A sledgehammer to the federal government

My Sunday movie was Joel Kim Booster, Psychosexual, a live taping of his stand up comedy act in Los Angeles in 2022. It’s just over an hour long. I had first heard Booster on the NPR show Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me. He is Korean, though adopted and raised by a white family, so he wasn’t raised in Asian culture. He’s also gay. I chose this one because I didn’t want a long movie and many towards the top of my to-see list are close or over two hours. I had also seen a few LGBT comics over the last few months (some great, some OK) and was willing to try another. I thought with a title of Psychosexual he would get into some interesting insights about the difference between men and women and LGBTQ and straight. Yeah, there was some of that. But the jokes and stories were a lot raunchier and there were more jokes about drugs than I would have liked. I guess I’ll need to check reviews some of the other comedian shows before watching. I’m done with the book The Fire Dwellers by Margaret Laurence. Being done with it isn’t the same as finishing. I bought the book at the Stratford Festival in Canada back in August. I had watched The Diviners and was delighted by it and how well it did what theater does best (quite different from what cinema does best). The play is based on a novel by Laurence that take place in the fictional town of Manawaka, Manitoba. This novel is part of a series based in that town. The series is highly regarded in Canada. Since I enjoyed the play so much I considered buying a novel in the series. Most of them are quite thick. I chose the one on the thinner side (300 pages) that had an appealing blurb on the back. The story is about Stacey, wife and mother of four ages 14 to 2. The setting is Vancouver (I presume) of about 1960. This story is part of the series because Stacey is from that small Manitoba town. The problem with the story is while there are incidents that happen, nothing seems to change. Stacey and her husband Mac are very bad at communicating – he tends to misinterpret her intent, then doesn’t want to talk about it, and she backs down way too easily. I got halfway through it, hoping the characters would show a little growth or there would be some explanation of why things are they way they are. But none of that by the halfway point. So I stopped. I wonder if my dissatisfaction with the story is part of the difference between what Americans and Canadians expect from their national stories. I know Americans want conflict, resolution, and a happy or triumphant ending. I’m not Canadian and haven’t read many Canadian novels so I’m not sure what they prize in their stories. This past Sunday was the 17th anniversary since I started this blog. This post is number 5363. Over the last 30 days there have been 13,500 views from Singapore, 5,380 from Hong Kong, 3,920 from Canada, 610 from the US, 580 from France, and smaller numbers from other countries. Since I was able to start keeping track of views in 2010 the top ten countries with the most views are the US, Singapore, Italy, Hong Kong, France, Russia, Germany, Sweden, Canada, and Britain. I know I wrote that I won’t be able to comment on all of the nasty guy’s horrible picks for cabinet positions and the horrible things they do. But some of them have to be mentioned. One that needs mentioning is the pick of Robert Kennedy Jr as the head of the Department of Health and Human Services. Walter Einenkel of Daily Kos reported on the pick and wrote:

Kennedy's history of pushing pseudoscience and debunked claims about vaccines is long and distressing, and his ideas to “Make America Healthy Again” are dubious at best.

Some of Kennedy’s ideas: He wants to remove fluoride from public water. He wants to “investigate” vaccine research. He wants to promote healthier diets (the same topic first lady Michelle Obama tried to promote). That last one could be good, or not, depending whether his definition of “healthy” is influenced by Big Ag. Einenkel also reported on reactions to Kennedy's nomination. Democrats are horrified. Republicans praise the pick or defer to the nasty guy. In an article posted on Kos, Arthur Allen of KFF Health News discussed the reaction of scientists to Kennedy's nomination. And much of that reaction is dread.

Should Kennedy win Senate confirmation, his critics say a radical antiestablishment medical movement with roots in past centuries would take power, threatening the achievements of a science-based public health order painstakingly built since World War II.

Allen wrote that Kennedy says Americans have been crushed by industrial food and drug company deception. I might agree about being crushed by industrial food. But the second part might mean new vaccines may never get approval and vaccine mandates might wither. Dangerous or useless therapies might be promoted. Scientists at National Institute for Health, Federal Drug Administration, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are considering retirement or work elsewhere amidst the talk of trimming the number of research institutes. In the comments of a pundit roundup for Kos exlrrp posted a meme:

got polio*? Me neither. Thanks Science. * or diptheria, pertussis, tetanus, measles, mumps, rubella, HPV Haemophilus, Pneumococcus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, varicella.

