Trump’s gut-it-all plan for D.C.’s “Deep State”
The Trump administration’s gutting of USAID is just a start: Elon Musk and President Trump‘s Cabinet and advisers are combing through agencies to purge those deemed to be anti-Trump, anti-American or too “woke,” top officials tell Axios.
Why it matters: Trump promised during his campaign to root out the “Deep State” — generally framed as institutional resistance in D.C. that impedes his agenda. But the speed and tactics of Trump’s vengeance-fueled cost-cutting efforts have been surprising.
- The CIA on Tuesday became the first major security agency to offer “buyouts” to its entire work force. The buyouts, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, align with new director John Ratcliffe‘s push for a younger and less establishment-oriented workforce.
- Fresh off her Senate confirmation, Attorney General Pam Bondi is establishing a “Weaponization Working Group” to analyze the actions of federal prosecutors and FBI agents in the criminal cases the Justice Department brought against Trump. It also will examine the New York civil and criminal cases brought against him.
- Tulsi Gabbard will be tasked under a Trump executive order to examine “weaponization” of the agencies under her purview after her expected confirmation as director of national intelligence.
- Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) clashed last weekend with USAID officials who tried to deny Musk’s team of tech wizards access to secure government payroll and systems.
- Some State Department workers sent word to Axios that they suspect administration officials “are now stalking people’s LinkedIn to check their backgrounds for possible loyalty issues.”
Zoom in: Trump is focused on the Justice Department for prosecuting him, but the State Department and the National Security Council are two major ideological battlegrounds where officials say they expect to encounter “resistance” liberals.
- Even before Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, his team was seeking mass resignations from the State Department and the NSC.
- “The folks that we’re bringing in are 100% aligned with the president’s agenda,” National Security Adviser Michael Waltz told Breitbart this month when he announced his “Deep State” purge plans.
- “The State Department is largely run by bleeding-heart liberals,” Florida Rep. Brian Mast, a Republican who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Axios.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has long believed the State Department has too many officials who support engagement with the dictatorships in Cuba and Iran.
- As a senator, Rubio joined Mast in criticizing the State Department and USAID. They issued a 2023 report called “Diversity over Diplomacy: How Wokeness is Weakening the U.S. State Department” and sponsored an anti-DEI bill aimed at the department.
Zoom out: USAID is the world’s premier foreign assistance agency and manages as much as $40 billion in appropriations.
- It’s the keystone of U.S. “soft power” in fostering relations in developing nations. It’s also a target for Republicans who see parts of the agency as a liberal-aligned patronage system that helps Democrats revolve in and out of government and non-governmental organizations.
- To try to drive home the administration’s distaste for USAID, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday ran through list of USAID expenditures that included “$32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru.”
- “Bring USAID to heel and you end the Democrat gravy train,” one Rubio ally told Axios.
- “The claim is kind of absurd,” a former Democratic State Department official said in response. “During Republican administrations, they flood the place with their appointees and priorities.”
The big picture: USAID is now the flashpoint for the Trump administration’s brash — and potentially unconstitutional — efforts to restructure the U.S. government.
- The agency’s website was taken down and replaced with a message saying all personnel not assigned to “mission-critical functions” will be put on leave on Friday. Most workers overseas were ordered home within 30 days. The D.C. headquarters was closed Monday. Democratic lawmakers tried to get access and held a press conference after they were turned away.
- “This is what the beginning of dictatorship looks like,” Rep Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said of the administration’s plans to change the agency or fold it into Rubio’s State Department.
- “We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper,” Musk boasted on X.
Between the lines: Musk over the weekend said Trump had agreed to shut down USAID, but Trump indicated that was premature.
- The president did, however, make Rubio USAID’s acting director. Rubio told Fox News on Monday that “we’re going through the same process at USAID as we’re going through at the State Department.”
- “They just think they’re a global entity and that their master is the globe, and not the United States,” Rubio said. “That’s not sustainable.”
What’s next: An administration official familiar with Rubio’s efforts said the secretary has no pre-baked plan to root out “Deep State” actors. Rubio, with Musk’s team, is reviewing spending as the department pauses foreign expenditures under a Trump executive order.
- The State Department abided by Trump’s spending freeze, the official said — “just the opposite experience of USAID where people started pushing money out the door against … the spirit of the executive order. We just had outright rebellion.”
