Trump’s second term so far: I guess this is what “draining the swamp” looks like

The New Neo Posted on by

It may have been the most basic and early of Trump’s campaign promises, back when he was first running for president: to drain the swamp. Making illegal immigration less easy was another, of course, and the more general Make America Great Again, which seemed to me to primarily be referring to making the country economically more independent and prosperous, and making us more respected as a superpower abroad that meant what it said and said what it meant and was willing to back it up.

But draining the swamp was, as Trump would say, YUGE. And in his first term he lost that battle, YUGELY. In fact, the swamp came very close to draining him. Meanwhile, he had learned more of the perils of the swamp: where the quicksand is, where the most dangerous creatures dwell. And now he’s fighting them as best he can, with a group of capable people, many of whom have learned firsthand up close and personal how dangerous the swamp can be.

The swamp is bigger than he ever thought, but he has more help this time. The swamp, of course, is fighting back. So far his attack has been a blitzkreig type, very fast. But don’t underestimate the power of the swamp to regroup and fight back very very hard.

The USAID is an especially hidden area of the swamp, and shining a light in there has caused a great deal of turmoil among those who have benefited from its largesse. And the FBI and the DOJ have been attempted agents of Trump’s (and the J6ers) destruction – not everyone in those agencies by any means, but some portion of the higher-ups who decided to twist the law into a pretzel to get those on the right they perceived as enemies.

We on the right used to complain that there were no consequences for any of the wrongdoing we saw. Well, now the attempt is to bring those consequences at last.

I believe there only will be legal prosecution for a few, and that’s okay with me. There also will be many legal challenges from the swamp, and judges on the left (and perhaps even on the right, if the case is sound) may find for the plaintiffs. But nevertheless, an enormous and sweeping effort is being made and I believe a significant portion of it will be successful.

There’s so much going on that I can’t cover everything in depth. What I’ve been doing, and what I plan to keep doing, is concentrating on the efforts I find most interesting or important, and also providing overviews such as this one. And of course links such as these:

From Ace, “USAID and the CIA Funded Trump’s First Impeachment.”

At Legal Insurrection, “US State Department Recalls All USAID Staffers from Foreign Assignments.”

From The Federalist, “The Constitution Vindicates Trump’s Firing Of 17 Inspectors General.”

From The Federalist, “If Presidents Can’t Control Executive Agencies, Elections Are Fake.”

There’s much, much more.

It’s also one thing to make light of the reaction of the left, such as “heads are exploding.” But there’s really nothing light about this. The press and the left are labeling it a coup, a dictatorship, an illegal takeover. The grounds for believing that – even on the part of relatively moderate Democrats – have been prepared for many many years. This is an extremely volatile situation.

Interesting times.

Roundup

The New Neo Posted on by

My attempt to keep up with the incredible pace of the news – another roundup:

(1) Netanyahu has reportedly gifted Trump a golden pager to commemorate the pager explosions that harmed Hezbollah operatives. But would you accept a gift of a pager from this man?

(2) Pam Bondi is the new AG. She’s got her work cut out for her. She hasn’t wasted any time in issuing this directive:

“The discretion afforded Justice Department attorneys with respect to those responsibilities does not include latitude to substitute their personal political views or judgments for those that prevailed in the election.

… “any Justice Department attorney who declines to sign a brief, refuses to advance good-faith arguments on behalf of the Trump administration, or otherwise delays or impedes the Justice Department’s mission will be subject to discipline and potentially termination.”

This seems reasonable to me. DOJ employees are under the direction of the executive branch and the AG.

(3) Next up on the chopping block: the Department of Education. This is no surprise; it was one of Trump’s campaign promises. Most of my Democrat friends will probably assume this means that Republicans are against education.

(4) About the FBI and J6:

FBI employees who “simply followed orders” with respect to their investigations into Jan. 6 defendants will not be fired or face any other penalties, Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove confirmed in an internal memo.

This is about the higher-ups, apparently.

(5) The EU is destroying Europe.

Well, it’s certainly not helping it.

It turns out that many media sites favoring Democrats have been on the USAID payroll

The New Neo Posted on by

Wow.

No wonder Democrats are so incensed at Musk and his Musketeers and their efforts to expose the nuts and bolts of who receives USAID money. It turns out that Politico – the site that broke the story of the 51 “intelligence experts” saying the Hunter laptop was Russian disinformation – has been on the taxpayer payroll to the tune of many millions. As has the Democrat-favoring AP.

We assumed that websites such as Politico had private benefactors. But USAID? I can’t say the thought ever crossed my mind, skeptical and distrustful as I am of the left.

See this:

And here’s the scoop on Politico:

Also the NY Times and the BBC. Hey, the more the merrier. Much of this – or at least some – seems to have been in the form of paid premium subscriptions.