Morgan Stephens of Kos reported that Caroline Kennedy, sister to Robert, has disavowed her brother because of the man and conspiracies he has embraced. Caroline’s siblings have also spoken against him. Oliver Willis of Kos wrote:

Republicans are expressing surprise in both public and private that with the announcement of his slate of unqualified Cabinet picks, Donald Trump is still as unhinged as he has always been. ... These picks are in line with Trump’s demonstrated leadership style, valuing people who appear on Fox News to say nice things about him over qualified experts. It is the leadership style that, in his first term, led to results like the failed response to the COVID-19 pandemic and a net job loss when other presidents, even Republican George W. Bush, managed to increase jobs. Despite this, there are new signs of supposed confusion and bewilderment from the GOP establishment. ... Republicans chose Trump to lead their party almost a decade ago. He hasn’t changed. Their purported surprise that he hasn’t changed is the only “shocking” part of this equation.

An Associated Press article posted on Kos reported that nasty junior said pushback from Washington establishment means the cabinet picks are the disruptors voters are demanding (well, some are, and they’re not a majority). And, compared to 2016, the nasty guy knows what to expect. One of those picks is Tulsi Gabbard, “a former Democratic lawmaker who has in the past publicly expressed sympathy to Russian causes, as director of U.S. intelligence services.” Embrace Moscow or get out. Max Burns of Kos wrote that a new president’s cabinet picks are a great view into how he will will govern. And the nasty guy’s picks are “a sledgehammer to the federal government.” They’re also a loyalty test for any Republican dissenters. Fall in line or a loyal candidate will be run against you in the next primary. And they nasty guy has been good at removing disloyal Republicans. That’s a good reason to fall in line.

How Senate Republicans respond to Trump’s list of patently unqualified grifters will determine the shape of our democracy not just over the next four years, but for future administrations. History is littered with the painful stories of legislatures voluntarily surrendering their independence to a corrupt and powerful leader. None of those stories have happy endings.

The nasty guy is the least intellectual occupant of the Oval Office. But he understands how weak people respond to pressure. Each of these nominees requires a different way to declare loyalty.

Kennedy requires the GOP to elevate a known kook and science denier to a critical science-based gig. Gaetz marks an explicit acceptance that the Department of Justice is now a Trump-captured body. [Defense nominee Pete] Hegseth is an admission that decades of Republican tough talk about standing by the troops has been a lie. And in Gabbard’s case, a final acceptance that Republicans are now an overtly pro-Russia, pro-Putin, NATO-skeptical party.

The nasty guy is demanding complete submission. It will redefine the relationship between Congress and the executive branch in ways that will affect the balance of power for years. Senate Republicans can protect the country. Do they have it in them? Republicans have been claiming this election and their sweep of the federal government gives them a “mandate.” Einenkel says don’t believe it. The nasty guy got under 50% of the popular vote. This is the most Senate races lost in states the presidential candidate won since 2004. One must go back 50 years for a smaller House majority. Tom Tomorrow posted a cartoon on Kos. It shows two guys in a car accelerating towards a cliff. The driver insists the last time the nasty guy was in the Oval Office was great and this time will be better. The passenger insists it will be a disaster. Once over the cliff the driver blames the passenger’s condescending attitude. Einenkel reported Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has a few things to say about the election results. She mentions an ad that was anti-transgender.

"There is something to be said about—it doesn't matter that [Trump’s] lying. He's saying that ‘I'm fighting for you,’” she added after being asked about the seeming incongruence of being angry at billionaires and still voting for Trump, a billionaire. ... “What I think people are paying too much attention to is the first half of that ad, which says … 'Kamala Harris is for they/them,’” she said. “They're not focusing on the second half of that ad, where he said, 'Donald Trump is for you.'” “Political races are not about one candidate versus another candidate,” she added. “Too often it gets pigeonholed like that. It is a race to convince a person about who cares about you more."

