Andy Bloom: Stuck in the middle
Bill Abbott via Flickr
Three weeks into Trump’s second administration, and developments continue to happen at a breakneck speed. It’s a full-time job keeping up with the events, pronouncements, and activities. By the time a report is posted, it’s already obsolete.
Trump frequently says, “Nobody has ever seen anything like it.” When it comes to the tsunami of activity coming from the Trump administration, that’s true.
When I talk with my MAGA friends, they are thrilled, excited, and optimistic because they find everything Trump is doing is perfect.
When I speak with my Democratic and liberal friends, they are in hysterics and melting down. They don’t see anything redeeming in Trump’s actions. They believe the end of democracy has arrived.
What my MAGA and Democratic friends have in common is they both think I’m wrong.
Somewhere in the Philadelphia suburbs, SiriusXM POTUS Channel and CNN host Michael Smerconish might get a chuckle if he reads this column. Smerconish and I worked together at WPHT-AM. When he announced he was leaving the Republican Party and took a more moderate tone, we had increasing differences, resulting in his departure. He told me the adage I frequently repeated that he remembered was, “The only thing in the middle of the road are dead animals.” That helped push him to his current liberal position.
Yet, here I am, somewhere in the middle. I’m a Trump voter who agrees with most of his goals and understands why some think everything is fantastic. However, I also comprehend some of the Democrats’ concerns. Although, I’m not panicking or hysterical like them.
Politics is a pendulum. When it swings too far in one direction, it inevitably swings back. In the U.S., the pendulum swung repeatedly between 2016 and 2024. The country tends to self-correct when one side overreaches.
Biden was elected to “normalize” everything. Instead, prices soared, the southern border was left wide open, and record numbers of illegal immigrants poured in — all while President Biden, Vice President Harris, and HHS Secretary Mayorkas insisted the border was secure. DEI became the primary focus of government agencies and private businesses.
The half of the country that labeled the other half “science deniers” insisted sex is “fluid” by calling it gender. They dismissed anyone who questioned biological boys competing in girls’ sports or minors receiving “gender-affirming care” as transphobic and other insults.
In 2024, voters said “enough!”
Fed up with soaring prices, illegal immigration, DEI, men competing in women’s sports, and overreaching government, they returned Trump to the White House and gave Republicans control of the House and Senate to swing the pendulum back.
Trump promised to cut the size, scope, and cost of government. It’s a popular idea.
A 2023 AP-NORC poll found 60 percent of Americans think the federal government spends too much (22 percent think it spends the right amount). A 2024 Gallup poll found that 55 percent of Americans believe “the government is doing too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses.”
Trump tasked Elon Musk and DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) with shrinking the government. To do that, DOGE needed to track government spending, which required access to the government’s financial records — also known as the Treasury’s system.
My liberal friends think that was the seventh sign of the apocalypse.
From the start, we knew he would lead DOGE with the goal of saving $2 trillion. Musk was always going to get there by trimming a few million here and a couple of billion there.
The first place they found to cut was USAID. Most Americans have no idea what it is, but even those who do, couldn’t begin to tell you what specific programs it funds. While USAID has valuable programs, the White House released a list of others most Americans will find objectionable.
* $1.5 million to “advance diversity equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities”
* $70,000 for production of a “DEI musical” in Ireland
* $2.5 million for electric vehicles for Vietnam
* $47,000 for a “transgender opera” in Colombia
* $32,000 for a “transgender comic book” in Peru
* $2 million for sex changes and “LGBT activism” in Guatemala
* Hundreds of thousands of dollars for a non-profit linked to designated terrorist organizations — even after an inspector general launched an investigation
* Millions to EcoHealth Alliance — which was involved in research at the Wuhan lab
* “Hundreds of thousands of meals that went to al Qaeda-affiliated fighters in Syria”
* Hundreds of millions of dollars to fund “irrigation canals, farming equipment, and even fertilizer used to support the unprecedented poppy cultivation and heroin production in Afghanistan,” benefiting the Taliban
We haven’t heard anyone defend these programs or that claim they are false. Instead, the hate-Trump mob skipped right past “villain” and went straight to declaring Elon Musk the latest Nazi and a reincarnation of Hitler.
