Trump has destroyed federal guardrails meant to ensure secure and fair elections.
Some fear his actions are aimed at making sure the upcoming midterms go his way.
https://t.co/OtJZwaFnKX
In the 1950s and 60's, screwworm was devastating in Texas, costing billions ( adjusted for inflation) annually. In 1935, 180K livestock were lost to the fly. 50% of deer fawns died, and the fly decimated deer populations. We have to get on top of this urgently.
Yesterday Donald Trump tripled the size of his personal political army inside the government. Illegally. And almost no one noticed.
Here's what happened:
He signed an order converting ~8,000 of the most senior career officials in government into employees he can fire for any reason, or no reason at all.
These aren't rando's. They're the directors, chiefs of staff, and the people who write the rules or decide who gets federal money, i.e. the lieutenants right below his political appointees.
Until yesterday, they answered to the law. Now they answer to him.
A president normally gets ~4,000 political appointees. People he can bring into government and fire at will. I was one of them at DHS. You serve at his pleasure, full stop -- so if you're gonna speak truth to power, you're prepared to quit (or get fired if he doesn't like it).
The rest of the federal government is PROTECTED from firing if they tell the truth.
But Trump just stripped those protections. Adding 8,000 more people to his personal army. Overnight. Without asking Congress.
With the stroke of a pen, those people now serve at the pleasure of the president. They're "his" people, whether they like it or not.
And the chilling effect is real. An official who can be fired this afternoon for "subversion of presidential directives" (the order's own words) doesn't need to be hand-picked to know what's expected of him or her.
The threat does all the work.
By the way, this order is illegal. The law only lets Trump reclassify jobs when "necessary" in exceptional circumstances. And this blows an 8,000-person hole in the merit hiring / firing system created by Congress.
Without permission, Trump has created a whole new category of stormtroopers inside the Executive Branch.
If this doesn't get challenged in court, you're going to see the U.S. government become a very different place.
Here's the full story: https://t.co/mJzrvzhxGR
We have been warning the public on New World Screwworm for over a year now (some much longer than us)
We even had our account on X suspended for a month when we showed a picture of what an infection looks like in a human, shortly before there was a human case confirmed in the US last August
The Secretary of Agriculture continued to assure the public that the Screwworm situation was “under control” and continued to ignore concerns and requests from producers and elected officials from her home state of Texas
This is not something to no longer downplay or brush off
The Agricultural industry is already entering into hellish conditions this summer because of drought and rising fuel and input prices, compounded now with an outbreak of flesh eating maggots
We need serious and dedicated leadership on this
We need a whole of government approach
We need states next to Texas and Mexico to be able access the resources and funding to combat this pest as they will be caught completely off guard when it reaches their states
We have asked before months ago but are asking again for President Trump to declare a National Emergency Declaration TODAY!
Thank you for your attention to this matter
Mary Trump: “Don’t waste our time running as a Democrat if you are not running on Supreme Court reform. And I don’t mean reform around the edges. I mean you’re gonna add 4-6 seats immediately. You’re going to implement term limits. You’re going to put in an ethics criteria and you’re going to make sure many of these most egregious decisions are undone”
We had eliminated measles and are about to lose our measles eradication status
We had eradicated screwworm but its making its way back
Keeping these scourges at bay requires active surveillance and action
Agriculture Sec @BrookeLRollins in November: "We have screwworm under control south of the border. Beef prices will come down by spring 2026"
Beef prices continue to rise, and screwworm is now in the US.
At least two of Texas’ new superintendent appointees have connections to the controversial Colorado-based charter network Third Future Schools, which is expanding around the state as districts turn campuses over to the nonprofit. https://t.co/ied4LEECnx
🚨 NEW: British schoolboy Alexander Browder has become the first child sanctioned by Russia after exposing illegal crypto deals used to bypass sanctions
"I am going to be wearing it as a badge of honour. It shows me that I touched a nerve - I am looking in the right places"
After receiving a request from Peter Navarro, the Pentagon rushed to approve a deal to lend $620 million to a company linked to Donald Trump Jr.
Now, lawmakers are demanding answers from the White House.
https://t.co/d5cwxt7OO0
The New World Screwworm, a grave parasitic threat, has just been detected in US cattle for the first time since it was eradicated in 1966.
The parasite's revival comes after Trump and DOGE slashed funding for Screwworm monitoring programs.
Bezrukov stole the identity of a 🇨🇦 boy (Donald Healthfield) who died in infancy. He lived in 🇺🇸 as an illegal spy/sleeper agent for a decade. This is the likes of whom Candace Owens is rubbing elbows with at SPIEF.
When I said SPIEF was a rogues' gallery, I wasn't exaggerating.