Then What Are We Fighting For?

Sponsored by: Patriot Home Funding

So what are we fighting for? That's the question we should all be asking ourselves as President Trump and DOGE try to save America's fiscal bacon and Make America Wealthy Again. Let’s break down the significant aspects of the U.S. federal budget. 

In FY 2024, the U.S. government spent a total of around $6.5 trillion. That’s $200,000 per second, every second, for the entire year. 

For FY 2024, the deficit was about $1.6 trillion, meaning the government took in $4.9 trillion but spent $6.5 trillion. That means the government has to borrow money to cover its costs, which increases the national debt, now at around $36 trillion. 

In FY 2024, the U.S. spent approximately $950 billion just on interest for the national debt. That's like paying $30,000 every second in interest alone. It’s the third largest line item in the budget, only behind Social Security and defense spending. With a debt level of roughly $36 trillion at the end of 2024, even low interest rates can lead to enormous debt service payments. 

With continued deficits, including further interest on the existing debt outstripping current revenue, the government borrows even more money, which increases the national debt. 

With more debt, there’s more interest to pay, which requires even more borrowing if revenues don’t increase or spending doesn’t decrease, leading to a “debt spiral.”  More federal revenue has to go towards paying interest, which hinders the government’s ability to respond to unforeseen circumstances and leads to some very tough choices because so much of the budget is already allocated to debt service. If interest rates rise, the cost of servicing the debt would increase even more, crowding out other spending or forcing more borrowing. High debt levels can also lead to concerns about the country’s creditworthiness. 

While economic growth can help manage this debt by increasing revenues, without significant policy changes, the debt spiral will continue. 

If the U.S. loses creditworthiness, such as a downgrade in its credit rating, interest rates will rise as investors demand higher interest rates on U.S. Treasury bonds due to risk. The government would face higher debt servicing costs, which would worsen the debt spiral, and the rise in interest rates would slow economic growth and trigger a recession.

The dollar would be devalued, which would make U.S. exports cheaper abroad, potentially boosting industries like manufacturing and agriculture. However, imports would become more expensive, and since we run a trade deficit, it would be inflationary, leading to higher interest rates and eroding confidence in the dollar, causing capital flight and further economic instability. The dollar could lose its status as the world's reserve currency, causing demand for U.S. dollars to drop, further weakening its value. 

The U.S. would face higher borrowing costs since other countries might not hold as many dollar-denominated assets. Global trade and financial systems could become more fragmented, with increased costs for transactions not in dollars. The U.S. would also have less influence over global economic policies, and sanctions relying on dollar dominance would be less effective.

Given the gravity of the situation and the fact that it is- to borrow one of the left's pet phrases- an existential crisis, you'd think we would all unite in favor of fixing this fiscal crisis, right? Wrong. 

Instead, our old friends Marc Elias and Norm Eisen have organized a group called Civil Service Strong, which is a consortium of over 280 organizations of 2.2 million government employees including the American Federation of Public Employees, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington, Democracy Forward, the Government Accountability Project, the National Federation of Federal Employees, the Project on Government Oversight, State Democracy Defenders Fund, and Democracy Docket.

According to the New York Times, they have assembled a team of over 800 lawyers to try to defeat Trump and DOGE with a tsunami of non-stop lawfare. Because to them, protecting the bureaucratic leviathan, and all those useless jobs, the graft and grift, the continued bankrupting of our country, and the continued transfer of wealth from the people to the powerful, is more important than the return to a healthy fiscal status,  American dominance on the world stage, and most of all the will and prosperity of the voters.

In addition to Elias and Eisen, others who are on the board of directors of this group include former Biden White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, current head of the democrat senate campaign committee and Pocahantas' chief of staff Mindy Myers, and Richard Salzman, who heads the law firm Heller, Huron, Chertkof, and Salzman, who has been listed as counsel for the plaintiffs in almost all the lawsuits against Trump and DOGE thus far.

So while Chuck Schumer, Maxine Waters, AOC, Robert Garcia, Maxwell Frost and Pocahantas whip the democrat base into a frenzy and hog the media spotlight, remember that there is a very well-heeled and well-funded leviathan of left wing legal superstars behind the scenes judge shopping- dare I say colluding with those left wing judges- and filing suit after suit to stop the Trump administration, and protect their interests, which is their continued enrichment and continued destruction of our country as the leading world economic superpower.

The media, uniparty, bureaucratic leviathan, the practitioners of the lawfare inside the beltway and inside the courts, and also time as Trump is a lame duck, are all aligned against him. He, and by extension we, are facing huge odds and an uphill fight. 

Our greatest presidents- Washington in 1776, Madison in 1812, Lincoln in 1860, Roosevelt in 1941, Kennedy in 1961, and Reagan in 1981- all overcame overwhelming odds and daunting enemies to make and keep America great. This time the enemy is within. The battle lines are drawn. Can President Trump join that pantheon of great presidents, overcome incredible odds, win for the America people, and keep America great? Given all he has survived, both literally and figuratively, I'm not betting against him. Neither should you.  While you ponder that great but most important task, ask yourself the question Winston Churchill asked the British people in 1938, when faced with the choice of cutting domestic funding of the arts to fund the war against Hitler, "Then what are we fighting for?"