First, they ranted that Musk is president. Yet these are the same people who didn’t mind that nobody knew who was in charge during the Biden years.
They shriek, “Nobody voted for Elon Musk,” as USAID projects and personnel were paused, furloughed, terminated, or canceled. I keep asking, “Who did you vote for at USAID?”
They fume over Musk’s supposed access to Treasury payment systems, which he apparently does not have.
They hyperventilate about eighteen- and nineteen-year-olds working with these systems, ignoring that people in government have long had access to the same information.
For decades, government employees in the Treasury Department have had access to sensitive personal information, including names, Social Security numbers, bank account details, addresses, and more. Within the Treasury, personnel in the Bureau of the Fiscal Service and IRS have access. In Health & Human Services (HHS), employees at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have access. People in the Social Security Administration (SSA) have access. At the Commerce Department, personnel within the Bureau of Industry and Security may have access to personal information, and some employees at the VA could access some people’s data.
As a former government employee, I can tell you that all those people can’t keep the data safe all the time. There was a data leak and to this day I have free credit monitoring supplied by OPM (Office of Personnel Management). In December 2024 Chinese hackers were able to breach the Treasury Department system.
More nefariously, intelligence and law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and CIA, also have access. Apparently, that’s not enough. A 2022 report declassified by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) confirmed that U.S. intelligence agencies are purchasing commercially available data on Americans with minimal oversight.
We know the NSA collected phone records of millions of Americans. Lois Lerner told us the IRS was targeting specific groups, and the DoJ was spying on journalists like Sharyl Attkisson, James Rosen, James Risen, and others.
The government has had access to personal data and it hasn’t always been safe. Then there’s the private sector.
One hundred seventy million Americans willingly gave up their personal information to the Chinese Communist Party on TikTok.
I wonder if the same people yammering about Musk have considered how much information Google, Amazon, or their cellular provider have on them? Yet pandemonium has erupted over Musk and his DOGE cadre.
Democrats must stop freaking out every time Trump speaks, issues an Executive Order, or simply because Musk is involved. Instead, they should focus on a few easy-to-understand concerns that clearly violate the Constitution and mirror Trump’s complaints about Biden.
My main concern is that the current execution of cuts and personnel reductions may not follow the Constitutional process.
I’m not opposed to the proposed cuts, but following legal processes matters. We were shocked by Biden’s unconstitutional “student debt forgiveness” program and outraged when he bragged about ignoring the Supreme Court’s ruling to end it. Trump and Republicans must follow Constitutional procedures.
Musk and DOGE should uncover abuse across programs and departments, publicize their findings, and work to stop them with the appropriate Cabinet Secretary and President. They should take the findings to Congress and make the necessary legislative changes. This process takes longer, but the founders set up a slow and deliberative system. Our side can’t demand Democrats follow it while ignoring it when we’re in power.
The same argument applies to firing government employees, whether they are FBI agents, U.S. Attorneys, or part of USAID. The administration can terminate government workers, but there are rules and processes that the Trump administration cannot ignore.
It concerns me that the Trump administration may not be following constitutional processes.
Several lawsuits have already been filed, and some actions have been frozen or delayed. It’s likely that some employees placed on leave or told they were terminated will either get their jobs back or receive large settlements.
I’m a free trader, so we have differences on tariffs. However, it’s a bit rich that Democrats are suddenly concerned about tariffs causing inflation. They had no issue when Biden kept and even expanded one of Trump’s signature policies — tariffs.
I understand using tariffs against China, which engages in unfair trade practices, and as a negotiating tool. The threat of tariffs got Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, to agree to deploy 10,000 troops at the border. But did his tariff threat against Canada accomplish anything?
Even Laura Ingraham was skeptical on her Fox News program, questioning what a Canadian fentanyl czar would do. She speculated that Trump reversed course after seeing negative reactions from Wall Street.
My more significant issue is with “Trump, the internationalist,” particularly his comments about “owning” the Gaza Strip. Although nothing he proposed during the press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will ever come to pass, it was an epically bad idea.
Trump may pressure Venezuela to take prisoners, push Mexico to deploy troops on its border, get Canada to install a drug czar, reduce China’s presence in the Panama Canal, and even increase U.S. presence in Greenland. However, the Palestinian issue is 1,400 years in the making. It is deeply entangled in religious, historical, and national identity struggles—fueled by generations of conflict, grievances, and competing claims to sovereignty.
