Beyond all the damage being done to vital systems, there is the issue of damage to trust. I am a professor of public health and medicine. Will I encourage my best students to seek jobs after graduation at NIH, CDC, etc? Heck no. Why would I wish them to be at the whim of dictators now and in the future?
We will need our best people to rebuild these systems if and when the chaos ever abates, but I do not think we will be able to persuade our best people to choose those paths.
I’m not a lawyer, or an expert in presidential powers, but why were Elon Musk&his dimwit crew allowed access to information systems without these break ins going through court system?
Reading Geo Conway who suggested violence seems inevitable. Why not tax revolt first? CA, NY, IL pay the bills, yet Trump threatens to deny them disaster relief. I have never objected to paying taxes for roads, schools, lunches for kids, med research. I’m actually a fan of NASA&NOAA, but I don’t want my tax dollars in Musk&Trump pockets.
The Onion actually broke this story weeks ago. They posted “Trump claims he can overrule constitution with executive order because of little known ‘no one will stop me’ loophole”
It will be extremely interesting to see what happens with hacking the DoD to pieces. If allowed, the Republican Party is 110% in capitulation mode. The DoD, in particular, as well as “Homeland Security” were sacred cows that could never be touched according to the Republican Party. Not to mention they purposefully put jobs/production for those depts and agencies in all 50 states. Closing military bases is going to be very difficult for the gov hawks (guess they’re de-taloned now) to explain to the rubes who voted for them.
Maybe the domestic and foreign terrorists are waiting for those parts of the gov to be dismantled before attacking us.
"It’s now a question of when, rather than if, this administration is culpable for a preventable catastrophe that could only have happened on its watch." Absolutely true and only our accursed American exceptionalism keeps us from accepting it.
And this post doesn’t even include the potential and real disasters facing us because of his foreign policy moves so far. Alienating nearly all allies, basically laughing at any nation supporting of Palestinians… this isn’t going to end we’ll and we can all see it, but nobody is doing anything about it
As JVL at The Bulwark has suggested, the nuclear proliferation genie (er, one which doesn't grant any wishes) has been released after the US this week walked over to the 'other' side in Russia's war of aggression on Ukraine, which is in this state bc they gave up nukes in the early 90s based on some loose promises. No state will feel secure from aggression without a nuclear comfort blanket given where Russia, China, Iran, and N. Korea are. Not sure we'd want Germany and Japan to re-arm themselves with nukes. Scary. Glad I prolly have only 2--3 decades of life left but feel bad for our kids and everyone else.
All big organizations have to deal with turnover of personnel. The old hands age out and the new one come on board. Back in the day, in a meeting with the head of Northrup Aircraft engineering I was told they had a bimodal workforce age grouping and it was a problem as important information was not being passed on to the newbies. That was in the 1970's. NASA had a spate of this when the newbies had to relearn how to successfully launch rockets. Space X is learning by doing.
“This does not sound like a well thought-out streamlining of the federal government.” No, but it is a well thought-out strategy for making government subservient to a cabal of the grifter class of the wealthy.
Right or wrong, it's hard to believe this is happening. I'll still have to see it to believe it. I lived in a "government town" and watched while the Great Recession gutted our community. Not a single government employee lost their job. Not one, nor were they ever in fear. After that, I thought they were bullet proof. Can't touch'em. So this I gotta see.
Beyond all the damage being done to vital systems, there is the issue of damage to trust. I am a professor of public health and medicine. Will I encourage my best students to seek jobs after graduation at NIH, CDC, etc? Heck no. Why would I wish them to be at the whim of dictators now and in the future?
We will need our best people to rebuild these systems if and when the chaos ever abates, but I do not think we will be able to persuade our best people to choose those paths.
Running the government is not like running a business. But it turns out that ruining the government is just like ruining a business.
I’m not a lawyer, or an expert in presidential powers, but why were Elon Musk&his dimwit crew allowed access to information systems without these break ins going through court system?
Reading Geo Conway who suggested violence seems inevitable. Why not tax revolt first? CA, NY, IL pay the bills, yet Trump threatens to deny them disaster relief. I have never objected to paying taxes for roads, schools, lunches for kids, med research. I’m actually a fan of NASA&NOAA, but I don’t want my tax dollars in Musk&Trump pockets.
The Onion actually broke this story weeks ago. They posted “Trump claims he can overrule constitution with executive order because of little known ‘no one will stop me’ loophole”
It will be extremely interesting to see what happens with hacking the DoD to pieces. If allowed, the Republican Party is 110% in capitulation mode. The DoD, in particular, as well as “Homeland Security” were sacred cows that could never be touched according to the Republican Party. Not to mention they purposefully put jobs/production for those depts and agencies in all 50 states. Closing military bases is going to be very difficult for the gov hawks (guess they’re de-taloned now) to explain to the rubes who voted for them.
Maybe the domestic and foreign terrorists are waiting for those parts of the gov to be dismantled before attacking us.
"It’s now a question of when, rather than if, this administration is culpable for a preventable catastrophe that could only have happened on its watch." Absolutely true and only our accursed American exceptionalism keeps us from accepting it.
And this post doesn’t even include the potential and real disasters facing us because of his foreign policy moves so far. Alienating nearly all allies, basically laughing at any nation supporting of Palestinians… this isn’t going to end we’ll and we can all see it, but nobody is doing anything about it
As JVL at The Bulwark has suggested, the nuclear proliferation genie (er, one which doesn't grant any wishes) has been released after the US this week walked over to the 'other' side in Russia's war of aggression on Ukraine, which is in this state bc they gave up nukes in the early 90s based on some loose promises. No state will feel secure from aggression without a nuclear comfort blanket given where Russia, China, Iran, and N. Korea are. Not sure we'd want Germany and Japan to re-arm themselves with nukes. Scary. Glad I prolly have only 2--3 decades of life left but feel bad for our kids and everyone else.
All big organizations have to deal with turnover of personnel. The old hands age out and the new one come on board. Back in the day, in a meeting with the head of Northrup Aircraft engineering I was told they had a bimodal workforce age grouping and it was a problem as important information was not being passed on to the newbies. That was in the 1970's. NASA had a spate of this when the newbies had to relearn how to successfully launch rockets. Space X is learning by doing.
“This does not sound like a well thought-out streamlining of the federal government.” No, but it is a well thought-out strategy for making government subservient to a cabal of the grifter class of the wealthy.
In short: We're doomed.
Right or wrong, it's hard to believe this is happening. I'll still have to see it to believe it. I lived in a "government town" and watched while the Great Recession gutted our community. Not a single government employee lost their job. Not one, nor were they ever in fear. After that, I thought they were bullet proof. Can't touch'em. So this I gotta see.
Don't mean to be uncharitable, but I'm not sure which actual world you inhabit.
Not following. Are you seeing something different in the "world you inhabit"?
I see what Dan Drezner is describing. Not gonna comment further. Thank you.
It’s simply wrong.
Not saying it's right. I'm saying it's unprecedented.