For the record, the Peace Corps costs about $400 million out of a federal budget of $1.8 trillion - 0.02% if my math is right. But hey, just ignore the $850 billion DOD budget and target the peace guys for cuts!
Hear me out, as an alumni, they won't touch Job Corps. Almost all, if not all, are private company owned and managed. Difference to most, if not all, advanced locations are government run but receive college funding
Foreign nations have a better sense of what constitutes U.S. power than most Americans do. You cannot convince me that these actions by the Trump administration are not being coached by our adversaries.
Of course! Look at how many of these folks went to Hungary to study at the feet of Orban. Tucker Carlson and his Russian propaganda tour. The first time round, when Erdogan’s thugs beat protesters on American soil without any consequence. It’s all happened in the full light of day.
Very true. Thing is, there are moves an authoritarian makes to consolidate power and then there are moves that do little more than weaken the country as a whole. Trump gains nothing from shutting down USAID and the Peace Corps, but Putin and Xi gain a lot.
Are you familiar with Sarah Kendzior? She’s brilliant. She has been saying for a decade that we are looking at a transnational crime syndicate masquerading as a government. Trump is “making deals” with all of these despotic leaders. There are no alliances in this brave, new world.
This is abhorrent!! Have these fools even thought about if king caligula starts a war that we will have zero support because we alienated our allies???
As if trampling on the graves at Arlington for a photo op weren’t bad enough, his underlings assaulted one of the female military workers. I wondered where the outcry was. I’m not even military and it pissed me off.
The only reason he didn’t tariff his MasterPu is so he’d have a chip to throw into the pot, since the cards he’s holding are suddenly very bad indeed. As for North Korea? They’re as batshit crazy as he is and wouldn’t hesitate to nuke us in a second.
Another independent agency. I guess it's too much to ask that the PEACE CORPS employ armed guards to repel these guys, but somebody really ought to push back
Should have hung him by the neck till dead , as the punishment for treason calls for. But no, seems that's only reserved for the crime of having the wrong-colored skin. WTF.
Well. The democratic leadership keeps saying it’s “up to the people to fight” and we have Fox talking heads waxing rhapsodic about the good old days when Americans were all patriotically poor as shit and hunkered in their homes making their own weapons…🤷♂️
um absolutely zero people in active war zones for the Peace Corps. I was pulled from my site for a week when there was civil unrest. Peace Corps has zero to do with active armed conflict.
Fuck this. My daughter is in the peace corp at the moment. These are young volunteers who chose to take two years of their lives to try to help other people with no self interest. This administration has no concept of altruism.
If it’s like they treated USAID workers they’ll abandon them abroad.
Hope your daughter and other active PCVs in difficult environments have been looking at options to get out without fed gov assistance. I fear it will be as you say - that these brave people are left stranded.
Luckily for her she’s in a comparatively safe location but that’s not true for all volunteers.
I expect they’ll soon stop her stipend, local phone, and accommodation payments, and won’t pay the end-of-service adjustment allowance to anyone, since they won’t have completed the full two years
Luckily the end of service allowance accrues monthly, so while they wouldn't get the full amount for finishing, they should get something (assuming DOGE doesn't break their payment system too.)
I hope you have a plan to get your daughter back to the US because the T***p Regime will almost certainly kill the program and abandon the volunteers where they are
I continue to not understand how a group of thugs aka DOGE - not an official government department or agency - is allowed to go into actual departments and agencies and fire staff and destroy the offices and their equipment on their way out.
I read this post to my husband & he was sure I had written it. We also have a daughter serving. She was able to take her first shower in a month yesterday; she was upbeat until this news hit. Our children volunteering internationally are inefficient but the subhuman troll golfing is acceptable.
If it helps, when I served we had a fair bit of training on evacuation protocol.
That doesn’t offset the insane shite they pulled with USAID, but please know that the people who work for the Peace Corps are super competent when it comes to evac. Small comfort, but I hope it’s better than none
I am suppose to have an interview with The Peace Corps this coming Friday but I think it may get canceled because of Musk, 🍊 head, and The Incel Legion (DOGE).
Wait until they strand some young adults in foreign counties similar to how they handled USAID employees....parents will lose their minds....not that it will do much good with this administration.
Thank her for her service. Our daughter served as well about 10 years ago. I can't imagine the uncertainty you guys are living through! Good luck with everything - and hoping for the best!
Same here, halfway through her service in Panama. We are all so concerned right now. She formed an NGO to get funding to build community eco-stoves from sources unconnected to USA.
DOGE showed up en masse at trump owned country clubs including Doral Country Club, National Golf Club Bedminster, Turnberry, and trump International Golf Links, Doonbeg, Ireland. They are looking for fraud, waste and abuse.
Hate to be the one to say this, but build a wall. A big brick Roadrunner & Coyote wall with a tunnel painted on it.
Their Teslas won't brake and they'll never make it to the front door.
What really makes me angry about all of this is that there has been zero news coverage of any of it. After the first take over, reporters should have been stationed at every federal office in DC. The media has hit rock bottom.
Yes, we’re hearing lots about what doge is doing and to whom they are doing it, but we are not seeing the footage of them actually doing it. They have zero authority so they are actually breaking the law.
Once again, I appreciate that they are writing articles but you know what made people march against the war in Vietnam? It was seeing the war live in our living rooms, and journalist are not providing the coverage necessary in comparison to the destruction that doge is causing.
