It’s time to ask the question that too few in Washington ever dare to face: Why in the world are we still spending billions of your hard-earned tax dollars propping up left-wing propaganda machines and bloated foreign aid bureaucracies? That’s exactly what President Trump’s DOGE cuts aim to dismantle—and predictably, the D.C. swamp is fighting him every step of the way.

Late Tuesday night, Vice President JD Vance cast the tiebreaking vote to push the DOGE cuts through the Senate in a razor-thin 51-50 procedural win. Why was his vote necessary? Because three so-called “Republicans”—Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, and Mitch McConnell—lined up with Democrats to try to block the cuts. That’s right: the old guard of GOP surrender caucus showed once again that when it comes to shrinking the federal leviathan, they’re more comfortable protecting the status quo than standing with the American people.

Let’s be clear about what these DOGE cuts actually do. They slash $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting—meaning taxpayer funding for PBS and NPR, two institutions that have morphed into de facto media arms of the Democratic Party. Americans are being forced to bankroll media outlets that actively work against their values. That’s not just wasteful, it’s offensive.

The package also cuts $8.3 billion from the U.S. Agency for International Development, a bloated bureaucracy that has long been a piggy bank for leftist pet projects disguised as “foreign aid.” While American families are struggling under inflation and economic uncertainty, Washington continues to funnel billions overseas to fund radical climate schemes and gender studies programs in countries that don’t even like us. President Trump is right to slam the brakes.

And yet, despite the common-sense logic behind these cuts, we’re watching establishment Republicans team up with Democrats to protect the gravy train. Let that sink in. Mitch McConnell, who still pretends to lead the conservative movement, voted to preserve taxpayer funding for NPR and leftist foreign aid. It’s no wonder that more and more Republican voters are demanding a new generation of leadership.

Vice President Vance stepping in with the tiebreaker was more than just a procedural moment—it was symbolic. It marked the line between those who are serious about dismantling bloated government and those who want to nibble around the edges while Washington keeps growing. As Vance and Trump continue to push for deeper cuts and structural reforms, the old GOP is being forced into the light—and voters are taking notes.

Let’s also not miss the broader significance here. This $9.4 billion rescission is just the beginning. As Russ Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, said plainly: “I think it will be successful, and it will certainly inform our strategy going forward.” Translation? The Trump administration is preparing to go further, deeper, and more aggressively after the waste, fraud, and abuse that has infected our federal budget for decades.

But here’s the catch: they’ll need real fighters in Congress to do it. The House barely passed the DOGE cuts by two votes, and several Republicans defected there as well. Mark Amodei, Brian Fitzpatrick, Nicole Malliotakis, and Mike Turner all sided with Democrats to protect the very programs Trump was elected to dismantle. These are the same Republicans who campaign on fiscal responsibility and then vote to keep the spigot flowing once they get to D.C.

The American people didn’t send Donald Trump back to the White House to play nice with the establishment. They sent him to drain the swamp—and this is what that looks like. Painful votes. Exposed frauds. And a long, overdue reckoning with how Washington spends our money.

The DOGE cuts are a test—not just of fiscal sanity, but of political courage. Any Republican who can’t support cutting funding to NPR and foreign bureaucrats doesn’t belong in the party of Reagan, of Trump, of America First. Let the record show who stood with the president, who stood with the people—and who stood in the way.

This is only round one. And the message to the GOP holdouts should be loud and clear: Get on board, or get out of the way.