Donald Trump will not be president of the United States for another month, at least not literally. Yet, his recent victory in the battle of the budget shows that, for all intents and purposes, he is already the nation’s leader, and not a moment too soon.
In the space of just a few days, Trump’s pressure on the Congress, including siccing his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) attack dogs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy on reckless spending, turned a 1,500 page monstrosity of a bill into a slim 120-page banger of basic necessities, including disaster relief and help for farmers.
Prior to the intervention by Trump, it looked for all the world like House Speaker Mike Johnson would stuff the Democrats’ stockings with pork and goodies to ensure that a shutdown did not mar next month’s inauguration.
For example, the bill had continued funding for the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, an organization that seems to exist only to promote online censorship of conservatives under the guise of fighting so-called misinformation.
The bill also contained a self-serving pay hike for lawmakers, as well as billions to be spent on pet projects all over the country.
Within hours of the torrent of posts from the dynamic duo of DOGE, the American people began to wake up to what was in the bill and object. A trickle of GOP lawmakers flipped from yes to no on the bill, and with that, the stage was set for our soon-to-be commander in chief.
With the target softened, Trump tore into the bill, going so far as to threaten lawmakers who voted for it with primary challenges. Trump even indicated that Johnson’s speakership could be in doubt if he did not get in line.
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