We’ve been reporting that Donald Trump is no fan of USAID, the US Agency for International Development, and he’s determined to reform or eliminate the agency. USAID Bureaucrats have not been taking it well and have been throwing temper tantrums and trying to “resist,” thinking somehow that the electorate voted them into office and not the president.
On Saturday night, Trump decided it was a good time to mete out some more consequences for the uncooperative rebels:
Two top security officials at the US Agency for International Development were put on administrative leave Saturday night after refusing to allow officials from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to access systems at the agency, even after DOGE personnel threatened to call law enforcement, multiple sources familiar told CNN.
Personnel from the Musk-created office physically tried to access the USAID headquarters in Washington, DC, and were stopped.
The DOGE personnel demanded to be let in and threatened to call US Marshals to be allowed access, two of the sources said.
DOGE head Elon Musk let it be known what he thought in no uncertain terms:
USAID is a criminal organization.
Time for it to die. https://t.co/sWYy6fyt1k
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 2, 2025
RedState’s Ward Clark explained in a recent article why USAID is so problematic and should be transformed or eliminated entirely:
Not only is USAID paying for stupidity like sending condoms to the Taliban, along with all manner of money poured out overseas, but their 2025 budget request is asking for $42.8 billion. That’s a “B” followed by an “illion.” That’s a lot of American taxpayers’ dollars to let USAID play Santa Claus to the world. In case anyone hasn’t noticed, we can’t afford it. We’re broke. Our national debt situation is untenable, we may well be past the point of no return, and we can’t keep paying for things like condoms for terrorists anymore. […]
— Read More: redstate.com
Independent Journalism Is Dying
Ever since President Trump’s miraculous victory, we’ve heard an incessant drumbeat about how legacy media is dying. This is true. The people have awakened to the reality that they’re being lied to by the self-proclaimed “Arbiters of Truth” for the sake of political expediency, corporate self-protection, and globalist ambitions.
But even as independent journalism rises to fill the void left by legacy media, there is still a huge challenge. Those at the top of independent media like Joe Rogan, Dan Bongino, and Tucker Carlson are thriving and rightly so. They have earned their audience and the financial rewards that come from it. They’ve taken risks and worked hard to get to where they are.
For “the rest of us,” legacy media and their proxies are making it exceptionally difficult to survive, let alone thrive. They still have a stranglehold over the “fact checkers” who have a dramatic impact on readership and viewership. YouTube, Facebook, and Google still stifle us. The freer speech platforms like Rumble and 𝕏 can only reward so many of their popular content creators. For independent journalists on the outside looking in, our only recourse is to rely on affiliates and sponsors.
But even as it seems nearly impossible to make a living, there are blessings that should not be disregarded. By highlighting strong sponsors who share our America First worldview, we have been able to make lifelong connections and even a bit of revenue to help us along. This is why we enjoy symbiotic relationships with companies like MyPillow, Jase Medical, and Promised Grounds. We help them with our recommendations and they reward us with money when our audience buys from them.
The same can be said about our preparedness sponsor, Prepper All-Naturals. Their long-term storage beef has a 25-year shelf life and is made with one ingredient: All-American Beef.
Even our faith-driven precious metals sponsor helps us tremendously while also helping Americans protect their life’s savings. We are blessed to work with them.
Independent media is the future. In many ways, that future is already here. While the phrase, “the more the merrier,” does not apply to this business because there are still some bad actors in the independent media field, there are many great ones that do not get nearly enough attention. We hope to change that one content creator at a time.
Thank you and God Bless,
JD Rucker
