USAID in the DoGE house

Elon Musk claims that President Trump and DoGE are shutting down USAID.

He made his claim on X Spaces last night following the administrative leave of two senior security officials at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) after they denied the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DoGE) the ability to receive sensitive data from the agency, the Guardian reports.

DoGE was created on Trump’s first day to “maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” Headed by Musk, the department has already taken action to bring to light extensive federal spending and has been granted access to the US Treasury’s federal payment system.

Musk said that USAID is beyond repair. He said it cannot be compared to an apple with a worm in it, but only to a ball of worms, and that, “When there is no apple, you’ve just gotta, basically, get rid of the whole thing.”

This notion was corroborated by Iowa senator Joni Ernst, who revealed her past experiences with USAID, explaining that her attempts to investigate the department’s spending were met with threats and obstruction.

Vivek Ramaswamy, who was also on the X Space — tuned in by more than 900,000 people — said that if the public were to demand the continuation of USAID, it could always be recreated under the authority and oversight of the legislative branch. He added, “Deletion is the only answer that’s left.”

Utah senator Mike Lee joined the call to stress the importance of cutting down most of these departments. He said, “We put the wrong branch in charge of the wrong responsibility” and questioned the constitutionality of departments like USAID, saying they “destroyed federalism and the separation of powers.”

Lee explained that this is why lawmakers need to include the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, which he co-sponsors, in the debt-ceiling bill this year. If signed into law, the act would require Congress to approve any new rule with a major impact on the economy, with the aim of increasing citizens’ say on federal regulations and keeping executive agencies in check.

Secretary of state Marco Rubio said today from El Salvador that USAID’s “level of subordination makes it impossible to conduct the sort of mature and serious review that I think foreign aid, writ large, should have.” He added that the department is not an apolitical charity, but one that is funded by taxpayer dollars to achieve national interests.

-Derek VanBuskirk

On our radar

EPA ON THE BRINK The Trump administration has reportedly sent an email to 1,100 Environmental Protection Agency employees warning them they could be fired at any moment.

A WARM WELCOME? Denmark’s prime minister said the US “can have more possibilities” at increasing its military presence in Greenland.

HEGSETH HEADS SOUTH Pete Hegseth, fresh from his confirmation hearings to become US secretary of defense, is headed to the US-Mexico border.

Your defense is tariff-ied

President Donald Trump’s tariff threats are not part of a trade war, his administration’s top officials are insisting. 

“President Trump was absolutely 100 percent clear that this is not a trade war, this is a drug war,” Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said.

And increasingly, it may not even be a war at all, at least with Mexico. Trump’s latest tariff threats would see Canada, Mexico and China slapped with tariffs of up to 25 percent, but Canada and Mexico seem to have found a last-second off-ramp.

Trump and Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum announced that tariffs would be delayed for a month due to Mexico sending 10,000 national guard troops to its border with America, who will help stem the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs into America.

North of the border, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau announced he “had a good call with President Trump” and proposed tariffs will be paused for at least thirty days while the two countries work together. Trudeau announced Canada will be implementing $1.3 billion-worth of increased border protection. 

In America, Democrats attacked Trump’s tariffs by claiming that they will make avocados and Coronas more expensive. Senator Chuck Schumer was roasted for holding up one of both during a press conference; at least it was less cringe-inducing than his attempt to barbecue!

While many economists note that tariffs usually harm consumers due to both sides of a potential trade war simply raising retaliatory tariffs, President Trump has effectively leveraged the mere threat of tariffs to great success since his reelection. Most notably, Trump threatened to levy massive tariffs on Colombia after the country reneged on its agreement to accept planes of illegal immigrants being flown back from America, and the Colombian president ended up using his own plane to fetch said migrants.

–Matthew Foldi

Rubio kicks off trip to Panama

Marco Rubio set off on his first international trip as secretary of state on Sunday, stopping first in Panama. He also has scheduled visits to El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. 

The first trip of America’s top diplomat carries significant symbolic weight. Former secretary of state Antony Blinken began and ended his tenure with visits to Japan, meant to affirm the value of the relationship between the two countries. In being the first foreign-affairs chief to begin his tenure with a Latin America trip since Philander Chase Knox’s month-long hemispheric trip in 1912, Rubio is sending a clear message: Latin America is a priority. 

From Panama City, Rubio told Panamanian president José Raúl Mulino and his counterpart Javier Martínez-Acha that President Trump “has made a preliminary determination that the current position of influence and control of the Chinese Communist Party over the Panama Canal area is a threat to the canal.”

The words carried weight, with Rubio welcoming Panama’s move to let its participation in China’s Belt and Road initiative, their signature global infrastructure plan, expire. 

“Yesterday’s announcement by President @JoseRaulMulino that Panama will allow its participation in the CCP’s Belt and Road Initiative to expire is a great step forward for US-Panama relations, a free Panama Canal, and another example of @POTUS leadership to protect our national security and deliver prosperity for the American people,” Rubio posted on X after departing Panama Monday morning. 

–Juan P. Villasmil