On the anniversary of President Donald Trump’s second term inauguration, here are five ways he has dismantled the deep state in Washington. 1. Reinstating ‘Schedule F’ On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order to reinstate Schedule F, which makes it easier for the president to fire bureaucrats. This reclassified about 50,000 career civil servants in “policy-influencing” roles as at-will employees. The executive order said that accountability was lacking in the federal bureaucracy. “In recent years, however, there have been numerous and well-documented cases of career Federal employees resisting and undermining the policies and directives of their executive leadership,” the order said.  “Principles of good administration, therefore, necessitate action to restore accountability to the career civil service, beginning with positions of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character.” 2. DOGE The Department of Government Efficiency reportedly reduced federal employment by about 271,000 jobs. DOGE also provided a list of 9,474 contracts and vehicles that have been terminated by the department. In the spirit of DOGE, the Trump administration cut off the funding streams for immigration groups that moved illegal aliens across the country. The Environmental Protection Agency clawed back extravagant grants to climate alarmist groups. The State Department shuttered the U.S. Agency for International Development. Congress finally cut off funding for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service. 3. Shutdown Cuts During the recent government shutdown, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought cut $8 billion of blue state energy projects. “Nearly $8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda is being cancelled,” Vought said. In addition, the Department of Transportation sent letters to the Chicago Transit Authority informing it that two projects receiving a total of $2.1 billion in federal funding were under administrative review, for race and sex-based contracting practices that potentially violated the Constitution. 4. Investigating ‘Deep State’ Abuses In July, a CIA report found that John Brennan, the agency’s director in the Obama administration, overrode internal concerns to claim that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. The agency’s current director John Ratcliffe ordered the review. It found that evidence used by Brennan to show that Russian President Vladimir Putin was aiding Trump in the 2016 election was rushed, restricted in its access, and disseminated too widely for a highly classified report.  “Central to the judgment that Putin ‘aspired’ to help Trump win was one highly classified CIA report,” the report said. “Brennan had tightly restricted access to this information within CIA; it had been collected in July but not disseminated in CIA serialized reporting until the week of 19 December.” The review notes that “media leaks” indicated intelligence agencies “had already reached definitive conclusions risked creating an anchoring bias” before “work on the assessment even began.” The post Four Ways Trump Has Dismantled the ‘Deep State’ Since Inauguration appeared first on The Daily Signal.

California’s biggest union is once again up to no good. Dissatisfied with the piles of cash they’ve already stolen from California high-earning taxpayers, who are subject to a 14.4% income tax rate (the nation’s highest), double digit sales taxes, and the second-highest tax burden in the country, the SEIU is now clamoring for a “one-time” 5% tax on the net worth of “billionaires” to fund health care for illegal immigrants.  Yes, you read that right. Tax the rich even more to pay for ballooning costs of failing, state-run health care. The initiative that voters will likely decide upon in November is the pinnacle of progressive envy. It’s not enough that the top 1% of taxpayers already fund half of the state budget. They’re greedy for more, and the initiative’s new authority to tax net worth is a harbinger of unprecedented government intrusion into our lives. We can first look to the retroactivity clause, which ensures that any taxpayer who did not have the foresight to flee the state by Jan. 1, 2026, will be subject to the tax if voters approve it in November. Progressives are well aware of the millions of people, trillions of dollars, and multiple congressional districts that have already left California for the freer shores of Florida, Texas, Tennessee, and other zero-income tax states. This time around, the victims of their tax hikes won’t have the chance to vote with their feet. The initiative also singles out the most successful entrepreneurs who built their companies from nothing into unimaginable success. For many founders, the tax could be well over 5%. Take Larry Page of Google. He and his co-founder, Sergey Brin, own 11.3% of the parent company, Alphabet. But these shares are not publicly tradable; they are “supervoting” shares that give the founders 52.3% of voting rights on the board.  