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A progressive activist group is urging liberals to take advantage of the House of Representatives’ current weeklong recess to stage demonstrations against Elon Musk across the country.

Indivisible, an organization founded by former Democratic congressional staffers, published a ‘tool kit’ with recommendations for protesting at town halls and lawmakers’ district offices.

A section on how to ‘take the fight to Elon’ includes steps for planning and executing a demonstration at Tesla dealerships, showrooms and factories.

‘Members of the House of Representatives will be back on your home turf from Friday, February 14th, through Sunday, February 23rd, and it’s our opportunity to remind them who they work for,’ the group’s website states. ‘Fighting back against the Trump-Musk coup is going to take all of us.’

The House is currently out of session to mark Presidents Day this past Monday. These periods normally see lawmakers holding events with constituents or otherwise participating in their communities.

Indivisible is urging progressives to take advantage of that time to protest across the U.S.

‘Recess is when Members of Congress go back home to host town halls, meet with constituents, and try to paint themselves as responsive to the people who elected them. It is also when MoCs think they can avoid public scrutiny—especially Republicans who want to dodge tough questions about their complicity in Trump and Musk’s coup,’ the site said.

‘House Republicans use this time to meet with lobbyists and donors while hoping their constituents stay silent. House Democrats, meanwhile, need to hear from us to remind them that they have power—and that we expect them to use it to fight back.’

It comes amid widespread left-wing outrage over Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), at the direction of President Donald Trump, spearheading efforts to significantly crack down on the size and scope of various federal agencies.

Democrats have also pushed back on Musk’s DOGE workers getting access to sensitive government-owned data despite a lack of clarity on how they were vetted.

However, Republicans have met Musk’s work with enthusiasm, arguing that tough measures are needed to mitigate the effects of the U.S. national debt blowing past $36 trillion.

‘This recess, we’re making sure every single Republican feels the heat for their complicity and pays a political price for selling out their constituents,’ the Indivisible website said. 

‘At the same time, House Democrats have power—if they use it. But they need to be reminded. We need to show up for the ones fighting, celebrate their courage, and remind them to hold the line. We’ll push them to commit to voting NO on any budget that gives Musk and Trump control over our government’s spending or includes extremist cuts.’

Under a section titled, ‘planning your Tesla town hall,’ the group said, ‘To fight back, we have to meet Musk where he operates—across the country at Tesla showrooms, factories, and dealerships. A Tesla protest is a powerful way to expose his deep ties to the Trump coup and demand accountability.’

At the same time, it urges activists to remain on public property and refrain from ‘business targeting.’

‘Indivisible is not advising and does not condone any actions that directly interfere with the daily operations or activities of any business or entity,’ it said.

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North Korea on Tuesday vowed to expand its nuclear forces under Kim Jong Un and criticized the U.S. and its neighbors in Asia for pushing a denuclearization plan against the authoritarian regime.

North Korea’s foreign ministry denounced the joint pledge between the U.S., South Korea and Japan as an ‘outdated, absurd plan’ and warned of ‘overwhelming and decisive counteraction’ against its rivals who threaten its security.

‘As long as the U.S. and its vassal forces’ hostile threat exists, the DPRK’s nukes are means for defending peace and sovereignty and a means for legitimate self-defense entrusted by the constitution of the state,’ an unnamed ministry spokesperson said in a statement picked up by the North’s Korean Central News Agency, Reuters reported.

The criticism comes after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi met during a security conference in Germany and reaffirmed their commitment to the Hermit Kingdom’s ‘complete denuclearization’ and maintaining sanctions on the country’s weapons program.

The countries also agreed to bolster defense and deterrence, including by expanding three-way military exercises and strengthening Japan and South Korea’s military capabilities, according to a joint statement released after the meeting.

President Donald Trump hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House earlier this month and said the U.S. will have relations with the North Korean regime of dictator Kim Jong Un.

‘We will have relations with North Korea, with Kim Jong Un. I get along with them very well,’ Trump told reporters alongside Ishiba.

