Marco Rubio Announces Stunning Extent of USAID Purge

Marco Rubio has put the final nail into the USAID coffin.

“After a 6 week review we are officially cancelling 83% of the programs at USAID,” Trump’s secretary of state wrote on X early Monday morning. “The 5200 contracts that are now cancelled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States.

“In consultation with Congress, we intend for the remaining 18% of programs we are keeping (approximately 1000) to now be administered more effectively under the State Department,” Rubio continued. “Thank you to DOGE and our hardworking staff who worked very long hours to achieve this overdue and historic reform.

“Tough, but necessary. Good working with you,” purger-in-chief Elon Musk commented under Rubio’s post. “The important parts of USAID should always have been with Dept of State.”

In reality, this isn’t about efficiency or savings—these are ideologically motivated cuts that will have devastating, deadly impacts throughout the world. Last week, Nicholas Elrich, a recently fired USAID official, noted that the cuts will lead to “12.5–17.9 million cases of malaria with an additional 71,000–166,000 deaths annually,” “a 28 to 32 percent increase in tuberculosis globally,” “an additional 200,000 paralytic polio cases a year,” and in a potential worst-case scenario, over “28,000 cases of Ebola, Marburg, or related diseases.” His sentiments were echoed across the political landscape.

“USAID’s own internal projections suggest hundreds of thousands of kids will die from malaria or malnutrition, or be disabled by polio as a result of this,” Medhi Hasan wrote on X. “Shame on Rubio and Trump. Cruel and catastrophic beyond belief.”

“Huge mistake. We needed reform of USAID not dismantlement,” wrote Stanford professor Michael McFaul. “China is not ending is foreign assistance programs. In an age of great power competition, the Trump administration is unilaterally destroying one of our best instruments of soft power influence.”

“You sad, shitty human,” said Lincoln Project founder Rick Wilson. “You know the damage to America this will do in the world, but can’t resist the lure of power and Trump’s approval.”

The Trump administration detained a pro-Palestine activist Saturday night in a chilling assault on free speech.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a leader in the Columbia University protest movement, despite his being a green card holder. Initially, they told his lawyer, Amy Greer, that his student visa was being revoked, even though he didn’t have one. When ICE agents were informed over the phone by Greer that Khalil has a green card, they reportedly hung up the phone on her.

“On March 9, 2025, in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism, and in coordination with the Department of State, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student. Khalil led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization,” a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted about Khalil’s arrest on X Sunday, adding, “We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”

It was unknown where Khalil was being held for days, but on Monday, the ICE locator finally showed him in the LaSalle Detention Facility in Louisiana. His wife is eight months pregnant and a U.S. citizen.

“ICE’s arrest and detention of Mahmoud follows the U.S. government’s open repression of student activism and political speech, specifically targeting students at Columbia University for criticism of Israel’s assault on Gaza,” Greer said. “The U.S. government has made clear that they will use immigration enforcement as a tool to suppress that speech.”

On Friday, the Trump administration announced that it was canceling $400 million in federal grants to Columbia over its “continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students,” a pointed reference to its pro-Palestine protest movement. Last week, Trump himself posted on Truth Social, “Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests,” threatening to deport foreign students who take part in such protests.

Khalil’s detention appears both to follow up Trump’s threat against pro-Palestine protesters and to continue to make an example out of Columbia University, despite the institution’s crackdown on student activists. Legal challenges to this assault on the First Amendment are surely coming, but it remains to be seen if the legal system will reinforce the right to free speech or strengthen the Trump administration’s draconian efforts.

Trump is soft-launching a recession. 

The president has now twice refused to rule out a recession in the wake of his own policies, including reckless tariff wars and massive cuts to the federal government. 

“Look I know that you inherited a mess,” Fox’s Maria Bartiromo asked him on Sunday Morning Futures. “But are you expecting a recession this year?”

“I hate to predict things like that. There is a period of transition, because what we’re doing is very big. We’re bringing wealth back to America, that’s a big thing. And there are always periods of.… It takes a little time, it takes a little time. But I think it should be great for us,” Trump responded, completely avoiding the question.

“A lot of people said ‘Oh, this is the business president,’” Bartiromo continued. “And now we have tariffs and the market has been going down.”

“Well not much, in all fairness.”

“You said ‘Look, we’re gonna have disruption but we’re OK with that.’ Is that what you meant; the stock market going down was the disruption?” 

“Look what I have to do is build a strong country. You can’t really watch the stock market.… What we’re doing is we’re building a tremendous foundation for the future.”

