Below is a slightly modified version of my column in USA Today on the apoplectic response of Washington to the efforts of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk to reduce the size of government. Democrats have declared the effort to be pure “evil” and responded with rage rhetoric and profanity in public demonstrations. In a town with only one industry, reducing government is a sacrilegious act. It is one thing to run on reducing government and quite another thing to actually mean it. However, the deferred buyout shows how both members and unions are working against not only constitutional powers, but the desire of the employees themselves.
Here is the column:
Thomas Paine once remarked, “Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.” With the approaching 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, much has clearly changed.
President Donald Trump’s move to reduce government is now portrayed as evil in its own right. Elon Musk’s move to draw down various agencies was presented as a virtual return to the state of nature.
Democratic members staged protests in front of various agencies to declare “war” and to accuse Trump of “destroying the government” by shrinking it. Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D., Md.) declared “Every time you hear DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, you just remember it is the department of government evil.”
Americans say Trump is keeping his promises
The coordinated efforts of Democratic leaders and the mainstream media have once again not resonated with the public. Trump, according to polls, is now at higher popularity levels than during his first term. And a strong majority of Americans say Trump is keeping his promises, including in his efforts to reduce government spending and waste.
Those efforts include a generous buyout offer for federal employees. The Trump administration offered federal workers the chance to stay home for months while receiving full pay if they would agree to resign from government employment.
It was an extremely clever move. The best way to shrink the government is to get people to leave voluntarily. But Trump and Musk also have warned that layoffs will follow if not enough federal workers accepted the buyout.
It is a type of self-deportation from government service. And it worked, with about 75,000 federal workers accepting Trump’s offer before the deal ended Wednesday.
It worked so well, in fact, that Democrats rushed to stop the voluntary exodus by falsely suggesting that it was a scam. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., warned employees that Trump would “stiff you,” even though the offer comes with the authority of the federal government.
His colleague, Mark Warner (D, Va.) added ominously for workers to “Think twice. Has this individual in his business world ever fulfilled his contracts or obligations to any workers in the past?”
At the same time, unions (looking at a major reduction of force) have filed with Democratic groups to stop these employees from taking the offer. They found a favorable court with U.S. District Court Judge George O’Toole who enjoined the program. However, after citywide celebrations over the injunction, the court then lifted the injunction on the buyout program, agreeing to allow the buyouts to go forward.
Unions representing federal workers and liberal legal organizations are likely to now appeal O’Toole’s decision. The unions, which are facing a major reduction in dues-paying members, have a disturbing conflict of interest in trying to deny federal workers the benefits of an offer they chose to accept.
The legal challenges to the buyout have relied on a plethora of arguments asserting that a president cannot allow employees to stay home and receive pay pending their departure from federal employment. Those arguments cited the Antideficiency Act, which bars agencies from spending beyond the money appropriated by Congress.
President has the authority to manage the executive branch
The counterargument is that money used for the buyouts was allocated to pay employees whose service normally continues year after year. Under Article II of the Constitution, the president is given ample discretion in running the executive branch, including the work status of federal employees.
Congress clearly has a role in controlling use of the federal purse. For example, Congress can determine whether to allocate money to build certain Navy vessels. However, once the ships are built, it is the president who decides where to send them and who will serve on the crew. The commander in chief also can expand or shrink the size of the crew.
Trump was well within his authority in offering to change employees’ duties while they look for new positions, and the employees had every right to agree to eight months of paid leave in exchange for their resignation from government service.
The opposition from Democrats and labor unions is the ultimate form of paternalism. In the name of protecting employees, opponents fought to prevent workers from accepting offers they believe are best for themselves and their families.
Federal employees are entitled to protections in their employment. But they’re not entitled to permanent employment. Congress is entitled to appropriate money for specific purposes. But it is not entitled to manage the executive branch.
Trump is very willing to fight on this hill. He holds a strong constitutional position and an even stronger political position.
For those who proclaimed themselves as defenders of democracy throughout last year’s election cycle, this is what democracy looks like. Voters made clear that they want changes in the size and the focus of government.
Those voters are unlikely to be convinced by the warning of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., that Musk is “taking away everything we have.”
That is precisely what Americans asked for in reelecting Donald Trump.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
In my town, a military base was closed mid 90s. The shrieking and rending of garments was similar over job loss, but most of the local jobs lost were used car dealers and ladies of the evening.
As the country circles down the drain of bankruptcy, the Left obsesses over process. As in: Trump is violating the Impoundment Control Act (ICA).
The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was authorized by congress in 2008. The funding was specifically earmarked for the financial industry — and only the financial industry.
Then Bush and Obama both *impounded* funds from TARP, and repurposed those funds for the auto industry.
I can tell you this: I am of the opinion that if our dems hold meaningful power again anytime soon they will immediately do everything conceivable within their power and otherwise to gut and dismantle our Constitution and Bill of Rights, right off the bat. We’ve already seen it up close over the past five years, and that contingent isn’t going to simply evaporate.
