Momentum
Success builds upon success.
Four Weeks In: Trump and DOGE Approval Ratings Remain High
Feeling good, Lewis.
‘In the latest Trafalgar poll, conducted Feb. 7-9 with 1,321 American voters, Trump showed a 54% approval rating and 45% disapproval. Other polls reported slightly lower approval ratings, resulting in a RealClearPolitics Average of 48.7% approval and 46.1% disapproval for President Trump’s Job Approval.’
We’re only scratching the surface of discovering fiscal improprieties.
‘A $20 billion Biden administration green-energy slush fund was collecting interest at a private bank and is being distributed without proper oversight, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin reveals in an exclusive interview.
‘President Joe Biden’s EPA parked $20 billion at the financial institution, which The Post has learned is Citibank, as part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. But the awardees weren’t announced until August 2024 and Citibank was not brought in until September — after Biden’s disastrous June debate performance led him to withdraw from his re-election effort in July, making for a very different race with Vice President Kamala Harris the Democratic nominee.
‘Zeldin’s team is looking into whether former EPA employees are working at any of the grantees, which include the Opportunity Finance Network (receiving $2.29 billion), where vice president Laura Silverman says she brings “economic, financial, and social justice to communities,” and the Native CDFI Network ($400 million), which has featured Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) as a speaker. Power Forward Communities, a $2 billion recipient, has no list of employees on its website — but does have openings for government affairs VP, communications VP and special assistant.
‘The others: Climate United Fund (which got the biggest grant, nearly $7 billion), Coalition for Green Capital ($5 billion), Inclusiv ($1.87 billion), Justice Climate Fund ($940 million) and Appalachian Community Capital ($500 million).’
From Reform to Ruin in the USSR
It’s fascinating to learn that Gorbachev made savage cuts to the Soviet bureaucracy.
‘What did Gorbachev do with this seeming consolidation of personnel-based power? He radically restructured and reduced the bureaucracy, seemingly at will. By early 1990, the number of central commissions and ministries were reduced from nearly 100 to 57. In 1987-1988 alone, ministerial bureaucratic staff at the center was slashed by a third, and between 30 to 40 percent of all ministry staff at the republic and oblast (provincial/state) levels were removed—millions of people.16 Meanwhile, in 1988, even the Party’s own full time staff at the center—the central committee apparatus of the CPSU in Moscow—was slashed by roughly a third, from ~2200 to ~1500.17
‘More importantly, Gorbachev neutered the traditional power of the Politburo and Secretariat by creating six new top-level decision-making commissions in September 1988. A divide and conquer approach, he distributed top-level decision-making power into more controllable spheres. Some may recognize this as the very same strategy Xi Jinping has pursued in China with the rise of LSGs and Commissions, which has helped him dominate the policy-making process.’
DOGE’s Federal Job Cuts Threaten Republican Districts Too
The allusion here is to the difficulty in cutting military bases in the 80s due to partisan haggling over who would bear the burden. The US navigated that situation successfully. Given the top-down, atomic nature of these cuts, it’s not obvious that we’ll encounter the same level of organized resistance.
‘More than half of the 100 congressional districts with the largest proportion of federal workers are held by the GOP, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. That could make cutting outside of Washington politically challenging since lawmakers traditionally have fought to protect federal jobs in their districts.’
Personnel from Elon Musk's efficiency service were the latest to be dismissed
Musk and Co. have seen the Obama/Biden USDS team in action and they have decided who didn’t make the cut.
Jennifer Pahlka is now completely excised from the inside track.
‘“If they want a more efficient government, they just fired some of the people most skilled to get them there,” Jennifer Pahlka, civic tech leader who was involved in the creation of USDS, told Nextgov/FCW in a statement.’
The Federal Acquisition Regulations govern how the federal government purchases goods and services.
This is an opportunity for real impact. The paper straws argument may seem trivial, but I suspect it’s more like Van Halen’s brown M&Ms rider. This is a total quality approach.
‘Effective today, @USGSA issued FAR deviations to implement key @POTUS Executive Orders: ending illegal discrimination, restoring merit-based opportunity, & eliminating forced use of paper straws in procurement. GSA is leading the way & encourages all agencies to follow!’
Elon Musk’s mass government cuts could make private companies millions
One consequence of revolution is that the old elite is replaced by the new elite.
The old elites, their entourages, and their beneficiaries tend not to be happy about this development.
Actually, in reading the headline, I thought that the Guardian would make the argument that much of government would be outsourced. They did so indirectly.
‘The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has vowed to oversee a radical hollowing out of government agencies, asserting this week that some should be “deleted entirely” as he defunds public programs and lays off federal workers. While the immense cuts are framed as a means of removing waste, they may also become a boon to private companies – including Musk’s own businesses – that the government increasingly relies on for many of its key initiatives.’
