Trump Advisers Weigh Plan to Dismantle Education Department

 Administration officials are discussing executive order that could shut down key functions of the agency.

Trump administration officials are weighing executive actions to dismantle the Education Department as part of the campaign by billionaire Elon Musk and his allies to shrink federal agencies and slash the size of the government workforce.

The officials have discussed an executive order that would shut down all functions of the agency that aren’t written explicitly into statute or move certain functions to other departments, according to people familiar with the matter. The order would call for developing a legislative proposal to abolish the department, the people said. Trump’s advisers are debating the specifics of the order and the timing, the people said. 

The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment. 

The order would be a step toward fulfilling a Trump campaign promise to eliminate the department, limit federal involvement in education and give more authority to the states. Conservatives were sharply critical of the Education Department under the Biden administration, particularly decisions to forgive student loans and to extend sex-discrimination protections in education to LGBTQ people. The conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 also called for eliminating the department.

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Trump Kicks Aside Congress With Sweeping Claims of Presidential Power

 

 

With aggressive reading of Constitution, president aims to upend balance of power in Washington. In laying out the checks and balances of democracy, authors of the U.S. Constitution imagined that the president and Congress would wrestle for power when their authority conflicted, each fighting for influence. “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition,” James Madison wrote.

President Trump’s ambition has been sweeping and muscular in the first days of his new term, producing less of a transition in government than a takeover. Congress, by contrast, has all but forfeited the match.

The result, if Trump’s assertions of power survive the courts, would significantly rebalance power in Washington, centralizing unprecedented authority over federal spending, executive-branch personnel and a range of policy subjects in the Oval Office at the expense of Congress—the branch that the nation’s founders envisioned would have the more direct connection with voters and their interests.

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Hundreds Of US Government Sites Go Offline

Hundreds of US government websites were offline on Monday, an AFP review showed, including that of the humanitarian agency USAID which President Donald Trump's administration is shutting down.

From a list of nearly 1,400 federal sites provided by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), more than 350 were unavailable on Monday afternoon.

These included sites linked to the departments of defense, commerce, energy, transportation, labor as well the Central Intelligence Agency and the Supreme Court, the review showed.

The exact time when the sites became unavailable was not clear. Nor was it known whether the sites were temporarily offline or taken down at the instruction of Trump's administration.

But the development comes amid the administration's controversial drive to radically shrink the US government.

Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive and the world's richest person, is leading Trump's federal cost-cutting efforts under the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

On Monday, Musk said USAID will be shuttered, calling the agency which runs relief programs in about 120 countries a "criminal organization."

USAID's website was offline as employees were instructed by email not to go to their offices on Monday.

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The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk’s Government Takeover

 

Engineers between 19 and 24, most linked to Musk’s companies, are playing a key role as he seizes control of federal infrastructure.

Elon Musk’s takeover of federal government infrastructure is ongoing, and at the center of things is a coterie of engineers who are barely out of—and in at least one case, purportedly still in—college. Most have connections to Musk, and at least two have connections to Musk’s longtime associate Peter Thiel, a cofounder and chair of the analytics firm and government contractor Palantir who has long expressed opposition to democracy.

WIRED has identified six young men—all apparently between the ages of 19 and 24, according to public databases, their online presences, and other records—who have little to no government experience and are now playing critical roles in Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project, tasked by executive order with “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” The engineers all hold nebulous job titles within DOGE, and at least one appears to be working as a volunteer.

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Donald Trump's new Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy seen performing raunchy dance in embarrassing video

 

 

 

Trump's new Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy performs a raunchy 'Chippendale' striptease and gets his nipple licked in a cringeworthy clip from his forgotten past in reality TV.

The resurfaced footage shows the man tasked with restoring confidence in America's shaken airline industry prancing around in nothing but his tighty whities, socks, and eyeglasses.

Set to sultry saxophone music, the risqué routine begins with a 20-something Duffy gyrating near-naked in front of a window while fellow contestants from MTV's The Real World: Boston howl with laughter.

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New Trump Official Declared ‘Competent White Men Must Be in Charge’ in Pack of Viral Resurfaced Tweets

 

Trump’s State Department is hiring first-term Trump speechwriter Darren Beattie to a top job just 15 weeks after he submitted that “competent white men must be in charge” in one of many controversial, resurfaced tweets. 

Semafor broke the news on Sunday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will appoint Beattie as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy at the State Department almost seven years after Beattie was fired from the first Trump White House for speaking at a conference with white nationalists.

And as recently as October, Beattie was bluntly espousing white authority, writing “Competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work. Unfortunately, our entire national ideology is predicated on coddling the feelings of women and minorities, and demoralizing competent white men.”

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The Dumbest Trade War Fallout Begins (Wall Street Journal)

 

Canada and Mexico vow retaliation in response to Trump’s tariffs, amid new economic uncertainty.
President Trump conceded Sunday that there may be “some pain” from his sweeping tariffs on Mexico and Canada, but they will eventually lead to a new “GOLDEN AGE.” 

Nice of him to promise a glorious future because the pain is already unfolding, and the tariffs won’t even take effect until Tuesday.
“WILL THERE BE SOME PAIN? YES, MAYBE (AND MAYBE NOT!). BUT WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, AND IT WILL ALL BE WORTH THE PRICE THAT MUST BE PAID,” Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday morning. 

He also included a blast at these columns for leading the “Tariff Lobby” after our Saturday editorial called his 25% across-the-board tariffs on our friends and neighbors “the dumbest trade war in history.”
We appreciate Mr. Trump’s attention, though we’re anti-tariff and not lobbyists. 

But bad policy has damaging consequences, whether or not Mr. Trump chooses to admit it. Mr. Trump can’t repeal the laws of economics any more than Joe Biden could on inflation. Tariffs are taxes, and when you tax something you get less of it. 

Who pays the tariff depends on the elasticity of supply and demand for the specific goods. But Mr. Trump wants American workers and employers to take one for the team. Hope you don’t lose your job or business before the golden age arrives.
The economic fallout began Saturday evening as Canada said it will retaliate with a 25% tariff on $30 billion (Canadian dollars) of U.S. goods, with another C$125 billion to follow in three weeks. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also promised to retaliate.

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Trump says Canada will 'cease to exist' without subsidy and US has 'unlimited energy'

 

 Donald Trump has fired back at Justin Trudeau's tariffs by claiming Canada should become 'our cherished 51st state.' Donald Trump has angrily fired back at Justin Trudeau's tariffs by claiming Canada will "cease to exist as a viable country" without US subsidy.

Trump has sparked a bitter trade war as Mexico and Canada, who have hit back with retaliatory tariffs after the US president slapped both countries with huge levies.

After Trudeau vowed he would never back down, Trump responded on Sunday morning by saying Canada should become "our cherished 51st state". Writing on his Truth Social platform, he said: "We pay hundreds of Billions of Dollars to SUBSIDIZE Canada. Why? There is no reason.

Trump says Canada will 'cease to exist' without subsidy and US has 'unlimited energy'. Donald Trump has fired back at Justin Trudeau's tariffs by claiming Canada should become 'our cherished 51st state.'