President Trump says he has a mandate for his rapid overhaul of the Federal Government. Our congressman, Nick Langworthy, agrees. After contacting his office to express my concerns, I received an email telling me that Americans “overwhelmingly voted for President Trump and his agenda in the 2024 Election.” Did they, though? He received 49% of the vote. That means 51% voted for someone else.

Nick Langworthy is a Trump man all the way. He sits on the House DOGE Caucus and touts many accomplishments of the newly minted Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk. He assured me mass firings of government workers and the elimination of entire agencies is no cause for alarm. Never mind that Musk, with his “chainsaw” approach, is Trump’s largest campaign donor, or that Musk’s companies have already reaped $38 billion from government contracts. Trump has surrounded himself with billionaires. They donated to his campaign, paid to be at his inauguration, invested in his crypto ventures, his real estate, his merch; I’m sure they all have what’s best for the American people at heart. Take WWE owner Linda McMahon. She gave President Trump $21 million for his campaign, so he made her Secretary of Education. She’s going to make sure our kids get the best that money can buy… by abolishing the Department of Education.

And the promise that Trump made to bring down the cost of groceries? Turns out that’s just too “hard”. Oh, and the cost of eggs is still somehow Biden’s fault.

Back to Elon Musk and DOGE. Mr. Langworthy said they’re finding “egregious examples of wasteful federal spending, particularly through the U.S. Agency for International Development.” He went on to say, “Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars should not be used for things like Afghani opium farmers, conducting transgender studies on animals, DEI scholarships in Burma, or transgender operas in Colombia.” Oh my, that does sound “egregious.” Too bad it’s a gross mischaracterization of USAID’s purpose. In fact, a general audit stated the agency’s goal in Afghanistan was “counteracting illicit poppy cultivation by providing alternative development.” The DEI scholarships in Burma? Those were to provide safe havens for the education of ethnic minorities facing genocide from the military junta. The other examples cited were not even programs of the agency. USAID was established by President John F. Kennedy in the 1960’s to gain influence in developing countries through humanitarian aid. This was to counter the growing threat of the Soviet Union. Its core mission has been to help the world’s poor. It has provided life saving medicines to combat malaria, Ebola, and Aids. It has fought famine with sacks of wheat purchased from American farmers; each bag stamped, “U.S.A.I.D. From the American People.” The cost to taxpayers for all this foreign aid? Less than 1% of the budget. Now, instead of serving as a beacon of hope to the world, America holds up the specter of the world’s richest man denying food to the world’s poorest children.

Speaking of “waste, fraud and abuse,” so far DOGE, without providing evidence to Congress of fraud, has received $40 million of Americans’ “hard-earned tax dollars.” While ruthlessly cutting jobs and funding from the VA, NOAA, CDC, NIH, National Park Service, Research universities, the IRS, FDA, USDA, EPA, FAA, the FBI, and CIA, etc., members of Musk’s teenage tech team are pulling in six-figure salaries(per Forbes Magazine). This is equivalent to a GS-15, the highest pay grade for civil servants.

As for the president, Trump has spent six of seven weekends of his presidency playing golf, at a cost to taxpayers of more than $18 million; now on pace to exceed the $151 million spent golfing in his first term.

The Trump Administration’s use of massive military transport planes to deport migrants costs about 5 times what it would cost to use regular planes, but I guess the photo-ops are worth it.

Mr. Langworthy, in his weekly newsletter from Washington, accused Democrats of, “spreading every lie under the sun to scare the public,” regarding the recently passed Republican budget resolution. He said he and the president have made clear their intention to “protect Social Security and Medicare,” and the only change to Medicaid will be “rooting out waste, fraud and abuse.” But I am not reassured. DOGE is intent on eliminating people who know how the system works. The former head of the SSA, Martin O’Malley, predicts the system will collapse within 90 days if these experts are let go. That means checks will not go out on time, or at all. Leaving aside questions about whether a decimated federal workforce will allow agencies to even function, there is no way to balance the budget without drastic cuts to services.

The country is facing $36 trillion in debt and Congressman Langworthy says the money has to come from “hard-working Americans”, not billionaires. No, Republicans propose making their tax cuts permanent, adding another $4.5 trillion to the debt.

Perhaps some of those fired USAID workers can put their skills to use caring for the sick and hungry, whose ranks are sure to grow here at home.

Rachel Brown is a Greenhurst resident.