We Doing This Shit Again? (Trump Admin Meltdown II)

[tennbengal]

I assume everyone on this board knows exactly what the crisis is, but in case you need a cliff's notes version to run by friends and family - this summation from Craig Calcaterra (erstwhile attorney and still excellent baseball writer) cuts to the chase -

We are in a constitutional crisis

On Monday Matthew J. Vaeth, the acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, sent a memo to all federal agencies ordering them to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligations or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance" and called for each agency to perform a “comprehensive analysis” to ensure its grant and loan programs are consistent with Donald Trump’s executive orders. The pause period: 90 days. Late yesterday afternoon a federal judge temporarily blocked that order. The judge's ruling holds until Monday.

All of that may sound technocratic to some of you but make no mistake, the Trump Administration unilaterally deciding not to spend money as appropriated by Congress has ushered in a profound constitutional crisis, and we're going to be in a period of chaos for some time.

Before digging into that, know that this is not merely a matter of some research funds being held up, as some have reported. It's a wide swath of federal spending amounting to billions upon billions of dollars. Possibly in the trillions of dollars. The funds cover virtually everything except government salaries, Social Security, Medicare, and military spending. It affects basically everything else: Medicaid, school meals, SNAP/WIC funding, Head Start grants, child care block grants, Pell grants, student loans, higher education grants, and housing vouchers to name just a few. A large portion of these funds go directly to states and are used for critical federal programs which states have been tasked with administering. As the day wore on yesterday we witnessed a constant stream of updates about programs which directly affect actual people and important operations of government immediately shutting down or being thrown into chaos.

Under the Constitution, federal funds are appropriated by Congress. The President has some say in deciding how to implement Congress' appropriations, but he does not have the power to simply stop paying for things that do not align with his political priorities. He cannot even "pause" them, as yesterday's memo purports to do. If there was any doubt about that The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that while the president may request that Congress rescind appropriated funds, he cannot simply refuse to spend money because he doesn't like where those funds are going. This law was put into effect because Richard Nixon attempted to abuse his power like Trump did on Monday, albeit on a much, much smaller scale. The law and the idea behind it was was ratified in the 1975 Supreme Court Case Train v. City of New York, which held that, per the Impoundment and Control Act, federal agencies cannot simply decide not to spend money Congress appropriated.

Which is to say, what Trump is trying to do is blatantly illegal. The president is attempting to usurp Congress' most important power: the power of the purse, represented by the Taxing and Spending Clause in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. This could not be more black and white. It's a far less dramatic coup than the one Trump perpetrated four years ago, but it is a coup all the same.

We are at a critical moment here. We are a week into Trump's second term and he is, essentially, attempting to assume dictatorial powers. Meanwhile, we have an opposition party who, so far anyway, refuses to do anything about it. People are being left to their own devices. History suggests that such a state of affairs is NOT going to result in good things. I'm not being dramatic when I say that this is the sort of thing which could lead to violence and anarchy.

[Jerloma]

Thanks TB. Well at least someone is calling them out on their bullshit...

[The Sybian]

A shred of hope… I need to check in with my former CBP colleague who moved over to USCIS, mostly so he could work from home and Newark instead of commuting to NYC. Banning remote work isn’t going to sit well with him I’m sure. And all the horrible immigration laws he is now going to have to enforce. At least he isn’t ICE.

[sancarlos]

My daughter said she and her fellow employees had a big group zoom call to discuss this. She said everybody she knows is refusing to resign.

[P.D.X.]

i can't think of anything worth less than an IOU from djt

[A_B]

These first two weeks are just a brainstorming exercise. Throwing everything out there, see what takes, no bad ideas. Except as anyone who has ever brainstormed knows, there are a whole lot of bad ideas, after all.

[sancarlos]

If there is anything good emerging from this, it’s that opposition is getting fired up, at least in some quarters.

[Brontoburglar]

this is also the only strategy they have

[The Sybian]

These first two weeks are just a brainstorming exercise. Throwing everything out there, see what takes, no bad ideas. Except as anyone who has ever brainstormed knows, there are a whole lot of bad ideas, after all.

It’s like a brainstorm, but actually enacting every bad idea instead of just saying it.

Just spoke to another HR Director in my company about the DEI EO, and she is clearly pro-Trump. “Not to get politically, but this is stuff that needed to happen.” Yes, some of the shit we needed to do for audits is stupid and insanely b time consuming, but I told her there’s a better way to institute change than flipping over the table on day one. At least she laughed and agreed it’s insane how he is instituting change.

My last two companies were both vocally cutting-edge Progressive, so it’s weird working with Conservative HR managers.

[P.D.X.]

the tech-bro thing of "fail often, fail fast"

[mister d]

Just spoke to another HR Director in my company about the DEI EO, and she is clearly pro-Trump.

"So where do you think you rank on the 'DEI hire' list? Not at the top, of course, but how long until they get to women?"

[P.D.X.]

then slap her on the ass and call her 'toots'

[DaveInSeattle]

then slap her on the ass and call her 'toots'

And chase her around the desk a few times...

[Nonlinear FC]

I guess most of you guys probably heard, but they had to rescind the federal funding freeze.