I don’t understand how Trump supporters are signing on to what amounts to a nation-building adventure in the Middle East. The idea runs counter to everything Trump has said dating back to the Iraq War.
The Trump haters howl that he didn’t bring prices down on day one. My MAGA friends retort it’s only been a couple of weeks. While that’s true, Trump should remember inflation was the number one issue in the 2024 election. Hopefully, he’ll spend more time on the economy and less time as an internationalist.
Maybe prices don’t have to come down much, but if they continue to go up over the next year, Republicans will lose the House in 2026, and Trump will spend the last two years of his presidency battling non-stop impeachments.
In his first few weeks, Trump has accomplished more than most presidents in an entire term. Most of what he’s doing is keeping promises he made during the election – to the delight of his supporters and the dismay of those who have hated him since 2015. I agree with most of what he’s doing, but he needs to follow Constitutional processes to implement changes. I don’t understand how Trump’s internationalist and nation-building ideas are okay with his MAGA base. These opinions have left me at odds with Democrats (as usual) and MAGA. For now, I find myself stuck in the middle.
Andy Bloom is President of Andy Bloom Communications. He specializes in media training and political communications. He has programmed legendary stations including WIP, WPHT, WYSP/Philadelphia, KLSX, Los Angeles, and WCCO Minneapolis. He was Vice President of Programming for Emmis International, Greater Media Inc., and Coleman Research. Andy also served as communications director for Rep. Michael R. Turner (R-Ohio). He can be reached by email at andy@andybloom.com or you can follow him on Twitter at @AndyBloomCom.
Andy, Trump learned a lot about how the swamp can draw you in and then eat you alive if you attempt to play by the rules. He has a lot of work to get done and limited time to do it before the leftist forces of evil bog down his work for America. Clean house of all vestiges of Clinton, Bush, Obama and Biden. Investigate and prosecute the guilty deep state so that others to follow will be reminded of the consequences. I applaud him setting a pace that keeps him a few steps ahead. Keep the TDS infected creepy crawlers on the outside looking in. Gaza and the middle east have been a festering sore on the world for too long. If it wasn’t for their energy possession, they’d have zero value. Inflation and prices will come down when the government cheese train ends, the border is secure, the illegals are deported, and China is put in check.
Yes, Trump has learned a lot and is doing a lot. He breaks a lot of rules, which I’ve mostly come to terms with. His behavior breaks all norms. I’d like to see him accomplish most of the goals he campaigned on. Breaking the rules cannot include ignoring the rule of law.
We have three co-equal branches of government. The power of the purse belongs to Congress. While I think what Elon Musk and his DOGE whiz-kids have uncovered in a short period of time is shocking and needs to be corrected, in most cases, the president doesn’t have the power to unilaterally make those cuts. The president and the respective cabinet secretaries need to go before Congress and request the changes. Having the House and Senate, it shouldn’t be difficult to get the changes made in accordance with the Constitution.
Likewise, there are processes for firing civil servants. The rule of law is important when Democrats are in office, and that doesn’t change when Trump is president.
As for Gaza, Trump has been against international adventures. America’s experience with nation-building in the Middle East has been awful. And there’s no oil in the Gaza Strip. I don’t understand how MAGA supporters suddenly find “owning” Gaza is acceptable, let alone a good idea.
I hate to be a “what about so and so”, but for the last, lost 4 years under Biden, where was all the screeching while Biden was unilaterally providing student load forgiveness, closing oil exploration locations, approving monstrous solar fields, yadayadyada, even after the supreme court smacked him down? Now we must play by the loose rules? DOGE has shown that congress isn’t doing their job / opposite actually = thievery. That should immediately give Trump emergency powers. And how does a politically appointed radical Federal judge in Tumbleweed, MO outranks the nationally elected leader of the Executive Branch? Don’t fall into the leftist trap where conservatives will relent to minor pressure from the maniacal democrats who’s golden goose is being strangled, because when they hold the power and push the envelope, they’d happily kick you in the teeth and laugh about it. Fight it straight to the SC.
