(End of the American Dream)—The chaos that we are witnessing in Washington D.C. right now is absolutely breathtaking. The U.S. possesses the largest and most bloated bureaucracy in the entire history of the planet, and now it is has been thrown into a state of turmoil as Donald Trump and his team fire political appointees, freeze spending, and figuratively turn over the tables in agency after agency. Overall, there are more than 3 million federal employees in the United States. Many of them find themselves in shock as the harsh reality of what is happening to them starts setting in.
Let me give you an example of what I am talking about. A “current employee at the Office of Personnel Management” says that Trump has initiated a “hostile takeover of the federal civil service”. This is the message that this anonymous employee posted on Twitter…
In other words, Trump and his team have literally taken control of the infrastructure that oversees all federal personnel decisions.
We have never seen anything quite like this before.
When Trump started his first term, he tried to play along with the establishment.
This time around, he is doing things much differently.
On Tuesday, the White House announced a “temporary suspension” of most federal grants and loans…
President Donald Trump’s administration has enacted a temporary suspension of all federal grants and loans, effective today, Tuesday, January 28, 2025.
This strategic pause, orchestrated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is designed to facilitate a comprehensive review of federal financial assistance programs, ensuring that taxpayer dollars are utilized efficiently and in accordance with the administration’s objectives.
This initiative reflects President Trump’s unwavering commitment to fiscal responsibility and his dedication to eliminating wasteful spending.
We have never seen an incoming president do anything like this either. But it makes sense. Trump and his team want to evaluate where federal money is going so that taxpayer dollars can be deployed as efficiently as possible.
Assistance that goes directly to individuals is not being frozen. As White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has made quite clear, this temporary freeze does not apply to Social Security, Medicare, or the food stamp program…
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the pause wouldn’t cover Social Security and Medicare benefits or food stamps – assistance that is going directly to individuals.
“This is not a blanket pause on federal assistance and grant programs from the Trump administration,” Leavitt said. “However, it is the responsibility of this president and this administration to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars.”
However, on Tuesday there were reports that Medicaid payment systems were not functioning…
Several lawmakers took to social media on Tuesday afternoon to confirm that that their state’s Medicaid payment systems have been shut off.
“Can confirm. Connecticut’s Medicaid payment system has been turned off. Doctors and hospitals cannot get paid,” wrote Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut in a post on the social media site X. “Discussions ongoing about whether services can continue.”
Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden said on X that his staff has confirmed that Medicaid portals in all 50 states are down due to the Trump administration’s federal funding freeze.
The Trump administration says that it is aware of this issue and insists that any Medicaid payments that were temporarily delayed will soon be processed…
The White House has said it is ‘aware of the Medicaid website portal outage’ but insisted no payments had been denied and were instead just delayed in being processed.
But state and federal officials say the issue is already impacting providers across the country and worrying millions of people who rely on Medicaid for everything from prescription medicines and preventive screening to unexpected hospital stays and checkups.
Needless to say, once Trump’s funding freeze was unveiled, liberal organizations that rely on federal funding went absolutely ballistic.
A bunch of groups quickly went to court, and they were able to find a federal judge that was sympathetic…
A federal district judge on Tuesday granted an administrative stay in a case challenging the Trump administration’s planned freeze of federal aid, pausing the plan for a week and setting a hearing for further arguments Monday morning.
The order applies only to the pause of disbursements in open grants, Judge Loren AliKhan said. And it doesn’t get into the legality of the freeze; instead, it gives her time to hear more fleshed-out arguments from a coalition of nonprofit groups about why she should issue a temporary restraining order that could block the freeze for an additional two weeks. The hearing will take place at 11 a.m. Monday.
Why are they able to get the courts to move so quickly?
For most Americans, our court system moves at a glacial pace.
In any event, I expect that Trump’s temporary suspension of federal grants and loans will eventually be upheld.
The Trump administration has also decided to temporarily freeze most foreign aid…
Internal communications reviewed by ABC News show that the Trump administration plans to strictly implement an executive order from the president mandating a 90-day freeze on almost all U.S. foreign aid amid a review, a measure that already has sparked widespread concern among humanitarian organizations.
“We get tired of giving massive amounts of money to countries that hate us, don’t we?” President Donald Trump said in a speech during the House Republicans’ annual retreat in Florida on Monday, touting a blizzard of executive actions he had taken since returning to the White House.
