Category: Housing, Community

“I Left The US 15 Years Ago”: Expats Are Revealing The “We’re Being Scammed” Realizations They Had After Moving Abroad

BuzzFeed

“I Left The US 15 Years Ago”: Expats Are Revealing The “We’re Being Scammed” Realizations They Had After Moving Abroad

Dannica Ramirez – September 12, 2025

Last year, we featured a viral TikTok that compared the cost of living in the US and Australia, which brought up the notion that “America is a scam.” Many people (like myself) were shocked by the numbers, but those in the BuzzFeed Community who’ve either moved to or from the US to another country knew about the differences all too well. Here are some of the most insightful and surprising “America is a scam” stories people shared:

1.”Credit scores. An arbitrary number that you have no control over can bar you from living in a decent area, landing a job, getting fair rates for insurance and loans, and even costing you opportunities to improve your life. Full disclosure: I left the US nearly 15 years ago. I now live in Poland and own my own business with full civil rights and privileges.”

A person focuses on budgeting, using a notebook, phone, and cards, seated at a table
José Araújo / Getty Images

—glitterysinger70

2.”I lived in Northern England for a time on a student work abroad visa. I was in need of birth control, so I went to the doctor. I was offered an implant that wasn’t available in the US until years later. When setting up my appointment, I asked about the out-of-pocket cost, and the staff looked at me like I had grown two heads. There was no cost, of course. When my British roommate later became pregnant with her children years later, her doctor did house calls. She also received a year of maternity leave with a guarantee she could return to her job. Living abroad did a ton to break the spell of ‘American exceptionalism’ and showed me how a ‘we’re #1’ philosophy could blind us to subpar conditions. When I was young, I wanted to move from the US for positive reasons, like adventure. It saddens me that my desire for it is now due to a seemingly worsening quality of life and a tenuous political situation here at home.”

—Anonymous

3.”I went to Panama on vacation and accidentally went without my asthma inhaler. I had to do was walk into a pharmacy — with no prescription required — and Albuterol was $11. In the US, with a required prescription, it’s about $150.”

Pharmacist in conversation with customer at a pharmacy counter, discussing healthcare or medication options. Shelves of products visible in background
Tom Werner / Getty Images

—oldskull713

4.”I have multiple chronic pain conditions, including a couple of autoimmune diseases, and I had very little pain and no flare-ups in the two weeks I spent in Europe — even with all the sitting on planes and coaches. As soon as I got back to the US, my pain started flaring up again. So, quite literally, the United States makes me sick.”

—emilydimiceli

5.”I paid $2,800/month to live in Los Angeles. Now, I pay $400/month to live in Taipei. My purchasing power is five times greater after I left the US to live in Asia.”

Person with curly hair looks out a window at tall buildings, conveying contemplation or reflection related to work or financial concerns
Frazao Studio Latino / Getty Images

—Anonymous

6.”I live in the UK and work in the public sector, which is unionized — holiday leave, healthcare, and retirement packages are all phenomenal. But even better, if I get really sick with something serious, I would get six months of PAID leave. Plus, I would still get all my holiday leave when I get back to work. I don’t have children, but my colleagues are getting a full year or more of maternity leave. America is a definite scam whenever they try to present unions as a ‘bad’ thing for workers. If you can, unionize!”

—kembrah

7.”I lived in Korea for a few years, and I have to say that I never needed a car since public transport is awesome and cheap, and so many people walk. Also, I got really sick once and had to visit the emergency room. I had to get meds, and it was less than $40. Everything is more expensive in the US”

People walking by a tram stop, dressed in business and casual attire, in an urban area with tall buildings in the background
Gerhard Joren / Getty Images

—Erin, 40

8.”I’ve lived in Germany and loved it. I actually felt more at home there than anywhere in the US, and I’ve lived all over America. The pace of life, values, and culture just really suited me. Living in the US can be an awful challenge, especially now that we are NOT doing great. So many of us are suffering under the boot of corporate America and bad government policy. Don’t get me wrong — there are a lot of things I love about my home country and the people: so much natural beauty, Americans’ confidence and can-do spirit, and how unique the country is. However, I’ve thought a lot about moving back to Europe. If I did move back, it would be for the community, connection, and ease, something that the US, unfortunately, is really lacking. No place is perfect, and there are headaches and problems everywhere, but it’s about choosing which ones you can tolerate.”

—violetbleustar

9.”When people think Europeans don’t want to work and take time off constantly because they’re ‘lazy,’ but Americans are hardworking individuals who help create a great economy. I worked in London for 15 years at some of the fastest-growing companies in Europe, and guess what? They had fast and sustainable growth, all while people used their statutory minimum required vacation time of 30 days per year or more. By the way, why does one of the richest countries in the world have one of the lowest quality of life for its citizens? It makes no sense.”

Three people relax by a pool on lounge chairs under umbrellas, with trees in the background. The scene suggests leisure and a break from work
Mondadori Portfolio / Getty Images

—LS, California

10.”One of my buds retired and lives in Mexico. He pays less than $100 for major car repairs, $300 for rent in a big apartment (with an included cleaning service), and very little for medical treatment. He lives a wonderful, full life. His pension is less than half of what I make, yet he seemingly lives the life while I struggle. It’s warm and beautiful where he lives with plenty of ex-pats. I’ve heard other Americans who’ve retired to Mexico say the same thing. It’s something to think about.”

—fayeesnow

11.”I’m a Scottish guy who lived in America for a few years. I had insurance covered as part of my visa, and I had a bike accident resulting in a bad head injury. I took an ambulance to the hospital, saw a doctor, got stitches, had a follow-up appointment, got medicated, and the lot. The bill was $25,000.”

Ambulance driving quickly on a road, indicating an emergency response
Richard T. Nowitz / Getty Images

—cornygoose88

12.”I wouldn’t say America is a scam, but the price comparison is jarring. I spent several months in France, and the rent was lower and did not rise rapidly as it does here. The biggest thing that stuck out to me was the cheap availability of high-quality food. Fresh and organic food in France costs about the same as bargain preservative-laden food in the States. You could also go to a nice restaurant without feeling like a total splurge. Plus, the price of the menu was the price you’d pay. France has a really well-developed leisure and tourism industry that benefits from its scale in a way that is not really matched to that of the States.”

—Anonymous

13.”I’ve lived in multiple countries but will use London as my reference since I’ve lived there for 10 years. I returned to the US because of the pandemic, and there are so many scams. First, people do not have free health insurance. We are one of the wealthiest countries in the world and have the best healthcare, but only if you can afford it. Meanwhile, in the UK, you can pay for private healthcare, but even if you don’t, there’s the NHS (National Health Service). Regardless, everyone has access to a doctor, period. In America, prescription costs vary depending on the drug and your insurance. In London, you either pay for prescriptions or you don’t. All prescriptions cost the same, and birth control is free. I could go on and on, but I’ll stop my anger from building up more than it is.”

Prescription pill bottle labeled for insomnia treatment on a plain surface
Fatcamera / Getty Images

—Mairin, 41, Wisconsin

14.”Food in places like Egypt, Japan, and even countries in Europe is more wholesome and tastier. Come on, America, why the shit food?”

—Anonymous

15.”I moved from the US and now live in Hong Kong. My tax rate is 12%, and my electricity costs less than $500 USD per year. I spend $400 a year on healthcare, $75 a month for public transit, and $15 a month for my phone. My largest expense is my apartment with a part-ocean view, and I pay $2,800 a month, which is a good price for staying outside the city.”

Person in a cap relaxes on a rooftop lounge chair overlooking a city skyline
Yalana / Getty Images

—braveprincess26

16.”I haven’t moved (yet), but I am in Germany now, and so far, the food is a lot better, ALL the beer is food, public transportation is SO MUCH BETTER, and, from what I’ve seen, most things cost less. Germany also has monetary government help if you have children or older adults in your family. Yep, monthly stipends with no means testing. This is a far cry from the USA, which has absolutely none of that, and where you can just die on the streets if you can’t make it. Really, in about 95% of ways, living in the USA kind of sucks. It does hurt me to admit this, but it’s true.”

—Suzan, 66, Oregon

17.”I have been living in Thailand and Bali this past year, and in both cases, I am far, far ahead of when I lived in the Seattle area in the US. My expenses are around half, and I lack almost nothing except some peccadillo-like things like major music concerts (some are in Bangkok, but that’s not a place I choose to pass through). Further, the culture is so much better — none of the fear and anger that have reared their heads since Trump entered the scene. The people here are so kind, accepting, and joyful. I haven’t even seen a case of road rage! I have no desire to go back to the USA.”

Street vendor serving a dish from an array of prepared foods at a busy market, illustrating bustling street business activities
Hadynyah / Getty Images

—clevermug83

18.”When my daughter was born in Amsterdam, we didn’t find out until she was a few weeks old that she needed corrective heart surgery. Never mind that we didn’t pay anything out of pocket for the birth, but her heart surgery and appointments for it didn’t cost a thing either. If we still lived in the States, we would have been bankrupt, even if we had good insurance.”

—Mark, 43, Netherlands

19.”We are being scammed. One of the biggest differences I noticed when living abroad was that even wealthy people were outspoken about prices. America’s rising cost of living is vastly outpacing inflation — and we accept it without much protest. I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Germany, Czechia, and Argentina, where I have local friends and some family. People would tell the servers that the prices were too high, or they’d complain at the supermarket and leave items at the register saying, ‘This is too expensive.’ In America, we’ve been trained to accept things as they are because we are gaslit into thinking it’s OUR fault that we suddenly can’t afford to eat out or go to the hair salon.”