Much more here, including this about the legality of what DOGE is doing:

As for Musk and usurpation, attorney and activist Tom Renz points out that the Trump administration planned carefully for this effort. Trump took an existing agency from the Obama era that focused on software development and tasked it instead to do a deep data dive on federal spending. He then made Musk a partner to the US DOGE Service — told you it would be important — to facilitate the effort …

… [T]he real lesson from this is that the executive branch has too much authority over too-huge amounts of discretionary spending. That also means that the executive branch can rescind those spending decisions unilaterally, however. So far, it appears that the USDS has been careful to avoid spending that Congress specifically directs in statute or in budget line items, and instead is taking aim at everything else. That has been the case in every single department that DOGE has touched, especially at USAID, where spending is not only discretionary but has never been effectively checked by executives at State or the White House.

Update on the bot attacks and the solutions

The New Neo Posted on by

Obviously, my new plugin wasn’t sufficient to stop the problem, because the blog went down for quite a while today due to brute force bot attacks. This time, my host put up a block of some kind that has worked for now, but might not be enough in the future. If I continue to have the problem, they’ll put up something stronger, but there are some drawbacks to that, which is why I opted to see if the weaker solution will be enough.

Please bear with me, and let me know if you have further problems getting on the blog.

Trump’s wild and crazy Gaza proposal

The New Neo Posted on by

Did you see it coming? I did’t see it coming. The “it” I’m talking about is, of course, Trump’s announcement yesterday that the US plans to take over Gaza, evacuate its people to some Arab country or countries, and rebuild it into a fabulous place. This is not only a total surprise, but it’s especially a surprise from Trump, given his devotion to the US not getting all that involved abroad.

So, what gives? The consensus on the right – a consensus I share – is that it’s Trump thinking so far outside the box that he’s on another planet. Why would he do that? In order to point out some truths. These are those truths:

– There is no 2-state solution possible.
– Gaza is physically a wasteland and must be rebuilt by someone.
– The Gazans are really part of the Arab world and not a separate entity.
– The Gazans are incapable of having a peaceful state alongside their neighbor – actually, neighbors, because neither Egypt nor Jordan want any part of them. Nor does anyone else on earth.
– The UN has been worse than useless and is actually part of the problem.
– If the Gazans go back to Gaza there will be an endless cycle of war.

What to do? I haven’t a clue. But I do think that Trump’s goal is to get a conversation going in which at least some people around the world acknowledge those hard truths and stop pretending otherwise. We’ll see what happens.

Meanwhile, of course, the usual suspects are very very very upset, as you can see by the world’s condemnation of Trump’s proposal. Apparently they’d rather keep the Palesinians as perpetual refugees and perpetual Jew-murderers, in a wasteland of ruin.

Here’s what Alan Dershowitz had to say last night about it:

Israel/Palestine is an exceptionally difficult problem and has been for my entire lifetime. No matter how much I’ve thought about it, I’ve never come up with a solution. Trump’s “we’ll take over Gaza and rebuild it while relocating the Gazans” seems stark raving mad at first. But again, I remind myself that’s it’s one of those wild opening bids that may end up merely sparking Egypt and Jordan and some other Arab nations to help deal with the intractable problem of Gaza/Hamas and not just kick the can down the road as before, business as usual.

The words “dictator” and “fascist” mean whatever the left says they mean …

The New Neo Posted on by

… and the Humpty Dumpty left says they mean “Trump.”

And why do I call them the “Humpty Dumpty left”? This is why:

`And only ONE for birthday presents, you know. There’s glory for you!’

`I don’t know what you mean by “glory,”‘ Alice said.

Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. `Of course you don’t– till I tell you. I meant “there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!”‘

`But “glory” doesn’t mean “a nice knock-down argument,”‘ Alice objected.

`When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, `it means just what I choose it to mean–neither more nor less.’

`The question is,’ said Alice, `whether you CAN make words mean so many different things.’

`The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, `which is to be master– that’s all.’

The question is who is to be master, and the left has been master of this for quite some time. It thought it would continue to be master, but at the moment it’s not. Let’s try to keep it that way:

Alien criminals might now think twice about sneaking into the US

The New Neo Posted on by

Do they want to end up in a prison in El Salvador? I doubt it:

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met today with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele in San Salvador. It was a tremendously successful meeting that will make both countries stronger, safer, and more prosperous.

Multiple agreements were struck to fight the waves of illegal mass migration currently destabilizing the entire region. President Bukele agreed to take back all Salvadoran MS-13 gang members who are in the United States unlawfully. He also promised to accept and incarcerate violent illegal immigrants, including members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, but also criminal illegal migrants from any country. And in an extraordinary gesture never before extended by any country, President Bukele offered to house in his jails dangerous American criminals, including U.S. citizens and legal residents.

I very much doubt that Bukele’s offer to take in US citizens would be allowed by the US courts, and I doubt the administration would even attempt it. But it was kind of Bukele to offer.

Also:

Secretary Rubio also raised strategies to counter the influence of the Chinese Communist Party in the hemisphere to safeguard the sovereignty and interests of both nations and the region.