We are not even close to being out of the woods, and the midterms are not a sure thing. We have to hold onto the solidarity we showed in November pretty much indefinitely. It could be years before the DNC is viable again, if ever, and it will absolutely take years to repair the damage of just the dems’ last term. Celebrate victories, but there’s no room for cockiness. It’s exhausting, yes, but that is by design on their part, and tyrants do not suddenly cease being tyrants.
I can tell you this; presently, notwithstanding media reports to the contrary, ‘official’ Democrats have very little control over the organs of U.S. power .. . and little hope for the future.
*and that peace, prosperity and freedom really does require eternal vigilance.
@dgsnowden
Due to the fact that our dems have already perfectly illustrated the fact that they have no regard for our laws, that matters not the tiniest bit. This is a CULTURAL shift, not an ideological one, and we have to keep it going. I am not a conservative and never will be one. That is NOT why I voted for Trump/Vance. We have to maintain our solidarity in *spite* of all of that. This is very important for us to integrate all the way to our cores; we are Americans, free to think, believe, and say, and largely DO what we wish. That is all that should matter. Do not underestimate the mafia when they are backed into a corner – the dirty tricks have taken a reprieve, but they aren’t going to stop.
I personally am a secular person and hate the Catholic church; I have no use for religion in general and do not believe in an anthropomorphic God. I support abortion in the first trimester as an option. I think our immigration laws are too strict for decent people that want to come legally. Remember the populist part when you think of solidarity. it might mean working alongside people you really, really disagree with outside of the notions of basic peace, privacy, and thriving. But that is what it will take, and for a long time to come. We have to be fellow, free, Americans again, and support one another while living our own lives according to our own compasses.
Methinks the reason the two Senators from Virginia are complaining is that they are concerned about themselves. Without the support of federal workers in northern Virginia, they would become civilians again, and Virginia would turn into a Republican state again.
” Without the support of federal workers in northern Virginia, they would become civilians again, and Virginia would turn into a Republican state again.”
That might be happening under their turned up noses right now 🙂
“Washington Recession Begins”: DC Active Home Listings Soar, Jobless Claims Spike As DOGE Drains Swamp”
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/recession-begins-dc-active-housing-listings-soar-jobless-claims-spike-doge-drains-swamp
“Bright MLS, one of the largest multiple listing services in the US, just recently cautioned real estate agents and industry professionals: A toxic mix of a “new Presidential administration and higher-than-expected mortgage rates contributed to a slow start to the 2025 housing market” across the Washington, DC, metro area, plus surrounding counties in Northern Virginia and Maryland. Now, the floodgates have opened—active listings are soaring, and jobless claims are spiking across the region, as the writing’s on the wall: an economic downturn is just ahead for the federal bureaucracy as ‘DC Swamp’ draining accelerates. “
Jonathan: As you mention the Anti Deficiency Act bars the government from spending money beyond what is authorized by Congress in the budget. The House is now facing a budget deadline in March. If it doesn’t pass a budget there will be a government shutdown or if it does pass one but doesn’t include funding for DJT’s buyout offer government workers who accept the offer will be left high and dry. DJT’s offer could be an empty promise. That’s why there are a lot of razor blades in the apple DJT is offering!
Now you bizarrely claim “Congress is entitled to appropriate money for specific purposes. But it is not entitled to manage the executive branch”. Well, Congress does “manage” the money it allocates. The Impoundment Control Act (ICA) gives the president limited authority to temporarily withhold congressionally authorized funding. Once Congress authorizes funding it is the constitutional responsibility of the president to spend the money. This is why 2 federal courts have found DJT in violation of the ICA by withholding funding for USAID. By continuing to impound that money DJT is in violation of court orders. This puts the lie to your claim that DJT holds a “strong constitutional position” on this issue!
Thanks for the laugh – activist left fed fudd judges doing lawfare. You use their examples like its a righteous litmus test when it is obviously quite the opposite. Billions of dollars in waste DOGE has found and identified on all manner of DEI & green energy scams. Slush funds of unused and hurried out the door piles of cash by the briben admin of corruption. Those gold bars the apparatchiks threw off the titanic before 20 January 2025. USAID was a cesspool of govt agencies and left wing money laundering. When USAID millions have been traced back to US and foreign media companies all pushing the same agendas…the jig is up. We kinda all knew of this systematic chicanery/theft. But now with the light of DOGE shown upon this corrupt monstrous apparatchik toad , its all laid bare for even the blind to see the hideous nature of this complete and organized crime syndicate tentacle of our government.
“Once Congress authorizes funding it is the constitutional responsibility of the president to spend the money.”
Care to explain how both Bush and Obama got away with *impounding* TARP funds?
Congress is bound by the Constitution. Only legislation which carries out a Constitutionally enumerated power or duty is valid. Which Constitutionally delegated power or duty does USAID carry out?
Congress has no power to tax for or fund USAID.