Person in yellow jacket holding a long shopping receipt, standing by a shopping cart full of groceries
Lordhenrivoton / Getty Images

—stellarfellar

20.”I lived in Mexico my entire adult life and moved back to America in 2022. My salary in Mexico was lower than in dollars, but I had a much higher standard of living there. Healthcare is free unless you choose to go private, and you can still get free healthcare even without a job. Car insurance costs far less, and even the cars are cheaper because they sell more basic models of the same brand. My rent in Mexico was only about 20% of my salary, and it was easy to find plenty of places in a similar price range. In the US, it’s at least 30% of my salary. I’ve realized that in the US, everything is designed to be bigger, fancier, and more expensive.”

—Anonymous

21.”In the late ’90s, I studied in Paris, France. I could pay my tuition, dorm, groceries, and public transportation for 18 months on a $15K US school loan. In 2015, I lived in Quebec, Canada for five months, and my rent in a very nice three-bedroom apartment was $400 CAD a month, with all utilities included. I’ve compared my US salary with friends in Germany, France, and Norway; though my salary is ‘higher,’ they have much lower utility, cellphone, and other costs. Plus, they never had school loans to pay back, and even after taxes, they still had MORE money at the end of the month than me — not to mention the six weeks of vacation every year, parental leave, etc.”

People walk along a busy cobblestone street in Paris, featuring cafes and shops, with Le Consulat restaurant in the background
Julian Elliott Photography / Getty Images

“They have walkable cities and towns with sidewalks everywhere, reliable and efficient public transportation, and affordable fresh food. If most Americans understood the stark reality that we are paying into a system with a broken infrastructure — where most of our tax money goes to pay for ‘defense’ — they’d hopefully take their outrage to the polls and vote for better policies. Those in power, however, turn to fearmongering scam tactics to prevent people from demanding more.”

—Stephanie, 50, US

22.”After I moved to America, I realized that how the US presents itself to the rest of the world is bull. There’s a poor healthcare system, no labor laws to get paid for statutory holidays, the wages are a joke compared to the cost of living, and if you’re wealthy, the law is yours to bend. It shocked me to see how the US votes in judges and how fragile the separation of church and state really is! It’s scary living here.”

Nobody in Texas is Showing Up To Construction Sites

The Resistance:

June 28, 2025 – Bravo Taco! You are collapsing our economy one industry at a time. Racism has blinded most MAGAs to one universal truth: the backbone of our economy is immigrant labor.

Home Builder in Texas says ICE raids has ground construction to a halt, as the vast numbers of laborers are immigrants. Video:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/16jZHKnHay/

John Hanno: Most Texan’s understand this, but they keep voting for the spineless republi-cons in congress, and for legislators in Texas who “ARE” the problem, and who couldn’t care less about a solution. Their elected leaders keep attacking and terrorizing the women and people of color who ARE part of the solution, and who are an asset to our nation. The question is, are their prejudices too ingrained for them to change their backwards ways? WTFU merica

The New Deal Is a Stinging Rebuke to Trump and Trumpism

Jamelle Bouie – April 30, 2025

A portrait of President Franklin Roosevelt hangs above a framed cover from The New York Post showing President Trump’s mug shot.
Credit…Nathan Howard/Reuters

There is no question that Donald Trump’s ambition in the first 100 days of his return to the Oval Office was to set a new standard for presidential accomplishment. To rival, even surpass, the scope of Franklin Roosevelt’s efforts nearly a century ago, when he moved so quickly — and so decisively — that he established the first 100 days as a yardstick for executive action.

But as consequential as they have been, and as exhausting as they’ve felt to many Americans, these first months of Trump’s second term fall far short of what Roosevelt accomplished. Yes, Trump has wreaked havoc throughout the federal government and destroyed our relationships abroad, but his main goal — the total subordination of American democracy to his will — remains unfulfilled. You could even say it is slipping away, as he sabotages his administration with a ruinous trade war, deals with the stiff opposition of a large part of civil society and plummets in his standing with most Americans.

If measured by his ultimate aims, Trump’s first 100 days are a failure. To understand why he failed, we must do a bit of compare-and-contrast. First, let’s look at the details of Trump’s opening gambit. And second, let’s measure his efforts against the man who set the terms in the first place: Franklin Delano Roosevelt. To do so is to see that the first 100 days of Trump’s second term aren’t what we think they are. More important, it is to see that the ends of a political project cannot be separated from the means that are used to bring it into this world.

Trump began his second term with a shock-and-awe campaign of executive actions. He, or rather the people around him, devised more than 100 executive orders, all part of a program to repeal the better part of the 20th century — from the New Deal onward — as well as fundamentally transform the relationship between the federal government and the American people.

His ultimate aim is to turn a constitutional republic centered on limited government and the rule of law into a personalist autocracy centered on the rule of one man, Donald J. Trump, and his unlimited authority. Trump’s vision for the United States, put differently, has more in common with foreign dictatorships than it does with almost anything you might find in America’s tradition of republican self-government.

To that end, the president’s executive orders are meant to act as royal decrees — demands that the country bend to his will. In one, among the more than four dozen issued in his first weeks in office, Trump purports to purge the nation’s primary and secondary schools of supposed “radical indoctrination” and promote a program of “patriotic education” instead. In another, signed in the flurry of executive activity that marked his first afternoon back in the Oval Office, Trump asserts the power to define “biological” sex and “gender identity” themselves, in an attempt to end official recognition of trans and other gender nonconforming people.

In Trump’s America, diversity, equity and inclusion programs aren’t just frowned upon; they’re grounds for purges in the public sector and investigations in the private sector. Scientific and medical research must align with his ideological agenda; anything that doesn’t — no matter how promising or useful — is on the chopping block. Any institutions that assert independent authority, like law firms and universities, must be brought to heel with the force of the state itself. Everything in American society must align with the president’s agenda. Those who disagree might find themselves at the mercy of his Department of Justice or worse, his deportation forces.

Trump claims sovereign authority. He claims the right to dismantle entire federal agencies, regardless of the law. He claims the right to spend taxpayer dollars as he sees fit, regardless of what Congress has appropriated. He even claims the right to banish American citizens from the country and send them to rot in a foreign prison.

Trump has deployed autocratic means toward authoritarian ends. And the results, while sweeping, rest on a shaky foundation of unlawful actions and potentially illegal executive actions.

Now, let’s consider Roosevelt.

It’s from Roosevelt, of course, that we get the idea that the 100th day is a milestone worth marking.

Roosevelt took office at a time of deprivation and desperation. The Great Depression had reached its depths during the winter of his inauguration in March 1933. Total estimated national income had dropped by half, and the financial economy had all but shut down, with banks closed and markets frozen. About one-quarter of the nation’s work force — or close to 15 million people — was out of work. Countless businesses had failed. What little relief was available, from either public or private sources, was painfully inadequate.

“Now is the winter of our discontent the chilliest,” Merle Thorpe, the editor of Nation’s Business — then the national magazine of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — wrote in an editorial that captured the mood of the country on the eve of Roosevelt’s inauguration. “Fear, bordering on panic, loss of faith in everything, our fellow-man, our institutions, private and government. Worst of all, no faith in ourselves, or the future. Almost everyone ready to scuttle the ship, and not even ‘women and children first.’”

It was this pall of despair that led Roosevelt to tell the nation in his Inaugural Address that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” Despite the real calls for someone to seize dictatorial power in the face of crisis, Roosevelt’s goal — more, possibly, than anything else — was to rescue and rejuvenate American democracy: to rebuild it as a force that could tame the destructive force of unregulated capitalism.

As such, the new president insisted, the country “must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline.” His means would fit his ends. He would use democracy to save democracy. He would go to the people’s representatives with an ambitious plan of action. “These measures,” he said, “or such other measures as the Congress may build out of its experience and wisdom, I shall seek, within my constitutional authority, to bring to speedy adoption.”

What followed was a blitz of action meant to ameliorate the worst of the crisis. “On his very first night in office,” the historian William E. Leuchtenburg (who died three months ago) recounted in his seminal volume, “Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932-1940,” Roosevelt “directed secretary of the Treasury William Woodin to draft an emergency banking bill, and gave him less than five days to get it ready.”

Five days later, on March 9, 1933, Congress convened a special session during which it approved the president’s banking bill with by acclamation in the House and a nearly unanimous vote in the Senate. Soon after, Roosevelt urged the legislature to pass an unemployment relief measure. By the end of the month, on March 31, Congress had created the Civilian Conservation Corps.

This was just the beginning of a burst of legislative and executive activity. On May 12 alone, Roosevelt signed the Federal Emergency Relief Act — establishing the precursor to the Works Progress Administration — the Agricultural Adjustment Act and the Emergency Farm Mortgage Act. He signed the bill creating the Tennessee Valley Authority less than a week later, on May 18, and the Securities Act regulating the offer and sale of securities on May 27. On June 16, Roosevelt signed Glass-Steagall, a law regulating the banking system, and the National Industrial Recovery Act, an omnibus business and labor relations bill with a public works component. With that, and 100 days after it began, Congress went out of session.

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The legislature, Leuchtenburg wrote,

had written into the laws of the land the most extraordinary series of reforms in the nation’s history. It had committed the country to an unprecedented program of government-industry cooperation; promised to distribute stupendous sums to millions of staple farmers; accepted responsibility for the welfare of millions of unemployed; agreed to engage in far-reaching experimentation in regional planning; pledged billions of dollars to save homes and farms from foreclosure; undertaken huge public works spending; guaranteed the small bank deposits of the country; and had, for the first time, established federal regulation of Wall Street.

