Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail
We're not quite at the stage where we're telling stories about Ed Muskie involving pineal fluid, but we're getting there.
‘I am terrified’: Workers describe the dark mood inside federal agencies
There seem to be a lot of people who assumed that Trump and his people were stupid because they were able to stymie their initiative so easily in the first administration. This presumably also applies to other countries who negotiated with Trump. Crying in the corner until the last minute to manipulate a deal is a one-off.
He is assuming bad faith on the other side and he is proceeding accordingly.
‘Just a few days into Trump’s second term, some federal workers are contemplating quitting. Others are preparing to file grievances with their unions or moving communications with each other to secure platforms like Signal. Some, fearing they’ll be caught up in the White House’s purge of diversity programs, are leaving their names off of memos and documents they worry could be labeled as DEI-adjacent.’
Trump’s Moves to Upend Federal Bureaucracy Touch Off Fear and Confusion
There are tough civil service jobs and there are easy civil service jobs. But everyone in the civil service has been cossetted (or appears to have been shielded) from the shocks and vicissitudes of contemporary life in ways that grinds the gears of the general public.
It’s a brave new world.
‘Dozens of employees across the government, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because of worries of retribution, described agencies gripped with uncertainty about how to implement the new policies and workers frantically trying to assess the impact on their careers and families. As the nation’s largest employer, the upheaval in the federal government could reverberate in communities throughout the country.
‘Starting on Inauguration Day, the orders and memos came down one after the other, many crafted in the pugnacious tone of a campaign speech: the shuttering of “Radical and Wasteful” diversity programs in federal agencies; the stripping of civil service protections from a share of the federal work force; the end to remote work, which, one administration memo claimed, had left federal office buildings “mostly empty” and rendered downtown Washington “a national embarrassment.”
‘All new hiring was frozen, job offers were rescinded, scientific meetings were canceled and federal health officials were temporarily barred from communicating with the public, a directive that some understood as so broad that it even extended to making outside purchase orders for lab supplies.’
Trump's bureaucracy goes to war
He’s not playing.
‘There have been hundreds of staff removals or reassignments, including at the State Department, where far more career officers were asked to resign than in past administrations.’
Government must resist the urge to interfere
The defenders of regulation assume that it is always good and right and efficient. Too often in practice, it is cluttered, reactive, complex, self-contradictory, and ham-fisted. Here’s the FT talking about calls for more regulation in Great Mediocrity Britain.
‘The chancellor is right. Light touch regulation is not Britain’s current problem. In fact regulation has been one of our few consistently reliable growth industries. There is no inherent tension between the economy and smart regulation which prevents monopolies, keeps markets competitive and promotes capital formation. But in far too many cases, we have something different: constantly changing rules which businesses struggle to keep up with; complexity spawning ranks of lobbyists; and inherent mission creep.’
Having grown up in Canada, I can verify that it is cold. I once attended a Winnipeg Blue Bombers semi-final game, sitting on metal benches in an uncovered stadium. My ass is still cold.
Here’s Doomberg with some more foolishness. Block-heaters and remote car-starters are absolutely necessary in some parts of the country in the winter.
‘An ironclad canon of the Church of Carbon™ is that parishioners are not allowed to have nice things, which explains the following bit of regulatory tomfoolery:
‘“In what it is calling ‘a bold move’ to combat climate change, the City of Ottawa has introduced a strict by-law limiting residents from using remote car starters to warm up their vehicles for more than one minute before driving. The law, intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve local air quality, has sparked heated debate, especially given Ottawa’s notoriously harsh winters.
‘The new rule allows vehicles to idle for just 60 seconds if the driver is not inside. For residents braving the cold inside their cars, idling is permitted for up to 10 minutes if temperatures are below freezing. Those caught letting their vehicle run unattended beyond the one-minute limit, even on private property, risk being fined by by-law officers.”’
Trump fires multiple agency inspectors general
Shoot first and ask questions later.
