What a Great Week...What a Great Month – Top 3 Takeaways – February 21st, 2025
- Another great week to cap an incredible first month. Kash Patel is in place as FBI Director, Howard Lutnick is as Commerce Secretary too. Kelly Loeffler has been confirmed for SBA Administrator and now there are only four remaining confirmation votes needed for Trump to have his entire cabinet in place. DOGE has saved the country another $17 billion and who knows – we might soon see a ‘DOGE Dividend’ check worth thousands per taxpayer household too. President Trump signed executive orders making In Virto Fertilization cheaper by cutting regulation, and speaking of regulations, he signed an order making sure no government agencies issued any new regulations without getting approval from his office first. He also signed an order prohibiting illegal aliens from receiving taxpayer benefits. It’s worth drilling down for a bit on this. As is stated in the order... “all taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal aliens” are to end. That means illegal immigrants will no longer be welcomed with free puppies and free candy and free housing, free Biden bucks and free Obama phones for illegal immigrants (all of which are anything but free). But what about the illegal immigrants also abusing government assistance programs? As the order states: Within 30 days of the date of this order (February 19th), the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the Administrator of the United States DOGE Service, in coordination with the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, shall further: identify all other sources of Federal funding for illegal aliens; and recommend additional agency actions to align Federal spending with the purposes of this order, and, where relevant, enhance eligibility verification systems. Agencies shall refer any improper receipt or use of Federal benefits to the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security for appropriate action. So, 28 days from today those programs are to cease as well.
- This is the third critically important piece of the illegal immigration puzzle. The first two had already been put into place. 1) Secure the borders and end the flow of illegal immigration into this country 2) Deport those who are in the country illegally starting with those who pose the greatest threat to country...but the third is just as important 3) End the incentives. The best way to combat illegal immigration is to disincentivize illegal immigration. Immigrating legally into this country is always an option. The reason 22 million+ had done so illegally is because it paid for them to do so. Like literally they were often paid through free housing and government assistance programs. As I’d broken down over the past couple of years in my stories – The Cost of Illegal Immigrants to You... 63 percent of households headed by a non-citizen use at least one welfare program. Compared to native households, non-citizen households are more than twice as likely to end up on government assistance. The longer an illegal immigrant is in the US, the more likely they are to end up on assistance (of households headed by non-citizens in the United States for fewer than 10 years, 50 percent use one or more welfare programs; for those here more than 10 years, the rate is 70 percent). The most commonly exploited government programs by illegal immigrants were/are in this order: Financial welfare, housing, Medicaid, SNAP (food), WIC (supplemental food program) and schools/education. Illegal immigrants have exploited those programs to the tune of $182 billion, or $1,352 per taxpayer over the past year. To put this another way, especially with talk of DOGE Dividends gaining traction, would you have preferred a federal tax refund check for $1,352 last year instead of that money having been spent for illegal immigrants to illegally use federal assistance programs? As my research has also shown the net lifetime cost of an average illegal immigrant to the United States is $68,000 during the duration of their time here. Cutting off these programs from illegal immigrants will likely prove to be a key for sparking additional “self-deportations” and serving as a massive disincentive for those who’d still consider coming here illegally. And the most recent executive order signed by President Trump entitled: Commencing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy says a lot. Yes, DOGE has already helped downsize the federal government.
- No, it’s still nowhere close to where it needs to go. As this order states: It is the policy of my Administration to dramatically reduce the size of the Federal Government, while increasing its accountability to the American people. This order commences a reduction in the elements of the Federal bureaucracy that the President has determined are unnecessary. Reducing the size of the Federal Government will minimize Government waste and abuse, reduce inflation, and promote American freedom and innovation. This order comes with only 14 days for department heads to report back about how to best right size their federal agencies. The two most recent orders underpin the first month’s two largest priorities. To put an end to illegal immigration and all that comes with it and to end the abuse financially and otherwise within the federal bureaucracy. President Trump hasn’t just accomplished more during his first month on the job than any president since George Washington. He’s accomplished more on the job in the first month than some administrations had in four years and it’s still just the beginning...and I most certainly am not tired of winning.