The Courts Are Slowing Trump Down, Not Necessarily Stopping Him
It’s “absurd” to assert that the executive branch is “powerless to investigate how executive agencies execute their responsibilities.”
‘Despite the tone of media coverage, all these judges have done, for now, is raise important questions.
‘I would not put much stock in media coverage or political rhetoric suggesting that the federal courts are in revolt against President Trump and his efforts to rein in government size and spending. Undoubtedly, there are some progressive judges (mainly those appointed by Presidents Obama and Biden) who are philosophically sympathetic to claims that the president is interfering with the safe, professional operation of the administrative state — as if the chief executive has no say in how executive agencies conduct business. For the most part, though, what we’re seeing are the normal effects of litigation, which slow down government action. This does not mean all or even most of Trump’s directives will be stopped.’
Trump’s EEOC and NLRB Firings Will Likely Prevail in Court
Trump should want to take this to the Court. Set the precedent.
‘The Supreme Court has signaled that the inability of a president to direct independent executive agencies is on thin constitutional ice. The framers divided the powers of the federal government into three branches: executive, legislative and judicial. Administrative agencies don’t fit comfortably within this constitutional design. They often exercise powers granted to all three branches: They enact, interpret and enforce rules with the force of law. Though they’re thought to be housed within the executive branch, some of these “independent” agencies can exercise executive power outside the control of the president—like keeping in place the EEOC’s gender-identity mandate.
Trump’s Colorblind Message Energizes Black Americans
The revival of Booker T. Washington’s spirit is a natural consequence of the demise of DEI.
‘It would be easy to blame the federal government for failure to realize success. The reality is that we didn’t believe in ourselves. We didn’t have faith in our own abilities. We deluded ourselves into thinking that entitlements were a form of reparations.
‘What a price we have paid for our delusions. Black Americans have never recovered from losing the culture of opportunity, self-reliance and meritocracy that prevailed before the ’60s. Today, single-parent households are the norm. Illiteracy in reading and math is sky-high. Street violence remains an ever-present threat. Faith in God has declined. But belief in government as our savior remains, shamefully so.’
OpenAI scrubs diversity commitment web page from its site
They were all for social justice, until they weren’t. It turns out that these companies like money more.
‘OpenAI is hardly the only company to distance itself from the wording of DEI as these specific words — as well as the concepts behind them — face fierce political and legal backlash these days. Last week, Attorney General Pam Bondi instructed the Department of Justice to “investigate, eliminate, and penalize,” DEI programs deemed illegal in private sector companies that receive federal funds.
‘In the past month, Meta, Google, and Amazon have all announced the elimination or adjustment of DEI policies, with the latter two scrubbing mention of diversity and inclusion from their recent 10-K forms.‘
DEI bureaucracies believe that title change is sufficient to avoid scrutiny.
The bureaucrats cannot imagine anyone digging into the substance of what they are doing.
‘NEW: After Trump’s inauguration, the University of Michigan School of Nursing axed all its DEI programs. Or so it appeared—until we dug deeper. Turns out the school just renamed its DEI office the office of “community culture.” And all its DEI programs are still in effect.
Government Procurement Efficiency List: Reducing Regulatory Burden
Government contracting officers have imposed thousands of incremental rules, none of which on their face impairs the outcome, but all of them cumulatively lead to material reductions in economic welfare.
Secretary Hegseth is said to have a sense of urgency about acquisition reform. We shall see.
‘Finally, there are thousands and thousands of pages of internal operating guidance that directly and significantly impact the public. Yet, this guidance has not been subject to the transparent rulemaking process. GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) Policy and Procedure (PAP) 2021-05, Evaluation of FSS Program Pricing, is not a regulation and was not subject to public review and comment. Yet, it directly and significantly impacts current FSS contractors and potential offerors from the commercial market. The PAP provides FSS contracting officers with direction regarding the analysis and negotiation of contract level pricing. The PAP is inconsistent with the FAR and the General Services Administration Regulation (GSAR). It imposes significant potential data submission requirements on contractors. It also defies common sense, directing contracting officers to ‘leverage the collective buying power of the federal government” through price negotiations when the contract only provides a $2500 guaranteed minimum and the opportunity to compete for customer requirements at the order level.
That’s Trillion with a “T.”
‘TIM BURCHETT:
]How much money do you calculate is wasted due to waste, fraud, and abuse in the entitlement programs each year?
]HAYWOOD TALCOVE:
]Yeah. My number right now between federal, state, and local government is you can save $1 trillion a year by simply putting in front-end identity verification, eliminating self-certification, and monitoring the back-end of the programs that are providing the benefits, those three things.’