Emergency food programs and military aid to Israel and Egypt are the only exceptions to this freeze on foreign assistance.
Once again, the goal is to review where the money is going so that it can be used as efficiently as possible.
For far too long, money from the U.S. has been ending up in the pockets of corrupt officials all over the globe.
That needs to stop.
On top of everything else, Trump has announced that buyouts are being offered to all federal employees that “don’t wish to return to in-person work at the office”…
The Trump administration is offering buyouts to all federal employees who don’t wish to return to in-person work at the office, a White House official confirmed to USA TODAY.
The offer, which will be outlined in a memo the U.S. Office of Personnel Management intends to send on Tuesday, would give federal employees eight months of pay until September if they resign by Feb. 6.
“If you choose not to continue in your current role in the federal workforce, we thank you for your service to your country and you will be provided with a dignified, fair departure from the federal deferred resignation program,” according to a copy of the memo reviewed by the USA TODAY.
I had no idea that so few federal employees were showing up for work at the office each day.
According to one administration official, only 6 percent of all federal employees show up to work at the office on a full-time basis…
“The government-wide email being sent today is to make sure that all federal workers are on board with the new administration’s plan to have federal employees in office and adhering to higher standards. We’re five years past COVID and just 6 percent of federal employees work full-time in office. That is unacceptable,” said the anonymous senior administration official.
There are some people that are able to efficiently work from home, but there are others that simply lack the discipline to do so.
For example, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst has pointed out that one VA official was actually “on a Zoom call from his bathtub”…
‘One VA employee who was in charge of some of these hotlines – he actually was on a Zoom call from his bathtub,’ said Ernst, who is chairwoman of the Senate Small Business Committee. ‘You’re not actually working if you’re taking a long, hot soak in a bubble bath.’
This March 2023 example is often used by Republicans to exhibit why returning to the office is necessary. The VA worker posted a story to Instagram showing him in a bathtub with the caption: ‘My office for the next hr.’
Are you kidding me?
Federal employees should not be doing their jobs from their bathtubs.
Now that Trump is demanding that they start showing up for work again, a lot of them are threatening to quit, and that is actually what Trump and his team are hoping for…
Experts say the aggregate effect of the changes will be to drive frustrated government employees out of their jobs, a goal the Trump team is explicitly gunning for.
Musk – who chairs DOGE – recently predicted that revoking ‘the COVID-era privilege’ of telework would trigger ‘a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome.’
When Elon Musk took over Twitter, he also demanded that employees return to the office, and the size of Twitter’s workforce slimmed down quite rapidly.
Now the same thing is happening to the federal bureaucracy.
I didn’t think that I would ever see it happen in my lifetime.
But here we are.
Of course this is just the beginning.
So grab your popcorn and get ready for a lot more epic and necessary governmental chaos in the months ahead.
Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.
At Last, a Company With Integrity in the Gold IRA Industry
For several years, I’ve been vetting out precious metals companies in search of the best. I believe in gold and silver but it’s hard to find integrity in the Gold IRA industry. The vast majority operate with shady tactics and gigantic spreads that take advantage of Americans who simply want to protect their life’s savings.
I’ve found a handful that I like and I’ve worked with some of them. By no means would I “unrecommend” them because, again, I vetted them out and found them to be above the fold. Unfortunately, it isn’t hard to be better than the rest when the rest are so darn awful.
After years of searching, I finally found a company that truly operates with integrity. Augusta Precious Metals has three important attributes that set them far above the competition:
- Non-Commissioned Sales Team: I cannot stress how important and unique this is. With just about every other company in the Gold IRA industry, the sales teams make commission from every account they open. This means they steer their clients toward the gold and silver products with the highest commission. With Augusta Precious Metals, the team is solely focused on putting the best gold and silver for their clients into their IRA. They get paid to serve the best interests of the Gold IRA client, NOT their own commission pay.
- Incredibly Low Fees: Most Americans would be shocked if they knew the spread other Gold IRA companies charge. Augusta charges just 5% versus up to 45% elsewhere.
- No Pressure, No Gimmicks: There’s an understanding among most in the Gold IRA industry that fear and pressure is the way to go. Augusta Precious Metals takes a sober approach when working with clients because they hold integrity in the highest possible regard. This is why they don’t offer gimmicks like “free” or “bonus” silver. It’s also why they do not apply pressure tactics to get quick sales. Their educational and transparent approach to doing business is exceedingly rare in the Gold IRA industry.
