Charlie Kirk Breaks Down Trump's Constitutional Strategy to Shrink Government and Expose Federal Waste
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Charlie Kirk Breaks Down Trump's Constitutional Strategy to Shrink Government and Expose Federal Waste
Charlie Kirk reveals the constitutional questions at the heart of President Trump's plan to dramatically cut government spending through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Speaking about the recent Congressional spending battle, Kirk explains how Trump intends to challenge whether the executive branch must spend all money appropriated by Congress, potentially saving hundreds of billions of dollars. Kirk discusses the strategic dismantling of agencies like the Department of Education, the presidential reorganization act, and why Elon Musk's purchase of X proved instrumental in mobilizing Americans against wasteful omnibus spending bills. The conversation explores the fundamental tension between congressional power and executive authority that could reshape American governance.
Charlie Kirk identifies one of Washington DC's oldest tricks: bundling essential legislation with wasteful spending in massive omnibus bills. This forces congressmen in competitive districts to vote for packages containing items they oppose, simply because the bills also include necessary provisions like veteran funding. Kirk argues that breaking legislation into separate bills would allow each item to be judged on its own merits.
The resistance to separate votes comes down to a simple reality: members of Congress want to go home for Christmas vacation. Kirk points out that nurses, EMTs, and countless other Americans work on-call through Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Year's, making far less money while keeping the country running. He questions why members of Congress cannot work through the holidays to conduct 12 or 15 separate votes, arguing that stewardship of the country is far more important than personal vacation plans.
Trump's Clean Slate Strategy
President Trump wants to enter office with a clean slate, not inheriting the problems of a dysfunctional Congress. Kirk explains that Trump's agenda, which Americans voted for, would be thwarted if he had to spend his first months cleaning up congressional messes. Additionally, Trump doesn't want Senate Majority Leader Schumer to have leverage over him with debt ceiling negotiations.
Kirk expresses his own position on the recent spending battle: while he opposes raising the debt limit in principle, he would have supported it this time to give President Trump the benefit of the doubt. Trump has earned that trust, and Kirk finds it credible that Trump isn't a debt guy. With Elon Musk leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the plan involves both growing the economy and cutting spending. If Trump doesn't dramatically shrink the size of government, Kirk argues, he doesn't stand a chance at success.
The Constitutional Question: Must the Executive Spend All Appropriated Funds?
Starting January 20, the executive branch through DOGE will pose a fundamental constitutional question that will likely reach the Supreme Court quickly: Does the executive branch have to spend all the money that Congress appropriates? This centers on the impoundment act and represents a fascinating constitutional question.
The Constitution clearly states that Congress controls the purse and that all spending bills must originate in the House of Representatives. However, it's unclear whether the executive branch must spend all appropriated money if they can fulfill their congressionally assigned duties for less. If DOGE determines they can accomplish something for half the cost, why can't they return the money to Congress or simply not spend it?
This constitutional tension between executive and legislative branches could result in hundreds of billions of dollars in cost savings. Senator Rand Paul and Russ Vought from the Office of Management and Budget have discussed this concept. Kirk praises Vought as "10 out of 10" and "spectacular."
Legislative Supremacy vs. Co-Equal Branches
The Founders never intended legislative supremacy. They designed a system of co-equal branches with spirited tension between them. Hamilton, Madison, and Jay, who designed and explained the U.S. Constitution, wanted collision between branches—not war, but different opinions on how governing should work.
Currently, America operates under the assumption that Congress can bully the executive branch regarding spending, forcing agencies to spend every dollar appropriated. Kirk describes the horror of cabinet officials and agency secretaries who must find things to spend money on because their funding will run out. If they don't spend it, they lose it in the next budget cycle. There's no reward for saving money, and agencies cannot simply return unused funds.
Kirk poses a simple question: What if every agency tried to operate at 70% or 50% of their current cost? With a $6 trillion federal budget, returning to pre-COVID 2019 spending levels would create a $500 billion surplus. Shrinking government will happen differently this time because it won't require immediate Congressional buy-in—the executive branch has a co-equal role in identifying and potentially saving money that Congress was forcing them to spend.
The Presidential Reorganization Act
Kirk advocates for reauthorizing the presidential reorganization act, which has been authorized multiple times in history. This act essentially states that if an agency can do work that duplicates another agency's function, it no longer needs to exist.