Congress has no enumerated power to regulate whatever realm of USAID.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Article 1, Section 8
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States;…
Dennis,
First preserving tghe status quo on March 14th is trivial – just pass another short term CR
That will keep Trump and DOGE in business as long as it does not SPECIFICALLY bar what they are doing.
One of the biggest problems with the challenges to Trump’s EO’s is that for most of them Only Congress has standing to challenge them.
The antideficiency act and the impoundment act are laws passed by congress that regulate the relationship between congress and the executive.
The courts have NO AUTHORITY to rule on them unless either the president sues congress or congress sues the president.
The states due not have standing.
I am actually surprised that the legal attack on the buyouts was decided in Trumps favor at a lower court – while that case was also a loser, The Unions do have standing – but a left wing nut federal district court judge decided surprisingly that they did not.
If unions can not get standing in an employment case – in what would do you expect anyone but congress to get standing in a waste and fraud case.
I have no idea what Republicans will do with regard to the March 14th deadline.
But it is highly unlikley they will shutdown the government.
Though I would note that Even if they do – this would be the most favorable circumstances for a government shutdown and the worst possible case for democrats.
Outside of what congress has specified by law – about 25% of the federal government remains operating. And the president has a fair amount of latitude there.
Trump can arrange what is open and what is closed to protect his voters to a very large extent.
Further congress can actually pass interim measures during the shutdown to address specific pain points that Trump can not fix.
What exactly do you do if Republicans essentially shutdown 75% of government and most people do not notice.
A shutdown is what DOGE is doing on steriods.
Further DOGE could keep auditing – they could be easily defined as essitial as they are finding the waste and fraud needed to keep the govenrment from collapsing during the shutdown.
My bet is no shutdown. And aparently thee betting markets agree – the odds on a shutdown right now are 1%.
BTW any budget deal does NOT have to include provisions for the employee buyout.
That is strictly an executive issue.
To actually defund the buyouts – Congress would have to do so EXPLICITLY. Which they are not going to do.
And even if Congress did defund them explicitly – they would be covered by full faith and credit.
The president as Cheif Executive made a deal that congress did not bar him from making to REDUCE costs in the long run.
Trump is NOT spending new money.
Regardless it is complete legal delusion to claim that that offer will not be honored.
Congtess is not going to rescind the offer, and the courts will not let them.
“Well, Congress does “manage” the money it allocates.”
Only to the extent they actually do so through statute.
There is absolutely nothing in Congressional statutes “managing” federal staffing.
“The Impoundment Control Act (ICA)”
Specifically limits the presidents ability to refuse to spend money for purposes Congress has budgeted, because the president and the executive disagree over the legitimacy of the purpose.
It does NOT prevent the president from cutting spending where congress did NOT specifically authorize that Spending or where the president is Still meeting the policy objectives of congress.
“Once Congress authorizes funding it is the constitutional responsibility of the president to spend the money.”
False. There is zero way SCOTUS will ever rule that the president must spend every single penny budgeted by congress and not one cent more.
The constitution and the impoundment act – as SCOTUS ruled decades ago are about POLICIES not FUNDS.
The president MUST pursue the policy objectives of Congress and he can not use the executive power to manage funds to thwart polcies.
If Congress appropriated funds for Trans Operas in Columbia the president must spend that money for that purpose.
“This is why 2 federal courts have found DJT in violation of the ICA by withholding funding for USAID. ”
And in the long run they will lose.
While Trump is winnign more and earlier this term – it is little different from Trump’s first term.
The left challenged his actions and got nationwide TRO’s against most of them, and then LOST somewhere in the appeals, often at the supreme court.
All this nonsense is, is a delaying tactic. Worse for democrats is that it WILL establish precedents as it climbes the legal ladder.
The most fundimental issue is that a long list of Supreme court cases have created a scenario where the Federal governemtn grows and grows and grows and it is near impossible to shrink. That while it takes the house the senate and the president to create INITIAL spending,
That after that spending has been created absent the house the senate and the president being UNIFIED in opposing it,
it continues forever.
SCOTUS has the chance right now to end that – without running afoul of the constitution or prior law.
And they are near certain to take that oportunity.
I would further note – Trump has not “impounded” any money. He has ended wasteful spending, He has ended fraudulent spending.
While clearly a few idiot courts have ruled against that. There is no way that SCOTUS will rule that the president can NOT stop waste and fraud.
The open question is what happens to the money ? Trump has not answered that. Nor has congress. And the courts do not have the authority to do so – not unless the president and Congress disagree in COURT.
We must not forget that Biden’s answer to unemployment and waning economy was to balloon the government workforce and add $billions to our national debt.” Then he bragged about how he had improved employment and the economy.
