Politics
Amid the Chaos, Trump Has a Simple Message: He’s in Charge
![Amid the Chaos, Trump Has a Simple Message: He’s in Charge Amid the Chaos, Trump Has a Simple Message: He’s in Charge](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2025/01/29/multimedia/29dc-assess-topart-ctjf/29dc-assess-topart-ctjf-facebookJumbo.jpg)
When he took office last week, President Trump said he would measure his success in part by “the wars we never get into.” But he has eagerly waged a full-fledged assault on his own government.
In his first eight days in office, Mr. Trump mounted a lightning blitz against the federal government that has the nation’s capital in an uproar. He has moved quickly and aggressively to eliminate pockets of resistance in what he calls “the deep state” and put his own stamp on far-flung corners of the bureaucracy.
It has been a campaign of breathtaking scope and relentless velocity, one unlike any new president has tried in modern times. It has been a blend of personal and political as he seeks revenge against those who investigated him or his allies, while simultaneously demolishing the foundations of the modern liberal state and asserting more control than he or any of his predecessors had in the past.
Mr. Trump has purged perceived enemies from a range of agencies; begun to rid the government of diversity, environmental, gender and other “woke” policies that he objects to; sought to punish those who acted against his interests in the past; and fired independent inspectors general charged with guarding against potential corruption and abuse by his administration. His directive to temporarily freeze trillions of dollars of federal spending touched off a firestorm and prompted a judge to block him, for now.
Mr. Trump presents this effort as a fundamental reorientation of government and politics, in effect reversing generations of change to return to a different bygone era. “We’re forging a new political majority that’s shattering and replacing Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal coalition, which dominated American politics for over 100 years,” he told House Republicans at their retreat this week.
Never mind his faulty math — Roosevelt was first elected 92 years ago — Mr. Trump has approached his mission more systematically and methodically than he ever did in his chaotic first term, when he became the first U.S. president who had never served in public office or the military.
Instead of fumbling around to figure out how to even draft an executive order — his travel ban on select Muslim-majority countries eight years ago had changes scribbled on it by hand just minutes before he signed it — this time he and his team came in ready to quickly move forward on myriad fronts.
This was an odd benefit of losing his bid for re-election in 2020. As the first president since Grover Cleveland to come back to office after being defeated, Mr. Trump had the advantage of both four years of experience in the White House and four years in hiatus to map out plans for his return. Aided by a cadre of like-minded ideological advisers, he crafted a sweeping set of plans to quickly seize the reins of government.
The shock-and-awe onslaught has not just changed the government’s approach to major policies, as happens anytime a president of one party takes over from that of another. Mr. Trump is intent on “deconstruction of the administrative state,” as his onetime chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon put it during his first term, a goal predicated on the assumption that the bureaucracy is inherently biased against conservatives and their priorities.
“Trump is on a wrecking cruise to de-professionalize the civil service and threaten basic services to Americans,” said Representative Gerald E. Connolly, Democrat of Virginia, whose district includes many federal workers. “It’s unlawful firings and impoundments that threaten to unravel 142 years” of tradition of a “civil service immune from partisan politics.”
At the president’s order, the career prosecutors who worked for the special counsel Jack Smith on investigations into Mr. Trump have been fired. And after the president granted clemency to those who ransacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, an investigation was opened into the actions of career prosecutors who charged those Trump supporters.
Dozens of career officials at the National Security Council were sent home while their loyalty is being reviewed. Dozens of other career officials, at the U.S. Agency for International Development, were put on leave for suspicion of resisting an order by Mr. Trump. The Justice Department ordered a temporary halt to all civil rights enforcement.
Mr. Trump has also rescinded certain additional protections for senior civil servants enacted by former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., and this week he ordered a review of people in policy-making positions to ensure that they follow his administration’s priorities or face dismissal. The administration also offered an incentive to federal workers to resign as of Sept. 30 in hopes of encouraging a broad exodus so that slots can be filled with loyalists.
But the most explosive move so far was Mr. Trump’s order on Monday night temporarily freezing up to $3 trillion federal grants and loans to determine whether they meet his priorities, even though they had been passed by Congress. More than any other move, this order generated widespread Democratic protests and could have affected everyday Americans, including Mr. Trump’s own voters.
A federal judge in Washington on Tuesday stepped in to temporarily prevent it from taking effect, pending further review of its legality, capping a day of confusion. For all its efficiency so far, the Trump team stumbled over enactment of this order, unable to promptly answer basic questions about who it would affect and for how long.