I think watching their sons, brothers and neighbors getting drafted and killed had something to do with it.
The #handsoff rallies were the opening salvo. I don't doubt they caught editors by surprise. I also think the tariffs bumped DOGE from the top of mind.
Peace Corps FY25 budget request was $479M. Just for scale, that is about the annual budget of Brandeis University (enrollment 6000 students, limited graduate programs).
The last bastian of democracy?
Special place in Hell for that McBastard!!
I want names. I want to know who in DOGE is responsible for this travesty.
I want to know who line up when we have Nuremburg Trials 2.0!
Not just kids! I know a guy in his 70s who still works with the Peace Corps. They go into Afghanistan and Iraq and help suffering people. Nothing is more noble.
Yes, but what's in it for Trump?
Have these volunteers contributed millions of dollars to Trump, Inc.? Do the countries where they work have anything to offer The Donald? Anything that Trump can't corrupt and extract money from gets axed.
There are so many RPCVs after sixty years, and a lot of them turned around and worked for the federal government or ran for office, I feel like that’s one agency where a lot of people have a personal connection.
I have several Peace Corps friends who went on to work USAID and HHS and have just been through the wringer. Almost everyone works in public service in some form. It's not a super effective development organization, but it transformed my life, and I think most RPCVs feel that way.
Oh Trump hates the Peace Corps as much as he hates the armed services. He told his children that if anyone signed up for any of them, they'd be out of the will.
DOGE will abandon Peace Corps Volunteers in incredibly dangerous locations, as was done with USAID officers. Mark these words: young Americans will die.
Just to say there are some scared PC parents on here.
The PC trains volunteers on evac and the staff are highly competent. When I had a partial evac due to attempted coup, they were incredible AND we already had a plan.
When Republicans, who control both chambers and decide which hearings to hold, feel more pressure from citizens to reign in Musk than they feel from Donald Trump to do his bidding.
My mother was 57 the first time she joined the Peace Corps (Sierra Leone). She re-upped at 74 (Botswana). She died last week at 93. One saving grace of the dementia that killed her is that she was unaware of the havoc the man she once called The Tangerine Nightmare has inflicted on the world.
It was just a matter of time.
The worst part of this is the fact that Bobby's namesake is on board with it.
Everything w/ trump is personal. He has to erase everything JFK.
Comments
These are ones on the watchlist. 👁️ They will be subject to inquiry about their illegal activity during the funding out phase. Mark then all as we go.
https://lokiexcelsiorsmith.substack.com/p/a-rogues-gallery-revue?r=fd4u4
https://youtu.be/uWw6dvyUtsk?si=_BO9nCo2F6SCuyzf
Scum bags…😡.
Weird.
How many people who give aid in active war zones does the Peace Corps have?
Here's an idea: Throw the DOGE dweebs out on their weak, sorry asses.
;)
If it’s like they treated USAID workers they’ll abandon them abroad.
I expect they’ll soon stop her stipend, local phone, and accommodation payments, and won’t pay the end-of-service adjustment allowance to anyone, since they won’t have completed the full two years
That doesn’t offset the insane shite they pulled with USAID, but please know that the people who work for the Peace Corps are super competent when it comes to evac. Small comfort, but I hope it’s better than none
Kudos to your daughter for her service to the world. So much for JFK's exhortation to serve.
The official policy of the United States is now "We don't do shit for anyone but ourselves."
The unofficial policy is "We don't do shit for 98% of Americans either."
He sees no value in relationships or winning hearts and minds.
The only power he recognizes is force, the power to compel backed with violence.
He's not looking for your agreement, just your obedience.
His childhood must have been hellish.
What the hell are we allowing here!?
@booker.senate.gov @schumer.senate.gov @aoc.bsky.social @whitehouse.senate.gov
TAKE THE SENATE FLOOR AND END THIS REIGN OF TERROR! Who the hell elected Elon Musk?
If there is one thing Peace Corps volunteers know how to do, is to organize with minimal resources.
RPCVs, now is the time to do the work we have always done to save the work we have done to make sure it continues.
What are y'all waiting for?
I’ve been waiting for this shoe to drop
My daughter is in the peace corps
These people are monsters.
Their Teslas won't brake and they'll never make it to the front door.
Apparently, there's a cottage industry in firing up the anti-media left.
The #handsoff rallies were the opening salvo. I don't doubt they caught editors by surprise. I also think the tariffs bumped DOGE from the top of mind.
That said, I saw ample coverage.
Special place in Hell for that McBastard!!
I want names. I want to know who in DOGE is responsible for this travesty.
I want to know who line up when we have Nuremburg Trials 2.0!
Have these volunteers contributed millions of dollars to Trump, Inc.? Do the countries where they work have anything to offer The Donald? Anything that Trump can't corrupt and extract money from gets axed.
The PC trains volunteers on evac and the staff are highly competent. When I had a partial evac due to attempted coup, they were incredible AND we already had a plan.
https://youtu.be/dO382ZV5j7Q
https://www.sevendaysvt.com/life-lines/obituary-ola-odell-1932-2025-43188603
Thank you for sharing.
/s
The worst part of this is the fact that Bobby's namesake is on board with it.
Everything w/ trump is personal. He has to erase everything JFK.