Under the watch of Trump and Musk, the biggest overhaul of the American system in a century is underway - though it's simply a demolition. Even on the right, fears are heard that patient America will die on the operating table.
This text has been auto-translated from Polish.
On behalf of President Trump, tech billionaire Elon Musk has begun a rapid dismantling of the US state's systems. First to fly was the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which Trump's government portrays as either a waste of money or an outright threat to Americans.
Stories have been circulating on social media ranging from USAID's claim to be "propagating transgenderism" abroad, to claims that the agency aided the undemocratic takeover of Ukraine in 2013, to its alleged involvement in the production of a coronavirus at a Chinese laboratory in Wuhan, which USAID was said to have sponsored.
For the moment, a federal court has temporarily halted mass layoffs of USAID personnel and reductions in its programs. Which doesn't mean it's the end of the troubles for the agency, which, according to liberals and the employees themselves, mainly provides food and medicine in the world's poorest places, while building America's soft power.
Despite the heated discussion in the media, USAID is the least of Americans' problems, watching with amazement the express dismantling of federal offices and institutions that were supposed to be an example of Western, stable democracy for the whole world. American institutions may indeed have looked stable, but when it came down to it, it suddenly became apparent that the young and little understanding of the world empire was clinging solely to a late 18th century pamphlet - the US Constitution.
The progressive changes already add up to the biggest overhaul of the American system since Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1930s. Even right-wing media star Tucker Carlson, who supports and promotes Trump's and Musk's policies, is beginning to express concern that patient America may die on the operating table because vital organs have been removed.
What does this look like in practice? In key government agencies, such as the Treasury, young people as young as nineteen have emerged to act as agents of DOGE, the new Department of Government Efficiency, which Trump has established at the White House. Those sent by Elon Musk - mostly former Tesla or SpaceX employees - neither introduce themselves by name, nor have authorizations allowing access to federal agency systems and databases. Instead, they have instructions from Musk and the tacit approval of the president.
The directors and managers of these agencies are in an almost physical battle with the Silicon Valley youngsters, who are trying to gain access to information on all Treasury payments (e.g., to stop those under USAID) and to sensitive data (like addresses and Social Security numbers) of most Americans. DOGE's invasion of the Treasury has so far been blocked by a federal judge. Musk is already calling on social media for him to be stripped of office for this objection.
In taking power, Trump planned to fire at least a thousand government employees, mostly those he sees as loyalists of the previous administration. 160 people were fired from the White House Security Council. Seventeen inspectors general of major departments lost their jobs. The State Department has fired 60 contractors involved in promoting democracy and human rights.
Service personnel (security, secretariats) at the State Department and the White House were also laid off, and at the Justice Department, a thousand people involved in the Biden administration's response to the January 6, 2021 attack on Capitol Hill.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been hit with a major review after Trump during the recent fires near Los Angeles in California declared it inefficient. After the review, the president will decide whether to close or reform the agency.
He is also talking about abolishing the Department of Education, where Musk has already let artificial intelligence in, to the dismay of liberals. There are also to be purges at the FBI and CIA. Although until recently the agency was an enemy of the left, according to Trump it is full of leftists. Under ideological fire has been the Office of Management and Budget - the institution that hovers over the federal budget and watches over all government agencies, if only to inform federal employees when the government is closed, such as during snowstorms in Washington. Meanwhile, Musk is taking on the Pentagon.
As for mass layoffs, 60,000 government employees have already said they want to take up the offer to resign with seven months' severance pay. This shocking offer was sent to 2.3 million federal employees. For now, the deadline to take advantage of it has been extended, and the program is blocked at the federal court level. The opposition argues that the severance offer cannot be guaranteed by the president, because Congress decides on the budget, and the states only have a budget until March. Any later spending will not be approved without the participation of Democrats in Congress.
All programs and jobs under so-called DEI (Diversity Equity Inclusion) and environmental justice (environmental justice) are to be dissolved. Corporations are already beginning to mimic the government by removing their own DEI programs and changing the language on their sites, erasing traces of multicultural policies. Many of these companies are pursuing state contracts, but the private sector has also bucked the trend. Even universities are at risk, as certain research conducted and topics taken up at universities are becoming taboo: LGBTQ+ rights, black and Native American history, climate change and so on.
All government agencies at every level are halting programs that will be reviewed, from clean energy development to medical research. NGOs have had their funding withheld. DOGE will also be improving air traffic control, after all, DEI also invaded control towers and led to the plane crash at Reagan Airport in Washington that killed 64 people. It was one of the biggest airline crashes of recent decades, and it happened less than ten days after Trump took over - so he had to express his opinion, and he did: diversification and non-discrimination are to blame.
For the first week of DOGE's antics, Democrats in Congress were too shocked to react. But last week the party came to its senses. Democratic congressmen, for example, showed up at the doors of the Department of Education, where, however, the people's representatives were not allowed in.
Democrats in the House of Representatives now want to summon Musk for questioning. The interested party responded on the X platform informing Congressman Ro Khanna: "Don't be a dick."
It's starting to get to everyone that Elon Musk is growing into the fourth arm of government, and it doesn't matter that no one voted for him. Attorneys general of liberal states have sued the Tesla CEO for illegally gaining access to government systems. First, a conflict of interest is pointed out. Musk's companies carry out huge government contracts, and now he, a private businessman himself, has access to information about his competitors.
The only hope is that Trump and Musk will at some point quarrel with each other. Time magazine put the two men sitting together behind the presidential desk on its cover - making fun of Trump for seemingly agreeing to a duumvirate. For now, however, the split is not in sight. Apparently, the men still like each other very much.
