“Show me your budget, and I’ll show you what you value.”
So said a once-sentient Joe Biden, and it’s hard to argue with his point: Governments subsidize the things they like, the outcomes they want to see, the behaviors they want to encourage. Biden, for example, funded “green” energy socialism and transgender operas in Colombia, while Donald Trump — in the generous proxies of Michael Dell and now Elon Musk — is funding young folks’ investment in the American Dream via Trump accounts and SpaceX shares.
So too with snitch lines. Outgoing Minnesota Governor Tim Walz clearly valued Red Guard-type, Big Brotherly coercion, so he set up a COVID-19 snitch line for folks to rat out those rotten neighbors who dared have family over for Thanksgiving dinner. So much for “Minnesota Nice.”
Speaking of Minnesota, Donald Trump clearly doesn’t like the fact that our nation is being robbed blind by fraudsters, Somali and otherwise, perhaps to the tune of more than $500 billion a year, so he’s setting up a fraud-fighting whistleblower hotline for folks to report the taxpayer-funded thieves among us. Here’s how the DOJ press release tells it:
Today, the Justice Department and the National Fraud Enforcement Division announced the creation of the Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program (WHIP), the first ever whistleblower rewards program that pays an up-front award for tips leading to criminal charges.
“Protecting the American people from fraud remains a top priority for the Department of Justice,” said Attorney General Todd Blanche. “The [program] offers everyone the opportunity to be part of the solution, help expose fraud, and be rewarded quickly for their efforts. I urge all Americans to use this program and play an active role in bringing fraudsters to justice.”
The announcement comes as part of the administration’s aggressive campaign against fraud, waste, and abuse. In a White House communication last week, Vice President JD Vance “called on officials at every level of government to join him in a pledge to protect vulnerable Americans, keep taxpayer-funded benefits for Americans only, stop fraud before the money goes out, and hold fraudsters accountable.”
Other presidential administrations have certainly paid lip service to fighting fraud, but there’s never been such a concerted whole-of-government approach as this one. Just ask the Haitian illegals who were nabbed this week for SNAP fraud. Their arrest is just a drop in a swimming pool-sized bucket, but it’s a start, and the publicity of this and other arrests will start sending a message.
As for the specifics of the new program, it’ll pay whistleblowers $10,000-$30,000 for information that leads to criminal charges. But rather than growing old while you’re waiting for the matter to be adjudicated in the courts, this program “rewards whistleblowers at a much earlier stage of prosecution,” thereby encouraging “prompt disclosure of information by giving whistleblowers more certainty about the amount and timing of a possible reward payment, while still leaving whistleblowers eligible for potentially larger rewards should their tips ultimately lead to large financial penalties or forfeiture.”
At an Oval Office announcement yesterday with the VP Vance and others, the president himself said he’ll be personally involved. “I will be the arbitrator of all of these decisions,” Trump said. “In other words, I’ll determine whether or not the person is deserving and I’ll determine — and I will be very generous, believe me.”
It’s hard to imagine Donald Trump finding time in his day for such micromanagement, but I think the point he’s making is that fighting fraud is high on his list of priorities.
The Appropriated Press, however, has other priorities, as evidenced by the way it reported the news yesterday: “The Republican president has undertaken an aggressive effort to eliminate fraud in government, establishing a task force on the topic in March and putting Vance in charge of it.”
And then this: “Critics have accused Trump and his family of profiting from the presidency through their many business ventures. The White House says Trump acts only with the best interests of the American people in mind.”
Holy non sequitur, Batman. I’m surprised they didn’t start talking about horse-whipping Haitian immigrants and smearing our honored dead as suckers and losers. These people.
“The main thing I want the American people to know,” said White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, “is that if you’re a middle-class taxpayer in this country, before President Trump came along, you spent half your working life paying for fraudsters and scammers, many of whom are refugees, illegal aliens, and foreigners who came to this country to loot and plunder us.”
Indeed, there’s a new sheriff in town, and I can practically hear Ray Parker Jr. now:
If there’s somethin’ strange at the Learing Center, who you gon’ call? Fraudbusters!
Needs work. But you get the idea.
