There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. —Soren Kierkegaard. "…truth is true even if nobody believes it, and falsehood is false even if everybody believes it. That is why truth does not yield to opinion, fashion, numbers, office, or sincerity–it is simply true and that is the end of it" – Os Guinness, Time for Truth, pg.39. “He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.” – Blaise Pascal. "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" – George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. We live in a “post-truth” world. According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Going beyond the MSM idealogical opinion/bias and their low information tabloid reality show news with a distractional superficial focus on entertainment, sensationalism, emotionalism and activist reporting – this blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ― Soren Kierkegaard
President Donald J. Trump listens to the Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought delivers remarks prior to President Trump signing Executive Orders (Credit: White House)
President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he would meet with Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, a key architect of the Project 2025 blueprint, to determine which federal agencies, deemed by Trump as “political SCAM Democrat Agencies,” should face cuts and whether those cuts will be temporary or permanent.
With Congress deadlocked and the shutdown entering its second day, the White House is pressing ahead with sweeping plans to slash government.
Trump described the impasse not as a crisis but as a chance to purge bureaucratic excesses and reshape federal power in line with conservative priorities.
Officials say the meeting with Vought will lead to mass layoffs, departmental closures, and funding freezes, according to Reuters.
The President’s post signals that these changes may not simply be temporary austerity measures, but irreversible restructuring.
“I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent.
“I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity. They are not stupid people, so maybe this is their way of wanting to, quietly and quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! President DJT”
While no definitive list has been released, if Project 2025 is implemented, expect these Democrat-run bureaucracies to be on the chopping block:
Department of Education – Trump has long signaled he wants to dismantle this agency, and early 2025 efforts already saw major workforce reductions
FEMA – Long criticized by the Trump administration, FEMA’s role in federal disaster relief has been repeatedly challenged.
Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) – An executive order in March 2025 sought to eliminate it “to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.”
EPA (or parts thereof) – Under Project 2025, environmental oversight agencies are prime candidates for defunding or abolition.
The government shutdown, the 15th since 1981, has suspended scientific research, , economic data reports, and a wide range of other activities. Major benefit programs, like Social Security, will continue to send out payments.
A standoff in Congress has frozen about $1.7 trillion in funds for agency operations, which amounts to roughly one-quarter of annual federal spending. Much of the remainder goes to health and retirement programs and interest payments on the growing $37.5 trillion debt.
Pay has been suspended for roughly 2 million federal workers, with roughly 750,000 ordered not to work and others, such as troops and Border Patrol agents, required to work without pay. Many could face personal hardship if the standoff is not resolved before October 15, when the next paychecks are due to be issued.
A prolonged shutdown could disrupt air travel, threaten food aid for millions of Americans, and weigh on exports and mortgage applications.
However, past shutdowns have not had a lasting impact on the broader U.S. economy. The longest lasted 35 days in 2018 and 2019, during Trump’s first term, due to a dispute over immigration.
Late last week, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) reportedly circulated internal guidance to agencies, warning them to prepare for waves of deferred resignations and reductions in force should Congress fail to approve full appropriations, according to the New York Post.
Agencies were told to begin drafting Separation and Reduction in Force (RIF) plans targeting nonessential positions.
On January 28, 2025, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a memo to the entire federal civil service titled “Fork in the Road,” offering employees a deferred resignation option.
The offer promised continued salary and benefits through September 30 if workers left voluntarily, but only if they signed away legal rights and accepted the exit by a looming deadline.
By mid-February, approximately 75,000 federal employees had signed the exit agreement.
More than 100,000 additional workers are expected to depart as of Tuesday, making this breakaway the largest one-day drop in federal workforce history, according to The Guardian.
The White House budget office has instructed federal agencies to prepare to fire a ton of people (aka ‘reduction-in-force’ plans) that could permanently eliminate jobs in the event of a government shutdown – the latest twist in the latest shutdown groundhog day – effectively challenging Democrats to a game of chicken.
Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought
In a memo shared with agencies Wednesday, the Office of Management and Budget said departments must identify programs where discretionary funding will lapse on Oct. 1 and no alternative source is available. Instead of a typical furlough, OMB has told agencies to get ready for permanent reductions – starting with positions that are out of alignment with President Donald Trump’s priorities.
In the past, affected employees were furloughed on a temporary basis and reinstated once Congress approved new spending. Not this time – as OMB Director Russ Vought is using the prospect of deep cuts as leverage against the Democrats.
“Programs that did not benefit from an infusion of mandatory appropriations will bear the brunt of a shutdown,” reads the OMB memo – with agencies instructed to submit their proposed RIF plans and to issue notices to employees who might otherwise be excepted or furloughed during a lapse in funding, Politico reports.
Core services – including Social Security, Medicare, veterans benefits, military operations, law enforcement, immigration enforcement and air traffic control – would continue regardless of a shutdown, according to an OMB official familiar with the guidance.
At the heart of the deadlock, Democrats are demanding that any short-term spending measure include an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies that are due to expire, as well as broader negotiations on domestic priorities. Republicans, by contrast, are pushing to advance a leaner stopgap bill already passed by the House that would fund the government through Nov. 21 while largely preserving Trump administration priorities and holding the line on additional healthcare spending.
The memo arrives days before the Sept. 30 deadline to avert a lapse in government funding. The House has passed a short-term measure to keep operations running through Nov. 21, but Senate Democrats have rejected the plan, insisting on negotiations over a broader bipartisan package that could extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies.
The OMB also said that if Congress passes a clean stopgap bill before the fiscal year deadline, nobody will get fired (aside from the usual firings).
Democrats, of course, are absolutely beside themselves – with Senate Minority Leader Chuck ‘hamburger expert’ Schumer (D-NY) claiming that the plan confirmed his warnings during the last shutdown standoff in March, when he argued that it would enable the Trump administration to accelerate cuts to government programs. Schumer, who will keep his job no matter what, called the OMB memo “an attempt at intimidation.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries struck a sharper tone, warning voters in Virginia – home to many federal employees – that the administration’s policies were “ruining lives and punishing hardworking families already struggling with Trump Tariffs and inflation.”
With just days left before government funding runs out, the OMB memo underscores the potential for this shutdown fight to reshape the federal workforce in ways not seen in previous budget battles.
President Donald Trump holds a cabinet meeting, Wednesday, February 26, 2025, in the Cabinet Room. (Official White House Photo by Molly Riley)
The bloated, inefficient, and corrupt federal bureaucracy is finally facing a long-overdue reckoning.
President Donald Trump has ordered all federal agencies to prepare for significant reductions in workforce and structural reorganization.
According to a newly released memo from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), agencies must submit their initial plans for large-scale reductions in force (RIFs) by March 13, 2025.
This directive is part of Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency” Workforce Optimization Initiative, an executive order signed on February 11, 2025, which aims to eliminate waste, bloat, and insularity in Washington’s deep state.
