In 1992, Murray Rothbard outlined a strategy for confronting the American regime that relied on transforming critiques of state intervention into a full front culture war. In his words, the intellectual battle “must necessarily be a strategy of boldness and confrontation, of dynamism and excitement, a strategy, in short, of rousing the masses from their slumber and exposing the arrogant elites that are ruling them, controlling them, taxing them, and ripping them off.”

This energy has fueled multiple attempts at political change in Washington, including the electorally unsuccessful presidential campaigns of Buchanan, Perot and Ron Paul, the quickly co-opted “Tea Party Revolution” of 2010, and Donald Trump’s first victory in 2016. During this 30-year period, the challenge has consistently been transforming the energy of campaign rhetoric into meaningful political change within an organization explicitly designed for self-preservation, and an imperial city that enriches itself through preying upon the homeland through taxation, regulation, and the constant threat of lawfare.

In 2025, however, for the first time the regime seems to be on the defensive. The election of Donald Trump represented a major blow to the media-industrial complex that has long served as an essential propaganda tool for Washington. More importantly, his return to the White House has brought with him non-traditional political talent that has focused on the financial plumbing of the federal government, and has placed the rank and file of the professional political class squarely in its cross hairs.

The chief agitator has been Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, which has provided some essential services for translating standard campaign rhetoric into action. Musk’s teams have been focused on following the root of the state’s power: money. The last week has witnessed the center of political discourse focused on an agency that most Americans likely did not know existed, USAID.