Summary

Elon Musk announced that he and Trump are shutting down USAID, bypassing Congress’s authority over federal spending.

Musk claimed Trump fully supports the move, though Trump has only criticized USAID without explicitly confirming its closure.

The White House has not commented. The administration has already placed USAID officials on leave and reviewed its funding.

Critics argue the move violates federal law, setting up a potential legal battle.

    • Skyrmir@lemmy.world
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      12 hours ago

      Investigations would start in the house, and have to be signed off on by Mike Johnson. He was elected with over a 70% margin and his voters love what’s happening. The other option would be John Thune, who has about a 20% margin in South Dakota, and his people love what’s happening too.

      Unless you can change those facts, America will become a fascist authoritarian nation.

      • Soup@lemmy.world
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        8 hours ago

        Also even if his voters hate what’s happening there’s nothing they can do about it now. All the power was handed over and the damage is done, no amount of regret will change anything now that the GOP feels capable of doing literally whatever they want and have all these majorities.

        The writing was on the wall but that country is largely illiterate so it didn’t much matter.

        • Skyrmir@lemmy.world
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          5 hours ago

          Nah, even with the lack of accountability, if they saw real movement in their own polling, it would change their behavior quickly. Even without an election coming up, mass plummeting of opinion polls is their warning that first their funding will dry up, they might not care, and second people will start building gallows outside their office. While the cops hide from the crowd. The police can really only control a minority of the population. If a real majority shows up, they back down out of self preservation. As happened in multiple towns the past few days, or back in 2020 when they took over areas of Portland.

    • eran_morad@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      Congress is neutered without a democratic majority in the house and 67 seats in the senate. Congress is basically useless. Right now, the only check on the president is the judiciary. And, shall we say, measures at the fringes.

      • makyo@lemmy.world
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        13 hours ago

        Congress has been ceding power to the President for decades, this is actually not too far off where they were headed anyway