“The federal government is costly, inefficient, and deeply in debt. At the same time, it is not producing results for the American public. Instead, tax dollars are being siphoned off to fund unproductive and unnecessary programs that benefit radical interest groups while hurting hardworking American citizens,” according to the memo signed by OMB Director Russell T. Vought and Acting OPM Director Charles Ezell.
“This is the mandate of the American people,” the memo added, pointing to Trump’s landslide victory on November 5, 2024, as proof that voters are fed up with Washington’s entrenched elite.
“President Trump required that “Agency Heads shall promptly undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force (RIFs), consistent with applicable law.” President Trump also directed that, no later than March 13, 2025, agencies develop Agency Reorganization Plans,” the memo states.
The administration’s goal is clear: gut unnecessary bureaucratic functions, fire underperforming government employees, and end taxpayer-funded handouts to radical special interests.
The cuts come in two waves. Phase 1 ARRPs, due March 13, are the opening salvo—initial layoffs, office closures, and a purge of non-essential roles.
Phase 2, due April 14, goes further, reimagining agencies with streamlined org charts, fewer managers, and a laser focus on efficiency.
By September 30, the transformation should be complete, with monthly progress reports keeping agencies on a short leash.
A sample timeline in the memo shows how fast this could move. Agencies have until mid-March to map out “competitive areas” for RIFs, followed by a 30- to 60-day notice period (shortened with OPM waivers) before separations kick in. Early retirement offers and attrition will soften the blow.
Notably, the OMB-OPM memo exempts key national security functions such as:
Positions that are necessary to meet law enforcement, border security, national security, immigration enforcement, or public safety responsibilities;
Military personnel in the armed forces and all Federal uniformed personnel, including the U.S. Coast Guard, the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, and the Commissioned Officer Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration;
Officials nominated and appointed to positions requiring Presidential appointment or Senate confirmation, non-career positions in the Senior Executive Service or Schedule C positions in the excepted service, officials appointed through temporary organization hiring authority pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 3161, or the appointment of any other non-career employees or officials, if approved by agency leadership appointed by the President;
The Executive Office of the President; or
The U.S. Postal Service.
Finally, agencies or components that provide direct services to citizens (such as Social Security, Medicare, and veterans’ health care) shall not implement any proposed ARRPs until OMB and OPM certify that the plans will have a positive effect on the delivery of such services.
However, radical leftist strongholds within the government—such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Education, and the bloated social welfare bureaucracy—are likely headed for deep cuts, following USAID.
President Trump just authorized the DOGE Team to focus on “the deconstruction of the overbearing and burdensome administrative state.”
The order gives government agency heads 60 days to identify the following classes of regulations:
(i) unconstitutional regulations and regulations that raise serious constitutional difficulties, such as exceeding the scope of the power vested in the Federal Government by the Constitution; (ii) regulations that are based on unlawful delegations of legislative power; (iii) regulations that are based on anything other than the best reading of the underlying statutory authority or prohibition; (iv) regulations that implicate matters of social, political, or economic significance that are not authorized by clear statutory authority; (v) regulations that impose significant costs upon private parties that are not outweighed by public benefits; (vi) regulations that harm the national interest by significantly and unjustifiably impeding technological innovation, infrastructure development, disaster response, inflation reduction, research and development, economic development, energy production, land use, and foreign policy objectives; and (vii) regulations that impose undue burdens on small business and impede private enterprise and entrepreneurship. (b) In conducting the review required by subsection (a) of this section, agencies shall prioritize review of those rules that satisfy the definition of “significant regulatory action” in Executive Order 12866 of September 30, 1993 (Regulatory Planning and Review), as amended. (c) Within 60 days of the date of this order, agency heads shall provide to the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within the Office of Management and Budget a list of all regulations identified by class as listed in subsection (a) of this section. (d) The Administrator of OIRA shall consult with agency heads to develop a Unified Regulatory Agenda that seeks to rescind or modify these regulations, as appropriate.
This follows President Trump’s executive order in January named “Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation,” which calls for agencies to identify and eliminate ten existing regulations for each new regulation created.
“The ever-expanding morass of complicated Federal regulation imposes massive costs on the lives of millions of Americans, creates a substantial restraint on our economic growth and ability to build and innovate, and hampers our global competitiveness. Despite the magnitude of their impact, these measures are often difficult for the average person or business to understand, as they require synthesizing the collective meaning not just of formal regulations but also rules, memoranda, administrative orders, guidance documents, policy statements, and interagency agreements that are not subject to the Administrative Procedure Act, further increasing compliance costs and the risk of costs of non-compliance,” the order states.
It is the policy of my Administration to significantly reduce the private expenditures required to comply with Federal regulations to secure America’s economic prosperity and national security and the highest possible quality of life for each citizen.
The order requires that “Unless prohibited by law, whenever an executive department or agency (agency) publicly proposes for notice and comment or otherwise promulgates a new regulation, it shall identify at least 10 existing regulations to be repealed.”
It further requires that “any new incremental costs associated with new regulations shall, to the extent permitted by law, be offset by the elimination of existing costs associated with at least 10 prior regulations.”
Agency heads are directed to ensure that the total incremental cost of any new regulations “shall be significantly less than zero.”
The Office of Management and Budget Director is directed to oversee and set guidance on new regulations under the new law.
The President has long committed to and campaigned on deregulation to foster economic growth and prosperity.
In 2017, President Trump signed a similar executive order, requiring agencies to eliminate “at least two prior regulations” before implementing a new one. Biden revoked Trump’s past deregulation order on his first day in office in 2021.
The White House issued the following fact sheet explaining the new executive order:
ELIMINATING 10 REGULATIONS FOR EACH NEW REGULATION ISSUED: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to unleash prosperity through deregulation.
The Order requires that whenever an agency promulgates a new rule, regulation, or guidance, it must identify at least 10 existing rules, regulations, or guidance documents to be repealed.
The Director of the Office of Management and Budget will ensure standardized measurement and estimation of regulatory costs.
It requires that for fiscal year 2025, the total incremental cost of all new regulations, including repealed regulations, be significantly less than zero.
HALTING THE REGULATORY ONSLAUGHT: President Trump will halt the job killing and inflation-driving regulatory blitz of the Biden Administration.
The Biden Administration imposed a historic $1.7 trillion in costs on the American people.
Overregulation stops American entrepreneurship, crushes small business, reduces consumer choice, discourages innovation, and infringes on the liberties of American citizens.
It also contributes to the high cost of living, including by driving up energy prices.
BUILDING ON PAST SUCCESS: President Trump’s first Administration undertook the most aggressive and successful regulatory reduction effort in history.
In his first term, President Trump asked the agencies to eliminate two regulations for each one new regulation issued. Not only was this 2-for-1 goal achieved, the first Trump Administration eliminated five and a half regulations for everyone new regulation issued.
