Early in Donald Trump's second term, reforming the bureaucratic state has become job number one. That's not surprising given the weaponization of government that personally targeted the president for years on end, doing everything it could to prevent him from ever returning to the White House. As the administration's gutting of USAID has shown, though, it's not just the Department of Justice and FBI that need cleaning up. 

Billions of dollars in grants were shoveled to left-wing causes over the last several decades, from transgender activism to DEI programs. There was even a gravy train of federal money flowing to "news" outlets like Politico, the Associated Press, and The New York Times. Enter Elon Musk, whose Department of Government Efficiency has been hard at work uncovering the waste and abuse of taxpayer funds. 

Unsurprisingly, that has sent Democrats into an apoplectic rage. That's because when they lose elections, they aren't supposed to actually lose. Instead, the vast bureaucratic state is supposed to step in to ensure their priorities are still pushed across the globe, including dumping vast sums of cash into the coffers of left-wing activists. With that power structure now being threatened, Democrats are lashing out, and unsurprisingly, some lower-court judges are more than happy to play along with their gambit. 

As RedState reported, a temporary restraining order was recently put in place to stop the Trump administration from placing thousands of USAID employees on paid leave. Another judge went so far as to rule that "political appointees" can't access Treasury Department information, including current Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. 

SEE: Judge Presses Pause on Trump Administration Attempt to Downsize USAID Workforce 

On Sunday night, the Trump administration filed its response with the court. 

We'll see where this goes, but I'm going to make a prediction: Pain is coming for Democrats. 

In war, there are some battles you choose not to fight because they simply aren't worth the strategic risk. What Democrats are doing here is picking a fight over an ancillary issue that will end up exposing the entirety of their flank. One only needs to look at the overruling of Roe v. Wade as a guide. 

That fight began with the State of Mississippi passing a law that would make most abortions illegal after 15 weeks. In the grand scheme of things, it was relatively tame. Yet, Democrats freaked out and decided to go charging headlong into battle over it anyway. After receiving some favorable rulings in the lower courts, the matter eventually made it to the Supreme Court. We all know what happened next, with Dobbs becoming the law of the land, giving free rein to states to ban abortion completely if they like. 

Here's the thing. Had Democrats just left Mississippi alone and not provided a path for the issue to reach the Supreme Court, Roe never would have been overturned. They are making the same mistake regarding the bureaucratic state. If Democrats had just left well enough alone and allowed Trump to operate within his authority as president, most of the bureaucracies would have likely been preserved long-term. 

In the grand scheme of things, USAID is small potatoes. It's also a losing issue for the left given most Americans don't want to see their taxpayer money going to transgender operas in South America. But again, Democrats have never understood the idea of measure in strategy. Thus, they have once again charged headlong into battle over what would have otherwise been a contained issue. Instead of taking a short-term, contained loss while preserving what they claim to want to protect, they are now opening up the bureaucratic state to complete destruction.  

These issues are going to make it to the Supreme Court, and when they do, does anyone really think the conservative majority is going to rule that the executive branch can't fire bureaucrats under their statutory control? Or that a department secretary can't access their own department's information? I wouldn't count on it. On the contrary, I'd expect the high court to rip away many of the current protections benefiting federal "servants" and hand the president near total control to reform the agencies under his purview.

What Democrats have done is open the door wide open for a bureaucratic state bloodbath, and no one can say they weren't warned.