Old School

DOGE colors within the lines.

Trump’s Career Moves

People in DC are surprised that Trump and his team learned over the past eight years.

‘Veterans of Donald Trump’s first term retain searing memories of a bureaucratic “resistance” that stymied or sabotaged their policy reform efforts. Yet it took Trump’s election loss and subsequent Justice Department targeting for the Floridian to get serious about today’s powerful but unaccountable federal workforce. The Trump team barreled into office this time around with a sweeping and considered plan for substantive change.

‘Emphasis on “considered.” While the press is fretting about the “Soviet” nature of this bureaucratic “purge,” no one is seriously claiming the president is exceeding his legal authority. Former government managers tell me that while Trump is exercising powers that most presidents don’t, his moves are still appropriate. The scope of this task is vast (Washington is the nation’s largest employer, with some 2.4 million civilian employees) and Trump is pursuing two tall orders: reducing the size of government and making those who remain more accountable. A look at the actions Trump has taken so far, and their significance:’

Federal Workers Ponder an Existential Question: Do I Pack Up and Quit?

So, there’s this.

‘A thread on the social-media platform Reddit used by federal workers lit up with defiant messages. One said they had been considering quitting but “now I am fired up to make these goons as frustrated as possible…. Hold the line!” Another said, “If we leave, we will be replaced by loyalists.”’

Employee groups, Democrats, experts warn feds not to accept ‘deferred resignation’ offer

Union advising employees not to quit.

Let’s see how that works out, Cotton.

‘By Tuesday morning, a consensus had emerged among unions and other federal employee associations: Don’t take the deal. Between the questionable legal authority to grant deferred resignations, a lack of guarantee that an employees’ resignation will be accepted and that their pay and benefits will actually continue, and Elon Musk’s involvement and past history with mass resignation efforts, feds should be wary, they said.’

America’s Schools Keep Flunking

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

The purpose of the Department of Education is to spend money, not to obtain better educational outcomes. Discuss.

‘Talk about throwing good money after bad. Washington spent $190 billion to make up for the damage from the Covid school shutdowns. What did it get students and taxpayers? Worse academic performance.

‘That’s the bottom line from the 2024 National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) report released on Wednesday. Fourth and eighth grade reading scores declined by two points on average since 2022—roughly as much as they did between 2019 and 2022. Some 33% of eighth graders scored below “basic” on the reading exam—a record low.’

LVMH CEO BERNARD ARNAULT: FRANCE ALSO NEEDS TO APPOINT SOMEONE TO SLASH BUREAUCRACY

Come on, France. You can do it.

‘To do that, we'd have to do what they do in the U.S., appoint someone to slash the bureaucracy a bit. But as soon as you try to do that, you're sued, it's impossible.’

The Legacy of Bidenomics: Overspending, Overtaxing, Overregulating

The antitrust tax paid under Biden was as significant as it was under-reported.

‘One of the most glaring examples of regulatory overreach was the Biden administration’s stance on mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The FTC and DOJ adopted a hostile posture toward M&A activity, essential for fostering business growth and increasing efficiency. By blocking mergers without sound economic justification, these agencies undermined businesses and sent a chilling message to investors. Such interference in private-sector decisions contradicted free-market capitalism and harmed the economy by stifling growth opportunities.

‘Similarly, the administration’s push for sweeping regulations on artificial intelligence threatened to derail a promising industry. Instead of embracing AI as a tool for economic advancement, the administration appeared intent on imposing burdensome compliance requirements that would discourage innovation and reduce America’s competitiveness on the global stage.’

Federal tech grant recipients sweat future amid ongoing uncertainty

Will Trump uncover massive funds leakage to non-profits, non-governmental organizations, and contractors that is inconsistent with the law and his administration’s policy?

Methinks they doth protest too much on the recipient side.

‘OMB identified numerous tech-related programs for examination to ensure they are “consistent with the President's policies and requirements,” including the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program, the Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program, the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program and programs funded by the CHIPS and Science Act.

‘Leavitt told reporters at a press conference that the OMB memo “requires federal agencies to identify and review all federal financial assistance programs and supporting activities consistent with the president’s policies and requirements.”’

Is Going After Government Always Good Politics?

There’s something called a Net Promoter Score that measures customer satisfaction.

What do you reckon the NPS score is for most federal government institutions?

Why wouldn’t a marketer try to shake things up? The customer is always right.

‘In 2022, a New York Times poll found that a majority of American voters believed the system of government did not work — a deep sense of dissatisfaction that Trump has used to his advantage. This month, polling from The Times found that 59 percent of adults, including 57 percent of Democrats and 63 percent of Republicans, believed the nation’s political system had been broken for decades.

‘And by last year, public trust in government overall was near historic lows, according to the Pew Research Center.’

Trump’s Overhaul of the Federal Bureaucracy Backed by Recent Survey Research

Tell me you’re a traitor without saying it explicitly.

‘Former diplomat Jim Jeffrey revealed that his team routinely mislead the Trump Administration after the president had ordered the withdrawal of troops from Syria. “What Syria withdrawal? There was never a Syria withdrawal,” Jeffrey said. “When the situation in northeast Syria had been fairly stable after we defeated ISIS, [Trump] was inclined to pull out. In each case, we then decided to come up with five better arguments for why we needed to stay. And we succeeded both times. That’s the story.”

‘“We were always playing shell games to not make clear to our leadership how many troops we had there,” Jeffrey said in an interview.

‘While Jeffrey’s revelation came after Trump had left office from his first term, there was a real time revelation of a policy conflict between President Trump and the “interagency consensus” that would become foundation of the first Trump impeachment.’

Is government too big? Reflections on the size and composition of today’s federal government

If you wanted to dilute accountability like it was tequila in a Vegas bar, you’d outsource everything to consultants and third-party organizations.

Two words, Mr. President: “plausible deniability.”

‘Contractors now outnumber federal employees more than two to one, creating a “blended workforce” that raises pressing questions about accountability, efficiency, and the boundaries of “inherently governmental” functions.’