The Achilles heel of Trump's ability to enact his awful agenda in his first term was his incompetence at governing. This term, Trump's handlers have had longer to prepare and may have more agency due to his mental decline. Given that, I'd urge caution in normalizing competent appointees. - ThreadSky

kevinjkircher.com • 96 days ago

The Achilles heel of Trump's ability to enact his awful agenda in his first term was his incompetence at governing. This term, Trump's handlers have had longer to prepare and may have more agency due to his mental decline. Given that, I'd urge caution in normalizing competent appointees.

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kevinjkircher.com•96 days ago

Competent people around Trump are, in my view, unlikely to be "adults in the room" who mitigate his worst impulses. They're more likely to be ideologically aligned and, through their competence, to extend, deepen and accelerate harms done by Trump policies.

busbyj2.bsky.social•96 days ago

Should we then want to see incompetents like Gaetz, Hegseth, Gabbard, RFK Jr confirmed?

kevinjkircher.com•96 days ago

Given the choice between an incompetent sycophant appointee and a competent one, I suspect that the incompetent one will do less harm. I'm curious what others think.

tcishere.bsky.social•96 days ago

Depends on the definition of competence. You can have weird, well-sourced (in your mind) ideas of how things should run and get the policy implemented then have it deliver nothing because it's unworkable. See: Bunker screaming scene in Downfall. This is how I see RFK jr failing.

tcishere.bsky.social•96 days ago

Gabbard, Gaetz, Hegseth - these are smart people, but for Hegseth and Gabbard, they're in over their heads. Remember Rick Perry at Energy? Deer in headlight, and he came from the executive office of a big oil state. Say what you want about Perry, sure, but he wasn't 'unqualified'

tcishere.bsky.social•96 days ago

Gaetz is a clown hired to be a clown in this role. Doesn't mean he's dumb, it means he's just a weapon likely to misfire. Hint: Democrats, you need to do every little thing to make him misfire. Leak personal stuff. Misfile shit he needs. Delay every meeting. Work the clock.

naeatx.bsky.social•96 days ago

This is what scares me about Vance as VP.
If Trump dies in office, Vance takes over. He’s much smarter than Trump and is better equipped to damage our democracy and especially to take away the rights of women.

kevinjkircher.com•96 days ago

If you find yourself arguing that a competent appointee is not so bad - because of their competence or suspected ideological differences from Trump - maybe think about (or even talk to) the people who will suffer most from the harms these competent people help Trump cause.

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