Under the initiative’s language, it is highly likely they would be taxed on 52.3% of the value of Alphabet ($4 trillion), leaving them with a $200 billion tax bill. That’s nearly half of their net worth, not 5%. Page and Brin would likely have no choice but to convert their supervoting shares to typical Class A, publicly traded stocks just to afford their tax bill, and in doing so relinquish control of the company they single-handedly built, hungry and penniless, in a rented garage. This is the result of deep philosophical corrosion that has infected Sacramento and the Democratic party for decades. The progressives behind this initiative genuinely hate the rich, not for being rich, but for their achievements—for their productivity, for their independence, for building productive companies that change the world for the better—despite the enormous personal and social benefit of products like Instagram or ChatGPT, or the millions of employees whose jobs wouldn’t exist without the single-minded determination of successful founders. But even as Silicon Valley entrepreneurs at the forefront of the AI revolution suffer immediately, the ultimate consequences of this initiative will be felt by the middle class. For the first time in the history of the world, a government entity could gain the authority to peer behind the veil into your net worth—to audit the total value of every asset you own, every bit of your personal property, tangible and intangible, realized and unrealized. Every couch, car, appliance, home, pet, piece of art and renovated bathroom. The dangers of granting such omniscience and power to the tax collector cannot be understated. The United States could force billionaires to liquidate every asset they have, force them into homelessness, and give every penny to the government, and they still couldn’t fund the federal government for more than a single year. The real money—$170 trillion of it—is locked up in the middle class. Once the billionaires are penniless, who do you think the czars of the welfare state will go after next? Be forewarned: the progressive Left is targeting the billionaires—first. Then they’ll come for you. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post California’s ‘Billionaire Tax’ is a Trojan Horse appeared first on The Daily Signal.

THE CENTER SQUARE—The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Tuesday in a case over whether states can prevent concealed carry holders on private property that is open to the public. Wolford v. Lopez challenges a Hawaii law that prevents concealed carry permit holders from bringing handguns to beaches, bars, restaurants that serve alcohol and gas stations without the owners permission. The Hawaii law stems from the Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, where justices struck down a New York law requiring concealed carry holders to display the need to defend themselves. “The Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect an individual’s right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the court’s 2022 decision. Thomas further elaborated that gun restrictions should only be upheld if they are consistent with the “historical tradition” of the United States. In 2023, Hawaii implemented a law making it a misdemeanor for concealed carry holders to bring a gun on private property. The misdemeanor carries a sentence of up to a year in prison. Hawaii residents with concealed-carry permits challenged the state’s law. The residents, alongside a gun-rights group, argued that the government has no imperative to prohibit citizens from carrying concealed weapons in public spaces. “There is no comparable historical—or even modern-day—tradition of allowing the government to create a no-carry default rule for private property open to the public,” lawyers for the residents wrote to the Supreme Court. Lawyers for the gun-rights group also pointed to the disproportionate effect Hawaii’s law will have on rural areas with parks and beaches. “These bans are applicable to hundreds of thousands of acres of public land throughout Hawaii, even though the State allows hunting with firearms in many areas of these parks and forests,” lawyers wrote in a petition to the court. In a brief to the Supreme Court, Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez said the state instituted its law to protect citizens from hosting armed individuals on private property. Lopez points to a longstanding history of limiting the right of Hawaiian citizens to carry weapons in public spaces. “Property owners in Hawai’i could assume that—unless they made express arrangements to the contrary—firearms would not be carried onto their property, even if it was open to the public,” Lopez wrote in a brief to the nation’s highest court. Lawyers for Hawaii also argue that the Second Amendment, at the time of the nation’s founding, did not include the right to enter private property with a weapon. “The Founders recognized a property owner’s right to exclude,” the lawyers wrote. “Accordingly, at the Founding, a person had no right to enter private property with a gun unless he had the owner’s express consent or an implied license based on local law or custom.” In lower court litigation, Hawaii pointed to a 1771 New Jersey law and an 1865 Louisiana law that explicitly required consent before entering a private property of any kind with a gun. Lower courts upheld Hawaii’s arguments on the basis of these laws. “The overall purpose of all the laws was plainly to protect a property owner’s right to exclude firearms,” lawyers for Hawaii wrote. “Variation in the specific reasons why owners might wish to preclude guns—from preventing unwanted hunting to promoting safety, comfort or self-defense—does not undermine the basic fact that laws that vindicate the fundamental right to