And Roosevelt, Leuchtenburg continued, “had directed the entire operation like a seasoned field general.” The president even coined the “hundred days” phrasing, using it in a July 24, 1933, fireside chat on his recovery program, describing it as a period “devoted to the starting of the wheels of the New Deal.”

The frantic movement of Roosevelt’s first months set a high standard for all future presidents; all fell short. “The first 100 days make him look like a minor league statesman,” said one journalist of Roosevelt’s successor Harry S. Truman. The Times described the first 100 days of the Eisenhower administration as a “slow start.” And after John F. Kennedy’s first 100 days yielded few significant accomplishments, the young president let the occasion pass without remark.

There is much to be said about why Roosevelt was able to do so much in such a short window of time. It is impossible to overstate the importance of the crisis of the Depression. “The country was in such a state of confused desperation that it would have followed almost any leader anywhere he chose to go,” observed the renowned columnist and public intellectual Walter Lippmann. It also helped that there was no meaningful political opposition to either Roosevelt or the Democratic Party — the president took power with overwhelming majorities in the House and the Senate. The Great Depression had made the Republicans a rump party, unable to mount an effective opposition to the early stages of the New Deal.

This note on Congress is key. Beyond the particular context of Roosevelt’s moment, both the expectation and the myth of Roosevelt’s 100 days miss the extent to which it was a legislative accomplishment as much as an executive one. Roosevelt did not transform the United States with a series of executive orders; he did so with a series of laws.

Roosevelt was chief legislator as much as he was chief executive. “He wrote letters to committee chairmen or members of Congress to urge passage of his proposals, summoned the congressional leadership to White House conferences on legislation … and appeared in person before Congress,” Leuchtenburg wrote in an essay arguing that Roosevelt was “the first modern president”:

He made even the hitherto mundane business of bill signing an occasion for political theater; it was he who initiated the custom of giving a presidential pen to a congressional sponsor of legislation as a memento.

Or as the journalist Raymond Clapper wrote of Roosevelt at the end of his first term: “It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that the president, although not a member of Congress, has become almost the equivalent of the prime minister of the British system, because he’s both executive and the guiding hand of the legislative branch.”

Laws are never fixed in place. But neither are they easily moved. It’s for this reason that any president who hopes to make a lasting mark on the United States must eventually turn to legislation. It is in lawmaking that presidents secure their legacy for the long haul.

This brings us back to Trump, whose desire to be a strongman has led him to rule like a strongman under the belief that he can impose an authoritarian system on the United States through sheer force of will.

His White House doesn’t just rely on executive orders; it revolves around them. They are the primary means through which the administration takes action (he has signed only five bills into law), under a radical assertion of executive power: the unitary executive taken to its most extreme form. And for Trump himself, they seem to define his vision of the presidency. He holds his ceremonies — always televised, of course — where subordinates present his orders as he gushes over them.

But while we have no choice but to recognize the significance of the president’s use of executive power, we also can’t believe the hype. Just because Trump desires to transform the American system of government doesn’t mean that he will. Autocratic intent does not translate automatically into autocratic success.

Remember, an executive order isn’t law. It is, as Philip J. Cooper explained in “By Order of the President: The Use and Abuse of Executive Direct Action,” a directive “issued by the president to officers of the executive branch, requiring them to take an action, stop a certain type of activity, alter policy, change management practices, or accept a delegation of authority under which they will henceforth be responsible for the implementation of law.” When devised carefully and within the scope of the president’s lawful authority, an executive order can have the force of law (provided the underlying statute was passed within the constitutional authority of Congress), but it does not carry any inherent authority. An executive order is not law simply because the president says it is.

Even though Trump seems to think he is issuing decrees, the truth is that his directives are provisional and subject to the judgment of the courts as well as future administrations. And if there is a major story to tell about Trump’s second term so far, it is the extent to which many of the president’s most sweeping executive actions have been tied up in the federal judiciary. The White House, while loath to admit it, has even had to back down in the face of hostile rulings.

The president might want to be a king, but despite the best efforts of his allies on the Supreme Court, the American system is not one of executive supremacy. Congress has all the power it needs to reverse the president’s orders and thwart his ambitions. Yes, the national legislature is held by the president’s party right now. But that won’t be a permanent state of affairs, especially given the president’s unpopularity.

MAGA propaganda notwithstanding, Trump is not some grand impresario skillfully playing American politics to his precise tune. He may want to bend the nation to his will, but he does not have the capacity to do the kind of work that would make this possible, as well as permanent — or as close to permanent as lawmaking allows. If Roosevelt’s legislative skill was a demonstration of his strength, then Trump’s reliance on executive orders is a sign of his weakness.

None of this is to discount the real damage that he has inflicted on the country. It is precisely because Republicans in Congress have abdicated their duty to the Constitution that Trump has the capacity to act in catastrophically disastrous ways.

But the overarching project of the second Trump administration — to put the United States on the path toward a consolidated authoritarian state — has stalled out. And it has done so because Trump lacks what Roosevelt had in spades: a commitment to governance and a deep understanding of the system in which he operated.

Roosevelt could orchestrate the transformative program of his 100 days because he tied his plan to American government as it existed, even as he worked to remake it. Trump has pursued his by treating the American government as he wants it to be. It is very difficult to close the gap between those two things, and it will become all the more difficult as the bottom falls out of Trump’s standing with the public.

Do not take this as succor. Do not think it means that the United States is in the clear. American democracy is still as fragile and as vulnerable as it has ever been, and Trump is still motivated to make his vision a reality. He may even lash out as it becomes clear that he has lost whatever initiative he had to begin with. This makes his first 100 days less a triumph for him than a warning to the rest of us. The unthinkable, an American dictatorship, is possible.

But Trump may not have the skills to effect the permanent transformation of his despotic dreams. Despite the chaos of the moment, it is possible that freedom-loving Americans have gotten the luck of the draw. Our most serious would-be tyrant is also among our least capable presidents, and he has surrounded himself with people as fundamentally flawed as he is.

On Inauguration Day, Donald Trump seemed to be on top of the world. One hundred days later, he’s all but a lame duck. He can rage and he can bluster — and he will do a lot more damage — but the fact of the matter is that he can be beaten. Now the task is to deliver him his defeat.

Inside Elon Musk’s Gleeful Destruction of the Government

Rolling Stone

Inside Elon Musk’s Gleeful Destruction of the Government

Miles Klee, Andrew Perez, Asawin Suebsaeng and Meagan Jordan – April 10, 2025

Ben Vizzachero had his dream job, working as a wildlife biologist with the Los Padres National ­Forest in California. He was moving up the ladder, had recently received a positive performance review, and was “making the world a better place,” he says.

Yet, over Presidents’ Day weekend in February, Donald Trump’s administration told Vizzachero he was being let go for his “performance.” Vizzachero was one of many thousands of “probationary” federal workers who were baselessly fired by Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency as part of Trump’s effort to purge the federal workforce and make it more MAGA.

It was crushing. “My job is my identity,” Vizzachero says. “How I’ve defined myself since I was five years old is that I love birds and bird-watching.” Talking with Rolling Stone in March, following his firing, he wondered what would happen to his health insurance and whether he would need to move in with his parents.

When a Democratic lawmaker invited Vizzachero as a guest to Trump’s joint address to Congress in March, he found himself seated near Musk. He took the opportunity to confront the world’s richest man. According to Vizzachero, he described his job to Musk and asked: “Am I waste?”

He says Musk, “with a very condescending smirk,” hit him with a line from the 1999 movie Office Space: “What would you say you do here?”

It was a dubious callback to the scene in which a pair of management consultants interview a worker and force him to justify his job before he’s fired. Like countless Wall Street traders who took the wrong lesson from Gordon Gekko’s “greed is good” speech, Musk missed the point of Office Space: that corporate culture is dehumanizing, and bosses like him are odious cretins.

Soon after Trump’s and Republicans’ 2024 wins, which Musk supported with $290 million in political spending, the Tesla CEO publicly mused about using this line from Office Space on federal workers. He posted it in November on X, the social media platform he owns, with a laugh-crying emoji, resharing his earlier post of an AI-generated image in which he’s seated at a conference table behind a placard that reads “DOGE.” Two weeks later, Musk announced, “I rewatched Office Space tonight for the 5th time to prepare for @DOGE!” The billionaire reportedly had a DOGE T-shirt made, emblazoned with his favorite line. And one weekend in February, Musk threatened to fire every federal worker who failed to respond to an email asking them, “What did you do last week?”

Musk and the White House did not respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment.

“The American people are saying, you know what, Elon Musk? We believe you to be a liar.”

Everett Kelley

With DOGE, Musk has gleefully banished tens of thousands of federal employees, canceled lifesaving aid, and repeatedly threatened America’s safety-net programs, all as part of a purported hunt for waste, fraud, and abuse. He’s governed as an out-of-touch corporate villain, laughing about this carnage while partying, posting, delivering big payments to voters (although the amounts mean virtually nothing to him), and cashing in on new contracts and business opportunities — sometimes appearing high out of his mind. Even administration officials and Trump loyalists on Capitol Hill joke about the latest outrages of “Prime Minister Musk.” At every turn in his crusade of destruction, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has dared the courts and a weak Democratic opposition to stop him.

But it didn’t take long for ordinary Americans to get pissed off, with protests against DOGE, Musk, and his companies erupting nationwide. “The American people are saying, you know what, Elon Musk?” says Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, a federal labor union that has brought legal challenges against the Trump administration on behalf of the more than 820,000 workers across government agencies it represents. “We’re not buying what you’re selling. We believe you to be a liar.”