Bukele is very much a hardliner who cleaned up El Salvador; I’ve written about him here as well as here. I wouldn’t think a trip to one of his prisons would act as an incentive for a criminal to come to the US.

Another disincentive would be sending criminal illegal aliens to Guantanamo, which has already begun:

Trump last week signed a presidential memorandum last week to begin the process of making 30,000 beds available at Guantanamo to house migrants who pose a threat to the American public, adding that putting them there will ensure they do not come back.

“Some of them are so bad, we don’t even trust their countries to hold them because we don’t want them coming back,” Trump said. “We’re going to send them to Guantanamo.”

He added, “It’s a tough place to get out of.”

Guantanamo will apparently be reserved for the really really bad guys, but I assume the left will assure us that it will be filled with innocent abuelas and their grandkids.

These policies are aimed at getting rid of the criminal alien presence in the US, but I think the larger message is, Don’t come here if you’re a criminal. The free ride is over – unless it’s a free ride to an El Salvadoran prison or Guantanamo that you’re after.

What’s up with USAID?

The New Neo Posted on by

I remember first hearing about USAID – the United States Agency for International Development – back in the 1960s. But I have no recollection of the context or the specific topic. Now that the Trump administration has focused on the agency and its excesses, I wondered what I’d written about it here over the years.

The answer is: very little. Now, of course, it’s very much in the news. Here’s some of the general history, from Wiki. It was established during the Kennedy administration:

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the United States government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $50 billion, USAID is one of the largest official aid agencies in the world and accounts for more than half of all U.S. foreign assistance – the highest in the world in absolute dollar terms. USAID has missions in over 100 countries, primarily in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.

Big. But nevertheless, only a small percentage of the US budget. This AP article – which, surprisingly, doesn’t seem especially biased to me – explains some of the background to the current fight, and indicates what I recall, which is that the amount and nature of the US’s foreign aid has long been criticized:

In the decades since [the USAID’s founding in 1961], Republicans and Democrats have fought over the agency and its funding. …

Today, supporters of USAID argue that U.S. assistance in countries counters Russian and Chinese influence. …

Critics say the programs are wasteful and promote a liberal agenda.

On his first day in office Jan. 20, Trump implemented a 90-day freeze on foreign assistance. Four days later, Peter Marocco — a returning political appointee from Trump’s first term — drafted a tougher than expected interpretation of that order, a move that shut down thousands of programs around the world and forced furloughs and layoffs.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has since moved to keep more kinds of strictly life-saving emergency programs going during the freeze. …

It’s part of a Trump administration crackdown that’s hitting across the federal government and its programs. But USAID and foreign aid are among those hit the hardest.

Rubio said the administration’s aim was a program-by-program review of which projects make “America safer, stronger or more prosperous.”

The decision to shut down U.S.-funded programs during the 90-day review meant the U.S. was “getting a lot more cooperation” from recipients of humanitarian, development and security assistance, Rubio said. …

Republicans typically push to give the State Department — which provides overall foreign policy guidance to USAID — more control of its policy and funds. Democrats typically promote USAID autonomy and authority. …

Musk alleges USAID funding been used to launch deadly programs and called it a “criminal organization.” …

Foreign assistance overall amounts to less than 1% of the U.S. budget.

“Less than 1% of the US budget” is still a ton of money. And the issue is not just saving money, but whether the money is being used for good or for ill. Some of the revelations don’t involve all that much money compared to the entire US budget, but are nevertheless shocking. Condoms for the Taliban? Transgender operas in Colombia? See this for some of the causes USAID has funded.

Here’s some of what Rubio has said:

RUBIO: … [M]y frustration with USAID goes back to my time in Congress. It’s a completely unresponsive agency. It’s supposed to respond to policy directives of the State Department, and it refuses to do so.

The functions of USAID, there are a lot of functions of USAID that are going to continue that are going to be part of American foreign policy, but it has to be aligned with American foreign policy. I said very clearly during my confirmation hearing that every dollar we spend and every program we fund that will be aligned with the national interest of the United States. And USAID has a history of sort of ignoring that and deciding that there’s somehow a global charity separate from the national interest. These are taxpayer dollars. …

… And we owe the American people the assurances that every dollar we are spending abroad is being spent on something that furthers our national interest.

And so far, a lot of the people that work at USAID have just simply refused to cooperate.

Ace has written two lengthy and hard-hitting posts on the subject of USAID and what’s going on at this point: see this as well as this. It’s obviously a huge topic, and I assume I’ll revisit it as time goes on. But it’s become more and more obvious that the agency functions as an employer for an enormous number of leftists in leftist causes.

And here’s an interesting article I discovered in my researching the topic. It’s about aid through USAID to Haiti which, according to the author (who wrote a book on the subject last year), has “circumvented the democratic process, ended sovereignty, undermined local businesses and government, and served more as a benefit to US special interest groups than to the local population.” I’m going to assume that’s often the case all around the world.

Those “special interest groups” are now extremely upset. I assume we’ll be learning more as time goes on.