“In December, the U.S. added 33,000 government jobs, compared to an average of 37,000 government jobs added per month in 2024, the BLS reported on Friday.”
from, “Biden Gives America One Last Economic Gift: More Gov’t Bureaucrats Than Ever Before,” https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/biden-gives-america-one-last-economic-gift-more-gov-t-bureaucrats-than-ever-before/ar-BB1rhAbS
It’s my understanding that there is widespread skepticism among Federal employees that the deferred resignation program is real, legal, and will honored based on the terms of the email offer and the sample resignation agreement that includes a provision not allowing employees to sue or otherwise enforce it.
You understand wrong. First of all, there is no such provision. You libtards will believe anything.
I have a close friend who was a long time supervisor at the national weather service. He has his papers in hand and has already received his first check.
Get a grip
It’s my understanding the govt unionistas and dems have been deliberately muddying the waters with misinformation on this and pushing their narratives like snake oil salesman at a DNC rally.
It’s my understanding that there is widespread skepticism among …..
There is widespread loathing of Democrats, MSM and Act Blue/ Media Matters paid trolls, yet here you are having never worked a decent job in your pitiful sad existence
In guerilla warfare, you try to use your weaknesses as strengths.
(In Political Lawfair, use what were your weaknesses as strengths. The Dems came at Trump with a barrage of lawsuits, many on fictitious grounds. Trump now is acting with Presidential impunity and tackling the ‘System’ that was impeding his mission.)
Only fight battles you know you can win. That’s the way to do it.
(Enough Said – Trump has put together a Cabinet that can address the problems beset the missions agenda)
You capture their weapons and you use them against them the next time.
That way they’re supplying you. You grow stronger as they grow weaker.
(Take-Out the Enemy’s arsenal (Main Stream Media, USAID/NGO’s, IRS, Treasury, FBI, CIA, DHS, Entrenched Vested Bureaucratic Deep State Fat, all the weaponized systems that were used against Trump in the past)
Read between the Lines and know what side of the Line you are. Stay on Watch.
Each year we go deeper and deeper in debt, we continue to hire more and more public employee’s, massive bill’s with name’s “Inflation Reduction Act” filled with items which would do nothing to lower inflation, no one can tell the public where the money is going, better yet who’s hands it winds up in. Now we have a President who wants to cut spending, reveal where the money is going, who is getting wealthy from tax dollars and our democrat representative’s scream “foul”. What’s the fear all about representative, what do you fear??
JT, Remember this interview…
David Frost: Are you really saying the President can do something illegal?
Richard Nixon: I’m saying that when the President does it, it’s *not* illegal!
David Frost: …I’m sorry?
test
Nixon was essentially correct, and that is close to what the recent immunity decision said.
I would note that Nixon said if the PRESIDENT does it, its not illegal.
SCOTUS said that a president action within the scope of constitutional executive powers or Congressional delegated powers acts,
he has absolute immunity
When the president acts withiin the wider penumbra he has qualified immunity.
And when he acts as a private individual – he has no immunity.
Presidents order peoples assaination – they order Murders. They order acts that are clearly illegal – both under US and foreign law.
They do so routinely.
It worked so well, in fact, that Democrats rushed to stop the voluntary exodus by falsely suggesting that it was a scam. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., warned employees that Trump would “stiff you,” even though the offer comes with the authority of the federal government. His colleague, Mark Warner (D, Va.) added ominously for workers to “Think twice”.
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”
George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”
Mark Warner Net Worth $215 Million
Tim Kaine Net Worth $10 Million
https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-politicians/democrats/mark-warner-net-worth/
Meanwhile Tim Kane and Mark Warner stiff children by stopping their natural sexual hormonal development, castrate little boys, girls get mastectomies, and they push for sexual hormones on children in spite of evidence based medicine stating these are irreversible interventions with no benefits long term
But yeah federal employees should never be given the choice to decide their fiscal options. Because being pro-choice is a dangerous thing in the hands of voters who decide the political fortunes of Animal Farm swines like Old Major/Warner and Napoleon/Kaine *
* “Old Major represents a combination of Karl Marx (who established the original precepts of communism) and Vladimir Lenin (the intellectual force behind the Bolshevik Revolution). When Old Major dies, his skull is preserved and put on display; much in the same way, Lenin’s body was embalmed and turned into an unofficial national monument.
Napoleon is a stand-in for Joseph Stalin”
https://www.thoughtco.com/animal-farm-characters-4584383
Dear Prof Turley,
The sweetest sound ever was POTUS Trump Inc. recent announcement he would work with Xi and Putin to reduce the U.S. defense budget by half! Holy cow, there’s 1/2 a Trillion dollars right there.
(note. still not sure how it’s *possible* Russia’s $65bn defense budget produces better, more advanced arms, equipment and weapons than U.S./Nato combined?)
Weapons of war and symptoms of madness . .. is bad for business.
As I understand it, Elon Musk & the Geek Squad have ‘saved’ hundreds of billions of dollars just warming up. Already.
I particularly appreciate any savings wrt Ukraine war – especially ending the $16.4bn USAID spent there last year (USAID’s largest expenditure).
