can’t quite shake the feeling that the reason they’re firing all probationary Feds and the reason the stated goal is to eventually get rid of everyone but essential personnel is that Musk or Trump have radically misunderstood both those terms of art
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I think Elon may truly believe that by not spending appropriated funds he is somehow actually impacting the deficit, like how it would work at a company that had a specific cash burn rate
Trump's a guy with one consistent policy obsession throughout his adult life (tariffs) and he quite literally has no idea how they work. That they're misunderstand terminology, and lack the curiosity to look up the meanings, isn't surprising.
The RIFs that account to essential workers in a government shutdown are due March 13? When's the government shutdown date? He's gonna fire everyone and blame the democrats for not passing the budget.
From AI: Being labeled nonessential doesn’t mean an employee’s work lacks value—it just means their presence isn’t required for urgent or emergency operations.
Maybe they think probation is a punishment. From AI: Probation Instead of Jail – A judge may sentence someone to probation instead of jail, allowing them to remain in the community under supervision, following certain conditions (e.g., regular check-ins, avoiding new crimes, drug testing).
II think it's just a corporate acquisition to Musk. He's stripping the country for parts, transferring functions to other (his) companies, selling assets, loading the government with obligations, and not giving a shit because the plan is to dispose of it in a few years.
This could be why everyone is being fired for “poor performance” (despite most having good performance). I assumed it was because Trump and Musk were trying to cheat them out of unemployment—I may have credited the duo (and their minions) with more intelligence than they have.
Yeah, they are assuming that all probationary Feds are Zoomers and unlikely to be MAGA, and that essential personnel are the only ones needed to keep the lights on.
My basic theory of how the Trump admin functions:
1) everyone with power believes contradictory things
2) all of them have egos too large to ever change their minds
3) staffers gain power by plugging misunderstandings together to create short-lived harmonies
The second factor wasn't nearly as true (barring Trump and Miller) in the first administration, so point 3 didn't become a major part of the power economy. This meant a lot more conflict behind closed doors, but also limited the range of actions actually taken
What scares me is that this CAN reach a sort of Dynamic Equilibrium, but the result is a small-Selectorate society that's also just weaker overall. It's lobotomizing yourself into a KSA so that Thiel & friends can have the new Aramco.
Good analogy but we have an even more clear cut and applicable roadmap to compare against: the looting of the Russian state in the 90s and the establishment of their new autocratic oligarchy
My assumption is that you can fire probationary employees without cause, and so they are firing all of the people they can fire without needing a reason.
it's really tricky to figure out whether they're playing for the X crowd (Musk), they don't understand what's going on (Trump), or they understand perfectly well and that's exactly what they want to do, thank you (Vought)
So if you look at their recent memo on reorganization and RIFs, it clearly shows they want to have a bare bones structure just above those who are considered essential for Antideficiency Act purposes. Which is very much NOT the same thing as essential for continued operation of the government.
the probation thing I'm not certain about, but yeah the essential personnel thing is absolutely elon specifically thinking it means something it doesn't (which would also dovetail nicely yet again with what he did when buying twitter)
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He
1) likes tariffs
But he also
2) hates windmills.
they do not understand “terms of art”, for that requires learning a skill / craft and thus gaining knowledge and the limits of said knowledge
it is literally the problem!
Same deal with blanket denying all grants for medical research into ‘trauma’, or the acronym ‘poc’.
They’re just dumb and mean and don’t care cause why would they.
The same way he thinks people seeking asylum all escaped from insane asylums.
1) everyone with power believes contradictory things
2) all of them have egos too large to ever change their minds
3) staffers gain power by plugging misunderstandings together to create short-lived harmonies
for I think Eris / Strife is the other side of her Niece Harmony, Vice and Virtue while other times Virtue and Vice
and then EM just destroying the government
like Trump is maybe 25% aware of what is actually happening