Kos of Kos wrote about a tweet from October 2015 and how it applies today. The tweet is from Adrian Bott and says:

‘I never though leopards would eat MY face,’ sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party.

Kos offered some examples. Biden was the most pro-union president. The Teamsters refused to endorse him. Project 2025 “is an anti-union corporatist’s wet dream.” Leopards will feast. Muslim Americans didn’t vote for Democrats because of Biden’s support for Israel against Hamas. Muslim leaders are now deeply disappointed in the cabinet picks. It seems Netanyahu ignored Biden’s peace efforts in hopes of the nasty guy winning. Farming communities have been the bedrock of the nasty guy’s support. The farm industry is alarmed at the nasty guy’s proposed tariffs and that sales of soybeans and corn to China could be affected. They are also alarmed by his pick of Kennedy. The nasty guy has been talking about tariffs for quite a while. Weren’t they listening? Or did their source of news leave that part out? Perhaps Democrats should avoid bailing out farmers until they consider voting for Democrats. Immigrants believed that their undocumented relatives were safe because they weren’t “criminals.” Many women voted for both abortion rights and the nasty guy. Many in red states are thankful Obamacare saved their lives, yet voted for the party that has been trying to kill it.

From Social Security cuts to curbs on press freedoms, and from higher grocery prices to raw-milk illnesses, and to say nothing of the return of measles, polio, whooping cough, and other once-eradicated diseases—these next four years will be awful. And those bearing the brunt of the awfulness will be disproportionately Trump voters. And the rest of us? For now, all we can do is look on and ask every time a leopard takes a bite, “Is this what you voted for?”

"The Onion takes over Infowars" is not an Onion spoof

Mark Sumner, Daily Kos staff emeritus, wrote about why one must be very careful when reading someone’s ideas on what Democrats need to do to win the next election. A big sign is they say Harris should have said something she clearly already said or complain about a policy position that Harris definitely did not put forward.

They're engaging in convenient strawman arguments that attack non-existent Democratic campaigns. Those arguments are defined by accepting nothing but Republican talking points. And the prescriptions for how to "fix" the Democratic Party all seem to come down to the same thing: Surrender.

Then Sumner looked at a nine point plan put out by Matthew Yglesias. I saw that name and thought isn’t he highly conservative? So I didn’t read those proposals carefully and skipped over much of Sumner’s point-by-point rebuttal (yes, Yglesias is conservative) and went to the summary.

To bring Yglesias' list into plain English, here's his plan for Democrats Cut taxes for billionaires Drill, baby, drill Protesters are perverts All lives matter Trans people are perverts Experts don't know more than you. Racist, sexist, and abusive language is cool Build the wall. build the camps, deport them all The government exists to help corporations and billionaires This platform may be slightly familiar to you. It's the Republican platform. It also happens to be the platform that Yglesias and others in the why-can't-Democrats-be-more-like-Republicans? faction have been pushing for eternity. What's most astounding is that some people seem to be taking this seriously.

Some of those are media people who hold up such plans as a way for Democrats to “fix things.”

Their arguments are worse than surrender; they're collaboration. These are people who have hankered for nothing so much as the downfall of the Democratic Party and progressive values. They see this moment as an opportunity to sell disheartened Democrats on the benefits of hate, disdain, and ignorance. Anyone who buys their arguments might as well pop on that MAGA hat and unfurl a Confederate flag. And a Democratic Party that followed their advice would only be the Republican Party in a donkey suit.

This story has been getting a lot of play in the media. The version I’m working from is by Oliver Willis of Kos. Alex Jones and his Infowars website and media show was an early and the most prominent voice in conservative conspiracy theories. He made up many of his claims. He funded his operations partly through selling dietary supplements (in the US supplements are not regulated). One of his big stories a decade ago was that the Sandy Hook school shooting didn’t really happen. The families of the murdered children sued Jones. The trial took a good long time. When the verdict was handed down the families were awarded nearly a billion dollars, a judgment large enough that Jones was ordered to liquidate his assets to pay it. The Infowars name and assets were bought by ... The Onion, the site known for its satirical take on the news. This news is so weird one could accuse The Onion of making it up. But it really happened. The group Everytown for Gun Safety helped seal the deal and vowed to support the site through advertising and the Sandy Hook families heartily agree with the deal. The Onion gains a new platform and that source of hurtful information has been stopped. A pundit roundup by Greg Dworking for Kos has several reactions on how bad Matt Gaetz will be as Attorney General. I’ll let you read those (or not) and turn to the memes and cartoons posted in the comments. One posted by exlrrp is from Mehdi Hasan, which looks to be from Bluesky rather than X. Hasan wrote:

The party that is obsessed with child sex offenders, & is close to a cult that claims child sex offenders run the government, just nominated a guy once investigated for allegedly sex-trafficking a 17 year old girl to be in charge of the country’s legal system. Beyond parody.

Some look at “child sex offenders” and think drag queens. They don’t run the government, though we would be in a better place if they did. Others look at that phrase and see Jeffrey Epstein’s clients. Many of them do run the government. Another one posted by exlrrp shows Putin toasting with a glass of champagne and says, “Thank you Republicans! I couldn’t have screwed your nation without you!” David Hayward, the naked pastor, posted a cartoon with a standard format: “How it started” shows people gathered around Jesus as he teaches. “How it’s going” shows people outside a church bowing to an American flag. Collins Dictionary has released its word of the year with several other worthy mentions. The top word is brat, a confident, independent, and hedonistic attitude. It was created by Charli XCX and made famous when it was applied to Harris. Some of the other top words this year: Brainrot: an inability to think clearly caused by excessive consumption of low-quality online content. Looksmaxxing: attempting to maximize the attractiveness of one’s physical appearance. Rawdogging: the act of undertaking an activity without preparation, support, or equipment. Romantasy: a literary genre that combines romantic fiction with fantasy. Supermajority: (it is a word of the year only now?) Bill in Portland, Maine, in his Cheers and Jeers column for Kos quoted late night commentary. A sample:

“Since the election, internet searches for ‘how to move abroad’ are up by more than one-thousand percent. … Additionally, U.S. searches for ‘move to Canada’ increased by 1,270 percent, making this a perfect time to debut my new reality show: Who Wants to Marry a Mountie?” —Stephen Colbert

He knows that his picks are too extreme for confirmation

The voters chose the nasty guy a second time less than ten days ago. Already I see I won’t be able to keep up with the news. I won’t keep up with what I see as the bits of news worth writing about. For example, in contrast to eight years ago the nasty guy is being quick about announcing his picks for various administration positions and for his cabinet. Alarming, but not surprising, that all the names mentioned so far are horrible people. I don’t have the time to list them all. I will mention a few – which means they’re the most alarming. Lisa Needham of Daily Kos reported the nasty guy will probably have no difficulty getting his choices for the 1,200 positions that need Senate confirmation. The Senate is in Republican hands and it appears the filibuster for confirmations has already been eliminated (or was never there). And if the Senate balks, there is the Federal Vacancy Reform Act that allows for “acting” cabinet members. These are supposedly limited to 210 days, But last time the nasty guy switched people around and the Department of Homeland Security had three acting secretaries, so no official head for 440 days. An advantage of the “acting” secretary is they’re more easily fired if they aren’t sufficiently loyal. Or, like last time, he could leave positions vacant, grinding agencies to a halt.

But that’s exactly what conservatives want. They hate agencies because agencies have a nasty habit of creating regulations on things like limiting pollution or trying to make things better for trans kids. Gutting the administrative state means Trump will never have to deal with pesky experts again. Instead, we could experience conspiracy theorist and all-around weirdo Robert F. Kennedy Jr. running the FDA. If Trump wants it that way, it’s likely impossible to stop him, even if Republican senators came together to block someone who thinks wi-fi causes cancer, Trump can just go around them. It’s definitely time to expect the absolute worst.

Emily Singer of Kos reported, prior to the Senate voting a new Majority Leader...

“Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner,” Trump wrote in a post on X. “Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more. This is what they did four years ago, and we cannot let it happen again. We need positions filled IMMEDIATELY!” ... So the fact that Trump is demanding the Senate allow recess appointments is a likely sign that he knows that his picks are so extreme that even a GOP Senate wouldn't confirm them. ... The three Senate Republicans running to replace Mitch McConnell as leader all quickly came out to say they support Trump’s demand to make recess appointments—a bad sign for anyone hoping that the Senate would serve as a backstop to Trump’s dictatorial impulses.

With Congress becoming nearly a year-round body there may not be a recess to allow making a recess appointment. Needham reported that various government institutions are trying to protect themselves from the nasty guy’s efforts. The military is one she focused on. How will they be called on to deport millions of immigrants? Will they be housing deportees at military bases? Will they be called on to stop domestic protests? How are the generals and grunts to figure out which orders are legal and which are illegal – they are required to disobey illegal orders but face harsh consequences of they disobey a legal one. But, how to tell? Walter Einenkel of Kos reported:

A disturbing report from The Wall Street Journal says that Donald Trump’s transition team is drafting an executive order to create a military review body that could allow his administration to remove three- and four-star officers more easily. Purportedly, this “warrior board” would consist of retired senior military personnel. The Journal, whose reporters have seen a draft of this order, says it allows the removal of officers “lacking in requisite leadership qualities” as quickly as 30 days from their review and could force them to retire. The speculation that this board would be a way for Trump to create a military that is loyal to him above all else is not far-fetched.

He has talked about his admiration for Hitler’s generals. On Tuesday Oliver Willis of Kos reported there are signs Elon Musk is trying to assert control over the Republican Party. He reportedly spent $200 million to support the nasty guy in the election. Part of that was through his use of X to support his guy through lies, conspiracy theories, and attacks. Then Musk announced his pick for Senate Majority Leader before the nasty guy did, who chose the same candidate. Thankfully, that candidate lost (which is not a way of saying the guy who got the job will be any good for the country). There are also stories of Musk exerting influence, though the stories may have originated from Musk. Also on Tuesday an Associated Press article posted on Kos reported:

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said Elon Musk and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency" — which is not, despite the name, a government agency. The acronym “DOGE” is a nod to Musk's favorite cryptocurrency, dogecoin. Trump said in a statement that Musk and Ramaswamy will work from outside the government to offer the White House “advice and guidance” and will partner with the Office of Management and Budget to “drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before.” He added that the move would shock government systems.

The Department of Government Efficiency doesn’t exist, at least not yet. So how does Musk and the rest fit in with the Administration? Likely they’ll be an outside think tank issuing pronouncements on how government departments should be funded and which are terminated. Or... Willis suggests that Musk has been put in charge of a blue-ribbon commission, a long Washington tradition of creating a panel to address a problem and that issues a report months or years later when it can be ignored.

There are already signs from within Trump world that Trump wants to get rid of his growing Musk problem. Politico is now reporting that insiders close to Trump believe Musk has “become almost a comical distraction,” citing his habit of “hanging around Mar-a-Lago” and sitting in on high level meetings and giving feedback nobody asked him for.

The nasty guy has traditionally given his big donors access to power. So Musk is only the latest to step up to the trough. This announcement of Musk’s new fake department fits in the nasty guy’s love of a good show to make a grand proclamation that turns out to be nonsense. This one appears to put Musk in his place. But did he get the message? Einenkel reported Musk is changing the terms of service for X. The new terms say if users want to sue the company they must do so in one of two Texas courts stocked with nasty guy appointees. In response to that and to the general awful quality of the site journalists and news organizations are pulling out. The Guardian has said it will no longer post on X, though users may share articles there. Journalist Don Lemon, who is in the midst of a lawsuit against Musk for alleged breach of contract, is also leaving. Singer reported:

On Wednesday, Donald Trump appointed Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general. The Florida Republican, accused of child sex trafficking, is a Trump loyalist who has made it his mission to protect Trump at all costs. He would be the country’s top law enforcement official. ... Gaetz’s nomination is completely out of left field.

Gaetz had been under the investigation by the FBI for years of alleged child sex trafficking. They declined to file charges. He’s also being investigated by the House Ethics Commission – more on this in a moment. Gaetz was instrumental in getting Kevin McCarthy removed as House Speaker. He is well known for stirring up big trouble for the House, apparently for the sake of stirring up trouble.

