    And so best to just sit back quietly and let it burn? Toast some marshmallows in the embers? I want to be clear, my complaint is not that the Democrats are trying things and their efforts are futile. The issue is that their response has been silence and fundraising.

    3
  14. Neil Hudelson says:

    From Josh Marshall, published 10 minutes ago. I believe this one isn’t behind a paywall, but gift link just in case. (It’s hard to excerpt as he repeatedly circles back to the same point from different angles):

    Let’s repeat the core fact. Republicans are in charge. As I explained here, the levers Democrats have over any of this are very limited. This is fundamentally a battle over public opinion, one in which the opposition needs to be making the case about the disastrousness of Trump’s policies. But there are levers. And they need to use them.

    Talk in itself is meaningless. Begging especially is meaningless. In fact, on its own it can be demoralizing – same old, same old, just performatively illustrating either the inability or unwillingness to act.

    Right now in Washington, DC Donald Trump and Elon Musk are dominating literally everything. That will start changing quickly, at least in a limited way in the courts. But the overriding need for Democrats is to get a seat at the table. And they can do that in several ways. The biggest way is that Republicans will need help to pass a budget and raise the debt ceiling. The rubber starts meeting the road on that front next month. Real soon. You can talk as much as you want. But the White House and congressional Republicans absolutely need that help. And Democrats need to be crystal clear that the answer is absolutely no help – without meeting their conditions. That’s where you get the seat at the table.

    The other point is one we’ve made before. All power is unitary. Democrats need that seat at the table. You do it with the most electric and unifying issue. That is almost certainly the tariffs and Musk’s spending freezes in the short-term and health care cuts in the medium term. But what about the simultaneous crises in deportations, or the shutdown of USAid, the illegal firing of federal workers, or all the other predations? I strongly believe that all that matters is what gets Democrats to the table. Power is unitary. What checks Trump’s currently untrammeled power is all that matters, whatever has the best shot at it. An increase in power on one front applies on every other front. Power on grinding the budget mechanisms and debt ceiling negotiations to a halt increases Democrats extremely limited power everywhere else. This is simply a cardinal point to understand about politics: all power is unitary. You don’t gain it or lose it in one place and leave it unaffected in another. That’s not how it works. This isn’t a panacea by any means. We’re heading into a withering storm. But those are unquestionably the most unifying points to focus on and the political power and momentum Democrats gain there will apply to every other issue as well.

    So what should can someone individually do? If Democrats are starting to ask, why should we help, I would want to send the message you absolutely shouldn’t. This isn’t a hard message. Get your hands of my parents Social Security checks and stop looking at their financial data? No help on anything until the law breaking stops. Period. No debt ceiling help. No budget help. And remember Democrats can grind the Senate to a halt at anytime by refusing unanimous consent to new business. No help on anything until the law breaking stops and hands off the ‘rents Social Security checks. Or yours. That’s a strong message.

    3
  15. ptfe says:

    @Neil Hudelson: I mean, even if the only thing you can do is rough the guy up for a few minutes and yell, “arsonist!”, you do it. There’s zero consequence right now, just a lot of silence as though the Democrats wield zero power. Turns out their power is more than any of us has, and yet here we are, watching them mumble their way through a Constitutional explosion.

    A bunch of Susan Collinses, bleaching their assholes while the country burns.

    5
  16. ptfe says:

    @Neil Hudelson: “No debt ceiling help. No budget help. And remember Democrats can grind the Senate to a halt at anytime by refusing unanimous consent to new business.”

    Useless, garbage advice for Congress. Congress is out of the loop. The debt ceiling is meaningless in the face of the lawbreaking going on, which includes the federal treasury. There is no debt ceiling, there’s just a declaration by Congress that “there’s a debt ceiling”. Elon Musk is dispersing funds to whomever he pleases, whether Congress passes anything or not, so that’s a completely meaningless point.

    As for Senate business, they can and should use that lever to shut down business in the Senate. It’s at least visible. Nobody cares about the speeches, but every attempt at normal business should be shut down by Dems in a unified front. No votes for anyone, but see if you can get the cameras rolling. Invite the candidate to show up, then shut down the hearings until the president halts his illegal takeover.

