Image Source: Pixabay

In government, the reward for failure is usually more funding.

The idea is that whatever the mistake was, past experience tells us that all we need to do was learn from them. And the solutions are usually increased bureaucracy, “stream-lining” operations via consultants, and/or the creation of a new, specialized department, which will specialize in the previous mistake.

This is usually how governments work.

So, when States have similar social problems, politicians at the federal level argue that they are the ones to solve those social problems because they are bigger than the State. Instead, the same thing happens at the Federal level as usually happens in government. The reward for failure to solve those problems requires more funding.

Then the government grows.

Trump’s solution is to reverse the trend, de-federalizing America and moving toward state-sovereignty.

Here are three ways he’s doing this:

1. Sending Infrastructure Projects Back to State-Level 
 

Brietbart reports:

Trump Ends $4 Billion in Federal Funding for California’s Bullet ‘Train to Nowhere’

“President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he had canceled $4 billion in federal funding for California’s beleaguered and delayed high-speed rail project — what critics call the “train to nowhere.”

Duffy said in a statement: “After 16 years and roughly $15 billion spent, not one high speed track has been laid.” He said that the department would also be reviewing other federal grants related to the project.

“The $135 billion projected total cost of the project could buy every San Francisco and LA resident nearly 200 roundtrip flights between the cities,” the statement by the U.S. Department of Transportation concluded.”

2. Eliminating the Federal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA)
 

FEMA has a history of mismanaging funding.

For example, in when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, FEMA reportedly wasted over $1 billion in improper payments.

Examples:

• • Payments to people who were not eligible (e.g., using fake addresses).

  • Renting unused trailers that sat vacant for years.

  • Buying supplies that were never distributed.

FEMA has also been shown to hand out millions to people who filed duplicate claims, claimed damaged properties that didn’t exist using stolen identities.

So, since the beginning of his administration he’s aimed to eliminate FEMA.

NPR reports:

The Trump administration says it wants to eliminate FEMA. Here’s what we know

“President Trump says the agency could be eliminated as soon as December 2025. Speaking in the Oval Office in June, he said that major changes to FEMA would come after the Atlantic hurricane season ends in November. “We want to wean off of FEMA, and we want to bring it back to the state level,” the president said. He also said that the agency will immediately “give out less money” to states that are recovering from disasters.”

3. Dismantling the Department of Education
 

The Department of Education also has its overspending, and underbudgeting mistakes, which Trump plans to move to the federal SBA.

The Committee on Education and Workforce reports:

“For years, ED vastly underestimated the true cost of the federal Direct Loan program. Between 1997 and 2021, ED expected these loans to generate more than $100 billion in government revenue.

• Researchers wrote about the flaws in ED’s budget model for years—ED did nothing to address these concerns.

Federal student loans issued during this period actually cost taxpayers $200 billion—meaning ED’s faulty budgeting was off by more than $10 billion a year on average.

ED’s budget is consistently wrong due to incorrect assumptions about:

• The number of borrowers who would choose to enroll in Income-Driven Repayment (IDR).
• The income growth for borrowers repaying loans through IDR.
• The probability that borrowers would default on their loans.
• The effects of new programs enacted by Congress and ED.”

In February, 2025, the new administration cancelled $226 million in grants they considered to be wasteful and divisive.

The US Department of Education reports:

U.S. Department of Education Cancels Divisive and Wasteful Grants under the Comprehensive Centers Program

Today, the U.S. Department of Education cancelled 18 grants totaling $226 million that were awarded under the Comprehensive Centers Program. These grants went to a network of regional and national centers funded to provide scalable “capacity-building” services to states and systems within their regions, including reports and convenings to improve instructional materials and educational outcomes. Instead, Comprehensive Centers have been forcing radical agendas onto states and systems, including race-based discrimination and gender identity ideology.

Examples uncovered include:

• A video instructing teachers to “flick that white man off your shoulder” in order to resist the “settler patriarchy” and the “white gaze”;
• A research paper claiming that there are too many “white students” in STEM;
• A recorded lecture about how America’s schools are a system of “settler-colonial realities” and “white supremacy”; and
• A joint video call instructing teachers to “move away from the [sex] binary” and to “use non-heteronormative language.”

And here’s what the progress looks like so far.

Time Magazine reports:

Understanding Trump’s Dismantling of the Education Department—and What’s At Stake

“The Trump Administration can push through with its plans to dismantle the Department of Education after the Supreme Court allowed it to continue laying off nearly 1,400 employees.

In an unsigned order on Monday, the top court temporarily lifted a lower court ruling from May that indefinitely paused the layoffs and reinstated those who were let go, while also halting President Donald Trump’s Executive Order from March which called for the department to be closed down.

“The United States Supreme Court has handed a Major Victory to Parents and Students across the Country by declaring the Trump Administration may proceed on returning the functions of the Department of Education back to the States. Now, with this great Supreme Court decision, our Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, may begin this very important process,” said President Donald Trump via Truth Social on Monday.

McMahon, who has emphasized that her “final mission” is to “send education back to the states,” echoed Trump, referring to the ruling as a “significant win.” In a statement, she argued the decision had “confirmed the obvious: the President of the United States, as the head of the Executive Branch, has the ultimate authority to make decisions about staffing levels, administrative organization, and day-to-day operations of federal agencies.”

Immediately after the ruling, firings once put on hold were continued—with some department employees reporting that their last day is set to be on Aug. 1.

Trump’s big idea is to reduce the need for more taxes, to pay for these services, but as of right now we’re not seeing that. While Trump de-federalize America, we’re seeing more spending in other areas – military and social services.

More By This Author: