I have had a difficult time this week trying to write a single-topic column. There is just too much to choose from so I decided to do one of current political odds and ends.
Elon Musk and his kindergarten gang have been rampaging unchecked through the Federal government for a couple of weeks. None of them have security clearances (except Musk who was given one by Trump without any vetting by anyone else), nevertheless they have been in the files of our nation’s most secret agencies, various and sundry other departments, and along their merry way have not only obtained everyone’s Social Security number, and individual Medicare and Social Security payment amounts but also the means to interfere (i.e. end them) with the payments that many Americans depend on. And Musk et al have only just begun.
Is it time to panic because the unelected richest man in the world essentially now has the power of life and death over our government – and ourselves? Apparently not time for Congress to panic as the silence from Trump Party Representatives and Senators, including mine, is deafening. They do not seem to realize that allowing Musk to continue rummaging through our government seriously dilutes their Constitutional powers.
Two weeks ago the MAGA world had not only never heard of USAID but had no clue what it did, which was to provide a critical food and health care lifeline to impoverished citizens in more than 100 countries around the world since Congress established it during the JFK years, at only a tiny fraction of the overall federal budget. The U.S. goodwill PR bang for its very small buck was enormous. Nonetheless, Musk called USAID a “criminal organization.” President Trump, who just today (2/7/25) called for killing it entirely, criticized USAID as being “run by a bunch of radical lunatics.” Hopefully Congress will understand that its demise is a gift to China, which will take our place everywhere in the world we depart.
New Secretary of State Marco Rubio was easily confirmed by his former Senate colleagues. So how is he doing? Not so good in my opinion. Just the other day he decided not to attend the next meeting of the G20, an organization of the largest economies in the world that meets regularly to discuss the most pressing issues facing the global economy. Together, the G20 accounts for around 85% of world GDP, a percentage that has grown in the past 20 years, more than 75% of global trade and around two-thirds of the population of the planet. The meeting is a time for leaders, especially new ones like Rubio, to meet and schmooze with global peers. The host country rotates. This coming October it will be in South Africa.
That is a problem for a rigid ideologue, and Trump acolyte, like Rubio. Quoth Marco on Musk’s X: “South Africa is doing very bad things. Expropriating private property. Using G20 to promote ‘solidarity, equality, & sustainability’. In other words DEI and climate change. My job is to advance America’s national interests, not waste taxpayer money or coddle anti-Americanism.”
Hopefully, Rubio will figure out a way to attend. For the U. S. not to be represented means we will have no say in decisions that will affect us even if President Trump, Rubio (and Musk) believe they will not. That is hiding their heads in the sand.
Last week at two D. C. religious events. At the annual Congressional National Prayer Breakfast, President Trump said he wants to root out “all forms of anti-Christian bias” in the U.S., announcing that he was forming a task force led by Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate the “targeting” of Christians. He added “Bondi would also work to fully prosecute anti-Christian violence and vandalism in our society and to move heaven and earth to defend the rights of Christians and religious believers nationwide.” At another religious event the same day, President Trump called religious liberty “part of the bedrock of American life” and for protecting it with “absolute devotion.”
However, President Trump has also removed the long-time designations of public schools and places of worship as “safe havens” from ICE immigration raids and arrests. Evidently for President Trump, his campaign promise to deport illegal immigrants trumps his recent religious promises.
Stay tuned for more political news.
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Originally published in the Kingsport Times News
Steve Wintermute is a journalist and history student. Contact him at stevewintermute1@gmail.com.
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