one thing you gain from reading in detail about the actual operations of a presidential administration is a recognition that even the most competent and dedicated political staff with the best leadership struggles to bend the federal bureaucracy in its direction
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The composition of the courts is very different, and the "normalization" of Trump and Trumpism makes this a very different landscape.
I think it's easier to make a "thin" justification than ever.
I have some friends at Interior who are worried.
trump is whatever he needs to be to suit his ends.
all we have are each other and we have to start acting like it.
Or is it that everyone is so afraid of stochastic terrorism (soon to be direct violence) that they’re acquiescing and obeying in advance?
Are they looking for an excuse to wait things out?
The moral arc may bend towards justice but we are currently in a section that is bending significantly away from it.
Unfortunately the truth is the one in between where we've got to work at it to succeed.
-- Yes, Prime Minister
Thank you for the reminder that bureaucracy doesn’t turn on a dime (nor a cheeto’s whim)
Forgive me please, while I despair during this march towards several cliffs.
But I heard you on FACTUALLY talk about the specific plans you expect the Maga republicans to enact, and in addition to learning from the specifics of what you said, I was reminded for the hundredth time that...
I don't think it would take much bending to do either and those two things alone could cause a lot of damage.
A lot of what I want to hear is ‘that everything is not hopeless’, however, I don’t have the same level of optimism that you.
Russia 2.0 can be a reality if he has the right loyalists in key positions.
All resistance in the current moment requires accepting a ton of uncertainty. That might be hard, but it's necessary for the fight.
Law exists because people decide it does so... What happens when they decide it doesn't?
We LOST & I wish y’all would stop with the fake optimism. THOSE CASES were the optimism.
But it's a scary time. How far will he go? Can't bend it but maybe break it? It's easy to spiral.
If people in general believe that 4 star generals and apolitical career civil servants are going to be super jazzed about these guys plans they’re horribly misguided.
For example, you can’t take money appropriated for NOAA and use it to build a wall.
It’s all in The Red Book - https://www.gao.gov/legal/appropriations-law/red-book
Those below him will lack same immunity but can still cause harm before it gets checked.
He runs out the clock most times. #ETTD
We are mere months away from the administration daring a judge to enforce their own injunction as the political needle moves nary an iota.
can't imagine what it's like at the federal level
We went through all this from 2016-2020, you’d think people would learn not to take the tweet bait so easily.
That in that seems naive.
It looks like they will have both the desire and means to remove individuals who roadblock goals.
I understand why it is there. Just sucks the shape it has taken.
I wonder what he *can* accomplish even with the hurdles you mention. I bet ICE gets more aggressive, the military fires on protestors, there's dysfunction in federal agencies... not sure what else.
believe in government conspiracies
the organization, the coordination, they are not there, babies.
I just hope it’s the 5% that I like 😂
However, I doubt this particular admin will be giving that nod.
So spot on.
The next day the DEA launched a huge raid.
I’ll take all the positive opinions we can get!
Even when government is run by wise people they can’t get half of what they want done so it makes sense.
That’s where I’m worried.
🤞
It still doesn’t give him the power to make other people do illegal things.
Of course, his plan seems to be to just burn it all down. I honestly have no idea if that will work (and pretty sure he doesn’t either)
But they have to have done something to need the pardon.
Given how many people he has hung out to dry in the past, there might not be many takers for breaking laws for him on the promise of a future pardon.
I expect lots of fuckery to commence, but I don’t know how far he will get.
They will want to make a big splash with that, tangle with some
Governors, etc.
Trump can pretend he has the ability to just politicize civilian employees - he cannot. That would be unlawful actions.
Overall the staff does what is right for the country or state.
Typically they do not allow themselves to be driven by a political agenda.
They will flow with the breeze that is currently blowing.
(Did I say hot air??)
This is wholly different from trying to break it while having no concern about competence whatsoever.
It’s the difference between a soufflé and broken eggs that mistakenly cooked (or didn’t) when broken on the Phoenix sidewalks
Stability is good actually
Besides, it takes a few seconds and no $ to pee on the furniture. It takes hours or days plus lots of $$ to clean it up.
We're dealing with the "pee on everything" class.
I am countering the OP's narrative of "don't worry, the inertia inherent in the deep state will prevent anything bad from happening."
Inertia prevents you from changing direction. It does not stop you from crashing into a wall or falling into a canyon.
How can Gaetz be worse?
If anything, his is an argument against complacency driven by resignation and powerlessness.
Sometimes bureaucrats can be a force for good
Things may well get worse than most are imagining
They are mostly incompetent clowns whose plans will go awry in ways we can’t predict
We have no good reason to hope for the best after what just happened
Hope can be cruel
Hope is necessary to live.
I dont know who originally said that, but for better or worse its spot on.
These people talk a big game until the constituent calls start pouring in
But much of what the US federal government does they want to cut staff and services ... and they can certainly do that
But I hope you're right
And the bureaucracy can be severely damaged over time, the heads of department replaced by political hacks
Factually speaking this administration will only be able to accomplish a small % of its stated goals - much less than most.
Take RFK. Trump could spend his entire administration just trying to enact his ideas. And that’s just 1 dept! We’ll see low fulfillment.
(Which is how we know so much of what they did.)
I'd like to think he'll fall flat on his face, but he's already gotten much further than I thought possible. I thought he'd be in prison by now.
Allows them to declare any non-profit they don’t like as a terrorist Org then shut them down
Call your Congress members!
Vote NO on HR 9495
The Dems made that mistake before.
Start challenging Trump & his sycophants NOW!
DO NOT NORMALIZE A DICTATORSHIP!