Bartiromo pressed even further. “The public companies wanna make sure that we have clarity. After April 2, when those reciprocal tariffs go in, is that it? Are you gonna change anything after that? Will we have clarity?”

“You’ll have a lot. But we may go up with some tariffs, it depends. We may go up, I don’t think we’ll go down, but we may go up. They have plenty of clarity.… They always say that,” Trump said.  

Trump continued this economic dismissiveness later that same day. 

“Are you worried about a recession?” a reporter asked him on Air Force One Sunday evening. “Maria Bartiromo asked you, and you kind of hesitated.”

The president shrugged. “I’ll tell you what, of course you hesitate. All I know is this: We’re gonna take in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs and we’re gonna become so rich you’re not gonna know where to spend all that money, I’m telling you, you just watch! We’re gonna have jobs, we’re gonna have factories, it’s gonna be great.” 

The businesses and farmers Trump claims to be doing this for might not survive the incoming recession that these tariffs—10 percent on China for now, with tariffs on Canada and Mexico to be determined later—will surely bring. It’s obvious now that Trump couldn’t care less about the American people’s economic suffering as long as it serves his spiteful political goals of sticking it to our allies and kneecapping the federal government.

While speaking to the press in the Oval Office Friday, Donald Trump got upset when a reporter asked him about “clashes” between Elon Musk and members of his Cabinet, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during a Thursday meeting.  

“No clash, I was there. You’re just a troublemaker, and you’re not supposed to be asking that question because we’re talking about the World Cup,” Trump replied, referring to an executive he had just signed to prepare for the 2026 games. “Elon gets along great with Marco, and they’re both doing a fantastic job. There is no clash.” 

When the reporter tried to follow up, Trump asked him, “Who are you with?” The reporter replied, “NBC,” to which Trump said, “No wonder. That’s enough. NBC.”  

In the Cabinet meeting, Musk had reportedly complained that Rubio hadn’t fired anyone from the State Department, despite recommendations from Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, according to The New York Times. Rubio fired back at Musk, noting that 1,500 officials had taken the government’s deferred resignation “buyout” program. Trump finally stepped in to defend Rubio, saying he was doing a “great job.”

Musk also reportedly argued with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy over the purge of federal workers, with Duffy complaining that Musk tried to fire air traffic controllers. Musk accused Duffy of lying, and the two argued, with Musk claiming that air traffic control towers were staffed with so-called DEI hires. The Times reported that Trump ended the argument by saying that Duffy should hire air traffic controllers who were “geniuses” from MIT.

Trump has long had a contentious relationship with the press, and in his second term, has sought to take action against media outlets he doesn’t like, taking over control of the press pool that covers the White House from the White House Correspondents’ Association and shutting out the Associated Press for not adopting his name change of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Who knows if he’ll now punish NBC for simply asking questions.

Republicans have censured Representative Al Green and petitioned to strip him of his committee assignments for interrupting Donald Trump’s speech to Congress. But by Friday, Representative Lauren Boebert had decided to sling some mud on the situation for good measure.

“For him to go and shake his pimp cane at President Trump was absolutely abhorrent,” Boebert, who was caught on surveillance footage fondling her date during a showing of Beetlejuice in 2023, told Real America’s Voice.

Boebert was referring to the 77-year-old Texas Democrat’s walking cane.

When Trump claimed during his Tuesday night speech that he had been given a “mandate” by the American people to radically reimagine the federal government, Green interrupted the president by yelling, “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid!”

That got Green ousted by House Speaker Mike Johnson, who called on the sergeant of arms to remove the 77-year-old from the chamber against a backdrop of jeers from Republicans.

“I did it from my heart, and I will suffer whatever the consequences are,” Green told reporters the next day. “But truthfully, I would do it again.”

Senate Republicans are working to pass a budget that even party members have recently admitted will result in a $880 billion cut to Medicaid, much to the chagrin of their own constituents. The multibillion-dollar cut is a trade-off for conservatives who were tasked by Donald Trump to extend his 2017 tax plan, which will overwhelmingly benefit corporations and is projected to add as much as $15 trillion to the national deficit.

Green’s protest was practically the only noticeable rejection of Trump’s agenda that Democrats could muster Tuesday night. Other liberal lawmakers were torched for flipping paddles that read “False,” “Musk Steals,” and “Save Medicaid” in a silent protest in the face of the administration’s apparent oligarchy and its systemic dismantling of the federal government.

And viewers watching live at home would never have known that a handful of Democrats stood up and walked out of the chamber in protest, as TV cameras never bothered to pan to their mute, “dignified” spectacle. Others, such as Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Patty Murray, opted to not show up at all.