    This really is a government fire. I firmly believe we’re 4 weeks from an autocrat, and I’m both pissed off and scared as hell.

    3
  17. Jen says:

    @Neil Hudelson: Honestly, I think that there is just too much, which of course is by design. Hell, I don’t even know what to be most mad about.

    How do you triage when the patient is bleeding out everywhere? I get that what we have right now are Democrats trying to find the medicine cabinet, rather than applying tourniquets.

    But, what should they focus on? The illegality of Musk’s position/maneuvers would be my preference, but the 10K folks at USAID who just got canned might beg to differ.

    Judging from my FB page, most Americans DNGAF.

    ETA: Breaking news from the NYT says that 1,100 EPA employees have been told that they could be fired “immediately.” Notably, they all work in some way on climate change.

    3
  18. Neil Hudelson says:

    The illegality of Musk’s position/maneuvers would be my preference, but the 10K folks at USAID who just got canned might beg to differ.

    Are those not one and the same?

    Judging from my FB page, most Americans DNGAF.

    Which is why stomping your feet and yelling about the arsonist is a good tactic in this situation. That message might not get through to, certainly not to everyone. But saying absolutely nothing is guaranteed not to get through.

    2
  19. Jen says:

    @Neil Hudelson:

    No help on anything until the law breaking stops.

    I don’t disagree with his point, but about the above quote–the debt ceiling is hit in MARCH. That’s several lifetimes away given the current pace of destruction. That is about as much as can be done, which is exactly eff-all help right now.

    2
  20. gVOR10 says:

    @ptfe:

    Democrats are out there saying “just wait until the next shoe drops!” and begging for cash.

    I got an email last night purporting to be from Ken Matin, the new DNC Chair. It says he’s going to “Build to Win, Build to Expand, Build to Last”. He’s got a ten year plan. And he wants $3. Really pissed me off. I don’t want you to build party infrastructure for ten years, I want you to fight, now. And the $3 thing confirms Atrios’ running thing that the Party is a party of, by, and for paid consultants.

    For all the talk about messaging and demonizing billionaires and shadow cabinets, I don’t care. Fight. Fight something. Fight anything. Win or lose, pick something and fight it. I’ve been volunteering with the local Dems, I feel like that was a waste.

    2
  21. Jay L Gischer says:

    Musk does not have a security clearance. His inability to get one is probably why DOGE exists at all. And yet here he is with access to the most sensitive national security part of USAID.

    The NatSec implications of this really scare me.

    2
  22. Jen says:

    @Jay L Gischer:

    The NatSec implications of this really scare me.

    Agreed. This has become a huge, overarching concern for me. Coupled with the teenage crew he’s deployed to enact his vision, the security implications are enormous and alarming.

    2
  23. just nutha says:

    @Neil Hudelson: Ron Wyden (D-OR) has been in the media nearly every day on this and other topics. And I get nearly 100% of my news feed from scrolling Google on my phone and my Yahoo front page.

    If I know this using almost nothing…

    ETA: “The issue is that their response has been silence and fundraising.”

    Perhaps this is a comment on 1) DP priorities and 2) the nature of politics in Congress.

    1
  24. Neil Hudelson says:

    I’ve seen Wyden, and I’ve seen AOC. That we can name these two specifically, rather than too many to count, underlines the issue.

    4
  25. DK says:

    @Jen:

    And laying this at the feet of Democrats to do something about? No. Just no.

    Same af. I’m very much enjoying the “Get somebody else to do it” attitude. If people wanted Dems to do something, they should have voted for Dems.

    Good luck, suckers.

    Incidentally, Sen. Schatz (D-Hawaii) says he’ll try to put a blanket hold on Trump nominees over this USAID business.

    4
  26. Neil Hudelson says:

    Democratic Senator Says He Will Stall Trump Nominees Until USAID Is Back

    WASHINGTON—Sen. Brian Schatz (D., Hawaii) said he would place a “blanket hold” on all of President Trump’s State Department nominees until his administration’s attack on the leading foreign-assistance agency ends, a move that threatens to stall Trump’s ability to get his foreign-policy team in place.

    Turns out we don’t have to just sit back and say “oh well.”