However, I haven’t seen a penny of those savings, yet. Nor did I receive a penny of Biden’s free Covid money – while all those around me were living high on the hog – and I’m poor as Job’s turkey.
*show me the money!
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2mpq3xRt2FE
edit .. . show me the money
In all seriousness, what they produce is not better or more advanced. Russia follows a very different philosophy. They stress quantity over quality The T-72 tank is decades out of date in it’s armor and fire control systems. The SU-57, their newest fighter jet, is covered in exposed rivets and screws. It has a radar cross section bigger than a barn door. The Kinzhal hypersonic missile has proven itself quite vulnerable to anti-missile systems. It turns out going very fast does not make you invincible. What they have relied on was sheer numbers. The problem now is they are losing equipment faster then they can replace it, although they still have substantial numbers of equipment in reserve to tap into.
I have little doubt we are wasting billions, if not trillions, and hopefully DOGE will help root that out, but that doesn’t negate the fact that state of the art hardware isn’t cheap.
The kind of loss and attrition rates going on in that conflict would cause Americans to rightfully so burn Washington to the ground.
I’m not a science guy, but I think your data on Russian military tech is inaccurate and/or outdated.
As I understand it, when Russia launched the new ‘Oreshnik’ (Russian: Орешник, lit. ’Hazel tree’, is a Russian intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) characterized by its reported speed exceeding Mach 10 (12,300 km/h; 7,610 mph; 3.40 km/s) last year, the Russian FM notified U.S. command of its trajectory and challenged them to shoot it down. It struck its target.
Moreover, the Russians ‘claim’ to be developing a ballistic missile called the ‘Avantgarde’ capable of 27x Mach .. . which hardly seems possible given the limits of known metallurgy?
Upgraded old Russian T-72s and modern T-90 tanks seem be winning on the battlefields of Ukraine.
The Russian 5th gen thrust-vectoring SU-57 seems to be performing well, and thrilling audiences, at Areo India air show going on.
All at a fraction of the cost of U.S./Nato ‘defense’ budgets combined.
*more importantly, Trump’s ‘multi-polar’ vision to resolve global conflicts short of war has far-reaching implications on the scope and scale of standing armies .. . and swamp creatures in the Washington D.C. lagoon who feed upon it.
I read somewhere the key to defense of a hypersonic missile attack is to be able to target the launch and destroy the missile with your hypersonic missile before it hits its speed.
“I read somewhere the key to defense of a hypersonic missile attack is to be able to target the launch and destroy the missile with your hypersonic missile before it hits its speed.”
That would seem to require that the party seeking to counter the attack actually HAS working hypersonic missiles…
The claim that Russia is emphasizing Quantity over Quality is only partly true.
Certain Russian aircraft perform well at airshows. But we are not seeing those in the Battlefieds of Ukraine.
There are very few of them and while they are aeronautically equal – and possibly even superior to US equipment,
There are very few of them, even fewer pilots trained to fly them, and being equal or superior in ONE facet is not the same as being equal overall. Russia is not even close to the west in electronics – and that is of increasingly great importance.
And Russia can not produce its best equipment in enough numbers to equip itself OR sell to foreign countries.
The semi-exception to that is that Russia does sell a FEW of its advanced weapons to China, which copies them and mass produces them.
But so far NOT all that well China STILL can not make a jet engine as good as the Russians, and the Russians can not make a jet engine as reliable and efficient as the west.
Russias T14 MIGHT be the equivalent of the M1A3 – but there are only a handful – there are thousands of Abrahms.
The T90 is NOT the equal to the Abrahms.
It is going to be difficult to take lessons from the battlefields of Ukraine – because neither side has managed consequential airpower.
It is NOT just that neither Ukraine nor Russia has gained airsuperiority – it is that neither is even capable of it.
Russia has barely sufficient planes and pilots to maintain a narrow edge over Ukraine and the number of planes and pilots the ukrainians have is also quite small. Any conflict with Russia involving a major western military would involve 10 times the aircraft with well trained pilots.
There is litterally almost no air war in Ukraine beyond drones and missles, and artillery.
Even so we are seeing that Neither side has been able to make effective use of Armour.
It is crystal clear from Ukraine that without airsuperiority it does not matter how good or bad the tanks are.
Overall Western tanks are performing less well than expected. But they are still performing far better than T72’s and T90s.
Ukraine is fighting incredibly well against the Russians. But it is still a war of attrition and Russia is 5 times Ukraines size.
Better weapons, training and technology are giving Ukraine a 3:1 advantage. But they need a 5:1 advantage to maintain a stalemate.
Both sides are running out of resources. The US can not produce SOME of the high tech weaponry at the rate Ukrainians are consuming them. And we DEFINITELY can not produce low tech weapons like artilary shells at the rate Ukraine is consuming them.
Russia is Burning through there MASSIVE stockpiles of antiques – but there stockpiles ARE massive.
Most of the “high tech weapons” of Russia are in tiny numbers. It mostly does not matter how good they are,
Russian can not produce them in meaningful quantities.