Trump, who first met Kim in 2018 in Singapore and became the first sitting president to meet with the leader of North Korea, is looking to build off his personal diplomacy he established with Kim during his first term. 

Trump met Kim again in 2019 and became the first president to step foot inside North Korean territory from the demilitarized zone.

Fox News Digital’s Chris Massaro and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Progressive groups across the country once again protested President Donald Trump on Monday. The ‘Not My Presidents Day’ or ‘No Kings Day’ protests were organized by the 50501 Movement, a coalition of activists united against Trump’s ‘executive overreach.’

From Austin, Texas, to Orlando, Florida, and Boston to Phoenix, demonstrators gathered in cities across the United States holding handmade signs, singing songs of resistance and chanting in protest. More than a thousand gathered at the Capitol Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., this Presidents Day. 

‘On Monday, we call on organizations and activists across the nation to once again stand united,’ Sarah, a 50501 Movement and Voices of Florida organizer, said in a statement ahead of Presidents Day. ‘We will not cede ground to fascism quietly. We will fight back against Project 2025, and we will fight for the future of all of our beautiful communities.’

Protesters at the nation’s capitol on Monday carried signs calling to ‘impeach’ Elon Musk, resist the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and save our republic. Fox News Digital spoke with several protesters in Washington, D.C., about why they felt compelled to protest. Protesters said they gathered to reject Elon Musk and DOGE.

‘I’m here to protest the president, protest Elon Musk, and protest all the executive orders. He is not our president. Everything he’s done is a destruction of this country. He only cares about himself and his pockets and the pockets of his cronies. He’s not here to help any of the working Americans. Everything he’s doing is mass destruction. He is a weapon of mass destruction,’ Jennifer, a protester in Washington, D.C., said. 

Jennifer said Trump might be president, but he is not a president for the people. Mary Hart, an educator at the protest, said her immigrant and trans students have been targeted by the administration, and she wanted to be a part of the resistance. 

‘I’m an educator, and I’m scared for my immigrant students,’ Hart said. ‘I’m scared for my trans students. I’m scared for my country. I just had to show up and be part of the resistance. They’re being targeted and dehumanized by multiple people in this government. They’re coming to school scared, interrupting their learning. They’re being targeted and bullied by people who are emboldened by this administration, and it’s not right.’

Jerome Bobowski, a girl dad from Detroit, led a ‘Where is Congress?’ chant at the Washington, D.C., rally. He said he protested to protect his daughters’ rights. 

‘My kids are power women, and they have to have as many rights as my wife, who is a power woman too. We want justice. We don’t want a country without laws. That’s why they all come here. Because we have rules. We are not kings,’ Bobowski said. 

Protesters said they were afraid of losing personal liberties, but the White House told Fox News Digital that Trump is a ‘leader for all Americans.’ Responding to the ‘Not My Presidents Day’ protests, the Trump administration emphasized his ‘resounding mandate’ from the American people on Election Day and his commitment to delivering on his campaign promises. 

‘This Presidents Day, we honor the leadership of President Trump. He received a resounding mandate from the American people and swiftly took action to deliver on his promises of restoring common sense policies, strengthening the economy and re-establishing America’s dominance on the world stage. President Trump is a leader for all Americans, and he will continue to prioritize America’s interests in every decision,’ principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields said. 

The 50501 Movement, which means 50 protests in 50 states on one day, began with a Reddit post, Sarah, who is a national core member of 50501, explained. From there, #buildtheresistance and #50501 gained traction on social media. On Feb. 5, they mobilized over 20,000 people across the country to protest Trump’s policies and Project 2025. 

‘All of this happened very organically and very fast,’ Sarah told Fox News Digital. ‘I think that people didn’t know where to put their feelings. They didn’t know how to move. I think that they were just shell shocked, and when that Reddit post happened, it gave people the power to go make their voices heard.’

The 50501 Movement is taking a decentralized approach, allowing individual groups and cities across the country to articulate their own mission. Sarah is also the executive director of Voices of Florida, which emphasizes reproductive rights, immigrant rights and queer rights. 

