You’ll be able to wager that as the federal government shutdown continues, President Donald Trump is laser-focused on sustaining mission-critical operations. And what does Trump contemplate mission-critical? Persevering with building on his large, garish, silly new ballroom.
People have been little question on tenterhooks, wishing and hoping that Trump would be capable of preserve constructing the 90,000-square-foot monstrosity that may dwarf the White Home, make the whole lot look as cheesy as Mar-a-Lago, and, in fact, be named after Trump.
Based on the White Home, it’s completely positive that building will proceed regardless of the federal government shutdown as a result of the funds aren’t tied to 2026 appropriations, however are as a substitute from personal donors.
Yeah, that doesn’t actually make it any higher. The truth that YouTube simply bribed Trump with $22 million to assist construct the factor nonetheless doesn’t make it so important that building must proceed throughout the shutdown.
Associated | Trump’s cheesy ballroom can be means larger than the precise White Home
YouTube isn’t alone in currying favor with the president by giving him cash. Different ballroom bribe lovers—er, donors—reportedly embrace R.J. Reynolds, Palantir, and Lockheed Martin. In an actual stylish contact, Trump is weighing etching the names of donors onto the ballroom constructing.
Whereas the extremely essential work of constructing an unsightly monument to Trump’s ego goes on, the precise work of presidency? Not a lot.
The Workplace of Administration and Finances took the chance to make use of the shutdown to kill $8 billion in power funding, calling it “Green New Scam funding.” In what is unquestionably only a coincidence, all the canceled funding impacts states with at the least one Democratic senator who voted in opposition to the GOP’s persevering with decision, which led to the shutdown.
It’s so cool that authorities funding is now simply one thing doled out primarily based on the rage-fueled whims of individuals like Trump and OMB head Russell Vought.
Additionally closed throughout the shutdown? Authorities oversight web sites—at the least 15 of them. The Workplace of Inspector Common web sites for a number of departments, together with Agriculture, Schooling, Justice, Inside, and Veterans Affairs, are all darkish.
OMB is withholding funds for the Council of the Inspectors Common on Integrity and Effectivity, which suggests there aren’t any funds for the inspectors normal. So, any entry to watchdog reviews and whistleblower hotlines is simply … gone, changed with a message that they’ve been shuttered “due to a lack of apportionment of funds.”
Yeah, about that.
CIGIE isn’t funded by appropriations, so it isn’t affected by the shutdown, because it has a no-year revolving account. It’s such a ridiculously corrupt transfer by the administration that it spawned a letter from GOP Sens. Susan Collins and Chuck Grassley demanding solutions concerning the transfer and asking the administration to promptly apportion funds to CIGIE.
Nevertheless, based on the administration, the watchdogs should be shut down not due to an absence of funds, however as a result of they’re corrupt. An OMB spokesperson mentioned that “inspectors general are meant to be impartial watchdogs identifying waste and corruption on behalf of the American people. Unfortunately, they have become corrupt, partisan, and in some cases, have lied to the public.”
So in overview: not corrupt and completely necessary to proceed throughout a shutdown? Development on Trump’s hideous ballroom, attainable solely as a result of personal firms are currying favor with the president by paying for the factor. Completely corrupt and pointless throughout a shutdown? Authorities watchdogs.
A minimum of this all makes the administration’s priorities crystal clear—and so they don’t embrace the work of presidency.