“Mahmoud Al Hafyan, who ran the organization’s Syrian division, skimmed as much as $10 million worth of meals funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.” – This was theft, not an actual program run by USAID. Was reported by two whistle blowers and he is now under indictment. So your claim that this was a program is false
“The Trump haters howl that he didn’t bring prices down on day one.” – This was a key campaign promise and once Trump took office he stated that once prices go up, its very hard to bring them down.
“They hyperventilate about eighteen- and nineteen-year-olds working with these systems, ignoring that people in government have long had access to the same information.” – Government employees have to undergo background checks to access and that access is limited by the nature of their job The 25 year old that works for Musk sold classified information while working at a tech company to a competitor. That act alone should disqualify him.
Judah:
This is one of your weakest responses.
First, it’s not MY claim about the USAID programs. It’s a list of 10 programs uncovered by DOGE in a White House press release. There are dozens more.
If the best you can do is respond that one of the items is actually somebody ripping off $10 million of taxpayer money, then you don’t have much of an argument. According to the Justice Department, Al Hafyan diverted money that was supposed to be used for humanitarian purposes for meal kits to an al-Qaeda-affiliated group. So, while he did steal from the U.S., the money was to aid terrorists. The fact remains that billions of tax dollars are being wasted through programs that most Americans don’t support and theft too – thanks for pointing it out. You’ve amplified the need to audit all government agencies. Thank you.
Al Hafyan was undoubtedly approved by a nameless government bureaucrat who passed a background check. The difference is that you don’t know the names of any of the bureaucrats spending your money or making regulations that impact your life. There is more transparency with DOGE than we’ve seen in the federal government for decades. And by the way, there is no 25-year-old working for Musk at DOGE who sold classified information. Do better research.
Your opinion about Trump’s promises are irrelevant. Nothing can cure your TDS. At some point, Trump will need to address the economy and prices, but he’s done more in the first few weeks than Biden did in four years. Currently, polls show that the people who voted for him are happy with his first few weeks. All the howling and hyperventilating is just making you and the left look silly. Rep Jared Golden (D-ME) said it best. “If everything is DEFCON 5, nothing is DEFCON 5.” (BTW, DEFCON 1 is the highest state of alert. Five is the lowest).
” And by the way, there is no 25-year-old working for Musk at DOGE who sold classified information” – “Coristine was an intern at Arizona-based Path Network in 2022 when he was fired for allegedly sharing information about the company with a competing company. Your right, he is 19. “Edward has been terminated for leaking internal information to the competitors,” a message from June 2022 about the termination seen by Bloomberg News reads. “This is unacceptable and there is zero tolerance for this.” – https://gizmodo.com/doge-staffer-previously-fired-from-cybersecurity-company-for-leaking-secrets-2000561131
” Hundreds of millions of dollars to fund “irrigation canals, farming equipment, and even fertilizer used to support the unprecedented poppy cultivation and heroin production in Afghanistan,” benefiting the Taliban” – “John Sopko, the chief at SIGAR, learned that the agricultural development programs — namely those used to rehabilitate canals that have rendered an area more than three times the size of Washington, DC, fertile— have “inadvertently” fueled the cultivation of the poppy crop.” So there was no program to find poppy farming.
Vance is a great partner for Trump. Both have the same energy, courage and commitment to speak about obvious realities, focus on keeping America safe and trying to make our government transparent at all levels. That’s what most people wanted – transparency and freedom. Joe Rogan started it all during Covid with the Ivermectin “horse de-wormer” CNN nonsense. Then we had a televised interview with the Sparks 300 race winner Brandon Brown at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama, with NBC Sports reporter Kelli Stavast incorrectly describing the chant in the background as “Let’s Go Brandon”, and then when that Bud Light campaign rolled out… people had enough. The Dems and RINOs just kept doubling down. They still are.
It is doubtful that Trump will “close” on his ideas to expand the United States to include Canada and Greenland. The United States does have a long history of expanding (Louisiana Purchase, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico) and perhaps one day Canada and Greenland will become part of it in some formal manner. Perhaps not. Regarding Gaza, the United States has a long history of doing whatever Israel wants our U.S. politicians to do for them. It would be more surprising if Trump stood up against Israel concerning Gaza – evidently Trump thinks the United States and Israel’s interests are aligned. Perhaps he is correct. Perhaps not. Time will tell.