Three Reminders for the Week Ahead

No matter what diluted truth corporate and billionaire media are proposing, make no mistake: Musk and PINO (President in Name Only) Trump are hurting everyday Americans, and Republicans are complicit

Unsurprisingly, the corporate and billionaire media continue to sane-wash the creepy South African billionaire Elon Musk’s assault on government (as we’ve seen in revisions such as characterizing unilateral and illegal axing of an agency as eliminating waste and fraud or as “cost-cutting efforts”). The average Americans, at best, have seen a series of discrete stories (e.g. DEI references removed from regulations and grants, investigating FBI agents, halting CDC communications) without a larger context. It is no wonder that Americans are losing the plot.

Which is why we must be hypervigilant and unafraid to call out these three major developments: constitutional subversion, unnecessary harm befalling ordinary Americans, and Republicans’ complicity in all of it.

MUSK-TRUMP ARE SUBVERTING THE CONSTITUTION

First and foremost, Americans need to understand that acting president Elon Musk and President (or PINO, President In Name Only) Donald Trump have launched a full-blown attack on our Constitutional order. Congress appropriates and passes laws to set up departments, agencies, and functions. The process for changing that is a legislative endeavor. Indeed, congressional Republicans are now wrestling with funding mechanisms to keep the government open and to set forth a budget plan for the upcoming fiscal year. If Musk-Trump can, with a wave of their collective hand, scratch that out, what is the point of having a Congress? Whatever one thinks about the merits of cutting this or that program, the executive branch is not allowed to unilaterally remake government according to whims, self-interest, and/or the ideological mission of the current Oval Office occupant. It certainly does not have the authority to outsource executive power to an unelected, unvetted, self-interested government contractor such as Musk.

In some cases, Trump has attempted—through executive decree—to override statutory obligations. For example, “NIH is mandated by the Public Health Service Act sec. 492B, 42 U.S.C. sec. 289a-2 to ensure the inclusion of women and members of racial and ethnic minority groups in all NIH-funded clinical research in a manner that is appropriate to the scientific question under study,” according to their website.

Moreover, “All NIH-funded studies that meet the NIH definition for clinical research must address plans for the inclusion of women and minorities within the application or proposal. Using the PHS Human Subjects and Clinical Trial Information Form, applications and proposals should describe the composition of the proposed study population in terms of sex or gender, racial, and ethnic groups, and provide a rationale for the proposed section.”

No executive edict banning references to gender or race can contravene that, and yet that is what Trump is attempting to do. If he gets his way, we will have allowed a president to steamroll over the Constitution, statutes, and regulations. (Even seemingly petty actions like Trump’s attempt to take over the Kennedy Center from its legally empowered board reflects his “L’etat c’est moi” vision of the presidency.)

REAL PEOPLE ARE GETTING HURT

Too few Americans grasp the chaos and human hardship the Musk-Trump unconstitutional tear has already unleashed. The New York Times reports on international clinical trials stopped dead in their tracks:

“In interviews, scientists—who are forbidden by the terms of the stop-work order to speak with the news media—described agonizing choices: violate the stop-work orders and continue to care for trial volunteers or leave them alone to face potential side effects and harm.”

When USAID gets shuttered, or farmers or NIH activities are frozen, Americans suffer.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports farmers could lose tens of millions of dollars: “Frozen by Elon Musk's DOGE personnel, the USAID program purchased $70 million in commodities in 2024 from Minnesota vendors.”

A Head Start program in the rural Washington state serving 100 children, 12% of whom are homeless, “has been unable to access their funding and pay their bills since last week,” NBC reported.

A man’s cancer treatment was canceled because of Trump’s temporary halt on medical research funding, which also applies to clinical trials. He was ready start a clinical trial at MD Anderson Cancer Center after his other treatments did not work, according to Buzzfeed News.

“In a joint statement, the heads of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the HIV Medicine Association said the removal of HIV- and LGBTQ-related resources from the CDC's website ‘is deeply concerning and creates a dangerous gap in scientific information and data to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks,’” according to the University of Minnesota.

“The hiring of thousands of federal firefighters has stalled amid a governmentwide freeze ordered by President Trump, just as agencies were beginning to ramp up staffing for the summer wildfire season, according to a firefighters’ union,” the New York Times reports.

The disruption, damage and danger these cuts inflict have yet to be fully realized. But certainly, none of this improves the lives of Americans—none tackles inflation or makes us safer. The longer Musk mucks around in the federal government, the more people will be hurt. This is why we shouldn’t give untrammeled authority to tech. bros with no understanding of government.

(If you have been impacted by Musk-Trump actions please tell us your story: submit@contrariannews.org.)

REPUBLICANS ARE THE PROBLEM

Republicans could stop this. Granted, Democratic lawmakers have been slow to sharpen their rhetoric (though over the last week they have become more vocal and focused in opposing the unconstitutional Musk takeover of the federal government). Still, it is Republicans who are in power and it is they who must shoulder the blame. Even the most “reasonable” Republicans have acceded to this constitutional travesty by rubber-stamping unfit nominees. Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) voted to confirm Russell Vought for the Office of Management and Budget, despite his radical agenda, election denial, and willingness to engage in unconstitutional impoundment. (I’m sure she’s still concerned, though.) Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA.), a doctor, went along with the nomination of anti-vaxxer and conspiracy advocate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. And abuse survivor Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) supported Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense. One wonders how they sleep at night.

Are there any Republicans in the House or Senate who have risen publicly to defend Congress’s institutional and constitutional prerogatives to appropriate and legislate? Their constituents, donors, and home state officials are bearing the brunt of their Republican representatives’ sloth and cowardice. (Though apparently, congressional offices are beginning to hear from angry voters.)

Democrats should not hesitate to remind voters of Republican spinelessness and refusal to live up to their oaths.

When Republicans need Democratic votes to keep the government open and to raise the debt ceiling, Democrats must use all the leverage at their disposal. Unless and until regular constitutional order is restored and Musk is sent packing, Democrats should offer no votes and no assistance. Republicans control Congress and the White House. So let’s let them try to govern, let them bear responsibility—so that there’s nobody else to blame when the Musk-Trump regime cannot manage to keep the lights on.