The US political class has created a constellation of taxpayer-funded grifts and sinecures that provide swamp creatures a lifetime of employment for a minimal amount of work. All that’s required is moral flexibility.
A graduate of, say, Georgetown University, can build a “career” by cycling through the following entities:
Congressional/White House staff Washington think tanks Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) Legacy media outlets K-Street lobbying firms D.C. law firms Ivy League universities Regulatory agencies "Regulated” companies like defense contractors and pharmaceutical firms
At the end of the process, our hypothetical bureaucrat will have made a ton of money, impressed the credulous with his/her official titles, and never, in all that time, created anything of value. A cynic might call this a wasted life.
Until very recently, it wasn’t understood just how much the rest of us paid for this deep state gravy train — and how much damage these people were doing to US interests and other countries’ stability.
But now we’re finding out, and the revulsion is global.
At the epicenter of the scandal is USAID, a shadowy, government-funded entity that spends billions of dollars doing bad things that the State Department and CIA are reluctant to do for themselves.
To understand USAID, two of the best sources are Glenn Greenwald and Mike Benz. Here they are together:
Here’s what happened when the new US government discovered that USAID was financing partisan legacy media outlets like Politico:
(Zero Hedge) - In light of the firestorm over tens of millions of dollars going from the US government to various media outlets in the form of subscriptions, particularly Politico, President Trump has directed the General Services Administration to terminate "every single media contract" expensed by the agency, according to an email obtained by Axios.
"GSA team, please do two things," the email begins.
Pull all contracts for Politico, BBC, E&E (Politico sub) and Bloomberg
Pull all media contracts for just GSA - cancel every single media contract today for GSA only.
The move comes after internet sleuths discovered tens of millions of dollars going towards Politico Pro subscriptions, with particular focus on one $8 million allocation.
On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the executive branch would cancel their contract with Politico...
...and today we find that it goes much further than just the rag that laundered the deep state's '51 intel officials' Hunter Biden laptop propaganda. For example, the NY Times was also cut off.
Politico responded on Thursday, claiming that they have "never received any government funding — no subsidies, no grants, no handouts. Not one dime, ever, in 18 years."
No, just tens of millions in Politico Pro subscriptions from the government. Like Hunter Biden received $200,000 for a painting of his excrement, which was totally not influence peddling.
Deep Cuts To USAID
Meanwhile, the White House is also planning to cut USAID's staff from roughly 10,000 employees to just 294 - a 97% reduction, after Elon Musk's DOGE team revealed that the international aid organization has essentially been funding woke pet projects and anti-American activities.
On Tuesday, the administration put a stop on all USAID work and placed all employees on leave, with thousands of overseas workers to be recalled within 30 days.
And here, from the EKO Substack, is a more in-depth look at what this sudden exposure of the Empire’s dark underbelly means going forward:
USAID fell next. No midnight raids this time. No secret algorithms. Just a simple memo on agency letterhead: "Pursuant to Executive Authority..."
Career officials panicked—and for good reason. Created by Executive Order in 1961, USAID could be dissolved with a single presidential signature. No congressional approval needed. No court challenges possible. Just one pen stroke, and six decades of carefully constructed financial networks would face sunlight.
"Pull this thread," a senior official warned, watching DOGE's algorithms crawl through USAID's databases, "and a lot of sweaters start unraveling."
The resistance was immediate—and telling. Career officials who had barely blinked at Treasury's exposure now worked through weekends to block DOGE's access. Democratic senators who had ignored other moves suddenly demanded emergency hearings. Former USAID officials flooded media outlets with warnings about "institutional knowledge loss" and "diplomatic catastrophe."
But their traditional defenses crumbled against DOGE's new playbook. While bureaucrats drafted memos about "proper procedures," the young coders were already mapping payment flows. While senators scheduled hearings, pre-positioned personnel were implementing new transparency protocols. While media allies prepared hit pieces, DOGE's algorithms exposed decades of questionable transactions.
