U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who previously described the Trump administration’s orders to USAID employees as a total “mess,” on Friday allowed the president to move forward with gutting the agency.
Nichols removed his block on the mass firing spree, ruling that plaintiffs’ “overstated” the harm caused by Trump’s actions. Trump is now allowed to continue with his slashing of USAID, which he wrongly alleges is a woke, corrupt, communist entity.USAID will move forward on placing an estimated 2,200 workers on leave, after already making 500 do so during the first freeze.
“Weighing plaintiffs’ assertions on these questions against the government’s is like comparing apples to oranges,” Nichols said in his 26-page order. “Where one side claims that USAID’s operations are essential to human flourishing and the other side claims they are presently at odds with it, it simply is not possible for the Court to conclude, as a matter of law or equity, that the public interest favors or disfavors an injunction.”
“They will be locked out of all computer systems, all payment systems, email systems, as well as systems that inform them of security threats,” Karla Gilbride, the recently fired general counsel of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, warned last week. “This would imperil their safety, the operations of USAID and their institutional partners, and it adds to the instability of these already unstable regions.”
“Once the agency is dissolved, it cannot be put back together again.”
Nichols, a Trump appointee, was unconvinced.
More on the war on USAID:
Donald Trump joins the rest of the world in wanting to know what on Earth is wrong with Elon Musk.
In his new book All or Nothing: How Trump Recaptured America, author Michael Wolff wrote that Trump was bewildered by the bafflingly lame behavior of the billionaire technocrat, The Daily Beast reported Friday.
Wolff documented Trump’s disturbed reaction to Musk’s wild appearance at a campaign rally in October that marked the president’s triumphant return to Butler, Pennsylvania, where an assassin had attempted to end his life months earlier.
An exuberant Musk was called onto the stage, where he jumped up and down and thrust his arms into the air. As he leapt around, his too-tight “Occupy Mars” t-shirt slid up to reveal a pale stomach. Shortly after, Musk declared himself “dark MAGA.”
Trump was “bewildered” by Musk, Wolff wrote.
“What the f*** is wrong with this guy?” Trump reportedly asked. “And why doesn’t his shirt fit?”
These important questions remain unanswered as yet, while Musk embarks on his takeover of the federal government. As DOGE fires (and in some cases rehires) essential government employees, and lies about slashing massive government contracts, Musk has continued his cringey crusade to become the MAGA mascot.
“I am become meme,” Musk declared during an off-putting appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference Thursday.