This Executive Order builds on President Trump’s previous success to improve daily lives of the American people by reducing unnecessary, burdensome, and costly Federal regulations.
On Thursday, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller made an appearance in the press briefing room.
The brilliant Stephen Miller opened up Thursday’s briefing with an epic monologue highlighting Trump’s first 30 days. The White House reporters looked miserable as they were forced to listen to Stephen Miller boast about Trump’s historic accomplishments.
“I want to thank you all for joining today our one month celebration of the most historic opening to a presidency in American history. No president comes close to what President Trump has achieved over just the last 30 days,” Stephen Miller said with a smile on his face.
“He has packed eight years of transformative action. Restoring this nation, restoring our laws, economic opportunity, and national security, into just one month. No one in this country has ever seen anything like it. When you look at the consequential reality and the significance of the transformative nature, it truly defies description,” Miller said.
Stephen Miller ripped the Biden Regime’s DEI policies and praised President Trump for dismantling the illegal discrimination.
“In just one area, this nation has been plagued and crippled by illegal discrimination, diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. It has made every aspect of life more difficult, painful, and less safe. He has ended all DEI across the federal government. He has terminated all federal workers associated with these unlawful policies. He has ended diversity, equity, and inclusion in all federal contracting. He has restored merit as the cornerstone of all federal policy and reinstated the full, fair, and impartial enforcement of our federal civil rights laws. For the first time in generations,” Stephen Miller said.
Stephen Miller touted President Trump for saving women’s sports by banning transgender athletes (biological men) from competing against women.
“He has also saved women’s sports by ending the participation of men in women’s sports. He has ended radical gender ideology across the entire federal government and he’s pressured the private sector to also end and combat radical gender ideology as well. He’s reestablished the biological truth that there are only two sexes in this country – MALE AND FEMALE – and that those are biologically based determinations… sex can never be based on gender identity. That includes rooting out Department of Defense all DEI policies and critical race theory, all gender madness, once again ensuring that the military is focused solely and exclusively on readiness, preparedness, and lethality,” Miller said.
Stephen Miller praised Elon Musk’s DOGE team for uncovering corruption in the federal government.
“He has undertaken a cost cutting effort, launching the first ever Department of Government Efficiency [DOGE], uncovering corruption on a scale that we never thought imaginable. He has terminated every federal worker found to be engaged in corruption, theft, and the waste of taxpayer dollars already saving $50 billion in a single year, which over a 10 year period would be $500 billion,” Stephen Miller said.
Miller said Trump ended the weaponization of federal government and restored the DOJ to its true mission of combating real threats.
“[Trump] has ended the weaponization of the federal government and restored the Department of Justice to its true mission of combating threats and keeping the American people safe. He has ended all federal censorship of free speech. This has been one of the greatest crises that has plagued this nation. Years years and years the federal government violated the First Amendment, taking away the right to free speech. President Trump has demanded that all federal workers and law enforcement cease any effort to intimidate the rights of Americans or police speech,” Stephen Miller said.
“He has also restored the death penalty at the Department of Justice, including for illegal aliens who commit murder and including for those who murder police officers. The death penalty is back. Law and order is back. The streets are being made safe once again,” he added.
Stephen Miller praised RFK Jr. for his mission to “Make America Healthy Again” – or MAHA.
“He has launched the nation’s first ever commission, MAGA – Make America Healthy Again, following the historic confirmation of RFK Jr. to finally uncover the true root causes of the public health crisis in this country, the spiraling rates of pediatric cancer, and devastating childhood sickness. He finally created a situation where federal health agencies will focus on preventing disease and keeping children from getting sick in the first place, not sending them into a lifetime of in and out hospitals suffering needlessly when we could find ways to prevent this epidemic of illness,” Stephen Miller said.
Stephen Miller boasted about Trump’s swift work to secure the southern border. Something that ‘Border Czar’ Kamala Harris was never able to accomplish.
“Border crossings, since the day he took office are down 95%. I think it’s almost impossible to describe the scale and scope of the achievement. President Trump, within days of taking office, cut border crossings by 95%. Those few who have dared to cross are either being prosecuted or deported. They are either facing significant jail time for trafficking, smuggling, and harboring, aiding, impeding or they are being immediately removed. At the end of the process, they are going home,” Miller said confidently.
Stephen Miller continued, “America is safe and free. The entire world now understands that if you do not come here illegally — If you do, you will go to jail, you will go home, and you will not succeed. This is the biggest and most successful change in any area of law enforcement that this nation has ever seen and he did it in under one month.”
WATCH:
Stephen Miller (@stephenm): "I want to thank you all for joining today our one month celebration of the most historic opening to a presidency in American history. No president comes close to what President Trump has achieved over just the last 30 days." pic.twitter.com/sJavBFdj3q
Last month, President Trump offered a “deferred resignation” to many full-time federal employees, expecting 5-10% of the workforce to quit. As of Tuesday, around 20,000 workers had taken this offer.
About 20,000 federal workers have accepted the “buyout” offer put forward by the Trump administration last week, a senior administration official tells Axios.
Why it matters: It’s a significant number of people — about 1% of the federal workforce — but still substantially less than the White House’s target of 5% to 10%.
The offer is open through Thursday, meaning the total could rise, despite heavy opposition from unions and others.
This comes as the Trump administration is gutting several federal agencies. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) offered a similar “buyout” offer to its employees, according to Just the News:
The CIA on Tuesday sent its own buyout option to its entire workforce, which mimics the buyout option sent to federal employees by President Donald Trump’s administration last week, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Both buyout offers give the employees eight months of pay and benefits in exchange for their resignations. Federal employees under Trump’s buyout offers have until Feb. 6 to accept the deal, but it is not clear if the CIA workforce will have the same.
…
The CIA’s deal makes it the first intelligence agency to offer a buyout, and was made to bring the agency more in line with Trump’s priorities, such as focusing on combating drug cartels and countering China.
Not every agency has been so lucky, however. As the administration ramps up its attacks on the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), many of its staff have been placed on paid administrative leave.
The Trump administration is making moves to place nearly all of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Washington-based staff on paid administrative leave, according to a USAID official and a person familiar with the situation.
The move affects thousands of people and is the latest blow the administration is striking against the agency, which is America’s primary vehicle for providing humanitarian aid. Tech mogul Elon Musk, a Trump ally running an initiative aimed at downsizing the government, has made USAID a particular target.
Other agencies, meanwhile, have not been gutted yet, though their employees have been warned that they could be “dismissed immediately.” Employees in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were notified that recently that they could be let go soon. According to NBC News:
The Trump administration has notified more than 1,000 employees at the Environmental Protection Agency that they could be dismissed immediately.
Workers who’ve been at the agency less than one year received an email last week notifying them that they had been identified as employees that were likely on a “probationary/ trial period,” according to an email reviewed by NBC News.