Donald Trump is continuing to crack down on free speech by threatening to revoke a program that forgives the student loans of federal and non-profit employees, teachers, police, and pastors, among others.

Trump signed an executive order Friday barring individuals who engaged in “improper” activities from receiving relief under the government’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, a Bush-era policy that cancels student loans after 10 years of payments.

This move is clearly intended to have a chilling effect on the work of non-profits, which operate in some of the policy spaces most affected by Trump’s agenda, such as immigration. Under Trump’s order, loan forgiveness could be stripped away from individuals who provide legal support, advocacy, or education work on behalf of undocumented immigrants.

In addition to targeting work on illegal immigration, the White House said that the order would exclude individuals whose work had been tied to foreign terrorist groups. This is a clear sign they intend to continue cracking down on pro-Palestinian advocacy and activism.

The Trump administration previously threatened to revoke federal funding from any schools that allow large protests, and on Thursday announced it would cancel $400 million in grants to Columbia University for “inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.” Meanwhile, earlier this week, the university once again sicced police officers on its own peaceful student protesters, and has begun investigating students over speech critical of Israel.

As of December, more than two million Americans had eligible employment and open student loans, according to the Associated Press. While only a small percentage of claims are eligible for relief through PSLF, the work of hundreds of groups may be affected by Trump’s order.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, wrote on X Friday that Trump’s order was “shockingly unlawful and a clear First Amendment violation.”

“The PSLF program provides the president no authority to restrict it to only those people who work for nonprofits whose work he supports,” Reichlin-Melnick wrote. “Expect lawsuits within short periods of time.”

DropSite News’s Ryan Grim sarcastically quipped that he’d heard from the Supreme Court that “the president can’t change the terms of student loans,” a dig at the high court blocking President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness efforts.

The Trump administration is canceling $400 million in grants to Columbia University over what it says is “the school’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”

In reality, the president is clamping down on pro-Palestine protests that began in late 2023, when Israel responded to Hamas’s attack on the country with a brutal military campaign that human rights organizations have called genocide. Columbia had some of the highest profile protests of any American college campus at the time, setting up an encampment and briefly occupying a university building.

On Thursday, the administration’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, made up of staffers from the Justice Department, Health and Human Services Department, Education Department, and the General Services Administration, told Columbia that it would soon be conducting a “comprehensive review” of their federal grants and contracts. That review seems to have taken all of one day.

In a statement, Education Secretary Linda McMahon implied that Columbia did not comply with federal laws against discrimination.

“Since October 7, Jewish students have faced relentless violence, intimidation, and anti-Semitic harassment on their campuses — only to be ignored by those who are supposed to protect them,” the statement read. “Universities must comply with all federal antidiscrimination laws if they are going to receive federal funding. For too long, Columbia has abandoned that obligation to Jewish students studying on its campus. Today, we demonstrate to Columbia and other universities that we will not tolerate their appalling inaction any longer.”

Left out of the statement was the fact that the university is facing a lawsuit from three students alleging civil rights violations, breach of contract, negligence, unlawful eviction, and other Title VI violations over Columbia’s harsh crackdown on pro-Palestine student protesters.

In recent months, the university’s new disciplinary committee, the Office of Institutional Equity, has brought several cases of discriminatory harassment against students who expressed criticism of Israel. “Infractions” include writing an op-ed in the student newspaper calling for divestment from Israel, sharing social media posts supporting the Palestinian people, or joining “unauthorized protests.”

These actions appear to have been for naught in the eyes of the Trump administration, which appears to be trying to make an example out of Columbia and suppress criticism of Israel and support for Palestine. Trump is fulfilling a threat he made on Tuesday, when he said in a Truth Social post that “All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests” and threatened to deport foreign students who take part in such protests.

The notion of “illegal protests,” particularly in places like colleges and universities which have a long legacy of protesting going back decades, seems to be a massive violation of the Constitution and the First Amendment, and contradicts Trump’s own claim that he “stopped all government censorship and brought back free speech in America.” But Trump has never been consistent on any principles, and seeks to punish anyone who goes against his views.

Donald Trump is desperately trying to solve the country’s egg crisis, and failing.

Amid a record-breaking outbreak of avian flu that’s decimated egg production across the country, the cost of eggs has skyrocketed. Nationwide, a dozen eggs sold for $4.95 on average in January, up from $2.52 last year.

Trump’s solution? To import 70 million–100 million perishable and fragile eggs from other countries within the next month. The plan is as foolproof as it sounds. With a short shelf life, strict trade requirements for animal products, and countries abroad experiencing their own egg shortages due to bird flu, Trump is realizing that importing eggs isn’t easy.

