The hidden ways Trump, DOGE are shutting down parts of the U.S. government; The Washington Post, May 11, 2025

Hannah Natanson

 and 

Maxine Joselow

, The Washington Post ; The hidden ways Trump, DOGE are shutting down parts of the U.S. government

[Kip Currier: Billionaires and millionaires doing everything they can to intentionally break our federal government is unconscionably amoral and appalling.

Think about all of the people being hurt by these actions, as highlighted in this Washington Post article. While the richest man in the world gaslights people that this will benefit them.

Now imagine all of the millions and millions of people being hurt by Trump 2.0 whose stories we don't know.]

[Excerpt]

"Across the federal government, Trump officials are halting a wide range of operations by declining to approve key funds. This unofficial hold on many activities has incapacitated many agencies’ divisions, even though they remain technically intact...

Elon Musk, who is preparing to step back from his work leading DOGE, recently told reporters at the White House that his team had remade the government in a way that would benefit Americans.

“In the grand scheme of things, I think we’ve been effective,” he said. “Not as effective as I’d like. I think we could be more effective. But we’ve made progress.”

However, Donald Moynihan, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan, said the Trump administration and DOGE appear to be “deliberately embedding red tape into government” by instituting “needless additional reviews of already-approved grants.”

“This makes sense if you assume that the purpose of DOGE is not to make government work better,” Moynihan said in an email, “but to stop government from working at all.”"

Former US social security head predicts ‘interruption of benefits’ amid Doge cuts; The Guardian, April 25, 2025

Robert Tait  , The Guardian; Former US social security head predicts ‘interruption of benefits’ amid Doge cuts

[Kip Currier: The excerpted statements (see below) by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick are moronic and deceitful. American workers have paid into Social Security and they reasonably expect and have earned the right to receive their fair share of the contributions they've made, when they decide to do so. 

Billionaires like Lutnick and Elon Musk think nothing of using every tax loophole or corporate write-off they can to make more money for themselves. Yet, these same billionaires want to deny American workers from accessing benefits from the system that they've faithfully paid into and rightfully earned.

We've all seen this "bad movie plot" before, right?

We see through the hypocrisy, sophomoric tricks, and bad faith efforts to rip off -- and take for themselves through billionaire tax cuts -- what U.S. workers have lawfully earned, don't we?

Yeah, we do! We see through your disinformation and deceptive antics, Lutnick and Musk et al. 

Call your state and federal representatives and tell them you want billionaires like Lutnick and Musk to keep their hands off the Social Security you've earned:

Directory of U.S. House Representatives: https://www.house.gov/representatives

Directory of U.S. Senators: https://www.senate.gov/senators/index.htm ]

[Excerpt]

"Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary and also a billionaire, added further fuel by suggesting only fraudsters would complain if there was an interruption to social security payments – the very scenario O’Malley has warned of.

“Let’s say social security didn’t send out their checks this month, my mother-in-law – who’s 94 – she wouldn’t call and complain,” Lutnick told a business podcast last month. “She’d just think something messed up and she’d get it next month. A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling and complaining.”"

Legal experts say Trump official broke law by saying ‘Buy Tesla’ stock but don’t expect a crackdown; AP, March 21, 2025

BERNARD CONDON , AP; Legal experts say Trump official broke law by saying ‘Buy Tesla’ stock but don’t expect a crackdown

"A week after President Donald Trump turned the White House lawn into a Tesla infomercial for Elon Musk’s cars, a second sales pitch by a U.S. official occurred, this time for Tesla stock.

“It will never be this cheap,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Wednesday. “Buy Tesla.”

Government ethics experts say Lutnick broke a 1989 law prohibiting federal employees from using “public office for private gain,” later detailed to include a ban on ”endorsements.” Although presidents are generally exempt from government ethics rules, most federal employees are not and are often punished for violations, including rebukes like the one Conway got.

As of Friday, no public action had been taken against Lutnick and it was unclear whether he would suffer a similar fate.

“They’re not even thinking of ethics,” said Trump critic and former Republican White House ethics czar Richard Painter of administration officials."

Ethics Pledges by Trump Cabinet Draw Questions and Skepticism; The New York Times, February 1, 2025

 Eric Lipton, The New York Times; Ethics Pledges by Trump Cabinet Draw Questions and Skepticism

"A total of 467 separate conflicts that require recusal, meaning at least temporarily the official cannot handle certain matters, have been identified in 15 of these ethics letters filed so far by senior Trump administration officials or those pending confirmation, according to a tally by Campaign Legal Center.

The largest number of these recusal requirements will be imposed on Howard Lutnick, a Wall Street financier and the nominee for Commerce Department secretary, who at least initially must refrain from being involved in certain matters involving 106 different corporate entities.

To outside ethics lawyers, this is a minefield of potential problems, and reason to be apprehensive, given that during Mr. Trump’s first term, several of his cabinet members failed to honor ethics promises they made to avoid actions that benefited their families or financial interests...

Richard Painter, who served as a White House ethics lawyer during President George W. Bush’s tenure and has written a book on federal ethics policies, said that he expects that the second term of Mr. Trump will feature even less compliance with ethics rules.

“The tone of this administration is going to be a lot more confrontational to the norms of government than even the first Trump administration,” he said, pointing to the recent firing of the inspectors general and the lack of an ethics memo, like every president since Mr. Obama has issued. “It is discouraging. Very discouraging.”"