“As a probationary/ trial period employee, the agency has the right to immediately terminate you,” the email says. “The process for probationary removal is that you receive a notice of termination, and your employment is ended immediately.”
About 1,100 employees received the email, according to Marie Owens Powell, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, a union that represents about 8,500 EPA staffers. Powell said she had received the list of employees from the agency.
It is clear that President Trump is acting quickly and efficiently to shrink the federal government and cut down on waste. Let’s pray that God continues to give him and his administration wisdom as they seek to better our nation and its government!
What do you think of President Trump’s actions? Share your thoughts and prayers below.
The federal swamp is about to undergo a massive draining soon as President Trump embarks on his mission to shrink the federal government.
CNN reported Tuesday afternoon that the Trump Administration is planning widespread federal layoffs among workers if they refuse to accept a generous buyout offer. Trump officials told the outlet that the layoffs, which are being called sweeping “Reductions in Force,” are expected to begin shortly after the Thursday deadline that the Office of Personnel Management set for workers to accept the resignation package.
As TGP readers know, Trump has offered buyouts to millions of federal workers if they resign by this Thursday. The federal workers who accept Trump’s offer will receive pay and benefits through September 30.
Just over 20,000 federal workers have thrown in the towel so far. This represents roughly 1% of 2.4 million people working for the federal government.
It’s important to note that Trump’s offer does not include postal workers, military personnel, immigration officials, or people in national security roles.
The White House hopes between 5% and 10% of employees take the buyout, but that still leaves almost a million federal employees eligible for termination even under the most generous scenario.
Moreover, the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal workforce union, is pressuring workers NOT to take the buyout. The union claims Trump’s offer contains no guarantees that employees “will receive the benefits that the Program purports to offer” if they resign.
In some cases, the train has already left the station for federal workers. As The Gateway Pundit reported earlier, the Trump administration sent shockwaves through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by notifying over 1,000 employees that they are on the chopping block.
EPA employees who have been with the agency for less than a year received an email last week notifying them that they could be dismissed immediately.
President Trump’s administration then took another significant step in cutting down bloated government bureaucracy earlier on Tuesday, confirming that nearly all Washington-based USAID staff will be placed on leave—marking the most significant shake-up in the agency’s history.
“The reality is clear: A large-scale reduction, in response to the President’s workforce executive orders, is already happening. The government is restructuring, and unfortunately, many employees will later realize they missed a valuable, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” a Trump official told CNN.
While hundreds of thousands will likely live to regret not accepting Trump’s offer, billions of dollars will be saved. In addition, Americans will likely not notice any difference in how the government runs.
Trump’s efforts have been met with hostility and criticism from the media and predictably from his political opposition.
Opinionist Phillip Bump at the Washington Post writes Trump’s actions are “a sharp disruption of how the government works.” Bump laments that “Trump is clearly interested in…seeding loyalists throughout the executive branch.” At Axios, Zachary Basu and Dave Lawler explain that Trump is “transform[ing] the federal bureaucracy into an army of loyalists.” Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, who represents 140,000 federal workers in Virginia, told reporters “This gleeful hatred of the federal workforce will lead to nothing good.”
But are Trump’s efforts to transform the government workforce justified by a real concern that his policy platforms–which earned him a presidential victory–will be thwarted by anonymous bureaucrats?
Recent survey research suggests Trump is right to be concerned. Napolitan Institute found that just 45% of Federal Government Managers would follow a legal order from President Trump if they thought the order was bad policy and instead would do what they thought was right. Among managers who voted for Kamala Harris that figure jumps to nearly three-quarters (69%.) The survey also found a majority (52%) of the federal managerial class voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.
Those current survey results are consistent with events that developed in the first Trump Administration, where we learned how bureaucratic opinions on “right” policy interfered with the power of the duly elected executive officer.
Former diplomat Jim Jeffrey revealed that his team routinely mislead the Trump Administration after the president had ordered the withdrawal of troops from Syria. “What Syria withdrawal? There was never a Syria withdrawal,” Jeffrey said. “When the situation in northeast Syria had been fairly stable after we defeated ISIS, [Trump] was inclined to pull out. In each case, we then decided to come up with five better arguments for why we needed to stay. And we succeeded both times. That’s the story.”
“We were always playing shell games to not make clear to our leadership how many troops we had there,” Jeffrey said in an interview.
While Jeffrey’s revelation came after Trump had left office from his first term, there was a real time revelation of a policy conflict between President Trump and the “interagency consensus” that would become foundation of the first Trump impeachment.
The policy difference originated from a phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky when Trump requested Zelensky open an investigation into possible corruption at the Burisma energy company before receiving a military aid package. Trump’s 2020 election opponent Joe Biden’s son was on the board of Burisma.
A central part of the subsequent impeachment case was testimony from Lt. Alexander Vindman (ret.), who had been detailed to the National Security Council and present for the phone call. Vindman explained in his opening statement to the House impeachment committee he was concerned the president chose to wield his executive authority in a way that was at odds with the “interagency consensus.” Vindman testified “…a false narrative of Ukraine inconsistent with the consensus views of the interagency,” Vindman said in his opening statement. “This narrative was harmful to U.S. government policy. While my interagency colleagues and I were becoming increasingly optimistic on Ukraine’s prospects, this alternative narrative undermined U.S. government efforts to expand cooperation with Ukraine.” But Vindman and the “interagency consensus” have no authority to determine or execute their interpretation of U.S. government policy or in other words, “do what they thought was right.”
The New York Times editorial board supported and encouraged the usurpation of executive authority in favor of the “right” bureaucratic opinion by praising the government bureaucracy overriding or ignoring President Trump’s lawful authority. “…patriotic public servants — career diplomats, scientists, intelligence officers and others…have somehow remembered that their duty is to protect the interests, not of a particular leader, but of the American people.”
There is no way to know exactly how extensive bureaucratic resistance interfered with Trump’s ability to govern in his first term, but we do know 46% of current Federal Government Managers would ignore the legal order of President Trump and instead do what was “right.” Trump is making the correct move to overhaul the federal bureaucracy in order to deliver on the campaign promises that got him back in office.
Elizabeth Sheld is a veteran political strategist and pollster who has worked on campaigns and public interest affairs.
The chaos that we are witnessing in Washington D.C. right now is absolutely breathtaking. The U.S. possesses the largest and most bloated bureaucracy in the entire history of the planet, and now it is has been thrown into a state of turmoil as Donald Trump and his team fire political appointees, freeze spending, and figuratively turn over the tables in agency after agency. Overall, there are more than 3 million federal employees in the United States. Many of them find themselves in shock as the harsh reality of what is happening to them starts setting in.
Let me give you an example of what I am talking about. A “current employee at the Office of Personnel Management” says that Trump has initiated a “hostile takeover of the federal civil service”. This is the message that this anonymous employee posted on Twitter…
In other words, Trump and his team have literally taken control of the infrastructure that oversees all federal personnel decisions.
