Quick Takes from the Past 24-48 Hours

The following is an installment of Trump-Vance team accomplishments (each article is linked for further info):

1. SoS Rubio Has Targeted Bureaucratic ‘Bloat,’ Announced Massive Shake-Up at the State Department

The State Department will eliminate or restructure hundreds of offices in Washington, D.C.—a revelation that comes after reports in recent weeks of a rumored overhaul at the agency. It is bringing its number of offices down from 734 to 602, a 17 percent reduction, and will close 132 agency offices, including those launched to further human rights, advance democracy overseas, counter extremism, and prevent war crimes.

Rubio explained the moves in a statement:

2. The Pentagon Leakers Might Want to Lawyer Up

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth defended his leadership and condemned the leaks as efforts to sabotage the Trump administration’s agenda. He stressed that leaked messages shared via messaging app Signal were “informal, unclassified coordinations for media coordination and other things.”

The defense secretary further stated:

We take the classification of information, very important.

He confirmed several senior staffers had been fired because they were suspected of leaking information.

He stated:

It was the result of an investigation … sufficient evidence to believe that they or others near them were party to leaking.

The secretary alleged that the staffers who lost their jobs were retaliating by slamming him in the press.

He told Brian Kilmeade:

Disgruntled former employees are peddling things to try to save their ass.

The secretary further explained the leaks are still under investigation and the DoD could refer the matter to the Department of Justice.

He explained:

When that evidence is gathered sufficiently … those people will be prosecuted, if necessary.

The secretary further addressed the overall resistance to President Trump inside and outside of the Pentagon:

They’ve come after me from day one, just like they’ve come after President Trump.

But Hegseth said he remains undeterred in fulfilling his mission:

I’m here because President Trump asked me to bring warfighting back to the Pentagon every single day.

Kilmeade asked whether Hegseth regretted taking the job with all the controversies coming his way.

Hegseth declared:

Oh, not for a minute. When warfighting and lethality is brought back … young people want to come back in.

3. Army Commander Relieved of Duty After Refusing to Install Photos of President and Leaders

Men and women in positions of authority in the U.S. military, swear an oath to uphold order and respect the chain of command. This means putting one’s personal politics aside and performing one’s duty. As a reminder the Trump-Vance team’s clean-up job is far from complete, the garrison commander at Ft. McCoy in Wisconsin, a Colonel Sheyla Baez Ramirez, has been suspended.

The official Army Reserve Command line:

This suspension is not related to any misconduct [and] no further details.

However, the removed Colonel managed to overlook a rather basic duty: ensuring the official portraits of the current leadership—President Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth—were on a wall properly displaying the chain of command. Empty frames, people. Can you imagine?

How deep does the political bias have to run for a commander to seemingly refuse such a simple, standard protocol? Thankfully, someone noticed, SecDef Hegseth reposted the news, and suddenly, poof – the DOD’s rapid response account posted a picture of the corrected wall with a triumphant “WE FIXED IT!” An investigation is supposedly underway, but sometimes, the picture (or lack thereof) tells the whole story. This is less about misconduct and more about a fundamental lack of respect for the officeholders.

4. Trump Has Reminded Federal Workers to Comply with His Agenda or Face Firing

Not everyone in Washington is eager to help make America great again. The federal government remains packed with career bureaucrats who have so far survived the recent administration change and continue playing by their own rulebook.

These swamp dwellers have mastered the art of slow-walking policies with which they personally disagree, effectively undermining the will of the people as expressed through their elected president.

Now President Trump is doing something about this insubordination. In a bold move that has the Washington establishment clutching their pearls, the president announced Friday career government employees working on policy matters will be reclassified as “at will” employees—and shown the door if they refuse to implement his agenda.

The White House made it clear affected employees are not required to personally support President Trump. They simply must “faithfully implement the law and the administration’s policies.” That is not political persecution—it is basic workplace competence.

Ask any successful business owner what happens to employees who refuse to do their jobs or actively undermine company objectives. They are shown the door—and quickly.

The change empowers federal agencies to “swiftly remove employees in policy-influencing roles for poor performance, misconduct, corruption, or subversion of Presidential directives, without lengthy procedural hurdles.” In other words, the government will finally operate with the same accountability standards as the private sector.

What the Constitution actually says about the executive branch: Article II vests the executive power in the President of the United States—not in a permanent class of unelected civil servants with their own agendas. When Americans vote for a president, they’re voting for that president’s policies—not for whatever policies career bureaucrats feel like implementing.

The Trump administration’s Office of Personnel Management estimates this rule change will affect approximately 50,000 employees across the federal government. That is 50,000 people who have been making or influencing policy without being accountable to the president who was elected to set that policy.

5. RFK Jr. Reaffirms MAHA Goals, Targets Additives He Will Remove from the Food Supply

After MAHA pressure and in light of the incoming Trump administration, The Obiden FDA banned Red Dye No. 6 from the nation’s food supply. Now, as HHS Secretary, Kennedy plans to continue this work.

On Tuesday, the HHS and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced an even more targeted campaign to eliminate synthetic and petroleum-based food dyes from the nation’s food supply.

FDA Commissioner Marty Makary gave the details on the food additives targeted and the phases, starting with two dyes within the next few weeks, and pinpointing six more to be eliminated by 2026.

WATCH:

Kennedy:

This is existential for our country and we have to address it. And one of the… when I met with, and I want to commend food companies for working with us to achieve this agreement or this settlement. When I went in a few months ago to meet with the food companies, I met with them about these petroleum-based dyes. I was talking to my staff about these petroleum-based dyes, and I said, if they want to eat petroleum they ought to add it themselves at home. They shouldn’t be feeding it to the rest of us without our knowledge and consent.

WATCH:

Kennedy also announced that NIH Director Bhattycharya will narrowly target these additives to remove them from our food supply, as well as target the penchant of scientists to medicate diseases rather than encourage dietary changes to cure them.