exclude are well within the tradition of American firearm regulation.” Lawyers for the concealed-carry holders argued Hawaii relied on faulty evidence to assert other laws were similar to the state’s ban. They argued certain public spaces, like beaches and public parks, would not be considered in the original bans, which fundamentally alters the state’s argument. “Under that approach, ‘the original understanding of the Second Amendment,’” the lawyers wrote, referencing a lower court judge’s opinion, “‘Would not apply to any new types of public spaces that would develop in the future.’” Gun rights and gun control advocates will be watching as the justices hear arguments in one of the court’s most consequential Second Amendment cases of the year, with a decision expected by July. Originally published by The Center Square. The post US Supreme Court to Hear Second Amendment Case Tuesday appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The Democrat Left wants Americans to believe that excessively armed ICE agents in Minneapolis and elsewhere are kidnapping law-abiding immigrants en route to church or heading home from work. New Jersey congressional candidate Analilia Mejia moaned that “grandmothers and gardeners are being targeted by federal enforcement agencies with no accountability.” Attorney General Keith Ellison, D-Minn., called the people his ilk are shielding, “the most vulnerable neighbors in our community.” “They haven’t been able to produce any evidence that they are finding people who are undocumented who have committed crimes,” Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., told MS NOW’s evening anchor Chris Hayes. “It is unleashing complete terror on the residents of Minnesota.” A fresh serving of facts swiftly refuted these Leftist lies. Fox News’ intrepid, industrious Bill Melugin secured details from ICE on just 19 of its recent arrestees in Minnesota. These are not merely people of color “who want better lives,” as the cliche goes. (So what? Who doesn’t want a better life?) “It’s the most disturbing list I’ve ever seen,” Melugin wrote via X, “including numerous convicted child rapists/sodomizers & ten convicted killers, most with deportation orders going back many years.”  Let’s meet a dozen of these “vulnerable neighbors.” Hernan Cortes-Valencia: This Mexican illegal alien was convicted (Not accused. Not indicted. Convicted) of four DUIs, sexually assaulting a child, and carnal abuse. He was in America despite receiving a deportation order on December 1, 2016. Ge Yang: This Laotian illegal alien was convicted of strongarm rape (coercive sex via brute force, but no weapon), strongarm aggravated assault against a family member, aggravated assault with a weapon, and domestic violence involving strangulation. Deportation order: October 16, 2012. Sriudorn Phaivan: This Laotian illegal alien ran a one-stop shop for crime. He was convicted of strongarm sodomy of a boy, strongarm sodomy of a girl, nine counts of larceny, unauthorized use of a vehicle, four counts of fraud, vehicle theft, two counts of drug possession, obstructing justice, receiving stolen property, possessing stolen property, burglary, and check forgery. Deportation order: March 8, 2018. Tou Vang: This Laotian illegal alien was convicted of sexual assault, sodomy of a girl under age 13, and procuring a child for prostitution. Deportation order: October 31, 2006. Kou Lor: This Laotian illegal alien was convicted of sexual assault, rape, statutory rape, rape with a weapon, and shoplifting. Deportation order: August 16, 1996—nearly 30 years ago! These rodents don’t just rape. They kill, too. Aler Gomez Lucas: This Guatemalan illegal alien was convicted of DUI and negligent homicide with a vehicle. Deportation order: May 24, 2022. Abdirashid Adosh Elmi: This Somali illegal alien was convicted of homicide. Galuak Michael Rotgai: This Sudanese illegal alien was convicted of assault and homicide. Aldrin Guerrero Munoz: This Mexican illegal alien was convicted of assault and homicide. Deportation order: December 17, 2015. Gabriel Figueroa Gama: This Mexican illegal alien was convicted of amphetamine possession, battery, assault, and homicide. He was deported in 2002, eventually re-invaded America, and subsequently perpetrated these crimes. Mariama Sia Kanu: This illegal alien from Sierra Leone was convicted of burglary, three counts of larceny, four DUIs, and two counts of homicide. Deportation order: July 5, 2022. Gilberto Salguero Landaverde: This Salvadoran illegal alien was convicted of three counts of homicide. Deportation order: June 25, 2025. “ICE says all of these criminal aliens were roaming freely in the sanctuary state of Minnesota prior to arrest,” Melugin reported, “and that these are the type of people that politicians and activists are referring to as their ‘neighbors’ as they attempt to interfere with ICE.” From gas-pedal-stomping Minneapolis moms to cherry-bomb-hurling ANTIFA rioters, ICE’s enemies are making life look like Easy Street for these scumbags. Thankfully, ICE remains undeterred. Its director, Todd M. Lyons, promised: “Regardless of staged political theatrics, ICE is going to continue to arrest the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens in Minnesota and elsewhere.”  We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.  The post Dem/Left Shields Worst of Worst Illegal-Alien Rapists, Killers appeared first on The Daily Signal.

