View this post on the web at [link removed]
Day 24 of the Trump-engineered government shutdown. While 900,000 federal workers have been furloughed and another 700,000 work without pay, while military families line up at food banks, the Trump administration is spending hundreds of millions (and sometimes tens of billions) for Trump’s personal wish list. Time to log on.
The Spending Spree
$250 million for Trump’s White House ballroom. While federal workers miss paychecks and military spouses lose their income, Trump is bulldozing the historic East Wing to build a 90,000-square-foot palace dripping in gold chandeliers and gilded Corinthian columns. Construction began without required approval, and Trump is proud of that. When asked by a journalist whether Trump can just do whatever he wants, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended him, citing that “many presidents” had started project plans prior to approval. The examples she’s referring to though, are new builds and extensions of the White House rather than tearing down half of the historic building. It’s true that this is not paid for by public dollars. It’s worse. Trump is using his imperial palace rebuild as a means to solicit bribes from America’s oligarchs and technocrats [ [link removed] ], all of whom have business with the federal government, and all of whom are likely to get a massive return for their graft with Trump.
$40 billion to bail out Argentina. Or more specifically, to prop up his far-right ally, President Javier Milei, whose austerity policies have cratered that country’s economy. That’s nearly enough to fund two full years of enhanced ACA subsidies that Republicans refuse to extend, subsidies whose expiration will cause premiums to double for 20 million Americans.
That’s worth repeating. The money needed to re-open the government and keep Americans’ health insurance premiums affordable was just given by Trump to his dictator buddy..
And it gets worse. After taking U.S. support, Argentina suspended export taxes on soybeans, allowing China to purchase millions of tons of Argentine soybeans, which directly undercut American farmers already reeling from Trump’s trade war. Trump admitted that the bailout would not help Americans, and for once, he wasn’t lying. So maybe MAGA now means Make Argentina Great Again?
$200 million for two Gulfstream G700 private jets for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The Coast Guard originally requested $50 million for one replacement aircraft. Noem quadrupled that for two luxury jets, customizable with up to five living areas and a shower. This happened during the shutdown, while TSA agents and air traffic controllers work without pay.
$71.5 million on weapons for ICE, a 700% increase over last year. The purchases include guns, ammunition, chemical weapons, and what federal procurement documents describe as guided missile warheads and explosive components. ICE is receiving nearly $29 billion this year alone, more than all other non-immigration federal law enforcement combined, eclipsing the FBI, DEA, and every agency whose mission involves pursuing actual terrorists and violent criminals.
$230 million demanded from the Justice Department as compensation for investigating Trump’s crimes. The president is asking taxpayers to pay him because federal law enforcement investigated his campaign’s Russia ties and his classified documents scandal. Yes, he’s asking the government he leads to pay him hundreds of millions of dollars.
This is perhaps the most brazen attempt at corrupt personal enrichment by any official in US history; a giant slap in the face to every struggling Trump voter who believed that he was interested in their well-being. And yet within the landscape of his many authoritarian ploys, it may go unnoticed by the very people he’s betraying.
The decision will fall to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump’s former criminal defense lawyer.
The Impact
The contrast between this extravagant spending and the lived experience of everyday Americans right now is stark.
At Armed Services YMCA food pantries near military bases, demand has spiked 30-34% since the shutdown began. When staff arrived at Fort Hood at 5 a.m. one Thursday, military families were already lined up around the building, something that had never happened before. Food supplies that normally last until 1 p.m. were gone by 10:30 a.m.
Roughly 1.3 million active-duty military members faced working without pay until Trump reallocated Pentagon research funds to cover salaries. But federal civilian employees, many of them military spouses, received no such reprieve.
To summarize, billions in spending during a shutdown ostensibly caused by a lack of funds (which republicans proposed resolving by cutting Americans’ health insurance subsidies).
If it’s not obvious yet, the message here is clear: there’s always money for Trump’s ego, his allies, and his authoritarian enforcement apparatus. There’s never money for the people who actually make America function.
This shutdown is a stress test for authoritarianism, demonstrating that government spending is entirely subjective, that Trump can fund what he wants, defund what he doesn’t, and blame Democrats while doing it. Federal workers are props in his drama. Military families are collateral damage. And Americans overall are the biggest losers.
Election day is just two weeks away, and we need all hands on deck to help pass Proposition 50 [ [link removed] ], also known as the “Election Rigging Response Act.” This ballot measure will decide whether California’s congressional map will be temporarily redrawn ahead of the midterms. The outcome of the vote on this ballot measure could help determine which party has control of the House next year. Click here to send letters and help pass Prop 50! [ [link removed] ]
The Feed is a reader-supported publication analyzing the intersection of politics, power, and social media. Subscribe for sharp analysis with no patience for fascism-lite.
Unsubscribe [link removed]?