    3
  27. Matt Bernius says:

    @Neil Hudelson:

    Democratic Senator Says He Will Stall Trump Nominees Until USAID Is Back

    Maybe, just maybe, there IS a lesson to be learned from Tommy Tuberville’s time in the Senate.

    1
  28. Gustopher says:

    Voorhees was put on leave after he did not allow officials from the “Department of Government Efficiency” to access a sensitive compartmented information facility — commonly known as a SCIF — an ultra-secure room where officials and government contractors take extraordinary precautions to review highly classified information, according to three current and former USAID officials.

    My understanding is that USAID is distributing humanitarian relief (food, etc), a bit of climate stuff, and anti-poverty efforts. Why do they have classified information? I would think that transparency is key to being able to do this job.

    What don’t I understand?

    1
  29. Matt Bernius says:

    @Gustopher:

    My understanding is that USAID is distributing humanitarian relief (food, etc), a bit of climate stuff, and anti-poverty efforts. Why do they have classified information? I would think that transparency is key to being able to do this job.

    Considering some of the places they are operating are in or are adjacent to conflict zones, I suspect they need staff with access to military classified information to assist in making logistics planning and security judgements (among many other things).

    3
  30. CSK says:

    Rubio says he’s now the head of USAID.

  31. Jen says:

    @Matt Bernius: Yes, exactly this. And they likely also have lists of people who they can/cannot trust, and may even have the names of CIA operatives in the area, if they are cleared to have that info. You really don’t want USAID inadvertently exposing operatives/operations in the area.

    2
  32. Connor says:

    USAID is a wholly corrupt organization. Almost all estimates (including, of all things, NPR) cite about 10% of funds going for the humanitarian causes that everyone blubbers about.

    The truth is its basically a CIA front designed to foment trouble/do favors for donors in foreign countries, make nefarious govt tit sucking people rich, and circumvent oversight for those activities. Spare me the pleading about a pure, funding, Congress. Of particular annoyance is their funding of Chinese military virus research. They claim it wasn’t “gain of function,” but it was specifically designed to research bad virus engineering. Reminds me of Fauci and his “I didn’t send money to Wuhan” schtick, when he funneled it through Baric to Wuhan. Priceless Clintonian bull. But what’s 20MM dead among friends? Money to be made.

    On the legal issue, it looks like it could turn on the validity of the reorganization, putting it under Rubio, as opposed to eliminating it. Yes, Congress funds, but who organizes the organization?

    I find it interesting who are squealing like stuck pigs. This is why entrenched government has decided they must destroy Trump at all costs. He’s upsetting their sweet, and corrupt, deal. Promises made, promises kept.

    1
  33. Kurtz says:

    @Connor:

    Why are you allergic to a link?

    Maybe NPR did its own analysis, but more likely it reported on a different organization’s findings.

    This presents two problems for you:

    First, it shows the Right’s constant cries of media bias are, at best, exaggerated, or at worst, an attempt to poison the well.

    Second, without knowing what organization did the analysis, or how they did it, nobody can evaluate the claims made. Moreover, there are many organizations built with the purpose of finding the evidence to support a pre-determined conclusion.

    The question for me: are you lazy or an active liar? Hell, maybe you are both.

    Why are you here? Trying to prove that you are not in a media bubble? Hate to break it to you, but if that is the reason, it requires you to actually comprehend what you read. Your comments consistently reveal that you are either unwilling or unable to do that.

    Do you just need attention? Do you need to feel like a warrior, marching into the lion’s den of opposition?

    It is interesting that the party of pocket Constitutions is now cheering while their guy shreds it. And, don’t forget, also floated suspending it in his first term.

    This shouldn’t surprise anyone, because Republicans love to reduce the books and documents they hold sacred–the Constitution, the Bible–as props. That’s all they are, because they violate the principles found in both on a daily basis.

    No code. No respect. No honor.

    You should keep the word corruption out of your mouth. Trump is the most transparently corrupt politician in my lifetime. Likely, one would have to go back at least a century to find one that approaches his level of graft. It bears repeating: it was barely hidden.

    I know that honesty and good faith are challenging for the intellectually and morally bankrupt, but I do believe in giving people room to improve.

    The ball is in your court. Take a shot.

    6
  34. Jax says:

    @Kurtz: He can’t. He’s totally fine with Elon Musk having the SS # of everyone in the country, even his own.

