Your article to the Editor was enjoyable to read.
By your own admission, “as a voter for almost 50 years”, you should be aware of an American radio commentator and news columnist by the name of Paul Harvey and his message “The Rest of the Story”. For younger readers, Paul Harvey would cover a story led by local media stations that would rile people with bogus information and outlandish remarks. People would get their undies in a bunch and then Mr. Harvey would say “now, for the rest of the story”. He would proceed to produce the FACTS and at the end of his broadcast, people would say “wow, that makes all the difference in the world”. Then they would feel foolish for being spoon fed by the media and swallowing the mis information hook, line and sinker. To that extent I offer
FACT #1 Each President has the right to APPOINT the Heads of more than 50 Independent Federal Commissions. These are not elected nor are they confirmed positions by congress. Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) falls in this category and it is absolutely constitutional for President Trump to appoint Mr. Musk to this job. Mr. Musk reports directly to the President….not to Congress….and this is perfectly legal.
FACT #2 USAID was created by Executive Order 10,973 by John F. Kennedy. Therefore, it can be dissolved also by Executive Order.
FACT #3 USAID has been under investigation for years by the OBAMA administration. In fact, President Obama appointed Joe Biden to lead the investigation (talk about a “fox in the henhouse”). His assignment was to uncover fraud, abuse, and corruption. USAID refused to allow anyone to audit their books, so nothing was done.
President Trump requested an audit and USAID refused. So naturally, common sense should prevail, the agency was put on notice. That’s when the investigation started and as expected, fraud, abuse and untold corruption was uncovered. At that point, the agency was de-funded and disbanded. Corruption runs so deep that PONZI schemes are now being brought to light with identified kickbacks to some congressmen and women. Incidentally, kickbacks to ANY government official or agency are illegal. (I ought to know, I’ve been a government employee for over 29 years and there are BEST PRACTICES and CODE OF ETHICS that every member of government is held accountable to.)
So far, it’s been uncovered that BILLIONS of dollars were funneled to bogus Non-profit companies that don’t even exist. Not to mention the kick backs that WILL be investigated and most likely will lead to jail time for many. Rightly so, as this has defrauded the American people and taken money away from those in need.
Legitimate humanitarian aid will continue with legal funded programs. Just not under the auspice of USAID.
FACT #4 You have a right to be concerned about Social Security, but not for the reasons you think. Democrats have for years threatened that Republicans would dip into Social Security. Not so, in fact it’s just the opposite. Musk uncovered that over 53 billion dollars were taken out of social security by the Biden Administration and given to New York to house immigrants. Attorney General Pam Bondi threw a lawsuit against New York to return the money and it has been restored to Social Security. Thank Trump that your social security checks will keep coming. And if Trump gets his way, you’ll be getting a raise to boot. No Federal taxes on social security were part of his platform.
FACT #5 You condemn Musk for donating to political campaigns like the WI Supreme Court, yet I don’t hear you mention Billionaire George Soros for giving Millions to fund the WI Supreme Court campaigns or Hollywood actors funding this. Do I detect a double standard? It sounds like fair play to me. My advice is, temper your Democratic news stations (MSNBC, NBC, ABC) with News Max, Fox News and other independent stations. That’s the only way you will get ALL THE FACTS and be truly able to make intelligent decisions based on common sense. Guaranteed you will sleep better at night!

A.S. Brown
Stanley, WI