Trump has claimed a big mandate from his November win though he only won by a little more than one percent of the popular vote. Only 2 million more people voted for Trump than voted Kamala Harris who won 74,327,659 votes. Even so, Trump plans a radical administration with non-experts running agencies under the usual Republican trick of putting agency critics in charge of agencies. Trump represents the corporate right, and his dislike of government is legend after years of smarting from civil rights and tax regulations that constrained his ability to make money in real estate and gambling in New York City.
As part of his crusade against government, Trump has created an advisory board which he calls the “department of government efficiency”. Since no such department exists, the advisory board has been given this inflated title to boost its importance in the eyes of an unsuspecting public. Americans have every right to be apprehensive about Trump’s intentions here, given his history of cynicism. What can we expect from his “government efficiency” push?
Naturally any effort to cut government spending will reflect the values and biases of those selecting the cuts. Since Trump is filling his administration with corporate people and those from the ideological right, we can expect different cuts proposed by Trump than we would see from mainstream republicans (what few are left). Congress controls spending and whatever proposals Trump makes for budget cutting can only be suggestions to Congress. Congress is full of Trump enthusiasts which may give his suggestions more clout, but democrats are numerous as well and will resist the most reactionary cuts.
Trump chose two members of the 1% to select cuts that will affect most Americans. Elon Musk, the flamboyant owner of various corporations such as Tesla and Starlink oversees the effort. While a skilled businessman from a wealthy South African family, Musk lacks a college education and has lived in an economic stratosphere that prevents him from understanding the experience of everyday Americans or South Africans. Private jets, mansions, armored limos and a team of security people keep him safely away from people who get subsidized health care and work for an hourly wage.
Musk has become a major played in politics since emerging from his corporate world during the recent political campaign. Earlier, he bought Twitter and changed its name to X and has since used it to promote far right politics. He recently wrote an editorial in Germany endorsing the racist-right party AfD and he helped Trump sink a Congressional compromise to prevent a government shutdown in December by spreading patently untrue statements about the content of the legislation.
Musk has a huge following (200 million they say) on the X platform and his wealth gives him the ability to buy exposure for his extremist views. Like Trump, Musk disregards the truth and bases his opposition efforts on emotion and ideological thrusts which may or may not be supported by reality. Most recently he has blamed the California wildfires on diversity programs within California government which caused the state to staff up with minorities and women, who he implies are inherently incompetent while they wasted money on diversity training. This is a deeply racist and misogynistic narrative which has spread like wildfire on conservative media and has spread doubt about first responders.
Musk has changed X from the credible news source it was before he bought Twitter and turned it into a mouthpiece for the far right. If you look for a topic on X, the first post you will be shown is Musk’s opinions on the topic which are often misinformed and always highly divisive.
The other leader of Trump’s government efficiency effort is a man most Americans may not have heard of named Vivek Ganapathy Ramaswami. Born to east Indian parents in Ohio, he worked in finance and founded a drug company and based it in Bermuda to evade American taxes. He created a subsidiary called Axovant which bought an Alzheimer’s drug which had failed clinical trials from a major US drug company. Vivek rode a huge wave of investment in Axovant and made billions before the drug again failed clinical trials and his company value crashed, bringing down investors such as pension funds with it. He dismissed his charade and reacted angrily to critics.
Meanwhile Vivek had drifted into the hard right of American politics. A devout climate change denier and harsh critic of vaccines, he has campaigned against employment diversity campaigns and green energy. Like other Trump followers, he has railed against “woke” politics and has urged Americans to invest fully in coal and oil. Trump is a huge fan of Vivek, after he abandoned a nearly invisible presidential campaign and endorsed Donald in the primaries.
During his self-funded presidential campaign, Vivek said he would fire 75% of federal employees if elected and would eliminate 5 government agencies. He also said he would remove civil service protections from federal employees, allowing the president to fire them at will. Not only would these actions destroy government agency expertise, it would plunge workers into fear and poverty if they got fired for ideological reasons.
These strong personalities will lead Trump’s government cutting efforts. And while Trump glows with admiration for these men, it is hard to know if members of Congress or the public feel the same affinity for them. Will their personalities overshadow the substance of their recommendations? Musk invited people to come work for the “department” for free and help eviscerate the government. In Trump and Musk, we have two fundamentally uneducated men with vast power on topics they know very little about.
So, what is this spectacle about? What do we spend money on in Washington and where are the real drivers of our federal deficit? Think about this when Musk proposes cuts to the government. Are the cuts significant for cutting the deficit or are they ideological attacks on functions he and Trump don’t value? Are the cuts part of the culture wars or are they serious efforts to reduce deficit spending?
Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security make up about 32% of the federal budget. Defense makes up 20% of the budget. The other half of the budget is made up of small percentages. For example, republicans talk about cutting the Department of Education. This department uses .16% (point16) of the federal budget. Trump says he wants to close the Department of Energy which manages America’s national laboratories and oversees energy programs including those facilitating oil use. The Department of Energy uses .4% (point 4%) of the federal budget. Republicans also generally oppose efforts to protect the environment. Funding the Environmental Protection Agency and all the public land agencies which manage land owned by the American people, takes up 1% of the budget. They want to sell off our public lands to corporations and the rich. The proceeds would produce a miniscule amount of money and would deprive the American people of their birthright, while greatly reducing our freedom and damaging western economics.
So, Trump’s “department of government efficiency” is probably going to be an exercise in ideological posturing and will produce a storm of conflict and controversy. Will they propose to cut the big budget items like defense and so-called entitlements? Stay tuned.
Tom Ribe