The est can not produce sufficient artilaries shells to meet Ukraines demand – but Russia can not keep up either.
Russia is not buying millions of artilery shells from North Korea – which CAN produce them in quantity.
Russia is trading food which NK desparately needs for Shells which Russia desparately needs.
Trump should make a deal with NK to give them food in return for not selling shells to russia – that would end russias ability to creep forward near instantly.
Regardless both sides are facing critical shortages moving forward.
North Korean Soldiers have thus far proved even worse than useless.
China is a BIG part of any deal slashing defense – because the Chinese military is a REAL threat to the US.
They are and have produced good equipment of their own, AND copied good Russian equipment.
They have done so in very large numbers. Their pilots as an example while having only about 1/3 the training of americans,
have 5 times the training of Russians.
A fight between China and US + Allies will be a War of attrition. With China having much greater numbers and the US having better technology and training. But the disparity will NOT be the same as in Ukraine.
A conflict between the US and China would have SOME similarities to the Ukraine war.
But MANY MANY differences.
Over the short term a 50% cut in military spending greatly favors the US.
Over the long term – China and Russia are facing demographic disasters.
The most important US goal regarding China is to STOP them from trying to take Taiwan to distract from internal problems.
The high risk window for that is new, and it is slowly closing.
Regardless wargaming a conflict between the US and China would be radically different from Ukraine.
What is occuring in Ukraine is instructive should Russia try to go beyond Ukraine – it should be crystal clear that
Russia can not fight any part of NATO. Nor any two of its immediate neighbors.
The Ukraine war – which Russia IS very slowly winning, is Russias “last gasp”.
Russian military equipment is built to provide function and operation in a myriad of different conditions. They require less maintenance and are built to interchangeable standardized parts. America so highly over engineers our equipment that it requires perpetual maintenance and training to keep it battlefield ready. Mass production, low maintenance, operational in all environments and easy to train operators, a key to war success. The Germans had to learn this in WW 2 the hard way.
The big achiles heel of US equipment is that it is expensive and there is not enough of it.
In war games with a US CBG in the south china sea – for 72 hours the CBG wreaks havoc on China sinking ships. shooting down planes in massive numbers. And then the CBG runs out of ammunition. It can not be effectively resupplied and in a few hours it is all sunk to the bottom of the sea.
The US strategy in defense of Tiawan is to keep Carriers far enough to the east to be at the extreme range of the Chinese.,
While still being about to cover Tiawan and the straights of Tiawan. The MAIN objective is to keep airfields in Taiwan open.
So long as they are the US can ferry replacements from Japan and Okinawa to Taiwan – The chinese can not sink an island.
The Chinese navy though large is inconsequential. If they engage they will be at the bottom of the sea quickly.
No Chinese CBG is capable of defending itself against a US CBG that is twice as far away – without help from land.
No Chinese CBG can get close enough to a conflict to play a factor without being sunk. And that is ignoring the fact that China has not fought a naval war of consequence for 500 years. There are only 3 consequential naval powers in the world, The US, the UK and Japan. Maybe France. India and China are growing naval powers but they are 50-100 years way from prevailing in a naval war – or even surviving against a well equipped and Well trained navy. Fighting a navy is REALLY difficult and it is about far more than numbers of ships and technology – though those are important.
Russia has/had a competent submarine force. There surface navy has NEVER been meaningful.
” still not sure how it’s *possible* Russia’s $65bn defense budget produces better, more advanced arms, equipment and weapons than U.S./Nato combined?”
Possibly, Putin has eliminated Russian defense industry fraud and profiteering by “making examples” of the perpetrators?
“how it’s *possible* Russia’s $65bn defense budget produces better, more advanced arms, equipment and weapons than U.S./Nato combined?”
I don’t know how accurate your statement is, but let us not be superficial when making such comparisons. Do you know what the PPP is? Look it up.
The US is wasting tremendous amounts of money that, hopefully, Trump will curtail. The PPP makes the comparison closer. The US spends 13 times what Russia does using raw numbers, but when one learns about PPP, one finds that the more accurate number is 3-4 times more. Now add that the US economy is nominally 15 times higher than the Russian economy.
Next, look at where the US defense money goes that is not significantly countered by the Russian defense agency. Here are a few examples: the US Navy doesn’t come cheap, NATO is not cheap, and bases worldwide are not cheap.
Try thinking of numbers as a whole instead of one number out of many. Of course, the US can and will reduce waste from the military.
To paraphrase Conan the Barbarian
What is best in life? To crush the Democrats and Progressives, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their supporters.
FWIW
https://ourpublicservice.org/blog/recent-trends-in-quits-and-retirements-in-the-federal-workforce/
3,000,000 federal employees.
– Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED), Jan 2025
_______________________________________________________
A 10% reduction would be 300,000.
Most departments cannot be taxed for and funded by Congress; most constitute unenumerated unconstitutional regulation, and self-regulation must be done by private industries.