The scale was breathtaking:
EPA climate initiatives? Not just mapped—found unauthorized programs in 47 states. Education's DEI maze? Not just exposed—revealed coordination across 1,200 programs. Intelligence community black budgets? Not just traced—uncovered patterns hidden for 30 years.
"The administrative state runs on two things," a senior advisor explained, watching patterns emerge across DOGE's screens. "Control of information and money flows." His eyes tracked new connections forming in real-time. "We're not just exposing their networks—we're rewriting their DNA."
The cracks began showing in unexpected places. A career EPA director, tears streaming: "Everything we built..." A USAID veteran, hands shaking: "They're inside all of it..." A Treasury lifer, closing his office: "They move faster than we can think."
Across Washington, officials who had weathered every reform since Reagan began quietly updating LinkedIn profiles. A Deputy Director: "Open to opportunities." An Agency Chief: "Exploring new challenges." A Bureau Head: "Time for change."
DOGE's algorithms weren't just programs—they were archaeology tools, excavating decades of buried networks. Each data point connected to another. Each discovery revealed new targets. Each pattern exposed larger systems.
"It's beautiful," one of the coders whispered, watching connections form across his screen. "Like watching a galaxy map itself."
For the permanent bureaucracy, this wasn't just change. It was an extinction-level event. Their power came from controlling who got paid, when they got paid, and what they got paid for. Now those controls were evaporating like dawn burning away darkness.
The pattern was devastating in its simplicity:
Map the money flows
Deploy aligned personnel
Expose the networks
Restructure the systems
By the time bureaucrats drafted objections to one breach, three more had already occurred.
The revolution wasn't just spreading. It was accelerating.
This is all red meat for those of us who like what Trump stands for and what he's trying to do. But I don't know yet just how many there are who really want such disruption of the status quo, and the elimination of a lot of inappropriate "programs". It's just too soon to tell.
Doing so many things by "Executive Order" is a problem long-term and - unfortunately - an inevitable roadway to tyranny. For that reason I actually want many of them to be challenged and halted. Not that I don't want the government cut back and down to size, it's just that EO's are not the right (i.e., legal, sustainable) way to do it. It needs to be changed legislatively and the only way that might happen is for there to be overwhelming and sustained public pressure to do so. So far there seems to be, but relatively few have been affected so far. The question remains how the majority will respond when their own situations are threatened or changed for the worse, not just a "deep state" minority. It will be interesting to see.
Hopefully, the EO's will be serendipidous in that what they expose will create the public awareness and political pressure to make permanent and sustainable changes legislatively. The Congress may actually be what needs to change most fundamentally because all of these shenanigans were ultimately created or approved by Congress, by delegating away their Constitutional responsibilities to newly created, unelected, unaccountable, and often secret agencies.
💥💥USAID FUNDED IRISH DEI MUSICAL FOOTAGE💥💥
For some, albeit slight, light relief, here is footage from the USAID funded Irish DEI Musical:
https://open.substack.com/pub/twentyx/p/usaid-funded-irish-dei-musical-footage
This is all red meat for those of us who like what Trump stands for and what he's trying to do. But I don't know yet just how many there are who really want such disruption of the status quo, and the elimination of a lot of inappropriate "programs". It's just too soon to tell.
Doing so many things by "Executive Order" is a problem long-term and - unfortunately - an inevitable roadway to tyranny. For that reason I actually want many of them to be challenged and halted. Not that I don't want the government cut back and down to size, it's just that EO's are not the right (i.e., legal, sustainable) way to do it. It needs to be changed legislatively and the only way that might happen is for there to be overwhelming and sustained public pressure to do so. So far there seems to be, but relatively few have been affected so far. The question remains how the majority will respond when their own situations are threatened or changed for the worse, not just a "deep state" minority. It will be interesting to see.
Hopefully, the EO's will be serendipidous in that what they expose will create the public awareness and political pressure to make permanent and sustainable changes legislatively. The Congress may actually be what needs to change most fundamentally because all of these shenanigans were ultimately created or approved by Congress, by delegating away their Constitutional responsibilities to newly created, unelected, unaccountable, and often secret agencies.