Organizers have mounted a “Tesla Takedown” campaign, with tens of thousands around the globe showing up at dealerships to condemn DOGE, according to the group. They have encouraged Tesla owners to sell their cars and stockholders to dump their shares, since much of Musk’s wealth comes from his stake in the electric-vehicle manufacturer.

“People have asked, ‘What is DOGE?’ ” says a retiree at an anti-Tesla protest in Los Angeles in March, explaining that she and her husband are trying to “educate people” about the harm Musk’s pet project is causing. Passing motorists honk in support of the approximately 25 people gathered at a Tesla center despite the rain. Some hold signs denouncing Musk as a Nazi (he has denied any association with Nazism), while another poster at the rally simply reads: “Not Sure About This Elon Guy.”

“There is a growing movement to divest, Tesla stock is in a precipitous decline,” says actor and writer Alex Winter, who launched Tesla Takedown with other activists in ­February. “Things are moving in the right direction.”

‘Crazy Uncle Elon’

Prior to Trump’s inauguration, observers weren’t sure how seriously to take the idea of a Musk-led government-efficiency commission, but the billionaire and DOGE have been at the vanguard of Trump’s shockingly lawless second administration.

Musk has spearheaded the president’s purge of the federal workforce and his efforts to consolidate information and power over federal funds — despite never being elected, appointed, or confirmed to hold such a pivotal role. Musk is technically a “special government employee,” a designation that allowed him to bypass a Senate confirmation process and avoid publicly reporting his financial holdings.

DOGE was created by renaming the U.S. Digital Service and moving it under the executive office in an apparent bid to circumvent public-record laws. The ethics watchdog American Oversight has sued to force the group to comply with those laws and preserve materials subject to Freedom of Information Act requests. “The public deserves to know the full extent of the damage,” said interim Executive Director Chioma Chukwu in a statement on an April court order requiring DOGE to fulfill this legal obligation.

Trump and Musk have tried to grant the new office expansive authorities never envisioned by Congress, including the ability to “impound,” or freeze, funds appropriated by lawmakers. Experts say the arrangement is unconstitutional on several levels — as are DOGE’s mass firings and its attempts to shutter or pause the work of whole government agencies. A lawsuit brought by personnel of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) laid out many of these arguments, contending that “Musk has acted as an officer of the United States without having been duly appointed to such a role,” and that DOGE “acted to eliminate USAID, a federal agency created by statute, where only Congress may do so.” A federal judge in Maryland agreed, finding that Musk and DOGE likely violated the Constitution as they dismantled the office. Another judge ordered the Trump administration to rehire thousands of probationary employees terminated by DOGE. (As of publication, the legal battle is ongoing.)

Vizzachero, the wildlife biologist, was among those rehired. The administration is still moving ahead with even larger mass firings. 

“I am become meme. There’s living the dream, and living the meme, and that’s what’s happening.”

Elon Musk

Musk and his lieutenants — many pulled from his own companies, others young techie college dropouts lacking in government experience — have demanded unprecedented access to sensitive personal information and government payment systems, leading to still more legal challenges. Federal judges have found that Trump’s administration likely violated privacy and administrative laws when it gave DOGE sweeping access to personal, private data held by the Social Security Administration, the Treasury Department, and the Education Department. Regardless, DOGE has continued to operate with the same playbook Musk used after acquiring Twitter, showing a zeal for speedy terminations and little regard for how departments function.

Throughout the chaos and confusion of Trump’s return to power, Musk also strove to cultivate the image he’s long maintained as a workhorse, showman, and expert in varied fields. He reportedly told friends he was sleeping at DOGE offices, rehashing claims he previously made about sleeping on a Tesla factory floor. He’s continually posted grandiose and often inaccurate estimates of how much money DOGE has saved.

And he seemed to relish his role as an all-powerful agitator. Musk began regularly smearing his enemies as “retards” on X and targeting judges who ruled against the administration or blocked DOGE’s incursions. He grew bold enough to describe Social Security, long considered untouchable, as “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.”

Onstage at Trump’s post-inauguration event, Musk threw a straight-armed salute to the crowd, then responded to the ensuing backlash with a series of puns on names of high-ranking Nazis from Adolf Hitler’s inner circle. Speaking virtually to the far-right German political party Alternative für Deutschland, Musk argued that Germany had placed “too much of a focus on past guilt.”

At the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference in February, Musk waved around a chain saw he said would slice through “bureaucracy” — this on the same day that his former partner Grimes publicly begged him on X to respond to her about a medical crisis experienced by one of their three children.

“I am become meme,” he said onstage. “I’m living the meme. You know, it’s like, there’s living the dream, and there’s living the meme, and that’s pretty much what’s happening.”

The bizarre CPAC appearance prompted speculation about Musk’s state of mind and recreational drug use, as he was wearing sunglasses inside and had difficulty stringing sentences together. People close to Musk have told The Wall Street Journal they have known him to use illegal drugs, including LSD, cocaine, Ecstasy, and mushrooms — a source of concern for some of the board members over­seeing his companies. (Musk has denied using illegal drugs, though he has spoken about his use of prescription ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic.)

Some senior Trump ad­ministration officials and Cabinet members have found themselves deeply annoyed by Musk. Sec­retary of State Marco Rubio, three people fa­miliar with the matter say, hasn’t hidden his ­disdain for Musk, with some State Department officials nicknaming the Tesla billionaire “Crazy Uncle Elon,” two of those sources tell Rolling Stone.

“I have been in the same room with Elon, and he always tries to be funny. And he’s not funny. Like, at all,” says a senior Trump administration official. “He makes these jokes and little asides and smiles and then looks almost hurt if you don’t lap up his humor. I keep using the word ‘annoying’; a lot of people who have to deal with him do. But the word doesn’t do the situation justice. Elon just thinks he’s smarter than everyone else in the room and acts like it, even when it’s clear he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

Musk has gnawed at the patience of an array of high-­ranking administration officials, to the point that — according to this official and two others — Trump lieutenants have walked out of meetings and earnestly asked one another if they thought Musk was high. Administration officials joked to one another about subjecting Musk to mandatory drug testing, which Musk himself has said would be a “great idea” for federal employees. (A lawyer for Musk has said he’s “regularly and randomly drug-tested at SpaceX and has never failed a test.”)

“Talking to the guy is sometimes like listening to really rusty nails on a chalkboard,” says the senior Trump administration official, who adds that Musk is not much of a team player, either. “He’s just the most irritating person I’ve ever had to deal with, and that is saying something.”

‘Why Do These Fucking Kids Know This?’

With Trump’s blessing, Musk has engineered a climate of fear that has infected nearly every corner of the U.S. executive branch. When DOGE’s “nerd army” has moved to take over federal agencies, if their demands are not immediately met, Musk’s minions have snapped at senior government officials: “Do I need to call Elon?”

The emails that Musk has had sent to federal employees have been so intentionally dickish that several have produced an avalanche of what one Trump administration official called “very rude” pranks and replies. Some of these crass responses include — per messages reviewed by Rolling Stone — graphic sexual images, including content involving urine and feces.

“I know Elon probably won’t see it, but I hope he sees it,” says one now-former federal employee, who says they replied to one such email with an image of a human butthole.

Musk is apparently amused by the unrest. Aside from his public memeing, when he has privately messaged associates and confidants about reports from federal staffers about how their lives have been wrecked, the Tesla CEO has been known to react with laugh-crying emojis, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.

At the Social Security Administration, Musk and DOGE appear to be creating a ticking time bomb — making big cuts and changes that may prevent some recipients from getting the benefits they are owed.

The tech oligarch has repeatedly warned that millions of Americans over the age of 100 are receiving benefits — a flagrant misrepresentation of agency data. Trump has run with this falsehood, too, even as his acting Social Security commissioner has acknowledged that these people “are not necessarily receiving benefits.”

Musk has claimed there are “extreme levels of fraud” in Social Security — though he and DOGE haven’t provided any evidence. He’s argued, without basis, that hundreds of billions in fraud per year are going to undocumented immigrants from entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

The constant griping about entitlements is making an impact: When people lose their Social Security benefits, they are blaming Musk and DOGE.

Two administration officials and another Trump adviser tell Rolling Stone that when Musk has publicly decried Social Security as a “Ponzi scheme,” some close to Trump have tried to diplomatically remind Musk that this could be damaging politically.

“He’s the most irritating person I’ve ever had to deal with, and that’s saying something.”

Senior Trump Administration Official

“We like winning elections, and you may have noticed that a lot of our voters are elderly,” the Trump adviser notes. The complaint from Trumpland brass about Musk’s inability to absorb or entertain new information is a common one.

According to the Trump adviser and an administration official, the DOGE captain has stubbornly responded with comments like, “It is a Ponzi scheme, though.” (It is not.)

As Musk and his minions claim they’re hunting for wasteful spending, the tech mogul is vying for new contracts at agencies that ­regulate his many business interests — a ­situation that poses obvious conflicts of interest. The Trump White House has asserted that Musk can police his own conflicts, and excuse himself from DOGE’s work overseeing certain contracts if he believes it’s necessary.

As part of their purge, Musk and DOGE fired hundreds of probationary employees at the Federal Aviation Administration, which last year proposed fining Musk’s SpaceX for regulatory and safety violations. Musk also pressured the last FAA administrator to resign, leaving it without leadership when an Army helicopter and commercial jet collided over the Potomac River near D.C. in January, killing 67 people.