    I vote he volunteers for Mars first.

    2
  35. DrDaveT says:

    I have to say, I am extremely disappointed in the senior career civil servants who are supposed to be the last line of defense against a coup like this. “The administration removed two top security officials at USAID on Saturday after they refused to allow representatives of the office led by billionaire Elon Musk access to restricted spaces at the agency”. How? How, exactly, did they remove those two officials? There are procedures for placing federal employees on administrative leave, and they do not involve Elon Musk. None of the people involved here had the authority to simply place Voorhees and his deputy on leave, and everyone in the room knew it. Had they simply refused to comply (and perhaps called the police to report an attempted break-in) there is nothing Musk and his goons could have done about it. In the moment, at least.

    I know it’s easy for me to talk, when my livelihood isn’t at stake. But I would have hoped that a much larger fraction of the civil service would be prepared to ignore illegal orders and decline to be bullied into proactive compliance with an obvious coup.

    3
  36. Jax says:

    @DrDaveT: I mean, they’re building camps. Supposedly just for illegal immigrants, but those of them who remember the Holocaust know that the camps aren’t just for immigrants. That’s just where it starts. Everybody else is next, and these people have families.

    3
  37. JKB says:

    It’s only been a few days and the truth is already starting to come out about USAID.

    The President of El Salvador agrees that Trump is right:

    Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, offered a foreign perspective.

    He said on social media “Most governments don’t want USAID funds flowing into their countries because they understand where much of that money actually ends up.

    “While marketed as support for development, democracy, and human rights, the majority of these funds are funneled into opposition groups, NGOs with political agendas, and destabilizing movements.

    “At best, maybe 10% of the money reaches real projects that help people in need (there are such cases), but the rest is used to fuel dissent, finance protests, and undermine administrations that refuse to align with the globalist agenda.”

  38. DrDaveT says:

    @Jax:

    I mean, they’re building camps.

    With their own hands? I doubt that. If nothing else, there aren’t enough of them.

    They can only do the things that actual workers do for them. While I’m sure there are quite a few eager Trumpists among the foot soldiers, I can’t believe that the majority of the people needed to do the work are eager to help. We are not — yet — anywhere near the point where the police and the courts are rubber-stamp tools of Trump, much less Musk. What physical power do Trump and Musk have to compel anyone to do anything illegal at this point? Why can’t USAID officials simply call 9-1-1 and report a break-in and assault by unauthorized persons?

    1
  39. DK says:

    @Connor:

    I find it interesting who are squealing like stuck pigs. This is why entrenched government has decided they must destroy Trump at all costs.

    Unsurprising its mostly mediocre incels tounging Trump’s rapist rear end. Y’all decided you must lick the billionare boot by blindly making excuses for Trump and Musk, like obedient little Fox News slaves.

    9 of the 10 poorest states are Republican.
    ~95 of the 100 poorest counties are Republican.
    Epstein-bestie paedo Trump feeds their victim-mentality, providing cover for them to scapegoat trans woke deep state elite DEI hire cat-eating CRT Haitian migrant pronouns for their joylessnes and general failure in life.

    That way, they don’t have to admit the real issue is a) their own mediocrity and b) their own error in simping for entrenched oligarchs and a narcissistic orange con artist who couldn’t care less about them.

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  40. Neil Hudelson says:

    [Oops, posted this on the wrong thread.] I thought I’d mention that I tried to track down Connor’s claim that its widely accepted that only 10% of USAID goes to intended recipients, even the from the vaunted NPR (checkmate, libruls!).

    In news that will shock no one, there is no article from NPR that mentions 90% corruption rate in anyway whatsoever. I can find no articles from any journalistic enterprise that mentions it. The only mention is from El Salvador’s Strongman president, making that number up yesterday.

    Connor, who cannot locate El Salvador on a map and certainly does not know their leader’s name, background, or have any reason to trust him whatsoever, just swallowed that as gospel. He realized saying “El Salvador’s proto-dictator thinks there’s 90% corruption” would get laughed at, so he made up that NPR reported it.

    I keep being told that not all right wingers are degenerate liars, but I have yet to find one that isn’t. They just arent’ sending their best and brightest here.

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