President Donald Trump is trying to reengineer America by making his anti-woke MAGA ideology the test for what the government does here and around the world. The U.S. could be both less safe and less healthy if he succeeds.
At home, he’s using partisan political tests to withhold billions of dollars in federal grants Congress already budgeted.
Globally, he’s pressing foreign nations to go after “left-wing terrorism” while overlooking the growing dangers of right-wing terrorism.
At home: Going after grants
Every year, the U.S. awards more than a trillion dollars in Congressionally approved grants to states, cities, nonprofits, scientists, engineers and academics. Many grants require peer review by qualified experts. Trump wants his political appointees to have final say.
Trump began cutting billions in grants Congress had approved early in his second term, often punishing blue states, blue cities and universities that disagreed with his policies, leaving recipients short-handed.
The GOP-controlled Congress has allowed the cuts to stand by not reasserting the power of the purse granted by the Constitution. After 23 states sued the administration, a federal judge ruled last Friday that Trump can’t cut grants Congress budgeted.
It’s not clear if any canceled grants will be restored. Among the cancelations were multi-year research projects on cancer, climate change and anything addressing the unholy trinity of DEI: diversity, equity and inclusion.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller (L) shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio before addressing the audience during opening remarks at the Ministerial on the Resurgence of Political Terrorism at the State Department on July 16. . (Photo by Finn Gomez/Getty Images)
Now Trump is trying to change the rules so his political appointees can jettison grants that don’t align with his priorities. The proposed change was announced in May with a two-month period for public comments.
Next came an unprecedented outpouring of nearly half a million comments, 95% of them opposed to Trump’s changes. But the administration is expected to enact the new rules for grantmaking by Oct. 1. New lawsuits are likely.
Russell Vought (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images)
Budget director Russel Vought, a self-proclaimed Christian nationalist who was a major contributor to Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 blueprint for Trump 2.0, told Congress that using political appointees to approve grants would ensure “democratic control” of spending.
“Conservative leaders strongly applaud the Trump administration and OMB Director Russ Vought,” reported one conservative outlet. Those applauding include Alliance Defending Freedom, Concerned Women for America, Eagle Forum, Faith Wins, Gary Bauer, Andrew Wommack’s Truth and Liberty Coalition, Family Policy Alliance, and Heritage Action, the Heritage Foundation’s political arm.
But critics say the Trump changes undermine democratic control by elevating the power of the executive branch of government over Congress, the branch of government granted spending powers in the Constitution.
Law enforcement officials and district attorneys were among those warning the changes could harm public safety.
As The New York Times reported, critics of the change include “academic researchers, artists, city leaders, civil engineers, congressional lawmakers, housing experts, state attorneys general and regular Americans, who have warned that the White House could imperil public services if it subjects federal grants to political review.”
Around the world: Targeting the left
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is battling “woke” worldwide, telling senior leaders of 60 countries to focus on “far-left terrorism” while overlooking the dangers many European nations face from right-wing terrorism.
Rubio and other officials warned world leaders of a “resurgence of transnational far-left terrorism.”
In his remarks, Rubio told leaders they need to switch from the successful post-9/11 battle against Islamic terrorism to a battle against “extremist violence from the political left.”
“Even today, the very idea that far-left terrorism could be a serious threat is treated as a right-wing fever dream.”
“Even today, the very idea that far-left terrorism could be a serious threat is treated as a right-wing fever dream, or worse, as a dangerous fascist conspiracy,” Rubio said. “It’s treated this way by many in the press, by many in academia and our universities, and by many of our legacy institutions. You will no doubt see the dogma rear its head in the coverage of this very conference.”
He added: “Under President Trump, for the first time, the United States is building the infrastructure, the partnership and the strategy to defeat the scourge of far-left terror.”
Rubio said far-left terror was behind the murders of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk and United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson and the assassination attempts on Trump.
Trump adviser Stephen Miller challenged foreign leaders to focus on the left: “Here in the United States, we have taken the necessary and essential action of formally recognizing left-wing violence as a form of political terrorism that is a direct threat to our national security and the survival of our republican form of government. … We must stay the course and be completely unflinching in the pursuit of justice against these enemies of civilization.”
Some leaders who attended the hastily scheduled meeting told the Washington Post they were skeptical about America’s newly partisan approach to counterterrorism.
“Our law enforcement authorities have not focused on left-wing terrorism because this is not considered a high-priority threat in our country,” said one leader.
The reliably pro-Trump Focus on the Family praised Rubio’s speech as the finest of his career.
“It is a poisonous resentment, cloaked in the language of equality and justice, liberation, and an overwhelming need to tear down what greater men have built.”
Focus said Rubio “called out on Thursday the dangerous and destructive radicalism of extremist groups determined to undermine and upend longstanding moral truths rooted in human dignity and the Judeo-Christian tradition.”
“They can call themselves anti-capitalists, or anti-imperialists, or communists, or anarchists, or Marxists. But … it is a poisonous resentment, cloaked in the language of equality and justice, liberation, and an overwhelming need to tear down what greater men have built, to wreck what is beautiful, and what is right, on behalf of people who are only filled with ugliness, and have nothing else to offer the world. Through violence and through terror, they once again seek to impose their ugliness on all of us.”
On Monday Trump’s State Department released a report calling Cuba “The Capital of 21st Century Communism” and linking Cuba to lefist threats in the U.S.
“For over half a century, this small island nation with a chronically failing economy has operated at the center of a vast hemispheric network,” says the report. “The Cubans trained and armed tens of thousands of left-wing guerillas, oversaw violent insurgencies that plunged multiple continents into chaos and backed deadly extremist attacks across the United States.”
The report said Cuba had contributed to the rise of antifa, an anti-fascist movement MAGA insists is an organized network, and to nationwide protests that followed the police murder of George Floyd.
The administration’s efforts to combat left-wing terrorism comes as Trump labels Democratic Socialists as “communists” four months before midterm elections.
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