We have never seen anything quite like this before.
When Trump started his first term, he tried to play along with the establishment.
This time around, he is doing things much differently.
On Tuesday, the White House announced a “temporary suspension” of most federal grants and loans…
President Donald Trump’s administration has enacted a temporary suspension of all federal grants and loans, effective today, Tuesday, January 28, 2025.
This strategic pause, orchestrated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is designed to facilitate a comprehensive review of federal financial assistance programs, ensuring that taxpayer dollars are utilized efficiently and in accordance with the administration’s objectives.
This initiative reflects President Trump’s unwavering commitment to fiscal responsibility and his dedication to eliminating wasteful spending.
We have never seen an incoming president do anything like this either.
But it makes sense. Trump and his team want to evaluate where federal money is going so that taxpayer dollars can be deployed as efficiently as possible.
Assistance that goes directly to individuals is not being frozen. As White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has made quite clear, this temporary freeze does not apply to Social Security, Medicare, or the food stamp program…
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the pause wouldn’t cover Social Security and Medicare benefits or food stamps – assistance that is going directly to individuals.
“This is not a blanket pause on federal assistance and grant programs from the Trump administration,” Leavitt said. “However, it is the responsibility of this president and this administration to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars.”
However, on Tuesday there were reports that Medicaid payment systems were not functioning…
Several lawmakers took to social media on Tuesday afternoon to confirm that that their state’s Medicaid payment systems have been shut off.
“Can confirm. Connecticut’s Medicaid payment system has been turned off. Doctors and hospitals cannot get paid,” wrote Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut in a post on the social media site X. “Discussions ongoing about whether services can continue.”
Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden said on X that his staff has confirmed that Medicaid portals in all 50 states are down due to the Trump administration’s federal funding freeze.
The Trump administration says that it is aware of this issue and insists that any Medicaid payments that were temporarily delayed will soon be processed…
The White House has said it is ‘aware of the Medicaid website portal outage’ but insisted no payments had been denied and were instead just delayed in being processed.
But state and federal officials say the issue is already impacting providers across the country and worrying millions of people who rely on Medicaid for everything from prescription medicines and preventive screening to unexpected hospital stays and checkups.
Needless to say, once Trump’s funding freeze was unveiled, liberal organizations that rely on federal funding went absolutely ballistic.
A bunch of groups quickly went to court, and they were able to find a federal judge that was sympathetic…
A federal district judge on Tuesday granted an administrative stay in a case challenging the Trump administration’s planned freeze of federal aid, pausing the plan for a week and setting a hearing for further arguments Monday morning.
The order applies only to the pause of disbursements in open grants, Judge Loren AliKhan said. And it doesn’t get into the legality of the freeze; instead, it gives her time to hear more fleshed-out arguments from a coalition of nonprofit groups about why she should issue a temporary restraining order that could block the freeze for an additional two weeks. The hearing will take place at 11 a.m. Monday.
Why are they able to get the courts to move so quickly?
For most Americans, our court system moves at a glacial pace.
In any event, I expect that Trump’s temporary suspension of federal grants and loans will eventually be upheld.
The Trump administration has also decided to temporarily freeze most foreign aid…
Internal communications reviewed by ABC News show that the Trump administration plans to strictly implement an executive order from the president mandating a 90-day freeze on almost all U.S. foreign aid amid a review, a measure that already has sparked widespread concern among humanitarian organizations.
“We get tired of giving massive amounts of money to countries that hate us, don’t we?” President Donald Trump said in a speech during the House Republicans’ annual retreat in Florida on Monday, touting a blizzard of executive actions he had taken since returning to the White House.
Emergency food programs and military aid to Israel and Egypt are the only exceptions to this freeze on foreign assistance.
Once again, the goal is to review where the money is going so that it can be used as efficiently as possible.
For far too long, money from the U.S. has been ending up in the pockets of corrupt officials all over the globe.
The Trump administration is offering buyouts to all federal employees who don’t wish to return to in-person work at the office, a White House official confirmed to USA TODAY.
The offer, which will be outlined in a memo the U.S. Office of Personnel Management intends to send on Tuesday, would give federal employees eight months of pay until September if they resign by Feb. 6.
“If you choose not to continue in your current role in the federal workforce, we thank you for your service to your country and you will be provided with a dignified, fair departure from the federal deferred resignation program,” according to a copy of the memo reviewed by the USA TODAY.
I had no idea that so few federal employees were showing up for work at the office each day.
According to one administration official, only 6 percent of all federal employees show up to work at the office on a full-time basis…
“The government-wide email being sent today is to make sure that all federal workers are on board with the new administration’s plan to have federal employees in office and adhering to higher standards. We’re five years past COVID and just 6 percent of federal employees work full-time in office. That is unacceptable,” said the anonymous senior administration official.
There are some people that are able to efficiently work from home, but there are others that simply lack the discipline to do so.
‘One VA employee who was in charge of some of these hotlines – he actually was on a Zoom call from his bathtub,’ said Ernst, who is chairwoman of the Senate Small Business Committee. ‘You’re not actually working if you’re taking a long, hot soak in a bubble bath.’
This March 2023 example is often used by Republicans to exhibit why returning to the office is necessary. The VA worker posted a story to Instagram showing him in a bathtub with the caption: ‘My office for the next hr.’
Are you kidding me?
Federal employees should not be doing their jobs from their bathtubs.
Now that Trump is demanding that they start showing up for work again, a lot of them are threatening to quit, and that is actually what Trump and his team are hoping for…
Experts say the aggregate effect of the changes will be to drive frustrated government employees out of their jobs, a goal the Trump team is explicitly gunning for.
Musk – who chairs DOGE – recently predicted that revoking ‘the COVID-era privilege’ of telework would trigger ‘a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome.’
When Elon Musk took over Twitter, he also demanded that employees return to the office, and the size of Twitter’s workforce slimmed down quite rapidly.
Now the same thing is happening to the federal bureaucracy.
I didn’t think that I would ever see it happen in my lifetime.
But here we are.
Of course this is just the beginning.
So grab your popcorn and get ready for a lot more governmental chaos in the months ahead.
President Donald Trump addresses the audience after the inaugural parade during the 60th Presidential Inauguration at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2025. Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States. (DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Danny Gonzalez)
President Donald Trump’s administration has enacted a temporary suspension of all federal grants and loans, effective today, Tuesday, January 28, 2025.
This strategic pause, orchestrated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is designed to facilitate a comprehensive review of federal financial assistance programs, ensuring that taxpayer dollars are utilized efficiently and in accordance with the administration’s objectives.
This initiative reflects President Trump’s unwavering commitment to fiscal responsibility and his dedication to eliminating wasteful spending.
By reassessing financial assistance programs, the administration aims to redirect resources toward endeavors that bolster national security, stimulate economic growth, and uphold American values.
In a two-page memo, the directive specifically targets programs associated with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, woke gender ideology, and the Green New Deal.