At her debut briefing on Tuesday, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, assured Americans that it would not affect Social Security, Medicare, welfare or food stamps, but did not know whether it would affect Medicaid, which covers health care for 72 million Americans, most of whom are lower-income.
“The American people gave President Trump an overwhelming mandate on Nov. 5,” Ms. Leavitt said, referring to Mr. Trump’s 1.5-percentage-point popular vote victory, one of the smallest since the 19th century. “And he’s trying to ensure that the tax money going out the door in this very bankrupt city actually aligns with the will and priorities of the American people.”
A memo sent to Congress by the Office of Management and Budget on Tuesday insisted that Medicaid would not be affected by the order. But later in the day, the White House acknowledged that the online Medicaid portal was down even as it insisted that payments were still being processed and sent.
For all their loud criticism, congressional Democrats have limited ability to do much other than complain since they control neither house of Congress. Instead, Mr. Trump’s opponents are left to turn to the courts to try to stop him, as they did with the temporary spending freeze. Mr. Trump’s order on civil servants has already generated a legal challenge, and there could be more over his decisions to eliminate diversity programs and fire inspectors general.
Mr. Trump and his team anticipated pushback and expected to have to fight all the way to the Supreme Court to make some of these changes, hopeful that they will be ratified by the six-to-three conservative majority among the justices.
At one point while running for president again, Mr. Trump said he hoped to trigger a legal fight to overturn the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, which was passed after President Richard M. Nixon refused to spend billions of dollars appropriated by Congress.
The act enshrined into law a previous understanding that a president cannot unilaterally decide not to spend money that Congress had approved. The law laid out a process allowing spending items to be temporarily suspended during a fast-track request to lawmakers to rescind them.
“When I return to the White House, I will do everything I can to challenge the Impoundment Control Act in court, and if necessary, get Congress to overturn it,” Mr. Trump said in 2023. “We will overturn it.”
Whether he will succeed in overturning it or not, it may take a while to find out. But part of the point is to have the fight, win or lose. Even if he gets resistance on one front or another, Mr. Trump is sending a signal to the federal government: He plans to reshape it in his image and anyone who disagrees should get out of the way or he will try to run them over.
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Politics
IRS to slash thousands of workers off the payroll: report
![IRS to slash thousands of workers off the payroll: report IRS to slash thousands of workers off the payroll: report](https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/07/GettyImages-1231812287.jpg)
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is reportedly cutting thousands of probationary workers as tax season ramps up, according to The Associated Press.
The announcement comes just days after the Trump administration instructed agencies to fire most probationary workers who have not secured civil service protection.
The layoffs could potentially impact hundreds of thousands of people, although the exact number has not yet been confirmed, the AP reported.
The Associated Press reported thousands of IRS employees will be fired.
TRUMP SIGNS ORDER INSTRUCTING DOGE TO MASSIVELY CUT FEDERAL WORKFORCE
In addition to the probationary cuts, President Donald Trump announced on Jan. 29 that federal employees would be fired if they did not return to in-person work by early February.
A buyout offer, which has been extended, has already been accepted by about 65,000 employees.
The Associated Press reported IRS employees involved in the 2025 tax season, which began on Jan. 27, are not eligible for the buyout until after the taxpayer filing deadline, according to a letter sent recently to IRS employees.
![IRS documents](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/03/1200/675/GettyImages-1239956712.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
The IRS said in January Americans have benefitted from increased funding. (Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
LAWMAKERS FROM STATE WITH MOST FEDERAL WORKERS PER CAPITA WARN AGAINST TRUMP BUYOUT BID
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is tasked with eliminating wasteful government spending and increasing efficiency, aims to cut $2 trillion from the federal government budget by eliminating programs and trimming the federal workforce.
In January, the IRS announced it was “working to continue the success of the 2023 and 2024 tax filing seasons made possible with additional resources.”
The Biden administration’s Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act devoted $80 billion to hire 87,000 new IRS agents, according to a September 2023 report from the House Oversight Committee.
The oversight committee claimed the funds were used to employ agents that specifically targeted middle-class Americans.
![U.S. President Joe Biden](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/02/1200/675/Biden.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Former President Joe Biden provided $80 billion in additional funding to the IRS. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The past two filing seasons saw levels of service at roughly 85% and wait times averaging less than 5 minutes on the main phone lines, according to a statement from the IRS in January. There was also a significant increase in the number of taxpayers served at Taxpayer Assistance Centers nationwide.