The agency has started utilizing ­Starlink, Musk’s satellite internet service, to help upgrade the systems it uses to manage America’s airspace. Musk has tried to spin this as charity, posting that “Starlink terminals are being sent at NO COST to the taxpayer on an emergency basis to restore air-traffic-control connectivity.” However, as Rolling Stone has reported, FAA officials quietly directed staff to quickly locate tens of millions of dollars to fund a Starlink deal.

The New York Times separately reported in March that Starlink is now being used on the White House campus, despite security concerns. Trump’s Department of Defense just awarded SpaceX billions more in contracts to put sensitive military satellites in space. DOGE is reportedly using Musk’s Grok AI chatbot liberally as it slashes the government.

Two sources with knowledge of the matter tell Rolling Stone that Musk’s DOGE staffers have grilled DOD employees about the Golden Dome project, Trump’s fantastical proposal to build a space-based missile-defense system to protect the entire United States — an idea ready-made for Starlink. Their questions were so specific that Pentagon officials wondered if the DOGE staff had access to highly sensitive and guarded information.

“Why do these fucking kids know this?” is how one of the sources describes their bewilderment at the time.

With DOGE, Musk has effectively infiltrated agencies that are supposed to oversee his businesses. This situation creates risk, experts say — as officials may not feel like they can scrutinize Musk’s businesses too closely. Case in point: In late February, the FAA cleared SpaceX to launch another unmanned test flight of its Starship rocket, a month after one exploded. Starship exploded again mid­air, raining debris over Florida and the Caribbean and disrupting nearly 500 flights.

The FAA’s probe of the first explosion concluded that the probable cause was “stronger than anticipated vibrations during flight.” The agency noted that SpaceX had “implemented corrective actions” prior to launching the second rocket, which exploded too.

‘Nobody Elected’ Musk

Musk’s unprecedented attack on the government has not gone without answer from average Americans, who have mobilized mass protests focused on DOGE and Tesla. Republican lawmakers holding town-hall events have had constituents show up to berate them over Musk, booing his name and denouncing his cuts. By early March, House Speaker Mike Johnson was telling his GOP colleagues to skip such events.

Demonstrations, meanwhile, spilled into the streets. “DOGE is illegitimate. Congress has not authorized them,” a federal worker at a March protest on the National Mall told Rolling Stone. The action saw significant support from veterans due to DOGE’s cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs. “Fuck Musk,” says another attendee, whose relative is a government contract worker. She notes that “nobody elected” Musk.

Lansing, Michigan USA - 5 February 2025 - People rally at the Michigan state capitol to oppose President Trump, Elon Musk, and Project 2025. Similar rallies were planned across the country, many of them at state capitols.
As Musk’s DOGE continues to slash jobs, a protest movement against him is brewing.

Meanwhile, a wave of vandalism — unconnected to the peaceful Tesla Takedown campaign — has seen Tesla dealerships, vehicles, and chargers spray-painted, burned, and damaged by gunfire, though there have been no injuries as yet. Musk has baselessly declared that the protests are financed by wealthy liberals and that the vandalism is “coordinated,” though the FBI has said there is no evidence of this.

The White House and Trump law-enforcement officials have moved to crack down on Tesla vandals. At a Tesla showcase that Trump held on the White House driveway with Musk, the president said the attackers should be considered domestic terrorists. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that three individuals suspected of carrying out arson attacks on Tesla properties were facing sentences of up to 20 years. The FBI launched a task force to look at anti-Tesla violence.

Trump also suggested that individuals arrested for these crimes should be sent to prison in El Salvador.

What’s $1 Million?

Amid rising public anger about his role and influence, Musk held a town hall in late March in Green Bay, Wisconsin. More than 1,000 supporters joined him, as hundreds protested outside in the ice-cold rain.

The protesters were there to vent their anger about Musk’s attempts to buy a state Supreme Court seat. The tech billionaire — through his Super PAC, America PAC — had been offering voters $100 to sign a petition decrying so-called activist judges. Only petition signers could attend the town hall. Musk had announced he would give away checks for $1 million to two event attendees.

One protester, holding a sign that said “X-LAX needed to eliminate Musk,” told Rolling Stone that Musk had “no business in Wisconsin trying to influence votes.” Another held a sign declaring, “Packer fans don’t like Nazis,” with a picture of Musk’s straight-armed salute.

Inside, Musk appeared onstage donning a Packers-style cheesehead hat before signing it and throwing it into the crowd.

Shortly afterward, he brought two winners out to collect the $1 million checks. He admitted to the audience that the point of them is “just to get attention.” He laughed about how paying voters this way “causes the legacy media to kind of lose their minds.”

While $1 million would be a life-changing sum for most people, it means shockingly little to a man who was reportedly worth $316 billion at the end of March. One of these checks is equivalent to just over 60 cents for him, when you compare his net worth with that of the median American. (The $290 million that Musk spent to elect Trump and Republicans was equivalent to roughly $214 for him at the time — less than an average family’s weekly grocery bill.)

“I would thank him for radicalizing me. I had never attended a protest until I was fired.”

Ben Vizzachero

At his town hall, Musk — an immigrant — launched into a tirade about noncitizens receiving Social Security numbers, standing in front of a chart purporting to show a big spike under Democrats. In reality, legal immigrants are given Social Security numbers so they can pay taxes; this process was in fact made automatic during Trump’s first term. The crowd gasped as Musk gave them the false impression that DOGE had finally found real fraud in Social Security.

When Musk was interrupted by protesters, he joked that they were operatives funded by Democratic mega-donor George Soros — yes, inside the event filled with people he was paying $100 to sign his petition, where he also gave away $2 million.

Throughout the night, Musk argued that the Wisconsin Supreme Court election would have major implications not just for the state or the country, but possibly the world — if Democrats won, he argued, Republicans could lose two congressional seats.

Two days later, Wisconsin voters convincingly rejected Musk’s candidate, Brad Schimel, by 10 points. The election was a referendum on Musk — and he lost big.

Dr. Kristin Lyerly, a Wisconsin OB-GYN who serves on the board for the Committee to Protect Health Care and campaigned against Schimel, tells Rolling Stone, “Authenticity is incredibly important to Wisconsinites, and that is what Elon Musk completely lacked: any sense of authenticity.”

After Musk’s epic fail, word trickled out that he could soon leave the Trump administration. It wasn’t a surprise — special government employees are supposed to serve for 130 days or less per year. Musk’s effect on the government and its workers will linger.

On April 5, as a wave of “Hands Off!” protests coalesced against Trump and Musk in every state and cities around the world, Rolling Stone spoke again with Vizzachero. He was getting ready to speak at one of these rallies in California. (Now that he’s been rehired, he says, “the statements that I’m making to you are my personal opinions.”)

He reads his planned speech over the phone. He talks about how environmental and conservation laws brought back the bald eagle and the peregrine falcon, and restored America’s public lands. “The Trump administration wants to exploit and abuse our public lands so that they can make billionaires like Elon Musk even richer,” he says.

It’s been a month since his run-in with Musk. He says he’s “kind of grateful.”

If he saw Musk again now, Vizzachero says, “I would thank him for radicalizing me, because I had actually never attended a protest until a week after I got fired. I spent a long time sitting on the sidelines thinking there’s so much bad stuff happening. He gave me the push that I needed to use my voice to speak up and speak out.”

We went to the anti-Trump protests. Here’s what surprised us the most.

We went to the anti-Trump protests. Here’s what surprised us the most.

Alice Tecotzky,Lakshmi Varanasi, and Lloyd Lee – April 5, 2025

Elon Musk says "Tesla Takedown" demonstrators were paid to protest after seeing videos

  • Protesters turned out in large numbers to nationwide demonstrations against the Trump administration.
  • Trump has upended government agencies, fired thousands of federal workers, and shaken the economy.
  • Many protesters told Business Insider they were worried about their retirement savings.

Last week, nationwide protests targeted Elon Musk for his role in dismantling government agencies and firing federal workers through the White House DOGE Office.

This week, they are targeting the man who gave him that role: President Donald Trump.

In coordinated demonstrations that organizers said took place across all 50 states, the “Hands Off!” protest accused Trump and his administration of championing policies that benefit the rich while making life harder for everyone else.

Business Insider sent reporters to protests in different parts of the country to hear from them directly. Many said they were most worried about the economy and their retirement investments, which have dwindled in tandem with Trump’s tariff announcements.

Trump says the tariffs will help jump-start US manufacturing, promote US goods, protect jobs and ultimately create more of them. He has urged Americans to wait out the initial market volatility and price increases.

That has, however, so far done little to alleviate fears. Here’s what protesters told us and what surprised us the most.

New York City
Crowd of anti-Trump protesters in Manhattan
A large crowd protests the Trump administration in Midtown Manhattan.Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Community Change Action

As I rode the train from Brooklyn to Midtown Manhattan, the subway car filled with protesters, their cardboard signs bumping up against umbrellas on a rainy Saturday in New York.

By 1 p.m., the 42nd Street station was even more crowded than usual. Older people clutched slippery canes, and young kids clutched their parents’ hands. One man wore a once trendy Harris Walz camo hat. Another waved a small American flag, an unusual display of patriotism at anti-Trump rallies.

The damp horde of protesters shuffled toward Bryant Park, and in some ways, it all felt familiar. There were chants about abortion, signs featuring the face of now-deceased Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a progressive icon, and a steady cacophony of car horns.

But some things were different this time.