‘It goes down to what the states and the smaller groups want. We don’t tell people what their demands should be. To sum it up in a broad way, it’s to push back against Project 2025 and give the power back to the people,’ Sarah added. 

The 50501 is not affiliated with a political party, and there is no clear leader of the organization. At the protest in Washington, D.C., the organizers preached peace and emphasized civil disobedience was not welcome.

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The Trump administration’s quest to tame the sprawling federal bureaucratic leviathan is slated to face a key hurdle on Monday, as Judge Tanya Chutkan is expected to rule after more than a dozen states sought a temporary restraining order, accusing Elon Musk of ‘unconstitutional’ actions. 

Musk, who is spearheading the effort to identify government components that can be eliminated or slimmed down, has been widely hailed by the political right.

But he has been scrutinized and criticized by many on the political left as they raise alarms about DOGE probes.

While Musk is leading the charge, he is doing so with President Donald Trump’s blessing, and the commander in chief is standing firmly behind the push to root out government waste.

‘DOGE: BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF WASTE, FRAUD, AND ABUSE BEING FOUND. CAMPAIGN PROMISE. IMPORTANT FOR AMERICA!!!’ he declared in a Truth Social post last week.

In a post late Sunday night, Musk indicated that a Social Security database lists scads of people as 100 or older ‘with the death field set to FALSE!’

‘Maybe Twilight is real and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security,’ he quipped. 

Musk shared a chart that indicated there were millions of individuals listed between the ages of 100 and 159, as well as some listed with ages even higher than that.

A Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General Report issued in 2023 noted, ‘at the time of our review, although the Census Bureau estimated approximately 86,000 individuals residing in the United States were age 100 or older, SSA’s Numident included approximately 18.9 million numberholders who were born in 1920 or earlier but had no death information on their Numident record. Death information missing from the Numident and the DMF hampers both SSA and Government-wide efforts to prevent and detect fraud and misuse.’

‘Our audit revealed that the Numident includes approximately 18.8 million more ‘living’ numberholders age 100 or older than the U.S. Census Bureau estimates are alive and residing in the United States,’ the report noted.

‘Agency officials noted that, as of March 2023, SSA had issued approximately 531 million unique SSNs, and the 18.9 million records represent approximately 3.6 percent of all Numident records. Officials also noted that almost none of the 18.9 million numberholders currently receive SSA payments,’ the report stated. ‘At the time of our review, approximately 44,000 of the 18.9 million numberholders were receiving SSA payments,’ a footnote added.

The audit was conducted from September 2021 to May 2023, an appendix on the report indicated.

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., declared in a post on X that while he wants to increase government efficiency and save billions of taxpayer dollars, ‘Rummaging through your personal s— is *not* that.’

‘A party of chaos loses – always,’ he added in the Monday tweet.

But Musk, a billionaire business magnate, fired back.

‘Bruh, if I wanted to rummage through random personal s—, I could have done that at PAYPAL. Hello???’ Musk declared. ‘Having tens of millions of people marked in Social Security as ‘ALIVE’ when they are definitely dead is a HUGE problem. Obviously. Some of these people would have been alive before America existed as a country. Think about that for a second …’

Their exchange continued, as Fetterman responded.

‘Elon, the DOGE mission resonated in PA; I came at it with common sense and an open-mind,’ Fetterman replied. ‘For many, it’s causing chaos and confusion – which IMO, doesn’t help DOGE. PA voters want their personal info secured and taxes spent wisely. Safe to assume both are priorities?’

‘I love the people,’ Musk responded. ‘We just want to fix the waste and fraud that is bankrupting the country. The scrutiny on me is extreme, so it’s not like I could ‘get away’ with something, nor do I have any incentive to do so.’

An interview featuring Trump and Musk is slated to air Tuesday night on Fox News Channel’s ‘Hannity.’