#1. Of 75, 000 taking the offer how many were retiring or planned to retire in 2025? All? 120,000 retire each year. The downsizing is by attrition. Simply no rehire. The savings is yearly thereafter. The savings is seen in the following years.
The Union can see this as a retirement perk and add it to the contract. Each retiree may take the offer yearly. Great perk.
So what is the union really doing? The octopus of corruption, graft, contacts for fraud within the executive department is being dismantled.
The executive branch is a trillion dollars over budget? The octopus has no legs and no suckers.
It looks like the judicial branch could use some housecleaning? Congress ? Seriously consider the empty headed puppets and what the bureaucrats really say about them.
The long view is giving power back to states. Wreck your own State but not mine. The theft is at mythological proportions. DJT is the dragon slayer.
I was wondering the same thing. But, a lot of the 75,000 could be those on probation, too. Or, like somebody else here pointed out, good employable people who wanted to get a jump on the job market.
The smart ones, NEVER wait for the ax or the best and only other jobs are taken.
What private sector companies give severance packages, comp time, vacations beyond 10 days, drop programs etc? It’s a cancer on us all, fuggem!
#1. No perk for them. Approx 3500?
As to judicial branch clean out? Dobbs leak and others slogged the yellow brick road to the hilltop with KBJ. The biggest perk was the yellow brick road.
The justices have had attempts on their lives.
Over and out.
DJT—>the dragon slayer 😂
#1 how many employees in the judicial branch? Number in the legislative branch?
#1. ^^^^ ten years approx 1 million reduction by attrition.
It’s a one time offer… now pink slips.
The executive always had the power to force congress into not overspending or vice versa.
Then, there is this:
Bright MLS, one of the largest multiple listing services in the US, just recently cautioned real estate agents and industry professionals: A toxic mix of a “new Presidential administration and higher-than-expected mortgage rates contributed to a slow start to the 2025 housing market” across the Washington, DC, metro area, plus surrounding counties in Northern Virginia and Maryland. Now, the floodgates have opened—active listings are soaring, and jobless claims are spiking across the region, as the writing’s on the wall: an economic downturn is just ahead for the federal bureaucracy as ‘DC Swamp’ draining accelerates.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/recession-begins-dc-active-housing-listings-soar-jobless-claims-spike-doge-drains-swamp
Welcome to what happens in the “flyover states” all the time. VA, Maryland, and Delaware can all be proud they voted for Kamila, but democracy works, and the rest of the country said, “sorry”. I don’t get folks who treat govt jobs like they are welfare!
Gee, Floyd — You cite this downturn in the federal bureaucracy as if it were a bad thing….
After nearly 10 years of experiencing the psyops methods to destroy Trump, we should easily recognize those very same efforts now.
Since they cannot dispute the facts and evidence being uncovered, they’ll try to redirect attention to something else. Trump’s polling, President Musk, DOGE is unconstitutional, dictator, etc. The tell is when Democrats and all the usual media suspects are spewing the same talking points, that is precisely when to redirect back to the facts and evidence.
Never give them the opportunity to come up for air.
OLLY,
Well said. They actually think we are that dumb we cannot think for ourselves and see right through them. We see it here on the good professor’s blog. What is the DNC/MSM narrative de jour? And then they spew it over and over again.
They actually think we are that dumb we cannot think for ourselves and see right through them.
Upstate, unfortunately they may be correct. Not everyone mind you. But just take note of the comments here and watch it happen. As Joshua (WOPR) says in Wargames:
A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.
@Upstate @Olly
Another tell is the rapidity with which unsuccessful narratives are abandoned. Some of the most recent failed propaganda has lasted less than week, it really is ludicrous, and yes, the disdain for our intelligence is breathtaking. The modern left are miscreants of the highest order; in business circles such con-artists would have been blacklisted long ago for their behavior and chicanery, if not outright prosecuted for fraud. Their smugness about it is the icing on the cake. There is nothing redeemable about the modern DNC, zero.
James,
That is a great point. We all see it with leftists who harp on a narrative until it gets quickly and easily debunked. Then they pretend it never happened. The recent Rachel Maddow hit piece on Musk and the Tesla armored vehicles, how quickly that fell apart. Did she acknowledge her lack of journalistic integrity and issue a correction? Even an apology?
Another tell is the rapidity with which unsuccessful narratives are abandoned.
Great point James.
Notice how Trump is playing “the game” this term. He’s giving them no chance to get to their feet before he knocks them down with more devastating news. By the time The Blob issues the next talking point, there is no one around to hear it. So all they can muster is F*ck Trump! 🤪
MAGAs doe not believe in the concept of facts and evidence. Their reality shifts with every Trump whim.
Can you define what a woman is? Reality is biological men should not be in women’s sports, locker rooms. Mutilating children is not health care. Pornography should not be in elementary school libraries.
Upstate, The only winning move is not to play.