For one, the crowd looked older, with middle-aged Americans seeming to outnumber the 20-somethings that dominated rallies during the pandemic. It makes sense since many Americans are watching their retirement savings dwindle in the face of crashing markets and worry that staff cuts to the Social Security Administration could impact the crucial safety net.

While the anti-government protests held during Trump’s first term focused on social issues — like abortion and civil rights issues — many of the signs today targeted the economy.

A protest sign in Manhattan.
A protest sign at the Manhattan demonstration.Alice Tecotzky/Business Insider

Most of the people I spoke to didn’t want to share their last names because they worried about their privacy in the current political environment. Yet they weren’t shy about their rage and despair.

Dorothy Auer, 62, told me she wished people would get angrier.

“I’ve been working for over 40 years, and I looked at my investments yesterday — my retirement plan — and I literally don’t think I’ll ever be able to retire,” she said, starting to choke up.

Wiping her eyes with her free hand — the other held a black and white sign bashing Musk — Auer told me it’s distressing to see a man of such wealth “turn around and crap on us.”

Jian, 33, held a sign that read, “Tariffs are killing my 401(k),” but he told me he’s most upset about what’s happening to his retired father.

“My dad just lost about 25% of his savings in the last three days because of the tariffs,” he said.

It’s not just the economy, of course, that brought thousands of people out to Midtown Manhattan.

Penny, 54, said the Trump administration affected virtually every issue she cares about. Even so, we ended up talking about Musk.

“I’m horrified that a person who wasn’t born here, wasn’t elected, seems to be getting carte blanche to do whatever he wants in our government,” she said. “How did he get a security clearance?”

Most of those I talked to as they slowly trudged toward Madison Square Park didn’t think the protest would change Trump’s mind.

A few said they hoped Congress would pay attention, but more than that, people said they felt they needed to do something.

“Even if it’s sort of hopeless right now, at least it’s showing people that we’re here,” Pyare, 49, told me. “And that we don’t like it.”

Novi, Michigan

Another week, another protest.

On Saturday, I attended the Hands Off! rally in Novi, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit where 55% of the vote went to Kamala Harris during the election. Thousands of people showed up.

The crowd was emotionally charged and united by the spirit of collective action. Many attendees said they were first-time protesters. The Tesla Takedown protests I attended last weekend seemed somber by comparison. Protesters here got loud.

charcoal drawing of statue of liberty
The artist calls herself the “Old Lady Army Fighting for Democracy” or “OLAFFD.”Lakshmi Varanasi

“Call me Old Lady Army Fighting for Democracy,” one 66-year-old woman, who didn’t want to give her real name, told me. She held up a sign she had made. It was a charcoal drawing of the Statue of Liberty, whose hands covered her eyes in shame.

“I just copied this off of Facebook,” she said. But to her it symbolized that “everything that our country stands for is being destroyed, and the world is looking at us.”

Liana Gettel.
A pin that said “Keep your laws off my body” was of several Liana Gettel, 58, was wearing at the Hands Off! rally in Novi, Michigan.Lakshmi Varanasi

Liana Gettel, 58, said she was outraged for several reasons, including the administration’s stance on abortion. She said she had an abortion 29 years ago.

“I had lost a child. The child would not come out on its own. So I had to have a procedure. Had I not had that procedure, I wouldn’t be here,” she said. “And that’s what they want to block, is things like that?”

Protesters targeted many different issues, including abortion, trans, and minority rights. One protester holding up a sign for trans rights said, “Trans people are just the appetizer, but everyone will be on the menu now.”

The line echoed remarks made by human rights advocate Channyn Lynne Parker at the Rally for Trans Visibility in Chicago last weekend.

Trans right
Protesters at the Hands Off! rally fought for many causes, including trans rights.Lakshmi Varanasi

Unlike protests during Trump’s first term, which focused on social issues, however, many people today were also worried about the president’s economic policies.

Matt Watts said he was protesting Musk’s takeover of Social Security and Trump’s tariffs on “countries that don’t deserve it.” After the stock market began to take a hit from all the talk of tariffs, Watts said he took his money out of his 401(k) and invested it into a more stable fund. “I’m getting ready to retire pretty soon. I’ve got to count on that savings,” he said.

Most protesters were middle-aged or older, but they captured some younger activists with their energy.

Novi protestors
Yajat Verma, 18, and Patricia, 53.Lakshmi Varanasi

Yajat Verma, 18, said he hadn’t known about the protest but was driving by with a friend when he saw the crowd. He decided to join in and started handing out water bottles to protesters.

“Everyone should be protesting,” he said.

San Francisco
Protesters in front of city hall building
Thousands of protesters gathered at Civic Center Plaza near San Francisco City Hall.Lloyd Lee

Protesters crowding together near the San Francisco City Hall had much to be angry about.

On one end of the 150,000 square-foot Civic Center Plaza, a man’s voice boomed through the microphone about the dangers of fascism and how it was time for people to go “on the offensive.”

On the other end was Michelle Gutierrez Vo, president of the California Nurses Association, warning folks about Trump’s move to strip federal workers of their union rights.

With so many grievances against the current administration in the air, some protesters resorted to bullet-point lists of the issues on large signs.

Protesters holding a sign
Protesters hold signs listing several issues they have with the Trump administration.Lloyd Lee

That spoke to one of the concerns for Maria, a 67-year-old San Francisco resident who declined to provide her last name.

“My focus has been a lot about the environment,” Maria told BI, later adding, “There’s so much going on right now, but I know it’s important to try and stay focused on one thing and hope other people are focused on the other things.”

Maria’s friend chimed in, saying she was worried about her Social Security, which she said she had been paying into for six decades.

For Frida Ruiz, 18, a student at the University of San Francisco who held a sign that read “Billionaire Cucks,” Trump’s stance on immigration hits close to home as a daughter of Mexican immigrant parents.

For George Chikovani, a 42-year-old SF resident, who came to protest with his wife Lisa Isola, 40, and their three-year-old and 10-months-old children, his most personal issue was the Ukraine war.

“My grandmother is from Ukraine and then I grew up in Georgia, so that cause has felt very personal to me. I still have family and friends there,” Chikovani said.

At least 7,500 people gathered near city hall on Saturday afternoon, according to an officer with the San Francisco Police Department. 

Protesters in costume
Some protesters were in full-body costumes.Lloyd Lee

As my colleague observed in New York, older millennials and seniors made up large swaths of the crowd. Some came out in full costumes, sticking true to SF’s colorful character.

Maria, who is also a member of Third Act, a left-leaning political advocacy group focused on mobilizing senior voters, said she was encouraged by people who came out to protest but was “hoping to see more.”

“We need more younger people to come,” she said.

More in U.S.
USA TODAY: US military takes an abrupt turn after decades of climate change research

Trump, Elon Musk ‘Hands Off’ protest in Palm Beach Gardens

Palm Beach Daily News

Trump, Elon Musk ‘Hands Off’ protest in Palm Beach Gardens

Maya Washburn and Jennifer Sangalang – April 4, 2025

More than one thousand people lined the north and south side of PGA Boulevard near Kew Gardens Avenue with handmade signs as part of the national Hands Off! protests in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., on April 5, 2025.

PALM BEACH GARDENS – People are taking to the streets to make one message clear to President Donald Trump and Elon Musk: “Hands off!”

According to USA TODAY, there are more than 1,000 protests across the nation against Trump and Musk scheduled for Saturday, April 5, 2025. Three of those protests are in Palm Beach County, including one in Palm Beach Gardens.

Trump returned to Florida on Thursday, April 3, with trips to three of his golf courses (including one in Jupiter) high on his agenda for his weekend trip to the Sunshine State – the same weekend that the nationwide protests are planned against him. Some will happen just down the road from his private club, Mar-a-Lago.

Many of these Hands Off Mass Mobilization rallies have “Hands Off!” plus the name of the city and state and “fight back!” in their titles. They are happening just days after April 2, what Trump called “Liberation Day,” when he imposed sweeping tariffs affecting all U.S. trading partners and imports.

Trump in Jupiter: What is Trump doing in Jupiter this weekend? What we know

Where is the Trump, Musk protest in northern Palm Beach County? Intersection near Barnes & Noble

There will be a Hands Off rally in Palm Beach Gardens on April 5 from 10 a.m. to noon at Campus Drive and PGA Boulevard near Barnes & Noble and Palm Beach County Library.

According to the Hands Off Mass Mobilization website, handsoff2025.com, Florida will host 45 rallies − including at least one in Spanish − on Saturday, April 5, 2025, at various times and locations.

Where are Trump, Musk protests in Palm Beach County?

There are three Hands Off rallies this weekend in Palm Beach County:

  • Boca Raton, Florida: Hands Off! Boca Raton Indivisible Fights Back rally will be from 1 to 2:30 p.m. EDT Saturday, April 5, 2025, at City Hall, 201 W. Palmetto Park Road, Boca Raton, near the Boca Raton Museum of Art, Brightline Boca Raton Station and Ichiyami Buffet and Sushi.
  • Palm Beach Gardens, Florida: Hands Off! Palm Beach County Fights Back rally will be from 10 a.m. to noon EDT Saturday, April 5, 2025, at Campus Drive and PGA Boulevard in Palm Beach Gardens near Barnes & Noble and Palm Beach County Library.
  • West Palm Beach, Florida: Hands Off! Palm Beach Fights Back rally will be from 3 to 5 p.m. EDT Saturday, April 5, 2025, at Palm Beach County Courthouse, 205 N. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach, near Clematis Street, Elisabetta’s Ristorante and West Palm Beach GreenMarket.

Trump, Elon Musk protests: Florida has 45 in one day, including some near Mar-a-Lago

What is Hands Off?