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In a second Donald Trump administration, the pro-life movement is trying to nail down its cultural messaging to adapt to a post-Dobbs era. It may get the boost it needs as a $30 million investment is being made through a membership-only organization, Fox News Digital has learned.

Key figures in the pro-life movement, including Leonard Leo, Ray Ruddy and Princeton Professor Robert George, sent a letter Tuesday morning to major pro-life organizations about the new venture fund, which is being chaired by David Bereit, the founder of the pro-life organization 40 Days for Life. 

‘We need to build more capacity and help meet the needs of those who are facing an unexpected pregnancy,’ Bereit told Fox News Digital in an interview. ‘If we want to say to them, ‘You can do better than abortion,’ we need to say, ‘We will help you,’ and we need to provide the support, the resources and the tangible organizations that will walk with them.’

As the executive vice president of the Federalist Society, Leo helped vet and recommend conservative judicial nominees, including those who later contributed to the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. 

Ruddy is a long-time pro-life philanthropist. 

George is a conservative philosopher and legal scholar at Princeton University who co-founded the American Principles Project. Rising as an influential voice in the pro-life movement, George has written extensively on the moral and philosophical arguments for opposing abortion.

The group also announced the creation of the Life Leadership Conference, a members-only coalition featuring influencers and philanthropists ‘who know how to achieve genuine victories.’ Bereit will also be at the helm of the conference, which will manage the venture fund.

The memo states that while the Supreme Court has reversed the ruling of Roe v. Wade, ‘today a whole new set of challenges’ faces the pro-life movement, which will require strong messaging to combat. Some of those challenges include combating the push to enshrine abortion into state constitutions.

Voters in Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and New York all approved state-level abortion referendums last year. 

‘It should come as no surprise that, with the passage of time and changes in circumstance, old strategies for building public support and advancing the pro-life cause in legislatures and courts need to be rethought and, in some cases, revised,’ the memo states. ‘Some groups have adapted and are charting winning strategies. Some are posting more losses than gains and are redefining what it means to win in ways that risk making the movement weaker and less effective.’

‘What’s more, the battle over abortion never was, and must never be allowed to become, simply about making sure the issue is delegated to the right government actors,’ the memo continued in part. ‘The Life Leadership Conference is setting the bar higher. Our coalition will work tirelessly to provide genuine protection to unborn babies and practical assistance to pregnant women in need.’

As such, Bereit added the group’s goal is to usher in ‘a new era of life-saving action and culture-shaping innovation.’

Abortion emerged as a key issue in the 2024 election, with former Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party advocating for expanding federal abortion access. In contrast, President Donald Trump supported state-level restrictions, arguing for a more localized approach to the issue, including a ban on most abortions after 15 weeks.

In one of his first executive actions, Trump pardoned 23 pro-life protesters – several of whom were elderly – imprisoned for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act under the Biden administration’s Department of Justice.

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U.S. and Russian officials held diplomatic talks in Saudi Arabia without any Ukrainian officials present on Tuesday.

The groups, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, are seeking terms for a peace agreement in Ukraine as well as negotiating a potential meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. They have proposed a framework that could involve a ceasefire, elections in Ukraine followed by the signing of a peace agreement.

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce also confirmed that Rubio’s team agreed to ‘lay the groundwork for cooperation’ with Russia on various issues in addition to Ukraine. They also agreed to appoint ‘high-level teams’ to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine.

Reports from multiple foreign diplomatic sources say forcing Ukraine to hold new elections could be a key part of a peace deal. Both the U.S. and Russia believe Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has a low chance of winning re-election, the sources say.

‘Putin assesses the probability of electing a puppet president as quite high and is also convinced that any candidate other than the current President of Ukraine will be more flexible and ready for negotiations and concessions,’ the diplomatic sources said in a readout of the meeting.

Zelenskyy has said his country would never accept peace terms negotiated by the U.S. and Russia without Ukrainian involvement. Trump has vowed that Ukraine will be involved in the larger process.

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff emphasized on Sunday that the ongoing meeting in Riyadh is more about ‘trust building’ than getting into the details of an actual peace agreement.