While the suspension is comprehensive, it does not affect Social Security, Medicare, or other programs that provide direct assistance to individuals.
Federal agencies have been instructed to identify and review all financial assistance programs and report back to the OMB by February 10, detailing any programs subject to the pause and identifying any legally mandated actions or deadlines.
“The American people elected Donald J. Trump to be President of the United States and gave him a mandate to increase the impact of every federal taxpayer dollar. In Fiscal Year 2024, of the nearly $10 trillion that the Federal Government spent, more than $3 trillion was Federal financial assistance, such as grants and loans.
Career and political appointees in the Executive Branch have a duty to align Federal spending and action with the will of the American people as expressed through Presidential priorities.
Financial assistance should be dedicated to advancing Administration priorities, focusing taxpayer dollars to advance a stronger and safer America, eliminating the financial burden of inflation for citizens, unleashing American energy and manufacturing, ending “wokeness” and the weaponization of government, promoting efficiency in government, and Making America Healthy Again.
The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve.
This memorandum requires Federal agencies to identify and review all Federal financial assistance’ programs and supporting activities consistent with the President’s policies and requirements?
For example, during the initial days of his Administration, President Donald J. Trump issued a series of executive orders to protect the American people and safeguard valuable taxpayer resources, including Protecting the American People Against Invasion (Jan. 20, 2025), Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid (Jan. 20, 2025), Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements (Jan. 20, 2025), Unleashing American Energy (Jan. 20,
2025), Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing (Jan. 20, 2025), Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government (Jan. 20, 2025), and Enforcing the Hyde Amendment (Jan. 24, 2025).
These executive orders ensure that Federal funds are used to support hardworking American families.
To implement these orders, each agency must complete a comprehensive analysis of all of their Federal financial assistance programs to identify programs, projects, and activities that may be implicated by any of the President’s executive orders.
In the interim, to the extent permissible under applicable law, Federal agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.
This temporary pause will provide the Administration time to review agency programs and determine the best uses of the funding for those programs consistent with the law and the President’s priorities. The temporary pause will become effective on January 28, 2025, at 5:00 PM.
Even before completing their comprehensive analysis, Federal agencies must immediately identify any legally mandated actions or deadlines for assistance programs arising while the pause remains in effect. Federal agencies must report this information to OMB along with an analysis of the requirement. OMB also directs Federal agencies to pause all activities associated with open NOFOs, such as conducting merit review panels.
No later than February 10, 2025, agencies shall submit to OMB detailed information on any programs, projects or activities subject to this pause. Each agency must pause: (i) issuance of new awards; (ii) disbursement of Federal funds under all open awards; and iii) other relevant agency actions that may be implicated by the executive orders, to the extent permissible by law, until OMB has reviewed and provided guidance to your agency with respect to the information submitted.
OMB may grant exceptions allowing Federal agencies to issue new awards or take other actions on a case-by-case basis. To the extent required by law, Federal agencies may continue taking certain administrative actions, such as closeout of Federal awards (2 CFR 200.344), or recording obligations expressly required by law.
Additionally, agencies must, for each Federal financial assistance program: (i) assign responsibility and oversight to a senior political appointee to ensure Federal financial assistance conforms to Administration priorities; ii) review currently pending Federal financial assistance announcements to ensure Administration priorities are addressed, and, subject to program statutory authority, modify unpublished Federal financial assistance announcements, withdraw any announcements already published, and, to the extent permissible by law, cancel awards already awarded that are in conflict with Administration priorities, and; (iii) ensure adequate oversight of Federal financial assistance programs and initiate investigations when warranted to identify underperforming recipients, and address identified issues up to and including cancellation of awards.”
I blogged previously about Kash Patel (FBI) and Jay Bhattacharya (NIH) but when I saw an article (below) on Daily Signal about Russ Vought (OMB) by the politics editor, I though I’d better read it. And after I read it, I though I’d better share it. First of all, Vought is an excellent conservative. Second of all, he has a lot of experience. And third of all, he is an outspoken evangelical Christian.
The Office of Management and Budget is a less well-known entity within the executive branch, but few are as critical for ensuring the implementation of the president’s agenda. President-elect Donald Trump has once again placed that awesome responsibility in Russ Vought’s hands.
[…]Trump released a statement announcing Vought’s nomination as OMB director on Friday evening. “I am very pleased to nominate Russell Thurlow Vought, from the Great State of Virginia, as the Director of the United States Office of Management and Budget. He did an excellent job serving in this role in my First Term – We cut four Regulations for every new Regulation, and it was a Great Success! Russ graduated with a B.A. from Wheaton College, and received his J.D. from the Washington University School of Law,” Trump’s statement read.
“Russ has spent many years working in Public Policy in Washington, D.C., and is an aggressive cost cutter and deregulator who will help us implement our America First Agenda across all Agencies. Russ knows exactly how to dismantle the Deep State and end Weaponized Government, and he will help us return Self Governance to the People. We will restore fiscal sanity to our Nation, and unleash the American People to new levels of Prosperity and Ingenuity. I look forward to working with you again, Russ. Congratulations. Together, we will Make America Great Again!”
So, this is the guy who did the cut four regulations for ever one new regulation. And he graduated from Wheaton College, back when Wheaton was still a conservative Christian school.
More:
In a recent interview with Tucker Carlson, Vought explained how OMB can… kill the deep state—a death by a thousand cuts.
“OMB is the nerve center of the federal government, particularly the executive branch,” Vought told Carlson. “Office of Management and Budget has the ability to turn off the spending that’s going on at the agencies. It has all the regulations coming through it to assess whether it’s good, or bad, or too expensive, or could be done a different way, or ‘What does the president think?’”
In short, “presidents use OMB to tame the bureaucracy,” Vought said.
“It is the President’s most important tool for dealing with the bureaucracy, the administrative state,” he reiterated. “And you know, the nice thing about President Trump is he knows that, and he knows how to use it effectively.”
And he’s experienced:
Vought was previously atop the OMB, first in an acting capacity and then confirmed by the Senate, for the second half of Trump’s first term.
As Trump and Vought prepared to depart the White House in 2021, Vought told the president of his intention to start the Center for Renewing America, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that sought to keep Trump’s policy vision alive in the nation’s capital. Trump was supportive of Vought’s endeavor, and the pair remained in close contact while Trump was out of power.
Vought’s fingerprints have been all over Republican politics and the conservative movement for the past four years. He wrote the Project 2025 chapter on how to reform the Executive Office of the President of the United States. In the media, he was an outspoken proponent for “draining the swamp” by making the federal agencies once again accountable to the president and the American people. And, over the summer, Vought lead the Republican National Convention’s policy platform committee.
Now, his fingerprints will be all over bringing the bureaucracy to heel.
In 2021 he founded the Centre for Renewing America, an organisation whose mission is to “renew a consensus of America as a nation under God”.
