Republican Congressman Ken Calvert (CA41) would like you to believe that shutting down global AIDS programs, dismantling USAID, and giving Elon Musk sweeping authority over all government departments is all part of a bold, patriotic “audit.” You see, it’s not sabotage — it is efficiency. And DOGE is here to save us.
What’s really happening? We’re not auditing the system. We’re setting it on fire. Rep. Calvert defends a two-man wrecking crew — Trump and Musk — who have presided over a government-wide implosion that’s left life-saving programs in ruins. He points to funding for LGBT workplace equity in Serbia and says that’s the problem. Not the millions of HIV patients in Africa who will now go without meds. Not the clinics that are closing. Not the malaria programs stalled. Not the rising AIDS death projections from UNAIDS and global health experts who are begging — begging — for U.S. leadership to come back from vacation. But hey, Musk is a “visionary,” so maybe all that suffering is just a line item we’ll “optimize” later? This isn’t governance. It’s ideological vandalism. And Calvert’s gleeful celebration of it — packaged in bureaucratic blame and cherry-picked outrage — tells you everything about where this version of “America First” is headed. Let’s review: Thousands of USAID and NIH employees fired — mid-project, mid-miracle. Global health campaigns abandoned — HIV, TB, malaria left to surge. Whole regions destabilized because Elon Musk wants to “streamline.” And what do we get in return? A slickly branded watchdog named after a meme coin, with zero transparency and less credibility than an Enron balance sheet. DOGE hasn’t exposed fraud. It hasn’t revealed abuse. What it has done is shutter programs that kept people alive. It’s done what pandemics struggle to do: stop medicine from reaching the people who need it. All while Calvert and company cheer from the sidelines, shouting about “diversity training in Guatemala” like it’s a constitutional crisis. The real crisis is this: we are abandoning the very idea of responsible leadership. And we're doing it under the banner of fiscal responsibility — the same banner that’s now being waved by the people who cheered while trillions were added to the national debt under Trump 1.0. Enough. I’m running for Congress in California’s 41st District because I believe the purpose of government is not to humiliate, but to serve. Not to silence scientists, but to fund the cures they’re developing. Not to weaponize the budget, but to protect the vulnerable. Because real leadership isn’t disruptive. It’s accountable. Measured. Human. Shutting down USAID isn’t a revolution. It’s a tragedy. And history will remember who made it happen. — Dave Karson Candidate for U.S. Congress, CA-41 Luchando por la familia, la justicia y la dignidad. #KarsonForCongress #SaveUSAID #LeadershipNotLies #HealthcareForAll #DOGEIsADisaster #CA41