Zelenskyy urged Trump not to trust Putin in a phone call last week.

‘I said that [Putin] is a liar,’ Zelenskyy said of the call. ‘And he said, ‘I think my feeling is that he’s ready for these negotiations.’ And I said to him, ‘No, he’s a liar. He doesn’t want any peace.” 

The Ukrainian leader nevertheless said he believes Putin is a ‘little bit scared’ of Trump.

Also excluded from Tuesday’s talks are any European representatives, a notable absence given the stern rebuke of European allies delivered by Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference last week.

Some European allies are taking the cue, with U.K. Prime Minister Kier Starmer announcing that he is willing to put British troops on the ground in Ukraine to ensure its security as part of a peace deal.

‘I do not say that lightly,’ he wrote in the Daily Telegraph. ‘I feel very deeply the responsibility that comes with potentially putting British servicemen and women in harm’s way.’

‘But any role in helping to guarantee Ukraine’s security is helping to guarantee the security of our continent, and the security of this country,’ he added.

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A federal judge President Donald Trump once described as ‘the most evil person’ is now hearing a lawsuit brought by blue states to stop the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing government data. 

First named to the bench in 2013 by then-President Barack Obama, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan of the District of Columbia Court rose to notoriety in 2021, when she presided over the criminal investigation into Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Though, her role Monday centered on whether billionaire Elon Musk’s DOGE should be blocked from accessing government data or firing federal employees. 

Chutkan is a longtime legal foe of the current president – at least, if her actions from her more than 10 years on the bench are any indication.

In 2021, Chutkan rejected Trump’s claims of presidential immunity in the 2020 election interference case. The decision was later overturned by the Supreme Court, whose ruling considerably expanded the notion of immunity for U.S. presidents. 

The judge did little to remedy any strained tensions in the months that followed. Beyond boasting the harshest sentencing record for all criminal defendants that appeared before her for their roles in the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riots, Chutkan has been outspoken about her view of the day. After Trump moved to pardon and grant clemency to the more than 1,500 convicted, she said the president’s actions ‘cannot whitewash the blood, feces and terror that the mob left in its wake.’

‘And it cannot repair the jagged breach in America’s sacred tradition of peacefully transitioning power,’ she continued. 

Chutkan also denied Trump’s attempt to block the release of records requested by the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, supplying them with some 1,800 pages of documents despite the staunch opposition from Trump’s legal counsel. Trump famously described her, in response, as the ‘most evil person.’ 

These actions and words have made her a target of Trump allies.

In 2024, Chutkan was the victim of a ‘swatting’ attack in her Washington, D.C., home, where police responded to what was later determined to be a false shooting report. 

While it seems unlikely she will side with the states to block DOGE access to federal government data, her record of opposition to Trump’s agenda is unlikely to reassure Trump and his supporters. 

During the first Trump administration, Chutkan was criticized by administration officials for many actions they saw as harmful to their policy agenda. In 2018, she temporarily halted the U.S. from blocking the abortions of illegal teenage immigrants – a ruling that was later overturned.

The following year, she ruled then-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos had illegally delayed implementing an Obama-era special education equity rule, which required states to identify and correct for racial disparities in special education programs across the country. She ordered the administration to begin implementing the program ‘immediately,’ despite requests from Education Department officials who said they needed more time to do so.

She has also not been shy about using her position on the bench to criticize Trump’s actions. 

Following Trump’s decision to grant a mass pardon of the 1,600 criminal dependents involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Chutkan reportedly had to reassure Capitol Police who were at the scene that the ‘rule of law still applies,’ as Politico reported last month.

However, she added at the time, ‘I’m not sure I can do that very convincingly these days.’

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Current Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy slammed former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a post on X, accusing the Biden-era official of ‘mismanagement.’

He leveled the criticism when responding to a post in which Buttigieg wrote, ‘The flying public needs answers. How many FAA personnel were just fired? What positions? And why?’ 

Duffy responded, blasting Buttigieg.

