Draining the Swamp: Why Conservatives Are Celebrating the End of Biden’s Weaponized DHS ‘Anti-Terror’ Programs
In a decisive move to dismantle a deeply politicized arm of the federal bureaucracy, President Trump has officially terminated the Department of Homeland Security’s $18 million Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP) Grant Program. Once touted by Biden officials as a tool for combating extremism, the program became, in the eyes of many conservatives, a Trojan horse for silencing dissent, demonizing Christians, and targeting everyday Americans for their beliefs.
A Program Built on Propaganda, Not Protection
Supporters of the TVTP program claimed it thwarted domestic terrorism, yet no concrete metrics—no plots disrupted, no arrests made—ever backed those claims. Even its former director, Bill Braniff, could only say he was “99% sure” it worked—without presenting a shred of data.
Instead of tracking actual threats, the program obsessed over vague behavioral assessments and community outreach optics. The real outputs? Grants, workshops, and taxpayer-funded political theater. What it lacked in counterterrorism results, it made up for in partisan targeting.
Targeting Conservatives, Christians, and Parents
The most egregious revelations came when internal documents showed Biden’s DHS funding universities and left-wing think tanks to equate mainstream conservative institutions—such as The Heritage Foundation, Fox News, and the NRA—with neo-Nazis and terrorists. One infamous “radicalization pyramid” created at the University of Dayton lumped the Republican National Committee into the same category as violent extremist groups.
Worse, the Biden administration extended this scrutiny to parents. Concerned mothers and fathers who opposed COVID mandates or school curriculum changes were labeled “insurrectionist risks.” FBI probes were launched against individuals simply for expressing frustration at school board meetings—one father was profiled as a domestic threat merely for owning firearms and “railing against the government.”
The House Judiciary Committee later determined there was “no legitimate basis” for these actions. Yet the Biden administration continued to wield DHS programs like political cudgels—criminalizing free speech under the pretense of national security.
The Censorship-Industrial Complex
These abuses weren’t limited to law enforcement. DHS awarded a $700,000 grant to the University of Rhode Island’s Media Education Lab to produce so-called “media literacy” content. In reality, it funded progressive activists to publish blog posts attacking Trump and conservative voices under the guise of public education.
According to a Media Research Center report, the Biden administration awarded over $40 million across 80 grants that systematically targeted “the entire spectrum of the political right and Christians.”
Ending the Weaponization of Government
Senator Josh Hawley called out the rot directly:
“Your Department has consistently weaponized the federal government to attack conservatives using taxpayer dollars…”
The repeal of the TVTP program is a signal that the Trump administration is serious about its mission to end the weaponization of the federal government. The executive order on Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government declares these efforts as “an unprecedented, third-world assault on democracy.”
Conservatives are not mourning the loss of this program—they’re cheering it.
Because this wasn’t counterterrorism.
It was counter-opposition.
And now, it’s over.
A Return to Constitutional Principles
As FBI stats show a doubling of “domestic terrorism” investigations since 2020, critics argue this surge reflects not a rise in real threats—but an expanding definition of “extremism” that includes anyone who questions government authority.
By shutting down the TVTP program, President Trump has struck a blow to the surveillance state and reaffirmed what many believe has been lost in recent years: that patriotism is not terrorism, and the First Amendment is not conditional.
The swamp isn’t drained in a day.
But this is a damn good start.