“This has been a historic period of improvement for the IRS, and people will see additional tools and features to help them with filing their taxes this tax season,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel wrote in the statement. “These taxpayer-focused improvements we’ve done so far are important, but they are just the beginning of what the IRS needs to do. More can be done with continued investment in the nation’s tax system.”
The IRS expects to receive more than 140 million tax returns, according to the AP.
The IRS and Department of Treasury did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment, as of Saturday night.
Politics
L.A.'s Asian immigrant communities prep for raids, brace for deportations
![L.A.'s Asian immigrant communities prep for raids, brace for deportations L.A.'s Asian immigrant communities prep for raids, brace for deportations](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/980b9a1/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6000x3150+0+425/resize/1200x630!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F60%2F21%2Fdf23370445a28e42841d269b6bcc%2F1456593-na-0603-immigration-rcg-3455.jpg)
Los Angeles County’s sizable Asian immigrant communities are bracing for disruption and heartache as rumors swirl of mass deportations to be carried out under sweeping new orders issued by the Trump administration.
At religious centers and job sites, community leaders are hosting “Know Your Rights” training sessions in Bangla, Chinese, Hindi, Punjabi and other languages to educate immigrants about their constitutional rights should they be confronted by federal agents at home or in the workplace.
“Overwhelmingly, concern is what we hear,” said Shakeel Syed, executive director of the South Asian Network. Even Asians who were born in the U.S. or have gained legal status through other routes are worried about what’s ahead. “Brown-looking people are perceived as permanent foreigners,” Syed said. “As a consequence, they, too, may be wrapped up in a raid, only because they don’t look ‘American.’”
While an estimated 79% of undocumented residents in L.A. County are natives of Mexico and Central America, Asian immigrants make up the second-largest group, constituting 16% of people in the county without legal authorization, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Across the U.S., Indians make up the third-largest group of undocumented residents, behind Mexicans and Salvadorans.
Asian organizers say the Trump administration’s policies deeming anyone in the country without authorization a criminal, subject to expedited deportation, will have profound reverberations in Los Angeles County. According to the Pew Research Center, the L.A. metropolitan area is home to the largest populations of Cambodians, Koreans, Indonesians, Filipinos, Thai and Vietnamese people in the U.S.
Shortly after taking office, President Trump signed a slew of executive orders aimed at dramatically reshaping U.S. immigration. Taken together, the orders sharply limit legal pathways for entering the U.S., bolster enforcement efforts to seal off the U.S.-Mexico border, and promote aggressive sweeps to round up and deport people living in the U.S. illegally. He has empowered Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to deport more than 1 million immigrants who were granted legal entry to the U.S. during the Biden administration while they awaited hearings on their asylum pleas.
Recently, a group of about 100 Indian migrants were transported back to India on a U.S. military plane. And this week, news reports said 119 migrants, including some from Afghanistan, China, Pakistan and Uzbekistan, were transported by plane to Panama, where they will await deportation to their home countries. Media reports suggest the Indian government has agreed to repatriate 18,000 Indians living in the U.S.
Traditionally, many Asian immigrants living in L.A. came to the U.S. legally, using temporary work or tourist visas, then later obtained legal status or simply overstayed their visas. The motivation can vary, Syed said, but similar to Latino migrants, many Asian migrants want to live in the U.S. because it offers work and educational opportunities that they lack back home. Some are fleeing oppressive government regimes, repressive cultures or religious persecution.
Manjusha Kulkarni is executive director of AAPI Equity Alliance, a coalition of more than 40 community organizations. Kulkarni said Asian immigrants lacking legal status tend to work in low-wage service jobs, often in industries where Asian American communities, over generations, have established a strong presence. For instance, many undocumented Vietnamese work at nail salons; many Cambodians at doughnut shops; and many Indians in the hotel and motel industry. In Monterey Park, a common landing spot for Chinese migrants, employment agencies routinely connect workers with jobs at warehouses, restaurants and marijuana farms, with no work permit required.
In recent years, as it’s gotten harder to obtain work and tourist visas, rising numbers of Asian migrants have joined Central Americans in arduous treks across treacherous jungles to request asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The number of Chinese nationals authorities encountered at the southern and northern U.S. borders was 78,701 in fiscal year 2024, up from 27,756 in 2022, according to federal data. The number of Indian nationals encountered at the southern and northern U.S. borders was 90,415 in 2024, up from 63,927 in 2022.
Connie Chung Joe, executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California, said she has been told of Asian immigrants canceling medical appointments because they are afraid of being seen as a public charge. Events for food distribution and COVID-19 vaccinations that usually attract hundreds of immigrants now attract 50.
“There’s a lot of general anxiety and fear of being seen, or what could happen if they go out,” she said.