Hands Off is the title, filter and group behind the “mass mobilization” nationwide rallies and protests aimed at Trump and Musk, SpaceX and Tesla CEO who is leading the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE for short.

Most of the Hands Off Fight Back rallies on Saturday, April 5, 2025, have this message online: “Donald Trump and Elon Musk think this country belongs to them. We are fighting back! They’re taking everything they can get their hands on — our health care, our data, our jobs, our services — and daring the world to stop them. This is a crisis, and the time to act is now. On Saturday, April 5th, we’re taking to the streets to fight back with a clear message: Hands off!

“This mass mobilization day is our message to the world that we do not consent to the destruction of our government and our economy for the benefit of Trump and his billionaire allies. Alongside Americans across the country, we are marching, rallying, and protesting to demand a stop the chaos and build an opposition movement against the looting of our country.

“A core principle behind all Hands Off! events is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values. Check out handsoff2025.com for more information.”

Why are people protesting Trump and Musk at Hands Off rallies?

Topics and signs will likely include:

Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, jobs, abortion, fair elections, personal data, public lands, veteran services, cancer research, NATO, consumer protections, clean air, clean energy, schools, libraries, free speech, LGBTQ+ rights, immigrants and courts, the rally site states.

The theme of the “fight back,” nonviolent, peaceful protest rallies are, “We must stop Trump and Musk’s illegal, billionaire power grab.”

Maya Washburn covers northern Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida-Network. 

Trump administration abruptly cuts Nevada food bank deliveries, funding

Nevada Current

Trump administration abruptly cuts Nevada food bank deliveries, funding

Jeniffer Solis – April 3, 2025

Food Bank of Northern Nevada distributes groceries through their Mobil Harvest program. (Photo Credit: Food Bank of Northern Nevada marketing and communications manager, Aramelle Wheeler.)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has halted the delivery of more than a million pounds of meat, eggs and dairy to food banks in Nevada ― even as many report that the need for food assistance has only increased.

Dozens of trucks filled with fresh food bound for Nevada’s food banks were pulled back last week then the USDA cancelled 40% of food deliveries ordered by the Nevada Department of Agriculture under the Emergency Food Assistance Program, funded by the federal Commodity Credit Corporation.

Three Square Food Bank ― which serves Clark, Lincoln, Esmeralda, and Nye counties ― was notified March 25 that about one million pounds of USDA food donations slated for the food bank had been canceled. Beth Martino, the CEO of Three Square Food Bank, said part of that delivery was funded through the Commodity Credit Corporation.

That same day, the Food Bank of Northern Nevada ― which serves about 160,000 Nevadans monthly across 12 counties ― was informed that 350,000 pounds of food they were expecting between April and August would be immediately canceled. 

According to the Nevada Department of Agriculture 35 trucks of fresh food scheduled for delivery to Nevada’s food banks were abruptly canceled by the USDA. The Food Bank of Northern Nevada was slated to receive 12 of those trucks. 

“This was additional food that we got through that program that, frankly, we need right now. The need is extraordinarily high at the food bank,” said Jocelyn Lantrip, the director of marketing and communications at the Food Bank of Northern Nevada. “We’re helping 160,000 people every single month, which is about 76% higher than it was before the pandemic.”

In October, the USDA announced $500 million in additional funding to support food banks through the Emergency Food Assistance Program. That funding has now been canceled as part of an ongoing campaign to slash the federal budget, leaving Nevada with less food to fill its emergency food pantries.

A spokesperson for the USDA said that while the Emergency Food Assistance Program “continues to operate uninterrupted with more than $166 million spent in recent months” the additional half-a-billion in funding for the program has been terminated.

Asked to explain the rationale for ending the funding, the USDA, in a statement, said the additional $500 million in Commodity Credit Corporation dollars were announced by the Biden administration “without any plans for long-term solutions.”

The USDA said that despite terminating the additional funding for food banks the agency “has not and will not lose focus on its core mission of strengthening food security, supporting agricultural markets, and ensuring access to nutritious foods.”

The USDA recently cut federal funding for two other food assistance programs in Nevada, including about $4 million in funding for the Home Feeds Nevada program which allowed food banks to buy directly from local producers.

Before the funding was frozen last week, the Food Bank of Northern Nevada received about two million pounds of food through Commodity Credit Corporation funding over the last 12 months. If the funding is not reinstated the food bank anticipates it will lose roughly the same amount of food donations next fiscal year.

“The situation has gotten worse for many families so as far as the food bank is concerned, we don’t think it’s a great time to cut funding for food programs, because we’re seeing more need than we’ve ever seen,” Lantrip said.

A cascade of challenges

The Commodity Credit Corporation funding offered more meat and dairy to food banks than other federal commodity programs. The high-protein staples that come directly from USDA funding aren’t easily replaced by donations or other sources, Lantrip said. 

“That’s what makes it so significant, because this type of food is harder to source. It’s more expensive,” Lantrip said. “Meat and protein items are always difficult for food banks to find, just because there’s less of that in the donation stream, and it’s more expensive to source if we’re purchasing.”

A diverse funding stream will allow the Food Bank of Northern Nevada to continue operating at its current capacity, but addressing wider USDA cuts to the food bank will be more difficult to overcome, said Lantrip.

“Replacing that food in the long term is the larger concern for us,” Lantrip said.

Other food pantry operators in Nevada said the cuts put yet another strain on nonprofits that are already trying to address high levels of need, leaving operators scrambling to quickly fill in gaps with their own funds, food purchases and donations.

The Community Food Pantry distributes groceries in Reno.<br>(Photo credit: Barbara Monroy, director of the Community Food Pantry)
The Community Food Pantry distributes groceries in Reno.
(Photo credit: Barbara Monroy, director of the Community Food Pantry)

The Community Food Pantry, which serves the Reno-Sparks area, said they would lose a third of their food deliveries due to the cuts. The food pantry has seen a 21% increase in the total number of clients visiting from the same time last year, an increase the extra dollars largely helped cover.

“The biggest drawback is that it brought in healthy foods. Potatoes, fresh veggies, and proteins ― whether it be milk or eggs or cheese,” said Barbara Monroy, the director of the Community Food Pantry.

“I’ve started to look around at other places where I could get food, because if the food bank doesn’t happen, I’ve got to find it somewhere else,” Monoy continued. “Right now we’re looking at applying for additional grants that aren’t government related, reaching out to donors, and trying to find other programs that might be able to fit the need.”

For the Community Food Pantry, the cut in USDA food donations adds to other financial issues brought on by inflation and higher operating costs for the nonprofit.

“Our car insurance went up 40% this year. It’s crazy that this is happening,” Monoy said.

Three Square Food Bank said the canceled shipments represent a small portion of the donations the food bank is expecting. Last year, Three Square distributed more than 41 million meals, the equivalent of more than 49 million pounds of food and grocery products.

But at a time when the cost of food and other basic needs continues to increase, and the threat that the increases could accelerate as a result of Donald Trump’s tariff policies, the loss of nutritional funding will be felt by low-income Nevadans. 

News of the canceled deliveries also comes as Congress seems poised to further cut other safety-net programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which gives low-income Americans money to buy food. The prospect of such additional cuts  only intensifies the need for nutrition assistance programs, Monoy said.

“The need hasn’t gone away since COVID, by any means,” Monoy said. “Just this last weekend we talked to several people in line and their SNAP benefits are $23 a month. I know another woman who gets $17 a month. That just doesn’t seem to be enough to help people when a dozen eggs is $11.”

Prices for all food are predicted to increase 3.2% this year, according to data from the USDA, and grocery store purchases are now 1.9% higher than this time in 2024. The overall annual inflation rate for 2024 was 2.9%.

Nevada’s workforce has also been slower to recover from the financial impact of the pandemic. Nevada currently has the highest unemployment rate in the nation at 5.8%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

“Everybody’s feeling the pinch,” Monoy said. “It’s just the high cost of everything that’s forcing people into the pantry line.”

Editor note: This article was updated to clarify that $4 million in funding for Home Feeds Nevada was cut from the Nevada Department of Agriculture.

Trump weighs in on House special election races in Florida as GOP fights to keep majority

ABC News

Trump weighs in on House special election races in Florida as GOP fights to keep majority

Oren Oppenheim – March 28, 2025

In a pair of back-to-back rallies held over the phone on Thursday night, President Donald Trump praised the two Republican candidates in the upcoming special elections for Florida’s 6th and 1st Congressional districts, amid recent concerns among Republicans over whether their candidate in the 6th Congressional District, State Sen. Randy Fine, can keep the seat in Republican hands.

Fine has lagged behind his Democratic opponent, Josh Weil, in fundraising, and Republicans have expressed concerns about his campaign, although many still believe he will be able to hold the seat in the ruby-red district.

The special election in Florida’s 6th Congressional District, which is on the state’s eastern coast and includes the city of Daytona Beach, is being held on Tuesday, April 1, to fill the vacancy created by former Rep. Mike Waltz when he resigned to become Trump’s national security adviser.

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PHOTO: President Donald Trump speaks to the media in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, March 26, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)
PHOTO: President Donald Trump speaks to the media in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, March 26, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

The tele-rallies also came amid broader concerns among Republicans about maintaining their razor-thin majority in the U.S. House, and on the same day that Trump asked Rep. Elise Stefanik to withdraw her nomination to be United Nations ambassador, citing “a very tight Majority” in the U.S. House.

House Republicans currently hold a narrow majority with 218 Republicans to 213 Democrats. Speaker Mike Johnson has a two-vote cushion for his majority.