His religious views have provoked controversy. In Mr Vought’s confirmation hearing in 2017—he squeaked through by a single vote—Senator Bernie Sanders pointed to an article by Mr Vought in which he described Muslims as “condemned” for having rejected Jesus Christ. Mr Vought replied that he respected the right of every person to express their religious beliefs. In the secretly recorded meeting last year he said that elected leaders should discuss whether to prioritise Christian immigrants over those of other faiths. And he has called for a total abolition of abortion—a position that is too extreme for even most American conservatives.
But Mr Vought’s religiosity gives a scorching fervour to his criticism of politics and society, and that appeals to the Republican base. He regularly describes the federal government as “woke and weaponised” and has warned that the Democratic Party is “increasingly evil” because it forces secularism on families. He also was an early combatant in the pushback against diversity policies, which became a potent campaign theme for Mr Trump: in 2020 he wrote an official memo saying that anti-racism training in the federal government was divisive and anti-American.
So, let’s conclude with this. The best Trump pick, the one you’ve probably never heard of, is the most conservative one, and he’s in a great position to smash the secular left Deep State.
Stephen Miller painted a bold and transformative vision for America under President-elect Donald Trump. (Credit: Fox News)
In a powerful interview on Fox News’ “Hannity,” incoming White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller heralded the return of President Donald Trump as the dawn of a “new golden era” for America.
“After nine years, we are here on the heels of a landslide like the world has never seen before, prepared under President Trump’s leadership to implement historical, transformative, long-awaited change to make this government accountable to the people of this country once again. It will be, as Donald Trump said, a new golden age for America,” Miller told Sean Hannity.
During the interview, one of the most ambitious proposals discussed was the creation of a new Department of Government Efficiency, headed by high-profile figures like Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Tasked with cutting $2 trillion in federal spending by 2026, Miller assured Hannity that Trump’s administration is ready to root out waste and corruption that have plagued Washington for decades.
According to Miller, the Pentagon’s failed audits and the widespread exploitation of federal funds by fraudsters and foreign operatives exemplify the urgency of the task.
Miller promised a top-down review of every federal agency, ensuring that only those serving the public remain.
Sean Hannity: I want to go through how dramatic this is going to be because what I hear the President is proposing—look at Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy—they’re setting up this new department, and they’re going to get rid of waste, fraud, and abuse.
They pledge to cut, by July Fourth, 2026, $2 trillion in federal spending. That is a monumental task.
There are ways to do it. I think one way would be to increase revenues, and that could be through energy dominance. That’s a separate topic. But this is transformative, what the President is talking about.
For the first time, we’ve heard conservatives for years talk about limited government, cutting waste, fraud, and abuse. Now, for the first time in my adult life, I believe it’s going to happen. How real is it that they’re going to cut to that extent?
Stephen Miller: The President has put together the dream team, and you just mentioned two members of that team. The Department of Government Efficiency, from the outside, will direct and organize this extraordinary effort to remove all waste and corruption from the federal government. They will do this in concert with the White House, President Trump, and the Office of Management and Budget.
Here’s the shocking truth, Sean: the departments have no clue where the dollars are going. How many audits has the Pentagon failed?
Who has any idea how much waste and abuse exist in the trillions of dollars spent by this federal government?
How many hundreds of billions of dollars every year are stolen from taxpayers by fraud rings, scammers, and foreign operatives?
This government is not watching how your dollars are being spent. President Trump has commissioned Elon, Vivek, and others across the government to get to the bottom of this so the money you earn as an American citizen will be jealously treasured and guarded, not wasted.
We’re going to go into these agencies and find everyone who is not performing on behalf of the American public.If they’re not providing a service, if they’re not serving the public, then they can go.
One of the main priorities of the Trump administration will be border security.
Miller asserted that the moment Trump takes the oath of office, the administration will immediately initiate measures to secure the southern border.
He emphasized that January 20 marks the beginning of “Liberation Day,” a term he coined to signify the end of an “occupation” of American governance by ineffective bureaucrats.
Sean Hannity: The border has been a big issue. How quickly, in your estimation, can the border get secured? We have known terrorists in the country. We have people who have murdered Americans. We have the Lake and Reilly trial going on right now—dozens of Americans murdered by unvetted illegals under Harris-Biden. We’ve seen countless rapes and violent crimes. How quickly can we secure the border and deport criminal aliens?
Stephen Miller: It’s going to be at light speed, Sean. The moment President Trump puts his hand on that Bible and takes the oath of office, the occupation ends. Liberation Day begins. He will immediately sign executive orders sealing the border shut and begin the largest deportation operation in American history—finding the criminal gangs, rapists, drug dealers, and monsters who have murdered our citizens and sending them home.
No one will be allowed to enter the country illegally. ICE, in partnership with the FBI, DEA, ATF, the National Guard, and CBP, will fully secure the border and identify criminal threats inside the country. We will honor every victim, like Laken Reilly, who fought for her life against an illegal alien for 18 harrowing minutes.
Under President Trump’s leadership, we will unleash a wave of justice and send these criminals back where they came from.
Miller’s remarks also touched on the pressing concern of the weaponization of government agencies, particularly the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI. He emphasized that dismantling the “deep state” will also be a top priority.
With Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence and Matt Gaetz heading the DOJ, Miller expressed confidence that the administration will restore integrity to these institutions.
Miller also stated that recess appointments would be used to overcome any obstacles in confirming cabinet appointments.
Sean Hannity: How do we ensure that the weaponization of the Department of Justice never happens again? How do we remove political operatives inside agencies like the FBI and the intelligence community?
Stephen Miller: Dismantling the deep state and restoring democracy will be another urgent Day One mission. The Department of Justice and the intelligence community have sabotaged our democracy. President Trump has a mandate to reform the DOJ, the FBI, and the intelligence community.
Tulsi Gabbard, as Director of National Intelligence, will lead the effort to remove bad actors and ensure intelligence agencies work to protect Americans, not persecute them. Meanwhile, Matt Gaetz, at the Department of Justice, will turn the DOJ into the premier crime-fighting organization it was meant to be.
We will find an FBI Director who will focus on finding criminals, cartels, gangs, and terrorists—not using the FBI’s power to rig our democracy. President Trump is the greatest champion of democracy in modern American history, and he’s ready to make these agencies accountable to the citizens of this country once again.
Sean Hannity: If cabinet appointments become troublesome, will the President use the recess appointment process?
Stephen Miller: Yes. The President has won a mandate, and he will use all lawful constitutional means to fulfill that mandate for the American people.
The plan to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education will restore parental rights, enable tailored curricula, increase choice, and allow teachers and staff to focus on academics rather than regulatory and ideological compliance.
For over four decades, the U.S. Department of Education has been the federal government’s instrument for consolidating power over America’s classrooms. Established in 1979 under President Jimmy Carter, it was introduced as a solution to streamline federal education programs and promote equity.