One L.A. County resident, who did not want to be identified due to her family’s lack of legal status, said she and her family have become more cautious when leaving their home. Trump’s election, she said, “has really made us feel like we don’t have power.”
She said that she and her family arrived from Pakistan when she was 8 on a visa that eventually expired. She later became a DACA recipient, a status that allows her to live and work in the U.S., but her parents remain undocumented. The rumors of imminent raids have made her family reluctant to drive. That means fewer outings, and when they do drive, taking extra care not to do anything that might draw attention.
Amir Mertaban, executive director of the Islamic Society of Orange County, is preparing to welcome thousands of people at the mosque in preparation for Ramadan, which begins at the end of the month. Already, he said, the organization is holding training sessions, including for students who have asked him for guidance on how they should approach public protests if they are in the U.S. on visas, have temporary status or are undocumented.
Even the mosque has become a source of tension, Mertaban said, as Trump has given ICE the OK to raid places of worship.
“One part of the community is terrified, because they are expecting an ICE raid literally at any moment,” he said. “People are coming to a safe space where they can let their guard down and connect with a higher power. The last thing I need is the community to worry about whether they’re going to get deported, or whether law enforcement is going to raid the mosque.”
Politics
Federal department slashes millions in contracts, including $230K for 'Brazilian forest and gender consultant'
![Federal department slashes millions in contracts, including 0K for 'Brazilian forest and gender consultant' Federal department slashes millions in contracts, including 0K for 'Brazilian forest and gender consultant'](https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/02/rollins.png)
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced on Friday that the department has terminated nearly 80 contracts, including for a Brazilian forest and gender consultant and a Central American gender assessment consultant.
Rollins said the 78 contracts active under the Biden administration totaled more than $132 million, and more than 1,000 contracts are still under review for potential termination.
The findings come after a review from the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, which Rollins said will help the Agriculture Department to stop wasteful spending.
“I welcome DOGE’s efforts at USDA because we know that its work makes us better, stronger, faster, and more efficient. I will expect full access and transparency to DOGE in the days and weeks to come,” Rollins said.
DOGE SAYS IT DUG UP $1.9 BILLION IN TAXPAYER MONEY ‘MISPLACED’ BY BIDEN ADMIN
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins speaks to members of the press outside the White House in Washington, D.C., on February 14, 2025. (Getty Images)
The $132 million in terminated contracts includes $374,000 for a diversity, equity, and inclusion onboarding specialist, $254,000 for diversity dialogue workshops, $298,000 for international development for historically underrepresented communities, $229,000 for a Brazilian forest and gender consultant, $121,000 for a women and forest carbon initiative mentorship program and $29,000 for a Central American gender assessment consultant.
Rollins previously issued a memo to officially rescind all diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs to instead focus on unity, equality and meritocracy.
Now, the Agriculture Department has canceled 948 employee trainings, 758 of which focused solely on DEI. The other canceled trainings covered topics including environmental justice and gender ideology.
![Brooke Rollins](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/02/1200/675/brollins.png?ve=1&tl=1)
Brooke Rollins speaks to members of the media outside the White House in Washington, D.C., on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (Getty Images)
Another terminated contract was an “African and Middle Eastern and Latin America and Caribbean Regions for training, education, and access to professional and economic opportunities for women and increasing their participation in climate change adaptation activities” totaling $91,000.
There was also a neighborhood electric vehicle utility van for $33,000 and a Hawaii conference room rental for a 100-person Agriculture Department meeting on biodiversity for $11,000.
The Agriculture Department also cut $277 million for media contracts, including subscriptions to POLITICO Pro, a news and information service that offers resources such as tracking legislation. POLITICO said the overwhelming majority of subscribers to POLITICO Pro were in the private sector.
TRUMP AGRICULTURE PICK CONFIRMED AS PRESIDENT RACKS UP CABINET WINS
![USDA sign outside of their headquarters in Washington, D.C.](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/07/1200/675/us-department-agriculture.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
A sign of the Department of Agriculture is seen on the USDA entrance in Washington D.C., on December 18, 2022. (Celal Gunes / Anadolu Agency)
Federal agencies and lawmakers, including Republicans in Congress, have been subscribed to POLITICO Pro, but the White House recently announced that the administration would be eliminating subscriptions to some news organizations as part of a plan to reduce government spending.
The Agriculture Department, Rollins said, is also seeking to optimize its workforce by eliminating positions that are no longer necessary, requiring its workers to return to the office and relocating employees into the nation’s heartland.
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