‘Mayor Pete failed for four years to address the air traffic controller shortage and upgrade our outdated, World War II-era air traffic control system. In less than four weeks, we have already begun the process and are engaging the smartest minds in the entire world,’ Duffy declared.

Prior to serving in the Biden administration, Buttigieg served as the mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

‘Here’s the truth: the FAA alone has a staggering 45,000 employees. Less than 400 were let go, and they were all probationary, meaning they had been hired less than a year ago. Zero air traffic controllers and critical safety personnel were let go,’ Duffy continued.

He accused Buttigieg of utilizing the Department of Transportation ‘as a slush fund for the green new scam and environmental justice nonsense,’ and claimed ‘that over 90% of the workforce under his leadership were working from home – including him. The building was empty!’

‘When we finally get a full accounting of his mismanagement, I look forward to hearing from him,’ he declared.

Buttigieg fired back, ‘At least one of the claims here (concerning telework rates) is demonstrably false, so forgive us for seeking more specifics on the rest. Is the Secretary claiming, and will he show, that none of the hundreds of FAA personnel he just fired were important to safety?’

In a post on Sunday, Duffy had indicated that individuals from SpaceX were slated to visit the Air Traffic Control System Command Center on Monday.

‘The safety of air travel is a non-partisan matter. SpaceX engineers will help make air travel safer,’ Elon Musk replied.

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As someone who fought in the bureaucratic trench wars of the first Trump administration, I was a surprised as anyone by the stunning rapidity of DOGE leader Elon Musk’s blitzkrieg into the heart of the federal bureaucracy. Within a matter of days, President Donald Trump seized control of a federal bureaucracy that he had never brought fully under control during his first term.   

A slower, more deliberate approach could have averted lawsuits and reduced collateral damage to the parts of the bureaucracy worth keeping. Yet the experiences of the first Trump administration gave Trump and DOGE good reason to believe that such an approach would bog down.               

One of the chief lessons Trump learned from his first administration was that senior career bureaucrats, left to their own devices, were willing and able to sabotage him. The most disturbing insubordination was the Crossfire Hurricane scandal and the ensuing Mueller probe or investigation into Russian collusion, the crimes of which would today be considered comparable to Watergate if the mainstream media gave them due attention.   

Prior to Trump’s election in 2016, senior FBI official Peter Strzok and FBI Director James Comey authorized spying on Trump campaign officials, some of which they justified through inaccurate FISA applications and bogus information in the Steele dossier.   

Once Trump was elected, FBI bureaucrats like Kevin Clinesmith and Brian Auten and Justice Department lawyers like Bruce Ohr and Dana Boente kept the espionage going through additional acts of duplicity.  

The weaponization of the government against Trump and his supporters extended into federal agencies. The Defense Department abused the security clearance system to oust Adam Lovinger after he identified the misuse of government funds to entrap Trump associates.   

At USAID, career bureaucrats employed similar tactics against me because I had reported several of them for corruption. The agency’s security director, ethics attorney and inspector general — the people who were supposed to safeguard ethics — took part in the moral turpitude.  

During his first term, Trump also learned that federal bureaucrats were intent on slow rolling or completely obstructing his policies. Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, surreptitiously orchestrated a March 2020 report dismissing the Wuhan lab leak theory, which he then used to undercut White House efforts to hold the Chinese government accountable for the deadly catastrophe.  

Career lawyers at the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights division impaired the division’s investigations and prosecutions by refusing to work on matters such as affirmative action, religious liberty and biological males in women’s sports. USAID bureaucrats deliberately concealed the agency’s humanitarian programs in Syria because they feared Trump would terminate the programs if he learned about them.  

Prior to serving in the first Trump administration and learning about Crossfire Hurricane, I would not have believed that senior career bureaucrats would systematically subvert the White House and its policies. While there might be a bad apple here or there, it seemed implausible that substantial numbers of senior officials would have both the audacity and the authority to act.  