Hill newspaper reporter Emily Brooks reported that there was an “audible gasp” in the room where House Republicans are meeting to nominate their leadership slate for 2025 when Gaetz’s nomination was announced. It’s despicable nominations like Gaetz’s that make it clear why Trump wants to shred the rules and bypass the Senate to simply install his picks in key administration roles.

Yeah, a smarmy guy under investigation nominated to be the top law enforcement official. Einenkel had more to say about Congress’ views on the nomination of Gaetz. Some members say they will absolutely not vote for him. Other say he’s the nasty guy’s pick and we must support the nasty guy, showing how completely they’ve sold themselves. And Sen. Susan Collins is “shocked.” One hopes that is higher than “concerned.” She was “concerned” about the nomination of accused sexual predator Brett Kavanaugh’s to the Supreme Court and voted for him anyway – and got a sizable campaign donation haul. Singer reported that just hours after Gaetz was nominated for AG he resigned from Congress. He didn’t wait to be confirmed for the new job. There wouldn’t be a reason for the hasty exit, would there? Yeah, there is. The House Ethics Committee was set to release its report on Gaetz in two days. It is described as “highly critical.” But with Gaetz no longer a member of the House the Ethics Committee no longer has jurisdiction over him and the investigation is closed. Democrats are saying there’s a difference between losing jurisdiction and thus no longer able to issue punishment and being able to issue the report. Democrats want that report issued anyway. I’ve since heard that Republicans in the Senate also want to see that report before they take up Gaetz’ nomination.

Ultimately, Trump wants Gaetz as his attorney general to carry out his agenda of punishing his perceived enemies, and releasing the ethics report into Gaetz’s conduct would jeopardize that nomination. However, one glimmer of hope for the decent people who want to see Gaetz fail is that Gaetz's fellow Republican lawmakers absolutely hate him. Ohio GOP Rep. Max Miller said on Wednesday that Gaetz is "literally worse than gum on the bottom of my shoe," adding that Gaetz is "a complete weirdo."

John VandeHei and Mike Allen of Axios explain more about the nasty guy and Gaetz. Here’s a bit of their article.

Get used to this. It's your future foretold: On some topics, Trump wants to seem reasonable. On others — like anything related to his suspicion of a hostile "deep state" — he demands his own personal, controllable wrecking ball. Gaetz, 42, is a wrecking ball, head to toe. Oh, and arguably the most despised one among elected Republicans. But Trump doesn't care, advisers say. ... Republicans hope Gaetz is simply a sacrificial sucker, put up to be rejected so Trump can smuggle through a controversial but more acceptable alternative. Perhaps. But Gaetz is a Trump favorite and Mar-a-Lago regular. Trump has assurances from Senate Republican leaders that he can use a controversial workaround, recess appointments, to smuggle in unpopular picks, at least for a few years.

In the comments of a pundit roundup on Kos exlrrp posted a meme and a cartoon. The meme shows a scene from the end of the movie The Planet of the Apes (it came out in the early 1970s) in which the main character encounters the Statue of Liberty half-buried on a beach. The added words say, “Well, at least now we have the backstory...” The cartoon by Sipress shows a woman talking to a man, saying, “My desire to be well-informed is currently at odds with my desire to remain sane.” Further down Marlene Robertson posted the word for the day:

kakistocracy, noun, a state or country run by the worst, least qualified, or most unscrupulous citizens.

I suggested getting a passport now in case you need to flee later. Madisonian of the Kos community included a link for details, though added five important reminders. 1. Apply now. Don’t wait. The process can take months and applications from nervous fellow citizens will produce a processing logjam. 2. Take a money order for the exact amount. 3. You will need a valid ID and a certified copy of your birth certificate. Take the required photos in the required format or take extra cash for a photo service fee. 4. Check whether you need an appointment or can just walk in. 5. Verify all your documents are in order and all the forms are filled out correctly. I’ll add one more. When I last renewed the place that handled it (I’m pretty sure it was a post office) was allowed to collect a processing fee. Take cash for that too.