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‘Like a Weed’: Must Expands DOGE Plan, Says ‘We Need To Delete Entire Agencies’

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Elon Musk, the director of President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, appears to be expanding his reach even further. He now says that, in order for America to have long-term prosperity, “many” entire federal government agencies will have to be eliminated — a process he likened to pulling out weeds by their roots so they do not grow back.

“I think we need we do need to delete entire agencies as opposed to leave part of them behind,” the tech billionaire who heads several companies that have received billions in federal government contracts, announced on Wednesday (video below) in remarks to the World Governments Summit in Dubai.

“If you leave part of them behind, it’s easy — it’s kind of like leaving a weed, if you don’t remove the roots of the weed, then it’s easy for the weed to grow back,” Musk said of agencies, all of which, directly or indirectly, aid the American people and employ thousands of workers.

READ MORE: Musk Complying With Federal Laws White House Says — Will Not Release Disclosure

“But if you remove the roots of the weed, it doesn’t stop weeds from ever growing back, but it makes it harder, he explained. “So so we have to really delete entire eight agencies, many of them. And that’s not to say there won’t be an increase over time of bureaucracy in some new administration, but it will, it’ll be from a much lower baseline. So it’s a step in the right direction.”

Musk, the head of Tesla, SpaceX, and the social media platform X, explained his thought process.

“I think we’ll, the overarching goal here is, like, it’s to lay the foundation for prosperity that will last many decades, you know, maybe centuries. And yeah, will it be forever? Nothing’s forever, but I think we can strengthen the foundations of the United States substantially.”

The Daily Beast added that “Musk threw around a seemingly arbitrary estimate of just how deep his Department of Government Efficiency task force—charged with recommending $2 trillion in federal spending cuts by mid-2026—could cut.”

“There’s roughly 450 agencies of one kind or another,” Musk said. “That’s almost an average of two agencies per year since the formation of the United States. I mean how many agencies do you really need to run a country? 99? Not 450, that’s for sure.”

The richest person on the planet has redirected DOGE from what was supposed to be a means to cut costs inside the federal government, to one that has tried to slash swaths of people and programs. When President Trump announced the so-called “Department,” which is not a federal government agency, he said its purpose was “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.”

That appears to have changed.

Musk’s DOGE team has come under fire for entering federal agency buildings and accessing computer systems, under the guise of conducting audits.

RELATED: ‘Demolition Plan’: Dems Warn DOGE Guts Government to Empower Billionaires, Harm Americans

Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, a professor of law and an MSNBC/NBC News legal analyst, wrote on Wednesday: “If a new president was really looking for evidence of waste and fraud in agency spending, he’d send in forensic accountants, investigators, and prosecutors—not coders and hackers. If he really wanted to reform government, he wouldn’t do it by breaking laws, like the ones about how to go about lawfully replacing inspectors general. The lack of commitment to good government—and by extension, to us, the citizens of this country—is apparent everywhere.”

Laurence Tribe, the noted constitutional scholar and professor emeritus at Harvard Law School, “has already argued that much of Trump’s blitzkrieg of executive orders on the day of his inauguration disregards the US constitution,” The Guardian reported on Monday. “He told the Guardian he saw Musk’s actions as furthering that culture.”

“On whether Doge and Musk can legally have this much power over an array of government departments, Tribe was emphatic: ‘NO.'”

CNBC reported that Musk, a “special government employee” appointed by Trump, “has been vocal about his aims to improve government efficiency and reduce bureaucracy and regulations, and on Thursday said that such efforts could amount to a $1 trillion reduction in the federal deficit by 2026.”

“Musk has already taken an axe to U.S. Agency for International Development, the international humanitarian and development arm of the U.S. government, by essentially furloughing the majority of its staff and freezing its funding. The sudden change is affecting millions of people around the world, particularly in poorer countries.”

Berkeley Professor of Public Policy Robert Reich, a former U.S. Secretary of Labor, pointed to a New York Times graphic on Wednesday and wrote: “When Trump was sworn in, Elon Musk’s corporations were under more than 32 investigations conducted by at least 11 federal agencies. Most of the cases are now closed or likely to be closed soon, and the federal agencies are being defanged by DOGE. Funny how that works, huh?”

The New York Times is tracking all the lawsuits against the second Trump administration.

There appear to be 15 cases under the “DOGE” section, and 19 under the “Budget freezes and firings” section. (There are seven sections in total.)

Watch the video below or at this link.


READ MORE: ‘Trumpflation’: Blaming Biden, Trump Slammed for Breaking ‘Day One’ Promise as Prices Jump

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Trump: ‘We’re Bringing Back God’

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January 23, 2026

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President Donald Trump delivered a forceful message to attendees at the March for Life rally in Washington, D.C.

In pre-recorded remarks, the president told the anti-abortion gathering, “under the Trump administration, we’re strongly defending religious liberty, we’re bringing back faith in America.”

“We bringing back God,” Trump declared.

Having praised the end of the constitutional right to abortion, Trump said, “the work to rebuild a culture that supports life continues in every state, every community, and every part of our beautiful land.”

“This is a battle that must be fought, must be won, not only in the corridors of power, but, above all, in the hearts and souls of the people,” he continued, suggesting a desire to end all abortion in the United States.

“We have stopped forced taxpayer funding of abortion at home and abroad, we’re championing faith-based adoption and foster care, and supporting our parents by investing $1,000 into an account that will grow over time for every newborn baby.”

READ MORE: ‘Good Chance’ Trump Will Be Electorally ‘Humiliated’ in November: Carville

Vice President JD Vance told attendees, “let the record show you have a vice president who practices what he preaches,” before announcing that he and his wife Usha are expecting their fourth child, as Fox News reported. “And it will be our third baby boy. So, we’ll take whatever prayers you can give. We certainly need them.”

