Beneath the Surface
Exposing the Empire’s Secrets In Real Time
February 12, 2025 • 6 minute, 42 second read
“The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.”
—Tacitus
February 12, 2025— The U.S. political class has created a constellation of taxpayer-funded grifts and sinecures that provide swamp creatures a lifetime of employment for a minimal amount of work. All that’s required is moral flexibility.
A graduate of, say, Georgetown University, can build a “career” by cycling through the following entities:
Congressional/White House staff
Washington think tanks
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
Legacy media outlets
K-Street lobbying firms
D.C. law firms
Ivy League universities
Regulatory agencies
“Regulated” companies like defense contractors and pharmaceutical firms
At the end of the process, our hypothetical bureaucrat will have made a ton of money, impressed the credulous with his/her official titles, and never, in all that time, created anything of value. A cynic might call this a wasted life.
Until very recently, it wasn’t understood just how much the rest of us paid for this deep state gravy train — and how much damage these people were doing to U.S. interests and other countries’ stability.
But now we’re finding out, and the revulsion is global.
At the epicenter of the scandal is USAID, a shadowy, government-funded entity that spends billions of dollars doing bad things that the State Department and CIA are reluctant to do for themselves.
To understand USAID, two of the best sources are Glenn Greenwald and Mike Benz. Here they are together:
Here’s what happened when the new US government discovered that USAID was financing partisan legacy media outlets like Politico.
Zerohedge reports that in light of the firestorm over tens of millions of dollars going from the US government to various media outlets in the form of subscriptions, particularly Politico, President Trump has directed the General Services Administration to terminate “every single media contract” expensed by the agency, according to an email obtained by Axios.
“GSA team, please do two things,” the email begins.
- Pull all contracts for Politico, BBC, E&E (Politico sub) and Bloomberg
- Pull all media contracts for just GSA – cancel every single media contract today for GSA only.
The move comes after internet sleuths discovered tens of millions of dollars going towards Politico Pro subscriptions, with particular focus on one $8 million allocation.
On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the executive branch would cancel their contract with Politico…
…and today we find that it goes much further than just the rag that laundered the deep state’s ’51 intel officials’ Hunter Biden laptop propaganda. For example, the NY Times was also cut off.
Politico responded on Thursday, claiming that they have “never received any government funding — no subsidies, no grants, no handouts. Not one dime, ever, in 18 years.”
No, just tens of millions in Politico Pro subscriptions from the government. Like Hunter Biden received $200,000 for a painting of his excrement, which was totally not influence peddling.
Deep Cuts To USAID
Meanwhile, the White House is also planning to cut USAID’s staff from roughly 10,000 employees to just 294 – a 97% reduction, after Elon Musk’s DOGE team revealed that the international aid organization has essentially been funding woke pet projects and anti-American activities.
On Tuesday, the administration put a stop on all USAID work and placed all employees on leave, with thousands of overseas workers to be recalled within 30 days.
And here, from the EKO Substack, is a more in-depth look at what this sudden exposure of the Empire’s dark underbelly means going forward:
Override: Inside the Revolution Rewiring American Power
USAID fell next. No midnight raids this time. No secret algorithms. Just a simple memo on agency letterhead: “Pursuant to Executive Authority…”
Career officials panicked—and for good reason. Created by Executive Order in 1961, USAID could be dissolved with a single presidential signature. No congressional approval needed. No court challenges possible. Just one pen stroke, and six decades of carefully constructed financial networks would face sunlight.
“Pull this thread,” a senior official warned, watching DOGE’s algorithms crawl through USAID’s databases, “and a lot of sweaters start unraveling.”
The resistance was immediate—and telling. Career officials who had barely blinked at Treasury’s exposure now worked through weekends to block DOGE’s access. Democratic senators who had ignored other moves suddenly demanded emergency hearings. Former USAID officials flooded media outlets with warnings about “institutional knowledge loss” and “diplomatic catastrophe.”
But their traditional defenses crumbled against DOGE’s new playbook. While bureaucrats drafted memos about “proper procedures,” the young coders were already mapping payment flows. While senators scheduled hearings, pre-positioned personnel were implementing new transparency protocols. While media allies prepared hit pieces, DOGE’s algorithms exposed decades of questionable transactions.
Young guns at DOGE doing God’s work
The scale was breathtaking:
EPA climate initiatives? Not just mapped—found unauthorized programs in 47 states. Education’s DEI maze? Not just exposed—revealed coordination across 1,200 programs. Intelligence community black budgets? Not just traced—uncovered patterns hidden for 30 years.
“The administrative state runs on two things,” a senior advisor explained, watching patterns emerge across DOGE’s screens. “Control of information and money flows.” His eyes tracked new connections forming in real-time. “We’re not just exposing their networks—we’re rewriting their DNA.”
The cracks began showing in unexpected places. A career EPA director, tears streaming: “Everything we built…” A USAID veteran, hands shaking: “They’re inside all of it…” A Treasury lifer, closing his office: “They move faster than we can think.”
Across Washington, officials who had weathered every reform since Reagan began quietly updating LinkedIn profiles. A Deputy Director: “Open to opportunities.” An Agency Chief: “Exploring new challenges.” A Bureau Head: “Time for change.”
DOGE’s algorithms weren’t just programs—they were archaeology tools, excavating decades of buried networks. Each data point connected to another. Each discovery revealed new targets. Each pattern exposed larger systems.
“It’s beautiful,” one of the coders whispered, watching connections form across his screen. “Like watching a galaxy map itself.”
For the permanent bureaucracy, this wasn’t just change. It was an extinction-level event. Their power came from controlling who got paid, when they got paid, and what they got paid for. Now those controls were evaporating like dawn burning away darkness.
The pattern was devastating in its simplicity:
- Map the money flows
- Deploy aligned personnel
- Expose the networks
- Restructure the systems
By the time bureaucrats drafted objections to one breach, three more had already occurred.
The revolution wasn’t just spreading. It was accelerating.
Regards,
John Rubino,
Grey Swan
P.S. Grey Swan member Howard S. writes:
I am 81 and am shocked by the $22,000 gold possibility! All the best!
It’s only shocking until you consider how much money is truly being created and wastefully spent – and stolen – not to mention the soaring demand for gold by big buyers like central banks today.
While we view tariffs as poor economic policy, some of you disagree with that assessment. Reader DB writes:
Going back aways – to the constitution, tariffs are meant to be the way the US government obtains money. Not taxation on its local constituency.
As a producer, (the government produces nothing) something is sent to a user in another governmental jurisdiction. The producer has an agreed upon “price” which he will get from the user but the user will also have to pay an “override price” [tariff] to the government or governments involved just because something crossed its border(s). At the same time accounting may occur that would go on the GDP ledger.
This practice is no longer followed or never was followed. That is why we are in trouble.
Whatever Richards says should boil down to this: He seems to explain the various actions as somewhat questionable. The only thing questionable in the mix is the amount of the override.
And David chimes in on Jim Rickards and the case for tariffs as a trade and negotiation tool:
Rickards’ idea is absolutely “bananas.”…Fortunately GSIF doesn’t like tariffs as most of the world; bring the chainsaw!
We’ll bring the chainsaw oil.
As always, send any comments you have to addison@greyswanfraternity.com
