Elon Musk has been credited with someone else's achievements.

Author: Dmitry Pavilin

According to American media reports, the obscure partisan official Russell Vought has become one of the most influential officials in Washington and Donald Trump's "gray cardinal". All the credit for overcoming enemies was attributed to him, while it was Elon Musk who truly understood how power operates in America.

By chance, the family of this "second most influential person after the president in Washington" was discovered by the United States, just as the discovery of the American continent once was.

In early February, the Christian educational institution Wheaton College released a call for prayer for an alumnus who had obtained an important position in the Donald Trump administration. This sparked protests from students and teachers who could not tolerate Trump, and as a result, the post was deleted, which in turn triggered a scandal in conservative media. Even some Russian media paid attention to the "prayer censorship" issue.

Two weeks later, the influential American newspaper Politico published an investigative report about the main character behind the scandal - 49-year-old Russell Vought. The article also delved deeply - even tracing back to his experience running for student union president, where his platform was quite moderate at the time.

Vought is described as a "Christian nationalist" and the head of the American Renewal Center, which formulated the action plan for President Trump. Meanwhile, Trump's official representatives completely denied that there was any specialized center drafting plans for the president or outsourcing such work; they claimed that everything was done in-house.

In an interview, Vought stated that he met with Trump roughly once a month during the strategic planning process, clearly placing him beyond the definition of "especially close associates" (unlike Steven Wittkoff, for example), who should be considered such special associates.

However, in April, Time magazine listed Russell Vought among the "100 Most Influential People in the World", alongside Trump, Elon Musk, Vice President Jay Di Winsor, and the newly appointed U.S. Health Secretary and Commerce Secretary. People have high expectations for the latter几位.

Not long ago, Bloomberg published a lengthy report, directly referring to Vought as the "gray cardinal" and the second most important figure in the Trump administration after Trump himself. Why do they think so?

Musk became a false target

At the psychological milestone of Trump's first 100 days in office, Trump's achievements looked far from optimistic: low approval ratings, most initiated projects facing risks of failure, and a 0.3% economic contraction in the first quarter. The only thing voters were satisfied with was the large-scale dismissals of officials and the dissolution of various agencies, which was mainly associated with Elon Musk and his Dogecoin (DOGE).

Musk himself claimed that thanks to these "clean-up actions," $150 billion could be saved annually, but many believed this number was exaggerated. Moreover, employees of some dissolved agencies suspended the clearance through legal means. However, during this process, it was found that Musk was just a false target in this situation. The real organizer and promoter of the "clean-up actions" was Russell Vought – and he ultimately achieved his goal.

When those dissolved agencies shifted their focus to Musk, Vought paralyzed their activities in various ways. A situation arose where the court allowed the laid-off employees to continue working, but they couldn't work. Trump's "gray cardinal" hasn't canceled their positions yet (only Congress can do that), but he already had the upper hand because he had prepared for this well in advance.

Those considered as the "gray cardinal" of a certain regime are usually in positions similar to "head of government" or "institution director", and may be a "private secretary" under a personal rule model. But Vought is merely the Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, whose task is to prepare budgets for submission to Congress for approval. In other words, he isn't even the Chief Financial Officer but an assistant to the Treasury Secretary.

But evidently, Vought believed that it was precisely in this position that he could more easily achieve his goal of significantly reducing officials – "draining the swamp in Washington." Because this position allows for technical control over the allocation of financial flows.

Vought's determination doesn't stem solely from traditional "old-school" Republicans' concerns about taxpayer funds being wasted on useless matters. Vought believes that the tasks of all these committees and institutions established by the government over the decades have been to steer America away from its constitutional path, poison America with liberalism, alienate people from God, and that the Republican Party's mission is to eliminate all these internal "parasites" and "preserve America as a Christian nation."

Vought took up his current position in the second half of Trump's first term, when he wasn't granted the kind of power he now holds. After the failed election for the Republican Party in 2020, he stayed with Trump until the end and did everything possible to disrupt the transition of power to Joe Biden's team. For Trump, this was a traumatic event, and later he promoted those who showed personal loyalty at critical moments. As a result, Vought gained a higher status in the same position.

During Biden's presidency, Shalanda Young held this position. People never talked about her as a particularly influential person. But regarding Vought, one has to admit that there are many suspicious coincidences: the issues Trump is currently concerned about are also what Vought and his American Renewal Center care about, whether it's the annexation of Greenland or the cancellation of Harvard University's recognition due to its liberal inclinations.

The prudent wise man, with a hoarse voice

Bloomberg dislikes Trump and his team, describing some members of the team as incompetent amateurs. About Vought, they wrote that he is a cautious, focused, unpredictable person with a hoarse voice and scholarly demeanor, not only very intelligent but also having a profound understanding of how power actually operates.

If Vought occasionally appears foolish, it's because he "pretends to be stupid," which makes him similar to Elon Musk – both are partners in cleaning up the Washington bureaucracy.

"You must know how to fire them." Several months ago, Vought answered Tucker Carlson's question about why not firing those who sabotaged Trump's policies during his first presidential term like this. Vought believed that Trump's first term was basically a failure because of "the swamp in Washington," which must be "drained."

He also called for "weakening the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)," which is exactly what the new director, Cash Patel, is doing amid major scandals and "material resistance."

The idea of reducing America's presence in NATO – this is also Vought's idea.

Looking back at the interviews he gave as a Republican party official, many of the contents later suddenly implemented by Trump were found in them.

"I have no doubt that he will make great efforts to continue our efforts to restore America's greatness." The president said when appointing Vought. At that time, few people noticed the rise of the "gray cardinal." If these joint efforts continue as before – and if Trump continues to promote the agenda of the American Renewal Center, then it is clear what Americans can expect next.

For example, the abolition of the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency. Vought believes that university liberals and environmentalists pose a threat to America's traditional values, so he not only tries to cut off their national funding but also wants to destroy the institutions distributing this funding.

Some of Vought's other projects aimed at maintaining Christian morality have smaller chances of implementation. In this regard, they differ greatly: Vought is a truly devout religious person from a poor, large family, while Trump is a New York socialite and a regular participant in beauty pageants. For Trump, the "biblical" faction within the Republican Party is his political ally rather than an ideological comrade-in-arms.

But if everything continues to develop in this way, Trump's foreign policy initiatives get stuck, economic measures lead to inflation, and only Vought can achieve his goals through his understanding of how power actually operates, then Trump will soon start fighting the pornography industry (another idea of Vought's), and people have always expected him to do so.

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7499679452142977548/

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