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson also spoke at the rally, declaring that Republican policies “support” American families.

“Republicans are working hard to deliver on the mandate you gave us in the last election, to make it easier than ever before, to raise a family in this great country of ours. And because we know that support for American families doesn’t end at birth, our policies reflect this.”

Critics challenged Johnson’s claim.

Health care activist Melanie D’Arrigo remarked that Republicans offer no universal health care, paid family leave, universal childcare, a living wage as a minimum wage, affordable housing, or tuition-free public college, but, she said, they have rolled back labor laws, gutted food assistance, and deregulated food safety.

READ MORE: Trump Promotes His Triumphal Arch as Millions Face Massive Storm

 

Image via Reuters 

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Trump Promotes His Triumphal Arch as Millions Face Massive Storm

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3 hours ago

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January 23, 2026

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Americans in more than half the country are bracing for “hazardous ice, heavy snow and brutal cold” from a storm that a National Weather Service forecaster has predicted will be “crippling.” A potentially “catastrophic” ice storm is headed for the Southeast, and at least 14 states across the country have already declared a state of emergency.

The “potentially historic, massive winter storm will slam more than half of the United States today, moving east as it brings heavy snow, widespread ice accumulation and dangerous cold,” NBC News reported. “Up to a foot of snow is likely on the northern side of the system from Oklahoma to Massachusetts, according to the National Weather Service.”

About 1,300 flights have already been canceled ahead of the storm that is expected to hit 40 states across the nation.

Business Insider reported, “Americans strip store shelves bare as millions brace for a potentially historic storm.”

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump on Friday morning took the opportunity to mock what he called “Environmental Insurrectionists,” as he asked, “whatever happened to global warming???”

READ MORE: ‘Blitzkrieg Against Public Opinion’: Columnist Calls Trump’s Agenda a ‘Cry for Help’

Hours later, Trump posted to Truth Social artist’s renderings of his Triumphal Arch, which he wants built in Washington, D.C, near the Lincoln Memorial — with a start date of sometime in February. He wants it completed by Independence Day for the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration.

“It hasn’t started yet. It starts sometime in the next two months. It’ll be great. Everyone loves it,” Trump told Politico in December. “They love the ballroom too. But they love the Triumphal Arch.”

Last month, President Trump revealed what the White House’s top domestic policy goal is. The president shared with attendees at a Sunday holiday party that the “primary thing” for the head of his Domestic Policy Council, Vince Haley, is building Trump’s dream arch in Washington, D.C.

“Vince is unbelievable on policy. And we have a policy thing that’s going to be unbelievable happening,” Trump said of the proposed arch, as The Daily Beast reported.

READ MORE: ‘Good Chance’ Trump Will Be Electorally ‘Humiliated’ in November: Carville

“It’s something that is so special. Uh, it will be like the one in, in Paris, but to be honest with you, it blows it away. Blows it away in every way,” Trump said. “And Vince came in one day and his eyes were teeming. I mean, he couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. He saw it and he wanted to do that. That’s your primary thing.”

Critics slammed the president for focusing on his arch while ordinary Americans are struggling.

Patriot Takes, a social media account with nearly half a million followers, blasted the president, sarcastically saying he “is laser focused on things that matter to the American people.”

READ MORE: Sean Duffy’s DC IndyCar Grand Prix Dream Is Stalling
Image via Reuters 

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‘Blitzkrieg Against Public Opinion’: Columnist Calls Trump’s Agenda a ‘Cry for Help’

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5 hours ago

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January 23, 2026

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President Donald Trump’s coalition is “falling apart,” according to columnist Matt K. Lewis, who writes at The Hill that Trump’s list of accomplishments seems more like “a cry for help.”

Pointing to Trump’s rapid subject-changing, Lewis noted that the president kicked off the new year by invading Venezuela and capturing Nicolás Maduro.

“From there, things escalated briskly,” he wrote. “He defended an ICE agent who shot and killed a protester in Minneapolis named Renee Good. He threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act. He threatened to take Greenland — possibly by force. He threatened to slap tariffs on European allies over Greenland. He suggested his failure to win the Nobel Peace Prize justified taking Greenland. And he almost failed to issue any acknowledgment of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, waiting until bedtime to do so.”

Lewis says that while somewhere there is a “constituency” for each of these individual actions, “taken together, they resemble a blitzkrieg against public opinion.”

READ MORE: Sean Duffy’s DC IndyCar Grand Prix Dream Is Stalling

He summed up Trump’s low poll numbers and concluded, “America has seen this movie before, has been reminded of how it ends, and is already edging toward the exit.”

So, if the 2024 election held today, it’s “not at all clear” that Trump would win. he said, in part because “Trump’s winning coalition was so sprawling and incoherent that pleasing one group would automatically enrage another.”

So what’s happened in the past year?

“Trump is very good at campaigning and very bad at governing. This explains almost everything that has happened since he took office one year ago this week, including the nation’s rising consumption of Rolaids.”

Disappointment from the “newer members of his coalition” came from “the ultimate realization that Trump’s most electorally appealing promises — such as lowering grocery prices on day one — are never actually going to happen. Indeed, Trump’s policies — tariffs, for example — were almost custom-made to increase grocery prices, which is generally frowned upon by people who eat.”

As it turns out, “Trump’s true superpower … only works when he is not actually in charge.”

READ MORE: ‘Good Chance’ Trump Will Be Electorally ‘Humiliated’ in November: Carville

 

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