Ironically, when the idea to create the new department was first proposed, the Washington Post editorial board predicted that the department’s clientele would not “necessarily be the schoolchildren and their parents affected by the federal government’s education programs. Much more probably it would be the National Education Association, the organization of teachers and school administrators who already exert a great deal of influence on education policy in Washington. In a way, this would be giving them their own department.”
And that’s exactly what happened. Today, this sprawling bureaucracy centralizes policy-making in Washington, imposes ideological mandates, caters to powerful left-wing unions and activists, and alienates parents and communities. How sprawling is it? In 2024, it had a budget of $79.1 billion in discretionary spending and 4,400 employees.
In a direct challenge to this federal overreach, President-elect Donald Trump wants to completely dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. More than a policy reform, it is a call to return education to its rightful stewards: parents, local communities, and states.
By decentralizing control, reducing bureaucratic waste, and aligning education with traditional American values, Trump’s vision offers a transformative path forward.
But can this bold plan succeed? And what will it mean for the future of American education?
Why Conservatives Oppose the Department
From its inception, the Department of Education faced criticism over its constitutionality and effectiveness. Conservatives argue that education is a responsibility reserved for states under the 10th Amendment, and federal involvement undermines this principle.
Neal McCluskey, director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom, describes the department as “a failure both constitutionally and pragmatically. It centralizes power that belongs to states and has not delivered measurable improvements in educational outcomes.”
Despite spending over $800 billion annually on K-12 education, American students rank well below their international peers in math and reading. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the U.S. is outperformed by nations that spend significantly less but focus on localized education systems. The Department of Education’s legacy includes persistent achievement gaps and declining literacy rates, despite its specialized programs designed to address these issues.
Recently, the department has become a vehicle for promoting controversial policies. Title IX regulations, intended initially to ensure gender equity, have been expanded to enforce mandates on gender identity, forcing schools to allow biological males into girls’ bathrooms, on sports teams, and in overnight accommodations. Similarly, Critical Race Theory (CRT) has been introduced into curricula, fostering division and teaching children to view society through a lens of victimhood and oppression.
Federal dollars come with federal strings, and schools that resist these policies often face the threat of losing critical funding. This dynamic has led to what many conservatives see as a betrayal of educational principles, replacing foundational skills and knowledge with progressive ideology.
Those strings extend even beyond funding. Many school officials feel beholden to their national overseers rather than to their students, and as a result, concerned parents who have spoken up and objected to toxic ideologies in the classroom have been smeared, threatened, spied on, arrested, and investigated as domestic terrorists.
This is the end game of placing control over children’s education in the hands of a massive, centralized, power-hungry bureaucracy.
The Case for Local Control
Central to Trump’s plan is the belief that education is best managed by those closest to the students: parents, communities, and states. The cultural, economic, and demographical diversity of America’s regions makes a one-size-fits-all approach impractical and ineffective.
Here are the key benefits of local control:
1. Tailored Curricula: States could design programs that reflect their unique history, culture, demographics, and workforce needs. For example, states with strong agricultural economies could emphasize vocational training, while urban centers might prioritize STEM education.
2. Innovative Approaches: Without federal mandates, states could experiment with new teaching methods and technologies, turning them into laboratories of reform. Finland and Switzerland, two countries that outperform the U.S. in global rankings, have achieved success through decentralized education systems.
3. Parental Involvement: Local control fosters stronger connections between parents and schools. When decisions are made close to home, families are more likely to engage, ensuring that education reflects community values and priorities.
Local control has worked before. In fact, for much of America’s history, education was managed by states and localities, with outcomes surpassing those achieved under federal oversight. Trump’s plan seeks to restore this proven model, empowering communities to craft solutions that meet their unique needs.
Reducing Bureaucracy and Costs
As noted previously, critics have long argued that the Department of Education’s massive budget bureaucracy does more to sustain itself and special interests than it does to improve student outcomes.
The American Action Forum estimates that federal education regulations cost states and districts $2.7 billion annually, and administrative overhead consumes a significant portion of the department’s budget.
Eliminating these burdens would allow schools to focus on education rather than compliance. States could reallocate billions to teachers, technology, and infrastructure by eliminating redundant positions and programs.
Thus, Trump’s plan to eliminate the Department of Education would redirect these resources, and the focus of local school officials, to classrooms and students — where they matter most.
Empowering School Choice
School choice is a cornerstone of Trump’s education policy, reflecting a belief that parents — not bureaucrats — should decide what’s best for their children. This approach has widespread support, with a 2023 Real Clear Opinion Research poll finding that 71 percent of Americans, including 73 percent of black Americans, favor school choice.
Here’s how school choice works:
1. Funding Students, Not Systems: Trump’s plan directs education dollars to families, ensuring parents can choose the best option for their children, whether public, private, charter, or homeschooling.
2. Competition Among Schools: School choice creates incentives for schools to improve. A Stanford University study found that urban charter school students gained 40 additional days of learning in math and 28 in reading compared to their peers in traditional public schools.
3. Equity and Opportunity: Low-income families would have access to the same educational opportunities as wealthier families, breaking cycles of poverty and underachievement.
Trump’s proposal aims to restore trust in American education by aligning it with traditional values. This includes fostering national unity, promoting civic pride, and ensuring that schools teach skills and knowledge rather than ideology.
Trump has also championed the idea of teaching American history in a balanced way, highlighting both achievements and challenges. Proponents argue that this approach fosters a sense of identity and pride, preparing students to be informed and engaged citizens.
A Parents Defending Education survey found that 58 percent of parents believe they should have the primary say in their children’s education. Removing federal oversight would empower parents to work with local schools to ensure curricula reflect community standards.
Conclusion: A Bold Vision for the Future
Donald Trump’s proposal to dismantle the Department of Education is a bold but necessary response to decades of federal overreach. By restoring local control, reducing bureaucracy, empowering school choice, and realigning education with traditional values, this vision offers a pathway to a more effective and responsive system.
Eliminating the Department of Education will be no small task. Resistance to the idea by unions and education activists will be fierce, and it will require congressional approval.
It’s important to remember that for most of America’s history, there was no federal education department, and education thrived under state and local control.
Trump’s plan seeks to return to this proven model, addressing systemic failures and restoring accountability, and most importantly, reclaiming education for parents, communities, and states. It challenges the status quo and provides a roadmap for reform that prioritizes students over systems.
For those who believe education is too important to be left in the hands of federal bureaucrats, Trump’s vision represents a turning point — a chance to create an education system that works for all Americans.
Many K-12 schools now embrace the secular woke agenda and are hostile to Christian beliefs and parental rights. Fortunately, parents don’t have to settle for this. Liberty University Online Academy is a K-12 program designed to educate your children in the ways of the Lord while preparing them to stand firm in their faith when they graduate. Our flexible online curriculum ensures that your student is trained at your convenience and keeps YOU the ultimate educator of your children.
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