On Thursday night, the U.S. House of Representatives passed its National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act 2026. The bill provides the foreign aid industry $50 billion in taxpayer funding, $20 billion over the president’s budget request. The foreign aid industry praised it “as a long-awaited break for a beleaguered development community.” Heritage Action criticized the aid bill for “falling short of responding to American outrage over systemic waste, fraud, and abuse,” and “throws a lifeline to a corrupt, leftwing foreign aid establishment … that keeps open the door for the return of the progressive multi-billion-dollar aid industry” after President Donald Trump leaves office. On day one in office, Trump froze all foreign aid funding, denouncing the aid industry as “run by radical lunatics.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused the U.S. Agency for International Development of “rank insubordination.” Congressional hearings exposed the ideological rot in our aid programs from “funding transgenderism in Muslim Bangladesh, atheism in Hindu India, illegal abortions in traditional Mozambique and distributing condoms in Taliban-run Afghanistan.” Last September, a government report stated that 60% of the $10 billion per year global health funding was spent on “various forms of overhead” incurred by U.N. agencies, international NGOs and for-profit contractors. Last month, the State Department ceased funding humanitarian aid to Afghanistan and Yemen where billions in taxpayer money have been diverted to terrorists. The administration dismantled USAID, dismissed thousands of aid officials, defunded billions in woke programs, and reset foreign aid as a tool of national security in line with American values. Foreign aid has been transformed from a global platform to promote progressive radicalism to generating global wealth by promoting America’s economic interests. The strategy of the decimated foreign aid industry is to financially survive these next three years until Trump leaves office, expect a progressive to replace him as president, and reboot foreign aid spending to levels of the Biden administration. Meanwhile, a powerful coalition of aid lobbyists, spearheaded by millions of dollars from Bill Gates, have been actively working to falsely equate aid cuts with “millions of deaths.”   It worked. The bill overfunds the administration by $20 billion. Whereas the State Department wants to cut the global health budget by half (the US taxpayer has provided over $200 billion of health-related aid since 2001, double any other donor), this bill makes a cut of only 6%. Worse, the bill fully funds the left-wing National Endowment for Democracy whose board is openly anti-Trump. In comparison, the bill provides only $40 million for persecuted religious minorities despite the president taking military action against terrorists killing Nigerians Christians and although global persecution of Christians is at an all-time high. Conservatives in Congress were stunned by the bill’s massive funding of the National Endowment for Democracy. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, decried the organization for supporting “leftwing, anti-American NGOs.” A 2024 Heritage report details how the endowment became captured by anti-conservative progressives to attack conservatives at home and abroad with board members interfering in U.S. elections, denouncing Trump as “Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini.” H.R. 3625, introduced by Eli Crane, R-Ariz., and which sought to prohibit new funding to the National Endowment for Democracy, lost but did win a majority of House Republican votes, a reputational stain on the organization.   The bill also includes a $100 million payment per year for ten years for a new similar foundation for international conservation to co-finance the leftwing global conservation industry, such as the World Wildlife Fund and Bezos Earth Fund. With congressional elections set for next year and the prospect of progressives retaking power, this bill provides the bridge financing the aid industry hoped for. If so, post-Trump America will again face the prospect of billions of its tax dollars funding radicalism at home and abroad. Congress still has another shot to align this harmful foreign aid appropriations with the administration’s reforms as the U.S. Senate considers it later this month. Don’t count on it though. The post Foreign Aid Bill: Bridge Financing for the Radical Left? appeared first on The Daily Signal.