The Department of Education serves as a prime example. Kirk states unequivocally that the Department of Education needs to be shut down. Linda McMahon, whom Kirk describes as a "phenomenal" manager, shares President Trump's stated plan to close the Department of Education. However, Kirk acknowledges the practical steps required to dismantle it.
Dismantling the Department of Education
Kirk outlines three examples of how to break apart the Department of Education:
Student Loans: These should move to the Department of Treasury. While Kirk believes subsidized student loans should be eliminated entirely, moving this function to Treasury would at least reduce the Department of Education's role.
School Assisted Lunch: Whether or not taxpayers should fund school lunches is debatable, but if this program continues, it should fall under the Department of Agriculture, which already handles food stamps and similar programs.
Office of Civil Rights: The Department of Education has its own Senate-confirmed civil rights division that harasses Christian schools and targets conservative students. This function should move to the Department of Justice, which already has a civil rights division.
By relocating just these three functions, the Department of Education inherently weakens. Kirk notes that the Department of Education never existed in its current form originally—it used to be part of HEW (Health, Education, and Welfare). These departments could be re-merged to find duplicative processes and better synergies.
Constitutional Questions About Federal Education
Kirk goes further, stating he doesn't believe the Department of Education is constitutional at all. He argues it's not part of the original intent as written and that the federal government has no role in educating children, period.
Progressives understand something that many Democratic voters don't: the issue isn't about forcing everyone to live the same way. Kirk explains he has no problem with California living according to California values, no matter how "insane" he finds them. Communities can vote for their own policies. The problem arises when those policies are forced upon small towns that fundamentally disagree—and when everyone is forced to pay for them through federal mandates.
This is the problem with federalizing education: San Francisco values get imposed on small towns through federal power. The Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights exemplifies this overreach. Kirk recalls when the Department of Education used school lunch funding as leverage to force transgender bathroom policies. Schools were told they wouldn't receive money to feed children who needed lunch assistance unless they adopted radical transgender policies.
Linda McMahon's Dual Mission
Kirk believes Linda McMahon will pursue two concurrent goals: shutting down the Department of Education while also fixing and reversing as much damage as possible in the interim. This includes:
Ending Critical Race Theory in schools
Refusing to send federal money to schools teaching DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion)
Pushing the NCAA to ban men from competing in female sports, with the federal government refusing to send taxpayer dollars to the NCAA if they continue allowing this
These interim measures can help reverse the damage while working toward the ultimate goal of closing the department entirely.
The Supreme Court and the Administrative State
The fundamental constitutional question coming before the Supreme Court is this: Do federal workers in the administration work for the president, or does the president work for them? Kirk believes that thanks to President Trump's first-term Supreme Court appointments, the Court is finally willing to address these questions.
The West Virginia v. EPA case and other recent constitutional cases have begun questioning whether the administrative state itself is legitimate. The core issue: Can regulations be authored without Congress? Kirk argues that the entire premise of a fourth branch of government—unelected, unknown, and unchecked—contradicts America's founding principles.
The Power of Transparency Through DOGE
Kirk emphasizes that even if DOGE does nothing else besides live-tweeting government waste in real time, it will have performed a great service to the country. The exposure of waste should not be underestimated.
The recent Congressional spending battle demonstrated the power of the Trump-DOGE-X machine. When President Trump and Elon Musk mobilized opposition to the omnibus spending bill, the American people stood up and stopped it. This happened without going through mainstream media at all—it all occurred on X.
Kirk notes that media networks now simply report what they read on X, essentially just reading tweets on air as "breaking news." Americans don't need mainstream media as intermediaries anymore. This represents a decentralization and democratization (with a small 'd') of information flow.
Elon Musk's Historic Impact
When discussing Time Magazine's Person of the Year, Kirk agrees that Donald Trump was the obvious choice—the man who will change the world and potentially be remembered alongside Abraham Lincoln as a transformational figure, an anti-FDR and anti-Wilson. However, Kirk acknowledges that the only other legitimate choice would have been Elon Musk.
Musk did more to save America just by buying X than almost anything else. Kirk stands by his statement from when the purchase happened: Elon Musk's acquisition of X (formerly Twitter) was the most important transaction since the Louisiana Purchase in terms of scale and importance. Kirk believes it was the cause set in motion that helped save Western civilization.
