Donald Trump dispatches ‘God Squad’ to wipe out the last 51 ocean giants that have survived 3,000,000 years

The Trump administration just made a shocking move by deciding to strip away crucial protections for the critically endangered Rice’s whale and other marine life in the Gulf of America. This extraordinary decision came from a rare meeting of what’s informally known as the “God Squad,” and it could lead to the first extinction of a whale species in North American waters in three centuries. 

Per The Guardian, Rice’s Whales have lived for over 3 million years, long before humans even walked the Earth. They can grow to be as long as a bus and weigh as much as six elephants, feasting on fat-rich fish in the Gulf of America. Unfortunately for them, their primary habitat is also a prime location for the oil and gas industry. Right now, only about 50 of these magnificent baleen whales are left.

The Endangered Species Committee, nicknamed the “God Squad,” literally holds the power to decide if a species lives or dies. However, in a 15-minute meeting at the Department of Interior, the six officials from the Trump administration agreed to exempt the oil and gas industry from complying with endangered species laws in the Gulf.

First, you need to understand that this isn’t common

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) is the strongest legislation ever enacted globally to protect and recover threatened and endangered species, boasting a 99% success rate, thanks to Congress’s directive that all federal agencies must avoid actions that jeopardize a species’ existence or habitat. Agencies typically consult with expert wildlife agencies informally, and find alternatives if a formal “jeopardy” is found.

According to Defenders of Wildlife, the God Squad only steps in after three key steps. An official finding that a project can lead to a species’ extinction, a review of a timely exemption application, and a formal, on-the-record hearing before an administrative law judge. In fact, the God Squad has only ever convened three times. This recent meeting, however, seems to have skipped many of these crucial steps. 

In this instance, the fate of these imperiled whales, sea turtles, and other at-risk species lay in the hands of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who, for the first time, invoked “national security” as the rationale for the exemption. Hegseth stated at the meeting that if “development in the Gulf is chilled, we are prevented from producing the energy we need as a country.” 

He even tied it to “recent hostile action by the Iranian terror regime,” saying it highlights “yet again why robust domestic oil production is a national security imperative.” It’s a crazy claim, since the US is already the world’s leading oil and gas producer. The ESA has never actually stopped a drilling project in the Gulf. However, the administration is keen to push oil projects through, even using emergency powers to restart dangerous pipelines in California.

What this means in practice is that the Rice’s whale, which is listed as critically endangered internationally, will lose the modest safeguards that oil and gas companies were previously required to observe, like slowing down boats in whale habitats and monitoring for whales during exploratory and drilling work. 

All of the major threats to the Rice’s whale, which is the only whale species that spends almost all its time in US waters, come directly from the oil and gas industry. Constant ship traffic leads to deadly vessel strikes, and relentless noise from industry work messes with the whale’s songs. Interestingly, the administration has argued for whales in the past, saying that windfarms are ‘wiping out the whale population.’

Pat Parenteau, an environmental law expert from Vermont Law School, noted that Trump “likes being first and if this is upheld he will be the first president to make the conscious decision to make a whale extinct. It will happen before our very eyes. What a black mark on our legacy that would be.” 

Environmental groups have already sued to reverse the God Squad’s ruling, arguing it is flat-out illegal. Parenteau firmly believes that “You can’t just wave a national security wand with no process and decide to make something extinct.” He warned that if the courts somehow uphold this decision, we might see “national security used to justify anything.”