DOGE and the Gaza Takeover

What do DOGE and Donald Trump’s proposed Gaza takeover have in common? On the surface, the answer would seem to be “nothing.” Yet, Trump’s insistence that the U.S. will “take over” Gaza is antithetical to his America First agenda and the mission of DOGE. The project would further embroil the U.S in a conflict between a foreign nation and its enemies, forcing funds and possibly military power into the region. It would also violate the fundamental libertarian principle of the property right; it would involve stealing the property of millions of Palestinians and illegally making it the property of the U.S. government. This kind of imperialist land grab is peak statism. It could completely negate the work of DOGE and its imperative of cutting government waste. And, the expenditures would not only derail DOGE, they could, as Ron Paul noted, derail the U.S. economy itself. It would risk driving more nations into BRICS, threatening the hegemony of the petrodollar. If this should happen, it would necessitate massive cuts in social welfare spending in the U.S., leading to possible unrest at home while creating more enmity with the U.S. abroad.

To date, DOGE has discovered billions in government waste—some $56 billion and counting. To its credit, it has exposed numerous nefarious and outrageous expenditures. But to its discredit, it has not shone the light on the billions of dollars sent Israel to conduct its campaign of obliterating the Gaza Strip, Northern Lebanon, and parts of Syria. And the Trump administration has paused all foreign aid—except, that is, to Israel and Egypt. That’s not America First.

According to the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, as of September 2024, the total in U.S. military aid spent on behalf of Israel since October 7 stood at an estimated $22.76 billion dollars. $17.9 billion of this total came in direct military aid and $4.86 billion came as a result of the increased conflicts in the Middle East. This is the elephant in the room over at DOGE:

Now imagine the cost that Trump’s Gaza plan would incur. According to Trump, the U.S. would neither pay for the Gaza project, nor for the Gaza Strip itself. “We” would simply “take it.” No doubt, however, the U.S. would increase its aid to Israel to enable it to “clean up” the region. A conservative estimate for the entire Gaza project might be somewhere around $75 billion. No doubt, much of this money would come from U.S. military and other aid. As such, DOGE would have become nothing but a switching station, transferring to Israel money that it cut from U.S. government spending.

This is why I have written that the Gaza project proposed by Trump is not merely some side deal. It’s the main event for the second Trump term. Gaza 2.0—or Gaza 2035, so-called by Israel—and America First, DOGE, and libertarian philosophy, are completely incompatible.