20 hours Ago
The early reports about the staffers working with the Trump Administration’s Department of Government Efficiency ( DOGE ) was troubling. We had a bunch of “kids” running things. Information winding up in the wrong hands can be a powerful tool.
Have they been working in secret as reported? Has there been oversight of them? Or do we trust them without any independent verifications or controls? If the latter is true, is it very possible that we wrongfully exposed America to trouble down the road. Elon Musk, President Donald Trump’s appointed man to oversee DOGE, is no Judas, but I will juxtapose these actions with the occurrences during the time of Jesus Christ. This week is Holy Week for Christians.
Over 2,000 years ago what made Judas, a disciple of Jesus Christ, so impactful was “information.” Jesus’s enemies needed what Judas had – information. Well, we have given temporary government workers, a bunch of kids, and one man who paid over $100 million in campaign contributions to help Trump get elected, information – the most powerful and valuable commodity in the world, especially information on the vital organs of the U.
S. federal government. The most pivotal incident in the entire story of how Jesus was brought down involved one man who had information.
And he was willing to disclose it for a price – 30 pieces of silver – a fortune in those times. Once the Romans had that information, they were able to start the ball rolling on taking down Jesus. In like form, America’s vital information in the hands of our enemies can only bring about harm.
Judas’s edge that made him so valuable was that he knew the location of Jesus who had been very elusive to the authorities. Judas was in the room with Jesus during the Last Supper; he was the one holding the financial information of the group; and most importantly to his enemies, he knew the routine of Jesus and most critically, he knew exactly where Jesus would be that evening. In an act of betrayal, Judas led the authorities to Jesus to facilitate his arrest.
This episode changed the course of history. It divided the calendar for most of the world and created billions of believers for over 2,000 years. We have been giving vital information on the inner workings of our government, our most valuable secrets, to a bunch of kids led by a South African native who has become an American citizen.
His only prior involvement with the government was receiving billions of dollars in government contracts (in addition to donating to Trump’s campaign). The mystery surrounded a bunch of kids tasked with gathering information in order to save the nation trillions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse. How much did they save? There are reports of it being a highly exaggerated sum, with a more realistic amount totaling just $150 billion, with most of that “savings” being highly questionable as well.
Whatever the ultimate figure is, it would be a positive, however. To bring down the mighty it often takes “inside information” given to the wrong people that determines the fate of foes. If the reports are true, Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth, without Trump’s knowledge, was about to give Musk access to our war plans against China.
That kind of information could definitely have led to a disaster for America. Trump stated that it would have been wrong. It begs the question: Has Musk had any other secret meetings that we never learned about? Former President Ronald Reagan always said ‘trust but verify.
” With Musk, we simply trust him and his crew of kids to look, analyze, and possibly gather vital information on the federal government and possibly Americans – without verifying their results. Judas had a seat at the Last Supper. None of the other 11 disciples had a clue that Judas was planning to betray Jesus.
During the supper, Judas acted like a loyal disciple of Christ. To continue to juxtapose stories, Trump gave Musk a seat at the table for the most vital meetings of American leaders – cabinet meetings. In the same way, Judas earned his way into the final gathering of Christ’s top followers.
Judas did his assigned work. The others never saw it coming until it came, except for Jesus, who told Judas to “go do what you need to do” while passing him the bread. Jesus knew that Judas, who professed to love Jesus, would truly be the one to display hatred toward Jesus, for monetary reasons or perhaps other reasons that we will never know.
Judas later tried to return the 30 pieces of silver. The others did not see it coming because they were too naive or focused on their own lives and responsibilities. So, some Americans, like the disciples, may admire Musk and his work at DOGE, but unless someone can verify what Musk and his staffers have and have not done, we have allowed ourselves to be as vulnerable as Jesus was in his relations with Judas.
The only difference is that it was God’s plan for Jesus to suffer and die on a cross for our sins. I could go on for pages recollecting all the things DOGE has broken and the mistakes it has made. Or I could discuss the recent firing of three folks at the DOD – one or more may have leaked to the press that the top military officers at the Pentagon were gathered to meet with Musk to discuss our nation’s war plans against China.
Yet we continue to empower those who have failed us, or in whom our trust has been misplaced. The only way we can know if the latter is true is via independent verification and oversight. Gary Franks served three terms as a congressman from Connecticut’s 5th District.
He was the first Black conservative elected to Congress and first Black Republican elected to the House in nearly 60 years. Host: Podcast “We Speak Frankly” www.garyfranksphilanthropy.
org . (C)2025 Gary Franks. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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