The Trump administration has pulled the rug on the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), bringing its humanitarian work abroad to a stop. USAID has been a critical component of American “soft power” since the JFK era, communicating the ideals of America as a force for good in the world …
Read More »Trump Wants L.A. Wildfire Aid to Create a Model for Disaster Blackmail
Donald Trump has been waiting for years for this kind of opportunity. As the deadly fires raged and enveloped Los Angeles near the dawn of his second presidency, Trump didn’t see a moment for compassion, or charity, or leadership. Instead, he saw a chance for maximum leverage against his political …
Read More »'Musk Is Reaching Too Far': Federal Union Boss Dishes on Why He's Suing DOGE
Three large unions sued the Treasury Department on Monday to block Elon Musk and his apparatchiks from accessing federal servers with sensitive member data and financial information — alleging a “massive and unprecedented” intrusion of privacy. Musk and his team at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) reportedly have …
Read More »'Holding Us Hostage': Inside Trump and Musk's USAID Shutdown Fiasco
President Donald Trump and Elon Musk tore through much of the federal government over the past two weeks — effectively shuttering the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the government’s foreign aid department. Now that nearly all of the agency’s staff has been put on leave, USAID employees aren’t sure …
Read More »Inside Trump and Musk's Clumsy, 'Exhausting' Hunt for Leakers
Over the past two weeks, President Donald Trump and his billionaire patron Elon Musk have embarked on a frenzied MAGA purge of federal agencies and departments. The duo and their allies’ blitz across the government triggered a torrent of press leaks, coming from career officials and other personnel appalled by …
Read More »Elon Musk's Attempt to Control the Treasury Payment System Is Incredibly Dangerous
Nathan Tankus is the research director of the Modern Money Network. He also writes the Notes on the Crises newsletter. President Donald Trump’s efforts to freeze federal funds is an unprecedented assault on the federal government — and the beginning of a constitutional crisis. His billionaire donor Elon Musk’s attempts …
Read More »Air Traffic Control Offices Are in Chaos in Trump's New Administration
Almost as soon as Donald Trump was sworn in late last month, the president, Elon Musk, and their allies embarked on a smash-and-grab-style blitz of purges and hard-right ideological enforcement that brought so much of the federal government to a screeching, tumultuous halt. Trump’s rule by self-inflicted chaos trickled down …
Read More »Trump's Inauguration Donors: Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Tech, Crypto, and More
Donald Trump is president again, and corporate interests have been paying up. Dozens of major companies recently disclosed making significant donations to support Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, which ended up being a small, intimate affair in the U.S. Capitol. Industries showering Trump with cash included Big Oil, Big Tech, Big …
Read More »Trump Admin Offers Resigning Employees a 'Vacation' — But May Make Them Work
The reply-now-to-resign program that the Trump administration is offering federal employees, known as a “Fork in the Road,” is raising a lot of questions. Incorrectly characterized by many publications as a “buyout” offer, the program is actually an ambiguous enticement to commit to a “deferred resignation,” whereby employees arrange to …
Read More »David Hogg Knows Why Democrats Lost Young Voters
The conference room where David Hogg is mounting his bid for vice chair of the Democratic National Committee has exposed brick and a nice view of a specific Washington D.C. landmark, but he’s asked me not to disclose which one. Ever since his high school was shot up on Valentine’s …
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