Experience led me, along with Trump and many other Republicans, to conclude that subversion was widespread, and hence subversives needed to be removed from the federal bureaucracies henceforth. Late January, perhaps not coincidentally, USAID became the first agency where large numbers of senior bureaucrats were sidelined for resisting White House policies. 

While those unfamiliar with the nation’s past may depict the Trump offensive as a radical break with tradition, fierce resistance to bureaucracy dates back to the nation’s founding. In 1776, Americans voiced a deep suspicion of government bureaucrats and cited it as a reason for breaking from Britain. The Declaration of Independence asserted that Britain had ‘erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.’ 

Presidents of both right and left have at various times belittled the federal bureaucracy and demanded its reduction in size and power. President Andrew Jackson restricted government employment to four years because with lengthier service men were ‘apt to acquire a habit of looking with indifference upon the public interests.’ President Bill Clinton cut the federal civilian work force by 427,000 during his two terms in office. 

While the federal bureaucracy is bloated and should be shrunk, it cannot be eliminated. As the founders of this nation recognized, sinful human nature necessitates the existence of a government for certain purposes, such as enforcing the law, protecting against foreign enemies, and regulating commerce. 

And as long as we have government, we need bureaucrats. Some bureaucrats need to be retained from one administration to the next to ensure that some people know how to keep the machines running. Congress should act, however, to make the firing of underperforming or insubordinate employees much easier than it is today. 

The experience of the first Trump administration also showed that reining in the bureaucracy requires improving not only in bureaucrats but also the presidential appointees who serve in the agencies. By law, career bureaucrats are required to follow the directions of political appointees, and most of the ones I encountered did so.  

Thus, political appointees who are competent, ethical and committed to the administration’s principles can steer the ship in the right direction once the subversive bureaucrats and excess baggage have been offloaded. 

One reason why bureaucrats got away with so much during Trump’s first term was that too many political appointees lacked the desire or the courage to confront them. The first Trump administration came to power without a reservoir of such people from which to draw.  

For this reason, Trump and those around him spent the last several years screening individuals for these jobs. Some of his picks have provoked controversy, even among his allies, but thus far the new team appears capable of taming a bureaucracy that was never brought to heel the last time around. 

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Former Vice President Mike Pence is positioning himself as a ‘constructive force for the conservative agenda’ during President Donald Trump’s second term as one of the few Republicans willing to challenge him. 

‘Well, for me, it’s always principles first. It’s not personal,’ Pence said in an interview with the Associated Press. 

Despite publicly falling out with Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, Pence said he would support the new Trump administration on issues he agreed with, but would challenge others. 

Pence’s political advocacy group, Advancing American Freedom, spent nearly $1 million on ads opposing Trump’s newly confirmed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 

The former vice president said he and those who work for him received ‘a lot of quiet encouragement’ in opposing Kennedy. Pence described finding it necessary to speak out on finding the ‘nomination of an abortion rights supporter to be secretary of HHS to be a dramatic departure from 50 years of strong pro-life leadership at HHS under Republican administrations.’ 

Asked why Republicans might be reluctant to oppose Trump publicly, Pence said, ‘I never speculate on motives. You know, I’m not new to town. I’ve waged lonely battles before.’

‘But you know, you have to be willing to step out and lead,’ the former vice president said. ‘My hope is that when the next issue of life comes up, that people will have been encouraged, emboldened to know that they’re not alone.’

Advancing American Freedom is now lobbying against Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Trump’s pick for labor secretary, accusing her of being pro-union. While Pence’s group plans to spend the coming months pushing to increase military spending, shrink the deficit, and make permanent the Trump 2017 tax cuts, as well as trying to convince Trump to stop implementing tariffs on allies, the former vice president and those who work for him insist they won’t take on the ‘Never Trump’ mantle. 

Pence has been delivering speeches urging Trump to stand with long-standing foreign allies and lobbying members of Congress, while his aides write letters and opinion columns. Advancing American Freedom says they intend to praise the administration when they agree with it, while raising concerns when they don’t, advocating for longtime conservative principles that they believe have taken a back seat to Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ brand of populism. 

