Breaking: "Rubio announces he's acting director of USAID"

[MineralMan]

Rubio announces he’s acting director of USAID as Musk and Trump work to dismantle agency

CNN
—
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Monday that he is acting administrator the US Agency for International Development after Elon Musk, the world’s richest man charged with overhauling the federal government, said President Donald Trump had signed off on shutting the agency down.

In Washington, USAID’s headquarters was closed for the day, with employees told in an email to remain at home.

Logos and photos of its aid work have been stripped from building walls. And its website and social media accounts have gone dark, replaced with a reduced version of its webpage on the State Department’s website.

“It is the apocalypse at USAID,” one USAID official said.

More at: https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/03/politics/usaid-washington-workers/index.html

[bronxiteforever]

1. Kick. He is covering up the illegal

delegation of power to Musk by appointing confirmed cabinet officials after the Musk fait accompli.

[True Blue American]

2. Funding will come through the StateDepartment.

Rubio is pretty level headed.

[gab13by13]

6. Rubio is a traitor,

His first act was to freeze military aid to Ukraine. Rubio is a pump handle, just like the rest of them.

[UTUSN]

3. So, what are RUBIO's duties as "Acting," supervising the posters being ripped off the walls?

[stillcool]

5. divvying up the pot

[Solly Mack]

4. Money as a diplomatic tool. Bribes, extortion, threats.

Trump's transactional America, everything, everywhere, all at once.

[TheBlackAdder]

7. So, does that mean Rubio will be responsible for a million or more deaths too?

[Voltaire2]

8. 99-0 confirming this fuckwit.

[keep_left]

9. One wonders where Trump is getting all these moronic ideas...

...about shutting down various agencies and programs that have existed for time immemorial. He can't possibly have the intelligence to make these plans, or even the curiosity to know that these things exist. I wonder if this is one of those instances where Trump is plagiarizing various insanities from Fox "News" or the WSJ editorial page. Or maybe this is coming from alt-right websites or something. But I just can't see Trump being the least bit interested in the workings of agencies like USAID, etc.

[obamanut2012]

10. congress is supposed to do that wtf

[GoodRaisin]

13. Exactly. All these orders blocking congress' appropriations are clearly unconstitutional.

Past presidents who attempted to not spend the appropriations have lost in the Supreme Court.

[newdeal2]

11. He's not acting anything - he is a puppet

A stooge that tasks orders from President Musk

[MineralMan]

12. To add: I do not know what this means.

It's a developing story. I posted it minutes after the CNN story broke. I do not comment on breaking news stories.

[Tommy Carcetti]

14. My prediction is Rubio will be gone (fired or resigned) within six months.

And Trump will nominate Darren Beattie (the current State Department Undersecretary for Public Affairs who is a white nationalist and Russia sympathizer) as his replacement.

And the Senate Republicans will roll over and confirm Beattie.

[valleyrogue]

20. This administration will not last six months.

It is on life support now.

[thinkingagain]

15. My problem with Rubio is

From what I can remember / understand
Basically he and his family fled/left Cuba and stayed away because of a dictator
Now he is helping put one in our country in part for his personal gain

[MineralMan]

16. I'm no fan of Rubio.

My post is just information. I do not endorse anyone at all in this matter. Something happened. I posted it. That is all.

[thinkingagain]

18. No I understand information is what we need

I was just sharing my thoughts on him

[Passages]

17. That's interesting. hmmm

Meanwhile:
The rules of the Senate are designed to protect the rights of the minority, and Democrats have tools at their disposal to grind Senate business to a halt if Republicans try to ram through Trump’s extremist agenda. The three biggest weapons? Blanket opposition, quorum calls, and blocking unanimous consent—parliamentary guerrilla tactics that can slow, stall, and obstruct at every turn.


Schumer is not entirely wrong to believe that Democrats need to pick their battles. My normal preference would be to focus on economic fights, which will emerge quickly enough as Trump’s tariff wars drive up inflation. But Musk’s coup is an economic matter as well an attack on the Constitution. Having the world’s richest man gain privileged access to government data, which he will then unilaterally use to slash spending, is the very embodiment of oligarchy. By making Musk’s coup a fighting issue, Democrats have a chance to appeal to the distrust of centralized power and wealth that spans the political spectrum. Polling shows the public is increasingly souring on Musk, who has a net approval rating of minus 16 percent (36 percent favorable, 52 percent unfavorable). It’s unlikely that very many Americans want Musk to have their personal information.
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/elon-musk-spending-data-coup/

[MineralMan]

19. Blocking Musk Out would be a great start.

He represents the very worst of what Trump is trying to do. Should be the #1 target.

[Passages]

21. Completely agree.

And, he never shuts up about his agenda, no wonder his approval is so low.