😂 true
#1. There’s that “existential threat” again. Is this referencing Jean Paul Sartre? Please stop it. They use existential as if it means exist. They’re saying– we won’t exist?
Hopefully. 😂
You even see the Irony of your fact less post ?.
Saving money bad…… spending money good. Democrats can’t help themselves Olly. Their hatred of all things Trump (and now all things Musk) is a terminal condition. Thank you, Jonathan, for an excellent article. Please keep them coming. Greg
Unfortunately their terminal condition results in a death spiral that is agonizing for those of us who eagerly await their ultimate demise.
TheJayhawker
“Unfortunately their terminal condition results in a death spiral that is agonizing for those of us who eagerly await their ultimate demise.”
Agonizingly slow…
Trump is demonstrating to the U.S. and the world what true democracy is: the power of the people to advocate for and elect leaders to implement change. Trump’s side-effect is the near-destruction of the Democrat party. The handful of Democrats with future ambitions for a political career have seen the light, felt the heat, and are hurrying to join the offense and its new quarterback. Another sure indicator that Trump is on the right track is our European allies’ reception of his administration. In 2008, the presidential candidate, Barack Obama, addressed 200,000 people at the Brandenberg Gate in Berlin. He was as loved and admired in Europe as Woodrow Wilson at the end of WWI. No wonder he was loved in Europe; he was giving European nations an edge on trade and picking up the tab for their defense – or, rather, we, the American taxpayer, were doing this.
On Monday, a day set aside in the U.S. to honor our presidents, the leaders of Europe will meet in an emergency session in Paris to devise a strategy to handle Trump’s threatened remedy for trade imbalances. The rule of thumb here is simple: When a U.S. president is liked in Europe, we are in trouble, and when a U.S. president is disliked in Europe, we’re on the right path. Trump is under no obligation to make Europe great again, but he does have an obligation to serve and obey the American people who elected him to Make America Great Again by an impressive and decisive margin.
There’s a similarity between our Democrats and the European leaders crying foul over our opposition to their unfair agreements and practices that dearly cost the American taxpayers. Sorry, Ireland, you won’t be getting your USAID money for DFEI training, and sorry, Serbia, your LGBTQ community will have to do without USAID money, too. And, France, maybe you can explain why a bottle of fine French wine can be bought at Costco in New York for a lot less than it sells for in Paris (there is no “value-added tax” in the U.S.). And, by the way, France, while we’re on the subject of wine, how come I cannot buy a bottle of American-made wine anywhere in France?
Trump is showing the world how democracy becomes fascism. The core of US democracy is Congress, which Trump is trampling.
Wrong. The core of democracy is We, The People. And Trump is doing the will of We, The People.
The core of democracy is 3 coequal branches, each with it own powers and responsibilities. No one branch is superior over the others. Congress allocates funds. It has not say in how the Executive branch operates.
Specifically what has Trump done that is fascist?
The core of the US Republic, not democracy, is the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
test again from KulakBoomer
More clueless hypocrisy from frankee. Europa europa is mustering its agencies in ever more censorship , taxation and media control…just like briben bitler did.Trump is rolling that big borther trend back , exposing it’s fraud , defunding it literally. And gobs like you pine for big brother again. Move to Europe brother…they would appreciate your knee jerk worship of big brother govt.
Talk about being afraid of Trump! This is five minutes of sheer insanity at a Worcester City meeting, and trannies!
https://x.com/alx/status/1889673202562957400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1889673202562957400%7Ctwgr%5E349aa761411953e9e5061c52ffb53a8b4c2a576d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fanthonyblogan.com%2Fworcester-massachusetts-becomes-transgender-sanctuary-city%2F
Floyd: The little boy speaking near the end represents a sad state of the issue….
Lin, yes, and that old virago with two trans kids, too. Can you say, Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy???
Good, you understand the pathology and resultant disease process that afflicts a number of these, whatever they are.
TheJayhawker
#1. Munchausens is far worse than even that.
Many children are dying.
” sheer insanity at a Worcester City meeting”
I read that earlier. Nothing to see there beyond completely content-free virtue signaling.
I am enjoying watching Democrats self destruct in their wild and crazy fashion!
Sadist? Not very American of you.
Why? They are doing it to themselves. I am just sitting back, eating some popcorn and enjoying the show.
Watching them doing it … get pleasure in that? Then sadist it is. Is kiddie porno in your program too?
Yes. It is funny to watch them tell the whole world how dumb they really are! Ah, no. I am the guy who has called out there should be no pornography in elementary school libraries. You leftists are the groomers.
@Upstate
So am I, the writing for the unsustainability of the madness of virtually every position the modern left espouses has been on the wall for some time, at least in this country. Watching the globalists (but I repeat myself) freak out is pretty great, too. I thought the hypocrisy and gaslighting were bad when they were in power – hoo boy. They are all outdoing themselves, and progressive dems have simply finally tipped fully into pure, certifiable, insanity.
James,
Right! And the more they rant, rave and rage, the dumber they look!