“This is a test case…of the rule of law….If they can destroy an agency without any act of Congress…bring the workers home…if that is done without a massive pushback, political and legal, and if Republicans go along with it…they’re basically saying, ‘you can do anything you want’….This is a true test case, of: will people fight for the rule of law, and will Congress fight for its own relevance?”
“This is not about if an individual nominee is a nice person, or qualified…It’s about the more global [] attack on democracy…As long as [the attack] is happening, no Democrat should vote for any of these people because it’s bigger than the individual appointments.. And if Brian Schatz can stop it from happening, stop it from happening….P[ut] sand in the gears of what they want to do….None of it moves forward…until we…end this DOGE nightmare and some of the other things that are happening….It’s not about posturing, it’s about actually doing it.”
“We want to make so much damn noise, that they are thinking…‘We’ve never seen so much noise.’”
For more of my thoughts from my conversation with Resolute Square last night, scroll down…
Day 65 — February 4, 2025
The next shoe dropped in the all-out assault on U.S. AID, with the state department announcing that ALL U.S. AID personnel on foreign soil would be evacuated home this week…
And all but a few U.S. AID personnel will be placed on administrative leave Friday:
As important as its work is, this is about so much more than one agency.
This is a true test of the rule of law and Congress to defend its own powers. As Heather Cox Richardson has written, in our system of checks and balances, Congress is the one with the power to shut down an agency: “the Republicans control both chambers of Congress: the House of Representatives and the Senate. They also control the White House and the Supreme Court. If they wanted to get rid of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), for example, they could introduce a bill, debate it, pass it, and send it on to President Trump for his signature. And there would be very little the Democrats could do to stop that change.”
This is why failure to stand up here is about so much more than foreign aid.
If this is allowed to happen, it sets a precedent of Musk and Trump taking out any agency or program unilaterally—skipping over Congress (and the law) entirely.
And they already have their sights set on the Department of Labor, Department of Education, and others agencies such as the NOAA. This fight is about all those departments and agencies.
Want to help? We need you!
It was good to see members of Congress starting to rise up and push back, just as it’s good to see those who care about our rule of law do the same.
At the gym, in the coffee shop, through phone calls, more and more people are coming up to me—strangers included—asking: what do we do?
I will keep sharing actions that I see helping. One thing to NEVER stop doing: call your members of Congress and Senators on these issues. Make their staff report back to them—“we’ve never gotten so many calls. People are really mad.”
On U.S. AID in particular, we need your help calling on Congress to act, and raising awareness of this unethical and illegal attack of the world’s richest man on the world’s most vulnerable; and on the thousands of American aid workers who are dedicated to improving the lives of others.
JOIN A CALL Monday at 7 pm ET to learn about how you can Stand with USAID. Please use the link below to register so we can stay in touch. Feel free to share with like-minded friends (be careful of sharing broadly on platforms like Meta, and share only with like-minded people.)
Sign up for the call next Monday by linking HERE.
WATCH: Resolute Square Discussion
I had a great hour last night with my friends from Resolute Square, talking about all these issues, and what we can do:
“The point of this lawsuit is to say [what the Department of Treasury did] violates privacy law,…violates tax law, and my hope is that gets into the hands of a court that can stop this right away."
“In this case, we didn’t give the government this information voluntarily. As citizens, we must do it.”
“In a normal political world, the Secretary of the Treasury here would be in massive trouble.”
“The whole billionaire running the government [trend] is deeply unpopular….That optic of the billionaires sitting in the front row of the inauguration…this narrative that it’s Musk doing this…is very damaging politically longer term.”
“Musk’s talking points about US AID are exactly what Dmitri Medvedev and Vladimir Putin say….It’s not an accident that Musk picked [US AID].”
“This is a test case…of the rule of law….If they can destroy an agency without any act of Congress…bring the workers home…if that is done without a massive pushback, political and legal, and if Republicans go along with it…they’re basically saying, ‘you can do anything you want’….This is a true test case, of: will people fight for the rule of law, and will Congress fight for its own relevance?”
“This is not about if an individual nominee is a nice person, or qualified…It’s about the more global [] attack on democracy…As long as [the attack] is happening, no Democrat should vote for any of these people because it’s bigger than the individual appointments.. And if Brian Schatz can stop it from happening, stop it from happening….P[ut] sand in the gears of what they want to do….None of it moves forward…until we…end this DOGE nightmare and some of the other things that are happening….It’s not about posturing, it’s about actually doing it.”
“We want to make so much damn noise, that they are thinking…‘We’ve never seen so much noise.’”
“Get on the ballot….2026 can be like ‘06 but even better…Run in every district, make as much noise as you can….If there’s ever a year where we can not afford to have uncontested races….we want to be on the ballot everywhere making the case.”
We also answered a number of questions from the audience.
Take a watch:
Do. Not. Resign.
Last week, I urged federal workers not to take the scammy “deferred resignation” deal Musk is offering them.
More details keep coming out. Judd Legum explores some here:
“The fine print of the deal, which at the time was detailed in an email and series of online FAQs, made it clear that employees could be required to work until their official resignation date. This means that federal employees could be agreeing to resign in exchange for nothing….”
“The most important part of the contract released by OPM is Section 13. It states that the federal employees who accept the agreement waive their right to enforce the agreement in court or in any other forum.”
Please share this with anyone you know who is part of the federal workforce.
The problem has stopped being adherence to the "rule of law." It is now a problem of adherence to the ACTUAL LAWS. WHY isn't some Dem introducing articles of impeachment against trump with a LONG list of the High Crimes and Misdemeanors he is committing. Performative? Of course. That's the point. Dems, get out there and start PERFORMING.
Unbelievable and so Illegal ! The Courts and Judges, along with Congress has better get with it and 'Do Their Jobs" to STOP this Coup in progress!!! Great article this morning ☕ David, and will reStack ASAP 🙏💯👍