The 47th President’s Administration is starting about as foreseen, but with some differences.
We knew that in 2016 he was an inexperienced narcissist who figured everything would change when he bellowed at it. It didn’t. Shockingly, the rightwing sycophants he’d installed in important cabinet positions (AG, Defense Secretary, even his military chiefs of staff) found that vestiges of ethics, patriotism, or good sense, meant there was some dung they just couldn’t eat.
We knew that this time he was resolved to appoint people no hint of backbone. He has. I thought he’d appoint some experienced but bombastic defense secretary. He appointed a joke, except that it’s mostly Putin, Xi, and the mullahs in Iran who are laughing at it. Behind their sleeves.
The speed and comprehensiveness of the viciousness are surprising. Mr. Trump, having thought he could command this vast beast, the civil service or “Deep State,” now knew (or had minions who knew) that they needed someone loyal to him in every cell of the beast. He also has a cadre of folks, including the creators of the 2025 blueprint, who understood this and were prepared to kiss his posterior hard enough and often enough to gain his trust to do as they liked. He himself cares little for policy, except that he hates anyone who’s opposed or belittled him, and any favoring of women, folks of color, poor folks, or queer folks at the expense of Anglo frat boys and billionaires’ profits – or bore the scent of Mr. Biden of Mr. Obama.
They’ve rapidly released felons who violently attacked Capitol cops, canceled security details, excised Tuskegee Airmen from Air Force training syllabi, illegally fired all inspectors-general, encouraged [intimidated?} civil servants to take buyouts (to limit the government’s ability to tax or regulate corporations) but imposing the abortive” pause in paying moneys already committed.
It seems that the reaction of even Republican officeholders in states and cities caused that U-Turn, which so embarrassed the Trumpies that they denied it was a retreat at all. But don’t celebrate. The game plan is to distract with unconventional formations and pre-snap motion so’s defenders can’t cover everyone. Throw out so many appalling absurdities that more thoughtful and patriotic forces can’t fight em all.
Everyone wonders how and when many Trump voters will realize that he’s working against their interests? He represents the well-heeled corporations that are gouging and poisoning people. Government officials trying to protect us from them is somewhat inconvenient to their profit maximization. He promises lower grocery prices; but neither depriving farms of their largely immigrant work-forces nor imposing tariffs will reduce the price of eggs, nor will ignoring bird flu. He is their champion, but his various actions to weaken their access to medical care won’t make ‘em feel a whole lot better, nor will the polio Mr. Kennedy might subject their kids to. Trump yammers about job creation, but he’s trying to undo the jobs Biden and Congress quietly created through the Inflation Reduction Act. (He needs to cover the Biden smell.)
Will they see the connection? Or will he convince them that Joe Biden’s ghost is tinkering with the machinery, or Kamala has a sly finger on the scale? Will Musk’s Twitter continue bombarding them with enough pro-Trump propaganda to keep them quiet? Will eliminating all the watchdogs suggest he has plans to break laws – or just that he’s pruning the Deep State?
Beats me!
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[The above column appeared today, Sunday, 2 February, in the Las Cruces Sun-News and on its website, as well as on the KRWG website under Local Viewpoints. A shortened and sharpened radio commentary version will air during the week on KRWG (90.1 FM) and on KTAL-LP (101.5 FM / http://www.lccommunityradio.org/). ]
[ What’t going on is dangerous in an unprecedented way. And part of the plan is what my column points out, the great variety of the bad acts – as predicted by Steve Bannon years ago, when he spoke of flooding the zone.
The moment I sent in the column, Trumpian absurdities flooded in. Krish Patel, the proposed FBI head, scrambled to explain why saying he’d destroy the FBIwas not a problem; and our proposed new Fauci, Mr. Kennedy danced such weird gyrations around his dangerously goofy vax ideology that even the Louisiana Republican U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician himself, confessed he was “struggling with your nomination.”
Since, top FBI officials are gone, and Musk operatives have full access to the federal system of payments, which was normally well-guarded information even within the government. They could cut off funding to a social program they disliked – or stop sending Fauci’s pension checks.
Meanwhile a tragic crash between a small airplane and a military helicopter killed scores of people near D.C. That’s a tragedy. Mr. Trump immediately insulted women and ethnic minortiies by blaming DEI! Under reporters’ questioning, he said sometimes brains could be a factor in air controllers’ work, implying disadvantaged folks’ brains were inferior, and complained about a slogan he said Biden had put up at the FAA, until another reporter said the slogan had been there all through Trump’s first Presidency.
Trump’s absolute lack of grace in trying to make a political point even before the bodies were recovered was no surprise. Nor was his lurching into a random lie, then trying to support it with remarks that were as stupid as they were racist.
Meanwhile, facts emerged that I suspect were irrelevant but had a lot fatter chance of being relevant than Mr. Trump’s babbling. Trump’s pal Elon Musk had essentially fired the head of the FAA; Trump had then dissolved the Airline Safety Council; and the combination of Trump’s “pause” in payments and “Fork in the Road” letter inviting federal employees to resign rattled folks, causing great chaos.
Here’s a possibly relevant fact that those facts probably didn’t cause: on the night of the crash, a staffing shortage had the air traffic controller doing the job of two controllers. I’m not blaming Trump for the crash. But I promise that if it had happened a week or two into Biden’s Presidency, Trump would have blamed Biden. And creating chaos and fear among federal employees, as Trump is doing, can’t be helpful.
Mr. Trump’s Presidency is something few of us deserve for our sins.
As Republican (or former Republican?) David Brooks wrote, “This was the week in which the Chinese made incredible gains in artificial intelligence and the Americans made incredible gains in human stupidity. I’m sorry, but I look at the Trump administration’s behavior over the last week and the only word that accurately describes it is: stupid.”
Meanwhile, top FBI personnel were reportedly told to resign or get fired. They left. Now Mr. Trump can ensure there’s no top expertise, independence or conscience to protect us from whatever January 6 sympathizer Kash Patel wants to do. Musk and friends also demanded sensitive information about methods of payment to retirees getting social security. No legitimate reason fot them to get that, and those officials resigned, too. What that says to folks who might want to speak up, is, realize that we can make up any kind of case we want and put you through legal hell and, if you depend on social security, you might need a lawyer to get the government to keep paying you. None of that sounds real subtle.]
