Donald Trump has exposed a breathtaking amount of corruption in the federal government. When first elected president in 2016, Mr. Trump talked about changing Washington, D.C., by “draining the swamp.” Then the swamp fought back.

An army of bureaucrats banded against their boss and hamstrung his first administration. Yet even as “deep state” operatives aided and abetted the Russia collusion hoax that did so much damage to the original Trump administration, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry boldly forecasted that Mr. Trump would get control of his divided government.

In the August 2019 issue of the Philadelphia Trumpet, Mr. Flurry explained that Mr. Trump is an end-time type of the ancient Israelite King Jeroboam ii. Amos 7:12-13 tells us that Mr. Trump will be supported by a religious movement called the “king’s chapel” and a secular government entity called the “king’s court” or “kingdom’s court.”

“In Washington, D.C., is the Supreme Court building, where judges are to interpret the law,” Mr. Flurry wrote in “Can President Trump Get Control of His Own Divided Government?” “In the same area are buildings for the cia, the fbi, the Justice Department, the State Department, the Pentagon and others. … It is logical this prophecy is talking about these government structures, or agencies. After all, if Jeroboam is going to be used to save Israel, he would need the law on his side. He wouldn’t be able to use the government like he needed to without the legal structure behind him.”

The primary reason President Trump wasn’t more successful during his first term was that he was never able to get control over his divided government. He was initially optimistic that Attorney General Bill Barr and others could reform the Justice Department. Yet these men surrendered to the army of bureaucrats who run Washington.

Mr. Trump seems to have learned a valuable lesson: He will never tame the sprawling leviathan that has taken over the government, so he must destroy it.

On November 12, only a week after Mr. Trump won reelection, he announced that he was putting American entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy in charge of a new Department of Government Efficiency (doge) tasked with dismantling bureaucracy, eliminating regulations, and cutting wasteful spending. These men feel the U.S. government should balance its budget by slashing $2 trillion in spending. Yet saving America from bankruptcy is not the only reason Mr. Trump wants Musk and Ramaswamy on his team. He also wants to downsize the deep state.

In a recent Wall Street Journal editorial, Musk and Ramaswamy wrote:

Our nation was founded on the basic idea that the people we elect run the government. That isn’t how America functions today. Most legal edicts aren’t laws enacted by Congress but “rules and regulations” promulgated by unelected bureaucrats—tens of thousands of them each year. …

This is antidemocratic and antithetical to the founders’ vision. It imposes massive direct and indirect costs on taxpayers. Thankfully, we have a historic opportunity to solve the problem. On November 5, voters decisively elected Donald Trump with a mandate for sweeping change, and they deserve to get it.

President Trump has asked the two of us to lead a newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, or doge, to cut the federal government down to size.

In other words, the plan is to defeat the deep state not by hijacking it, but by destroying it. Musk and Ramaswamy stated they would look to the Supreme Court to guide them.

Two recent cases ruled that America’s executive agencies are exceeding their constitutional authority. West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency held that the Environmental Protection Agency overstepped its authority in regulating issues related to electricity transmission, distribution and storage. Loper Bright v. Raimondo held that executive branch agencies may no longer interpret their own application of a law. Taken together, these two court cases mean President Trump can fire thousands of federal employees currently issuing unconstitutional regulations.

Musk and Ramaswamy estimate that President Trump could cut $500 billion in wasteful spending simply by nixing programs unauthorized by Congress or being used in ways Congress never intended. Such large cuts would involve a mass headcount reduction across the federal bureaucracy, which could increase the president’s power over the rest of the executive branch.

In the September 2024 Philadelphia Trumpet, Mr. Flurry pointed to four recent cases as evidence that Amos’s prophecy about the “kingdom’s court” is being fulfilled. One was the Loper Bright v. Raimondo:

This ruling nullified a 1984 Supreme Court decision involving the “Chevron deference doctrine,” which allowed executive branch agencies to not only make regulations based on laws passed by the legislative branch, but also to interpret those laws and regulations independent of the legislature or judiciary …. The Chevron doctrine allowed unelected technocratic experts to make, judge and execute laws. …

The Supreme Court, with its decision in this case, dealt a deadly blow to this out-of-control “fourth branch” of government. It effectively corrected one serious problem that has contributed to the epidemic of lawlessness in America.

The court’s favorable rulings in these cases are part of a broader trend that I now recognize is forecast in the prophecy of Amos 7.

The doge also seems to be part of this trend. Musk and Ramaswamy are taking the general principles the Supreme Court laid down and finding practical ways to drain the swamp. Their goal is to make the executive branch small enough for the president to control. The radical left may hate this idea, but the U.S. Constitution only authorizes three branches of government—legislative, executive and judicial. Any employees of the executive branch must support the duly elected president to be legitimate.

It is refreshing to see America waking up to the fact that it must balance its budget and shrink its government. Yet the resurgence brought about by this end-time Jeroboam will only be temporary unless the American people make some permanent changes. President Trump is working with Musk and Ramaswamy to restore the “basic idea that the people we elect run the government,” but the character of the American people must improve dramatically to halt America’s collapse for more than a few years.

To find out about the changes God expects, request a free copy of Repentance Toward God by Mr. Flurry.