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There is an American idiom that is particularly applicable to the current situation facing President Trump. I’m paraphrasing: When you’re up to your ass in alligators it can be easy to forget you were hired to drain the swamp. There can be no mistaking that Trump, and his appointees, were hired to drain the swamp. Thus far, among multiple tangential distractions, he has not lost sight of the ultimate goal. The American people have exhibited a better understanding of our predicament than those we elected to Congress. Last November over 70% of us said our country was headed in the wrong direction. Americans are fed up with being used as congressional ATMs. If our representatives cared about their constituents, and their country, there would be visible bipartisan cooperation in Congress to reduce government waste, fraud, and abuse. Sadly, they only care about being reelected.

How could any patriotic person who loves this country, regardless of political affiliation, be against creating a more efficient government? There are a couple of basic facts that people, especially decision makers, have conveniently forgotten. As of 3/18/2024 our national debt stood at $34.551 trillion and growing every day. Nobody reading this, including the author, can grasp its enormity. To break it down a little, that is $102,774 owed by every man, woman, and child, in the U.S.! There is no such thing as a “government funded” project/program. Every dollar the government spends must first be confiscated from the paychecks of hardworking Americans.

Out national debt is the product of years of careless mismanagement by BOTH parties. Politicians believe that our problems are best answered by government. They create departments which in turn create agencies all headed by high paid, unelected, generally unsupervised, bureaucrats. Dems. protest that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the most transparent entity in all of government, is headed by Elon Musk who was not elected. Yet they have no issue with those unelected bureaucrats who continually waste untold amounts of taxpayer dollars. Over the last 4 years, President Biden touted his “unprecedented” record of creating jobs. However, if you discount those rejoining the workforce after COVID shutdowns, the fastest growing sector for job growth was the government. Along with their salaries, these new employees will be lavished with perks that are more generous than those offered by the private sector and will last a lifetime. These costs will fall on the backs of taxpayers. To quote President Ronald Reagan, “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” The bigger the government, the bigger the problem.

For decades, Presidents have hinted at, discussed, and promised, to reduce the size of government. Presidential commissions were created and charged with making recommendations on ways to reduce its size. Each produced a plethora of suggestions and warnings of the dire consequences if the suggestions were ignored. Nobody followed through in any meaningful way. The result is that this year Americans will pay more to satisfy the interest on our national debt than we will to defend our nation. President Trump did not ignore the warnings. He followed through on his promise by creating DOGE. The wailing from Democrats was immediate and deafening. They swear they are in favor of cutting waste, fraud, and abuse. But they want to use a scalpel, not a chain saw. The simple truth is that for decades they could have fixed this problem with a scalpel. The national debt is now so enormous and waste so prevalent that using a scalpel is no longer a viable option. Drastic action is now required. For years, both parties ladled layer after layer of expensive vote getting freebies on the backs of the American taxpayer. They had the opportunity to resolve this problem in a more orderly way. They chose not to. Now they should shut up and sit down while the adults in the room strive to set things right.

In a week or two I intend to do a blog on the debacle that is/was USAID. For today, I aim to be clear eyed in placing blame for the fall of the agency where it rightfully belongs. First, let me say that I am truly sad for those honest staffers at USAID who were dedicated to providing much needed aid around the globe. I believe legitimate projects will be reinstated under the direction of the State Department. Trump is responsible for shuttering the agency after Elon Musk identified its gross mismanagement. But the agency would still exist had its Administrators not treated their budgets like a slush fund for personal pet projects. I would bet the managers of legitimate projects were always seeking additional funds to deliver more lifesaving aid. I’d hope those managers would have been infuriated to learn that additional funding wasn’t available because their leaders earmarked money for ridiculous projects. If Administrators truly cared about their agency’s mission and the job security of their employees, they wouldn’t have risked them by acting so frivolously. I understand why hardworking employees of USAID feel betrayed. But their feelings of betrayal are misplaced. They should blame the people who got caught with their fingers in the cookie jar. Not at the people who caught them.

It is understandable that the 40+% of American households who pay no income tax have zero reasons to care if the government raises the taxes of those who do. Why would they care if the government wastes the money it seizes? They have no skin in the game. “Government funded” is a term politicians use to gaslight unwitting taxpayers. We would pay more attention if we took the time to realize that taxpayer money was the actual source of the funding. When we’re told it is “government funded” too often we shrug and say hey, if the government can afford to do A it can afford to do B. The flat truth is the government can’t pay for anything until it absconds with ever larger amounts of money taken from those of us who earn a paycheck. News flash, we are at the point where we can afford neither A or B.

A 2024 Congressional Budget Office report suggested that there could be as much as $500 billion in waste, fraud, and abuse in our government. EVERY YEAR! It is estimated that as much as $400 billion of COVID relief funds were stolen, wasted, or misspent by the government. Thanks to DOGE we found out this week that $300 million in Small Business Administration loans were given to children under the age of 11! Seriously, if you are an American taxpayer, other than a government employee, what credible reason could you have for being against the work being done by DOGE? I understand why many top-tier bureaucrats might be updating their resumes and lawyering up. It seems a sure bet that many politicians are also consulting their lawyers. At the very least they are seeking advice on how to explain to constituents why they took copious amounts of “dark” money from questionable places. Sadly, the busiest entities in D.C. right now could be department and agency shredders.

An audit like DOGE is conducting is long overdue. American taxpayers must understand that draining the swamp will take time. The alligators will make it difficult for us to stay the course and continue to defend the direction that Trump is leading us. What he is doing is unprecedented in the history of our country. It is fraught with risks. We must remain steadfast in our support of his efforts. If we love our country and want it to be around for our children and grandchildren, we should thank God that President Trump and Elon Musk have the courage to do it now.

Thanks for taking the time to read my latest comments. I hope you think it was time well spent. Bob