‘We’re calling balls and strikes here,’ Pence told the AP. ‘I think that the way we want to approach this is with integrity to principle. And I’m very encouraged. I think the Trump administration is off to a great start… I’m very pleased about the president undoing Biden’s border policies and putting back into place the policies that we had negotiated and established that secured the border.’

Pence said he believes ‘some of the prominent voices in the party have embraced a more populist thinking’ but that ‘the overwhelming majority of people that ever vote Republican think any differently than they thought during our administration when we hewed to a conservative agenda or the years before or since.’ To support his opinion, the former vice president recalled an interaction he had with a farmer at a campaign stop in Iowa in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel. 

Despite the farmer saying he agreed with ‘absolutely everything’ that Pence stumped about regarding ‘strong American support for Israel, strong American leadership in the world, continued support for Ukraine in their fight and limited government and bringing about reforms to put our fiscal house in order and right to life,’ the former vice president recalled how the farmer said he could not vote for him in 2024 and that ‘I got to be for Trump this time.’ 

‘And he goes, ‘But I’ll see you in four years. You’re going to be a great president someday,” said Pence, who briefly pursued the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. ‘I said, ‘Would you mind telling me, you know, why?’ And he said words I never forgot, which was in effect: He lamented Biden’s failed record. And I saw that he was drawn to the need for a rematch. And then he said, ‘Plus, if they can do that to a former president, they can do that to me.’ And the ‘lawfare’ stuff went into higher relief.’ 

‘So I didn’t see in this last election a Republican Party that was embracing big government or a vision to pull back from America’s commitments on the world stage or marginalizing the right to life,’ Pence told the AP. ‘I didn’t see that traveling all over the country and I still don’t see it. I think there were other factors that gave the former president a decided advantage in the election. He’d earned it. He’d won it. And then he won it in the fall. But I don’t think the party’s changed.’

Pence told the AP that he went to Trump’s inauguration last month and ‘was very moved in the outpouring of kind words and expressions of appreciation from former colleagues, including many members of the new administration who I encountered in hallways.’ When he saw Trump’s new secretary of state, Marco Rubio, Pence said he gave him a hug and ‘told him how proud I was of him.’ 

‘We had praised him from here when he was selected,’ Pence told the AP. ‘I must have seen or interacted with about half the incoming Cabinet.’

At the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter, Pence said he had a ‘very cordial exchange’ with Trump. When Trump was coming down the front row of the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., Pence recalled him saying, ‘Hi, Mike.’ Pence said he extended his hand to Trump and said, ‘Congratulations, Mr. President,’ and ‘I could see his countenance softened. And he said, ‘Thanks.’’ Pence said he also congratulated first lady Melania Trump. 

‘You know, the people that know me know it’s not personal,’ Pence told the AP. ‘I’ve long since forgiven the president for any differences that we had at the end of our administration. We still have those differences as the president still holds the view that, to my knowledge, that I had some authority that I did not have under the Constitution or laws of the country. But from my heart, I’ve prayed often for the president.’

The AP also asked Pence about the viral moment at the funeral in which his wife, former second lady Karen Pence, refused to acknowledge President-elect Trump or shake Melania Trump’s hand.

‘My wife loves her husband. And I love my wife and I have great respect for her. And so – but I’ve been really moved at how many people around the country have thanked us both for that day,’ Pence said. ‘But again, you know, I want to emphasize, we’re eyes forward here. You know, I’d always thought the president was going to come around on the position he took on Jan. 6.’ 

In his book, Pence said, he describes how he and Trump ‘actually parted on very amicable terms, very good terms,’ but in the spring, when Trump ‘returned to the rhetoric about how I could have done something that neither the Constitution nor the law would ever permit any vice president to do, then I just decided it was important to go our separate ways.’ 

‘But hope springs eternal,’ Pence said. ‘And we want to be a constructive force for the conservative agenda. I think that’s good for the administration. It’s good for the Congress. More importantly, it’s good for America.’

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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