Donald J Trump swept into office like a bloody tsunami and now (comfortably esconced in government housing) is letting the water recede to reveal who’s been swimming naked.
WTF does that mean, Big Red Car?
What I mean is this Trump fellow made a lot of campaign promises and signed a lot of Executive Orders and we can now see — SEE — whether those promises were real or just shiny stuff to attract votes. [Politicians are known to lie to us for our votes.]
Bit more specificity, Big Red Car?
Certainly, dear reader. The Trump 2.0 promises us a sleeker government and today he locked out the offices of the US AID (Agency for International Development) and indicated their functions will be folded into the Department of State. He had previously halted all foreign aid programs for 90 days (another campaign promise made good upon).
Boom — locked out! Sort of a bold stroke. Imagine arriving for work as a government employee as say 10:19AM and finding your workplace locked?
Can we get some back story, Big Red Car?
For a bit of background, let’s explore from whence USAID came to be and what it does.
1. In 1961, President John Kennedy wanted to counter the Soviet hegemony and expansion around the world. He convinced Congress to pass the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to marshal funds to counter the Soviets.
2. JFK became frustrated with the State Department’s sluggishness in implementing his new policy so he cajoled Congress into creating a new agency to pass out the goodies — voila — the United States Agency for International Development.
JFK used his powers as President to create USAID by Executive Order and Congress confirmed it in 1998.
USAID was created during the Cold War to combat Soviet expansionism <<< primary mission, core function.
3. Like all government agencies, AID grew like a bloody weed until today it is 10,000 people in 60 countries handing out about $40B out of $79B of US aid. [Classic mission creep, you say? Indeed.]
Foreign aid is handed out by both USAID and the State Department. It costs about $24B to run the office of USAID.
So, costs $24B to give away $40B out of a total US aid program of $79B. Big deal.
4. Fast forward to 1991 and the fall of the Soviet Empire. Did this make the USAID obsolete, no longer necessary, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED?
No, because any agency ever created begins to live off itself, you silly goose.
5. Comes now this Trump 2.0 and his trained monkey Muskie — a formidable, bold cost cutter based on his own pruning of Twitter — and they say, “Cold War is over. We won. Let’s get rid of the USAID?”
By way of background, the American public is 71% against the program of foreign aid with tax dollars.
So, what happened, Big Red Car?
Today, actions were taken to cancel US AID.
1. This morning, the State Department announced that the operations of US AID would be folded into the State Department itself. [Remember the State Department is also in the aid racket.]
2. As part of the justification for this action, Secretary of State Rubio announced the US AID leadership was “insurordinate” before announcing #1 above.
3. Rubio announced also that he, Rubio, is now the head of USAID.
4. This morning the workers at USAID found their Washington DC headquarters locked, found out they were no longer able to access their government computers, and learned that USAID is on the chopping block. [Learn to code?]
Can the President do this, Big Red Car?
Your Big Red Car thinks this is a very good question and I don’t think the old boy can, but this falls under the classification of “shit you can do if you have nominal support of the US Congress.”
What else has Trump 2.0 done?
Ahhh, dear reader, Trump 2.0 has been busy.
1. Night of the Long Knives over at the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation whereat they retired or fired all the folks who prosecuted Trump in the lawfare racket. Sort of expected this. Nice touch doing it on a Friday afternoon.
If you come to kill the King, make sure you kill the King?
Bit of witchcraft at work here because nobody by law can be fired for 120 days after the appointment of a new department head. Trump 2.0 struck under the power of an “acting” head of DOJ thereby skirting the law. Clever.
2. Imposed 25% tariffs on both Mexico and Canada whereafter the Mexicans have already made peace obtaining a 30-day moratorium in return for dispatching 10,000 troops to the border.
Shortly, we will find out how deeply the Mexican government is in bed with the cartels.
Keep an eye on the relative strength of the peso and Canadian dollar v the USD.
Taken in concert with the designation of the Mexican human trafficking/drug cartels as a Global Terror Organization (thereby exposing them to American wrath up to and including a visit from Delta Force and other serious people), this has resulted in a 96% reduction of encounters at our southern border with illegal aliens.
How long, dear reader, did it take to close the Southern border? Less than two weeks. Boom!
Sheesh, bottom line it, Big Red Car, we need to go to the gym
OK, dear reader, here it is.
1. Every morning (except Sundays) I wake up and ask, “WTF has Trump 2.0 done today?”
2. Across the board, a gigantic percentage of Trump 2.0’s campaign promises are becoming reality.
3. Most striking to me is the sincere effort to reduce the size of the Jabba the Hutt government as headed by Musk and DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency).
Hang on, it’s going to be a bumpy ride. Can you feel the vibe changing?
But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car.