Fine, at the start of the telephone rally for him, emphatically praised Trump and said he would serve in Congress as one of the president’s strongest allies.

PHOTO: Florida State Rep. Randy Fine, answers a question about his House Bill 3-C: Independent Special Districts in the House of Representatives, April 20, 2022, at the Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. (Phil Sears/AP, Files)
PHOTO: Florida State Rep. Randy Fine, answers a question about his House Bill 3-C: Independent Special Districts in the House of Representatives, April 20, 2022, at the Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. (Phil Sears/AP, Files)More

“Mr. President, I’m immensely grateful for your unwavering support, trust and confidence in me. I believe that God saved your life in Butler, Pennsylvania, so that you could save the world,” Fine said, referencing the July assassination attempt Trump survived. “And it will be one of the most profound honors of my life to be one of your foot soldiers as you make America great again.”

Trump praised Fine’s early endorsement of him during the 2024 election cycle, adding, “that’s why Randy will always have a very open door to the Oval Office. He will be there whenever I need him, and he wants to be there whenever we need him. He wants to be there for you.”

MORE: Republicans raise concerns about Florida special election as candidates vie to replace Mike Waltz

“I’ve gotten to know him under pressure situations, and he can react well under pressure. So go vote for Randy,” Trump said later.

Fine reiterated he would work to carry out Trump’s agenda in Congress.

“It’s not overstating things to say that your agenda is at stake in this election, and this district can’t let you down. Your agenda is on the ballot on April 1,” he said.

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During the earlier telephone rally supporting the Republican candidate in the 1st Congressional District, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, Trump praised Patronis’ work in Florida and framed the special election as important for his own agenda.

That special election, which will determine who takes the seat vacated by now-former Rep. Matt Gaetz, has gotten less concern from Republicans.

PHOTO: Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis speaks during a meeting between Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state cabinet at the Florida capitol in Tallahassee, Fla., Mar. 5, 2025. (Rebecca Blackwell/AP, Files)
PHOTO: Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis speaks during a meeting between Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state cabinet at the Florida capitol in Tallahassee, Fla., Mar. 5, 2025. (Rebecca Blackwell/AP, Files)More

“The 1st Congressional District is special, and I won it by a lot, and Jimmy is going to win it by a lot. And remember, you’re five days away from this all important special election taking place in your district on Tuesday, April 1, so April Fool’s Day. So it’s going to be the fool for the Democrat candidate, who happens to be terrible,” Trump said of Patronis’ Democratic opponent Gay Valimont, a gun violence prevention activist.

Praising Patronis, Trump said, “Jimmy’s done an outstanding job as the chief financial officer of the state of Florida, helping to guide your state to tremendous economic success. And now he wants to keep on fighting for Florida in Congress.”

Elon Musk has a dodgy plan to gut Social Security and please billionaires

USA Today

Elon Musk has a dodgy plan to gut Social Security and please billionaires | Opinion

EJ Montini, Arizona Republic – March 27, 2025

America’s co-president Elon Musk has referred to Social Security as “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.”

The leader of the Department of Government Efficiency told Fox Business, “Most of the federal spending is entitlements. That’s the big one to eliminate.”

Musk and his helper Donald Trump want to gut the system. After all, billionaires have no need for Social Security.

However, they know that if they tried a direct approach and simply slashed Social Security benefits, even their most ardent sycophants in Congress would balk, knowing they’d be booted from office in the next election.

DOGE cuts make it tough to access Social Security benefits
White House Senior Advisor, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk attends a cabinet meeting held by U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on March 24, 2025 in Washington, DC.
White House Senior Advisor, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk attends a cabinet meeting held by U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on March 24, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Instead of drastically cutting benefits, the plan seemingly is to make it more and more difficult for people who have earned those benefits to get them.Advertisement

That’s why Musk and his DOGE bros want to cut thousands of jobs from Social Security’s workforce, close regional offices and limit phone service by “requiring recipients to show up in person to verify certain changes to their accounts,” according to The Washington Post.

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As a result, The Post reported, “the Social Security Administration website crashed four times in 10 days this month because the servers were overloaded, blocking millions of retirees and disabled Americans from logging in to their online accounts.”

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., succinctly outlined the plot to gut Social Security at a hearing in Washington, D.C.

Not just retirees rely on Social Security

She said, “DOGE is considering slashing up to 50% of the Social Security Administration’s workforce. That means longer lines, more errors, and for everyone who gives up or who dies before they get their benefits sorted out, those delays and errors also turn into benefit cuts.”

Warren added, “The law is to deliver the benefits that people are legally entitled to. If you don’t have the staff. If you don’t answer the phones. If you don’t fix the mistakes. People don’t get what they’re legally entitled to.”

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The list of people who will be most at risk includes retirees, of course. But also individuals with disabilities, patients in hospitals, people who live in remote areas, even children, many living in foster homes.

It goes on.

Long lines, confusion and delay hurt us all

Already, legitimate Social Security recipients are feeling it. Very long wait times for callers. Confusion. Uncertainty.Advertisement

Delays in receiving Social Security benefits can be catastrophic for some recipients. Many people rely on the money to help take care of their most basic needs.

A survey published in January found that, without their benefits, 42% of Americans 65 and older reported, “I would not be able to afford the basics, such as food, clothing, or housing.”

Former Social Security Administration Commissioner Martin O’Malley said recently at a briefing, “I can tell you that democracy is waking up to this very, very real threat that they are coming for Social Security.”

Coming?

I believe they’re already here.

More in Politics
HuffPost: Critics Bring Receipts After Musk Claims They ‘Can’t Point To Any’ Controversial DOGE Cuts
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DOGE and Musk’s USAID shutdown probably violated the U.S. Constitution

Mashable

DOGE and Musk’s USAID shutdown probably violated the U.S. Constitution

Mashable – March 19, 2025

A message appears on the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) website on February 5, 2025 in San Anselmo, California.
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what’s in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.Generate Key Takeaways

A U.S. federal judge has ruled that the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) likely violated the Constitution “in multiple ways.” While this doesn’t mean USAID is back up and running, the order does put a temporary halt to DOGE head Elon Musk‘s plans to scrap the agency.

SEE ALSO: Elon Musk killing USAID would hurt America’s future. Here’s why.

In an 68-page opinion filed in the Maryland District Court on Tuesday, judge Theodore Chuang granted a preliminary injunction preventing DOGE from further dismantling USAID. A vital foreign aid organisation, USAID offered humanitarian assistance to other countries on behalf of the U.S. government, including disaster and poverty relief. Unfortunately, billionaire Musk apparently considered such spending wasteful, shutting down USAID, reportedly reducing a workforce of over 10,000 to 611, and abruptly cutting off billions in foreign aid shortly after President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

The temporary injunction doesn’t restore USAID to what it was prior to DOGE’s intervention. However, it does mean that DOGE cannot fire any more USAID employees, end its contracts or grants, or shut down its offices and IT systems. The court further ordered DOGE to reinstate all current USAID employees’ access to their email, payments, security, and other electronic systems, as well as restore deleted emails.

Why was DOGE shutting down USAID potentially unconstitutional?
Supporters of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAid) rally on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol on February 05, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Supporters of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAid) rally on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol on February 05, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Credit: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

The case was brought by 26 USAID employees and contractors, some of whom the court noted had been stranded overseas without vital security software or funds for basic living expenses when DOGE shut down USAID’s systems. In his ruling, Chuang agreed with the plaintiffs’ assessment that Musk and DOGE violated the U.S. Constitution on more than one occasion, finding that their case was likely to succeed.

Specifically, the plaintiffs alleged that the Constitution’s Appointments Clause was breached because Musk operated as an Officer of the United States without being appointed as such.  The defense refuted this, claiming that Musk was merely acting in an advisory capacity, and wasn’t the one actually calling the shots. Chuang found this unconvincing.

“To deny [this claim] solely on the basis that, on paper, Musk has no formal legal authority relating to the decisions at issue, even if he is actually exercising significant authority on governmental matters, would open the door to an end-run about the Appointments Clause,” wrote Chuang.

“Musk’s public statements and posts on X, in which he has stated on multiple occasions that DOGE will take action, and such action occurred shortly thereafter, demonstrate that he has firm control over DOGE…. [T]he present record supports the conclusion that Musk, without having been duly appointed as an Officer of the United States, exercised significant authority reserved for an Officer…”

The plaintiffs further argued that Musk and DOGE breached the separation of powers because USAID is a federal agency that can only be created or abolished by Congress. As such, DOGE’s shutdown of USAID allegedly exceeded the authority of the executive branch to encroach upon the legislative branch. Chuang also considered this argument strong.

“Congress has made clear through statute its express will that USAID be an independent agency, and that it not be abolished or substantially reorganized without congressional approval,” said Chuang. “[Musk and DOGE’s] present actions to dismantle USAID violate the Separation of Powers because they contravene congressional authority relating to the establishment of an agency.”

Predictably, Musk quickly took to X to decry the ruling, questioning Chuang’s integrity as well as sharing and agreeing with posts claiming a “judicial coup.” He did not specifically address any of the legal and factual issues raised in the case.

The White House has also alleged a political motivation for the judgement, confirming that it will appeal the decision. Appearing to employ a “no you” approach to the situation, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly bizarrely accused Chuang of breaching the separation of powers himself, claiming that “rogue judges are subverting the will of the American people in their attempts to stop President Trump from carrying out his agenda.” Under U.S. law, the judiciary has the power to assess the constitutional validity of federal laws as well as the actions of the executive branch.