Despite the rise in demand from the United States, there aren’t enough eggs to ship; just 3 percent of the world’s egg supply enters global trade.

“It’s a very local industry. If you want to rebalance the market, you need big volumes. It’s almost impossible, in the short term, to do that,” animal protein expert Nan-Dirk Mulder told Bloomberg.

Some of the world’s top egg-exporting countries have received egg-import requests from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bloomberg reported.

But Poland faces health certification barriers for selling eggs in U.S. retail stores. Last month, the U.S. pulled import licenses for eggs from the Netherlands—the world’s top egg exporter—due to industry practice concerns, but Trump plans to reinstate the license in a desperate bid to get Americans their eggs.

As usual, the president and his cronies are blaming Democrats, not the disease that’s killed more than 166 million commercial birds and devastated farms across the country.

“This shows the price of eggs over the last 40 years,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in an interview with Fox News, while pointing to a graph. “As you can see, the price was pretty static for 40 years, 50 years actually, and then all of a sudden under Obama it went up a little bit, Trump went down, and then Biden it has skyrocketed.”

Amid the excuses, consumers, retailers, and farmers continue to pay the price.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, alongside other miffed agency heads,  laid into billionaire bureaucrat Elon Musk during Thursday’s meeting of Donald Trump’s Cabinet, according to The New York Times. 

During the meeting, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency complained that Rubio had fired “nobody,” despite the sweeping government layoffs recommended by his organization.  

The secretary of state, who was already seething after Musk had axed USAID, an agency within Rubio’s purview, unleashed onto Musk in front of the president’s entire Cabinet. 

Rubio claimed that Musk was lying, conveniently forgetting the 1,500 officials who had taken the government’s offer for deferred resignation. Rubio even asked whether Musk wanted him to hire all of them back, just so he could fire them in a more outrageous fashion, according to the Times. Rubio then tried to lay out his plans to reorganize his agency, which didn’t impress the DOGE czar, either. 

Musk remarked that it was a good thing Rubio was so “good on TV.” 

In the end, Trump defended Rubio, who he said was doing a “great job” and was incredibly busy implementing Trump’s agenda. 

About 700 State Department employees, including 450 career diplomats, have resigned in the last two months. The Times reported Friday that senior officials at the State Department have drawn up plans to close a dozen consulates overseas by the summer, and are considering wider shutdowns—a move that will likely undermine U.S. soft power around the world. 

Rubio wasn’t the only one who got into it with the DOGE czar. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy also got heated over Musk’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce, and accused him of trying to fire air traffic controllers. His accusation comes amid a national shortage of the highly essential workers, and following several high-profile plane crashes. 

Musk said that Duffy’s claim was a “lie,” and the two went back and forth. When Musk demanded names, Duffy said there were none because he had stepped in before the positions could actually be terminated. 

Musk then baselessly claimed that the Federal Aviation Authority had staffed air traffic control towers with so-called DEI hires, which Duffy denied. Trump ended that argument by demanding Duffy hire air traffic controllers who were “geniuses” from MIT, the Times reported. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to launch a study on connections between vaccines and autism, despite extensive research debunking the conspiracy theory.

The move comes weeks after Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has a long history of opposing vaccination, was confirmed as secretary of health and human services. It’s not clear if he is involved with the decision. Right now, the United States is in the midst of a massive measles outbreak resulting in two deaths and more than 150 infections, and Kennedy’s response has been lackluster.

Kennedy downplayed the first recorded measles death in a decade last week, and since then, has refused to endorse the vaccine and instead touted therapeutic remedies like vitamin A, alarming experts. Last month, on Kennedy’s first day heading the department, the CDC laid off half of its Epidemic Intelligence Service, otherwise known as the “Disease Detectives,” axing 1,260 employees.

This latest move gives in to the conspiracy theory of a link between vaccines and autism, which is fueled by a rise in diagnoses that researchers say is really due to more screenings taking place. In the late 1990s, a now-discredited and debunked British study connected autism to the widespread administration of the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine.

During his address to Congress on Tuesday, President Trump mentioned the rise in autism among children, tasking Kennedy with finding the cause.

“So, we’re going to find out what it is, and there’s nobody better than Bobby and all of the people that are working with you,” Trump said.

During his confirmation hearings, Kennedy denied being anti-vaccine, although he refused to acknowledge that there were no proven links between vaccines and autism. And Trump NIH nominee Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said during his Senate confirmation hearing earlier this week that he “would support a broad scientific agenda based on data to get an answer to” the rise in autism rates. It seems that, in terms of public health, the Trump administration has now adopted the philosophy of “We’re just asking questions.”