‘In a letter obtained by Politico, Hannibal “Mike” Ware, the chairperson of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, informed the White House on Friday that he does not believe the removals of him and others are legal because of the ignored notice period. ‘
Musk Plan for Retooling Government Takes Shape, but Big Questions Loom
Moving DOGE into the USDS after it spent the last several administrations inserting itself into many (if not all) federal agencies is a brilliant move.
‘From this new perch in the administration, Mr. Musk immediately gains a road map to the federal bureaucracy, which could allow him to swiftly assess the technological capacities of agencies and departments and identify potential changes. He is also expected to maintain an office in the West Wing, which will help him keep crucial access to Mr. Trump and key White House aides. Mr. Musk’s allies, meanwhile, have secured key posts in the administration. Amanda Scales, who until this month worked at Mr. Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, is now chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management, a powerful agency that oversees government hiring.’
Trump 47 Brings a Long Awaited Spring for Businesses
It’s a general rule of thumb that Davos man is a contra-indicator. So, this doesn’t bode well.
‘More broadly, President Trump has made clear that he supports American businesses and economic growth, a stark contrast to the Biden administration. “I’ve been here as many times before, and I’m really struck by the level of optimism about the U.S.,” Katie Koch, CEO of asset manager TCW Group, said in a Davos interview. “It is around deregulation.”’
Vice President Vance says US intelligence bureaucrats are 'out of control'
Is he wrong?
‘Vice President JD Vance said bureaucrats at U.S. intelligence services were "out of control" and he defended Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump's nominee to head those services, as the right person for the job.
‘"The bureaucrats at our intelligence services have gotten completely out of control," Vance said in an interview with the CBS "Face the Nation" program broadcast Sunday. "They've been part of the weaponization of our political system, the weaponization of our justice system.’
Putting the Worst Green Ideas in the Dustbin of History
The article presents a simple syllogism based on some implicit assumptions from the Beautiful People crowd.
1. Trump is an idiot
2. He hates the environment
3. Trump’s idiotic policies intended to hurt the environment may backfire and help the environment
‘This seems like a simple story of a callous administration gleefully wrecking the environment to line the pockets of its backers in the fossil fuel industry. And there’s certainly some of that. But it’s not so simple. The green consensus overturned by Trump’s executive order was badly built around a series of half-baked ideas that create serious problems when you try to implement them. Trump has no idea, but in killing their worst ideas, he’s just done the climate movement a big favor.
‘For a decade, mainstream environmentalism has been organized around a simple formula: electrify everything, then switch electric generation to renewable sources, especially wind and solar. This was the guiding spirit of Biden’s landmark climate law, the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which Trump is especially keen to dismantle. The IRA’s central plank was a series of juicy tax incentives to subsidize wind and solar production, setting off a boom in generation capacity that was supposed to revolutionize American energy markets.’
Know the enemy to defeat the enemy.
Again, cue the surprise from the Beautiful People.
‘Gone are the Washington outsiders who took the reins of government in 2017 and struggled to get its wheels turning. Instead, we’ve seen a hailstorm of action that reflects how Trump’s advisers have become masters of the government bureaucracy they have promised to upend.’
SEC Launches New Crypto Task Force
The alacrity of the new administration and the precision of its moves is shocking a lot of people who shouldn’t be surprised.
When the other side discounts you because of racism, sexism, or just blind hatred, you have a powerful advantage.
‘The SEC is wasting no time in signaling a sea change in its approach to crypto. On Jan. 21, 2025 – the first full day of the new Trump Administration – Acting Chair Mark T. Uyeda launched a new crypto task force focused not on enforcement but instead on "set[ting] the SEC on a sensible regulatory path that respects the bounds of the law."
‘Leading the task force will be Commissioner Hester Peirce, dubbed "crypto mom" by many for her support of innovation and evolution in the crypto industry while also opposing a so-called "regulation-by-enforcement" approach previously taken by the Commission under former Chair Gary Gensler.’