Defend the Constitution

And the millions of lives that depend on it

“Do you support this constitution?”
”Of course.”
”Then defend it.”

— Hamilton and Burr in “Non-Stop”, Hamilton

Can you imagine what Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Alexander Hamilton would have said to Elon Musk if he had met him at the doors of the U.S. Treasury, as Elon and his 19-year old interns demanded access to Americans’ tax data?

“Hey, turn around, bend over,
I’ll show you where my shoe fits.”
Hamilton in Cabinet Battle #1, Hamilton

Before he raided the US Treasury, Elon Musk disintegrated the U.S. Agency for International Development, illegally firing thousands of federal workers. President Trump illegally froze Congressionally appropriated funds for USAID programs that provided life-saving medication and food, and prevented HIV from being transmitted to infants. A court delayed the freeze, but Trump ignored it. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there were waivers for life-saving humanitarian programs, but the waivers never went into effect. Then the Trump administration said it was killing 90% of all USAID foreign aid contracts.

Here are a few of the programs Trump just killed, and the consequences of ending them:

• The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has saved 26 million lives since President George W. Bush created it in 2003, enabling 7 million babies to be born HIV-free.

• The President’s Malaria Initiative provided malaria interventions in more than 30 countries, and it helped reduce the malaria death rate by 28% between 2010 and 2017. In 2024, “more than 50 million children received preventative drugs before the rainy season.” Over 2 million anti-malaria bed nets were manufactured for US-funded programs to fight malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, but they will never be delivered.

• Until the freeze, the US was the leading global funder for global efforts to fight tuberculosis. “Since 2000, USAID and its partners have saved the lives of more than 58 million TB patients.” Now TB diagnosis and treatment services are halted. Even a pause in TB treatment can be devastating to patients. TB does not recognize borders, and a surge in cases will result in TB showing up in America. “As long as you breathe, you cannot walk away from it.”

It is hard to put aside the fact that the Trump administration just endangered millions of lives. But on top of that monstrous action, the executive branch also is ripping the power of the purse out of the hands of Congress, and the majority party is just fine with that, apparently. So if the GOP in Congress gleefully abdicates authority to the executive branch, who will defend the Constitution? My Congressman, Rep. Don Beyer, is hosting a resource fair for federal workers and contractors this weekend. This is great! But he also needs to be proactive in disrupting DOGE attempts to fire federal workers in the first place.

We need those employees. They serve vital functions to serve our country. They staff national parks so we can visit safely and learn about their natural and historical heritage. They review medical devices before they’re allowed to be surgically implanted in patients. They monitor our air and water and food to be sure they’re safe and clean. They report on disease outbreaks so we can protect ourselves.

But beyond all of the thousands of ways that federal agencies and workers improve lives every day, and the millions of lives put at risk by demolishing USAID, this is the gravest threat to the Constitution in our lifetimes. Congress has the power of the purse—the constitutional authority and responsibility to appropriate funds for programs and services of the federal government. Trump’s executive order to freeze USAID funds was blatantly in violation of the Constitution, seizing a power of the legislative branch, under the authority of “because I said so”. Congressional Republicans shrugged. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) acknowledged that what Trump and Musk are doing is unconstitutional, but said “nobody should bellyache about that.”

Excuse me? Nobody should “bellyache” about setting the Constitution on fire and establishing a new form of government by fiat?

The Democrats need to hammer the GOP on their shredding of the Constitution every day, maybe every hour of every day. But they also need to disrupt DOGE. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke with federal workers at a rally in New York City on February 21, and made a stirring speech, saying “We are not going down without the biggest fight they have ever seen. We have an obligation to resist kings. America is not for sale.”

But it wasn’t just rabble-rousing. She gave a concrete example of resistance. She said her team found out Elon and DOGE were going into the Department of Labor one day at 4pm. She drafted a letter and hand-delivered it to DOL staff at 3:30pm, reminding them of their legal obligations to safeguard sensitive or confidential data, of their obligations to the American people. She asked them to commit to upholding the law. When DOGE asked for the data, they referred it to the solicitor general. During that delay, a court issued an injunction blocking DOGE from accessing the data. “When they try to come in (to steal data or to fire federal workers), make them. Make them. Don’t go quietly.”

This is the kind of leadership we need to preserve what’s left of our republic. She reminded us that it will take all of us to save America. “No action is too small. Every action makes a difference.” DOGE asks for the keys to sensitive data? Resist. Stall. Gum up the works. As AOC said, ask them “Who are you? Who ARE you? Because at the end of the day, they’re no one.”

“We can overwhelm them. We outnumber them. They cannot sustain, and we cannot give up.” Just like those Department of Labor workers who pledged to honor their commitment to the law and the Constitution, we must commit to fighting for the Constitution and resisting the Trump administration’s fantasy of becoming a monarchy. We owe it to ourselves, our democracy, future generations, and the millions of lives around the world put at risk by the Trump administration’s recklessness. We cannot give up.