[L-Jam3]

Huh. So if you stand up to bullying and deep down they're a really bunch of pussies then they fold. Go figure.

[Nonlinear FC]

Well, put another way, if you put out patently unconstitutional and unlawful executive orders, there are enough Federal judges still around that won't put up with that shit and will shut it down.

[GoodKarma]

These first two weeks are just a brainstorming exercise. Throwing everything out there, see what takes, no bad ideas.

It goes beyond this...it's also a distraction...while everyone is pearl-clutching at the newest thing (or the dumbest thing) the real changes they want to implement move forward with less noise (drilling, isolationist moves, ICE raids to name a few) than they might normally get.

[Nonlinear FC]

I'm waffling between this all a tightly scripted rollout, and these guys are just throwing shit they've been angry about into a tire fire of grievances.

If you scrolled through that reddit thread, it points out that the offer letter for fed employees to resign is almost an exact duplicate of what Musk sent Twitter employees. And, importantly, those employees that took that "deal" were screwed out of "promised" money.

Fed employees are a lot of things. They aren't fucking stupid.

[duff]

The funding freeze is not a distraction for other policies. I believe they thought he could snap his fingers and it would be how they pleased. It is only money to them. Not Healthcare. Not housing allowances. Not college tuition. Not food assistance. Not medical research. None of that. Just money. And fuck those that need that assistance.

They did not care that it was unconstitutional. That has never mattered to them. Thankfully there are people that do care. But expect more if the same. That is how they do business. Take it to court and let it stay there for years. The others will soon fold.

[L-Jam3]

Well, put another way, if you put out patently unconstitutional and unlawful executive orders, there are enough Federal judges still around that won't put up with that shit and will shut it down.

Thought just crossed my mind. The Republican platform, if you can call it that, seems to be more top-down. The leadership, however you want to define it as party leaders or the oligarch class, comes up with the talking points, and then repeats them so that the followers take it as their beliefs, when in actuality, it was spoon-fed to them.

The Democratic platform, OTOH, seems to be more bottom-up. I'm thinking of so many progressive planks, and they all seem to have started from the people, and ultimately the Democrats adopted it. Anti-war in Vietnam and the Gulf was more bottom-up. Civil Rights for Blacks was bottom-up. LGBT protections were bottom up. Hell, even something as patently progressive, like elected officials should be insider trading, isn't espoused by the leadership but rather those outside the inner circle.

I'm wondering if that creates a disadvantage when it comes to national elections. Which is disheartening, because so many of the planks are popular (i.e. 50% or better). The ACA is popular. Taxing the rich at a higher level than working people is popular. Unions are popular. Not having Black teenagers getting shot by the police is popular. Accountability is popular. Yet they continue to play the victim card. It's so aggravating.

[P.D.X.]

this and the birthright citizenship thing are trial balloons to see how much they can fuck with the constitution I suspect

[Nonlinear FC]

this and the birthright citizenship thing are trial balloons to see how much they can fuck with the constitution I suspect

I agree with this.

[mister d]

...

I'm wondering if that creates a disadvantage when it comes to national elections.

It is a disadvantage and the question is "why doesn't the Dem platform reflect what's popular". They have to know something, like gay marriage, is like 2/3 safe before they'll adopt which leaves a huge enthusiasm lag.

[A_B]

Huh. So if you stand up to bullying and deep down they're a really bunch of pussies then they fold. Go figure.

LJam and AB, simpatico again!

[Nonlinear FC]

One of the things that made Trump/minions back down is that the funding freeze affected millions of his own voters, and I'm sure ELOs were screaming that behind closed doors.

His immigration policies are going to fuck not just with agriculture but with construction efforts. Guess who is going to need a lot of that labor in the coming weeks? (Hint: Think disasters in red parts of NC and LA).

[mister d]

But is he targeting those areas? I've heard about NJ, NY, Chicago, but nothing about red states.

(Not saying it isn't happening, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if these were focused solely or mostly on harming communities this admin wants to harm.)

[Jerloma]

He's on TV talking about the Laken Riley act and how it's going to get rid of all the bad people, and he looks at the parents and says "We have to thank your daughter for that."

[The Sybian]

this and the birthright citizenship thing are trial balloons to see how much they can fuck with the constitution I suspect

It reminds me of an interview I heard with one of the South Park guys on how they got so much past the censors on one of their movies. They had jokes they really wanted to get in which they knew would never fly, so they wrote a bunch that were way over the line, knowing those would get cut, and they could replace those with what they really wanted, and it seemed tame in comparison. I really don't know if it's well thought out, or they are just flooding the zone with everything and see what gets through. For Trump, he just wants praise and attention for getting shit done he doesn't care if it stands in a month, he just wants the instant gratification. And he knows if shit gets overturned, his people won't remember anymore because that'll be 20 issues ago.

[mister d]

I know its a long shot, but our only possible out here is Trump dying and Vance being so off-putting to the party that he can't withstand impeachment, right?

[Nonlinear FC]

If Trump keeps fucking with millions of people on a daily basis like this, he's not lasting 4 years.

[The Sybian]

Been talking to my friend at USCIS and he said it's complete chaos there. Nobody is sure what is going to happen next, so they aren't doing anything right now. He said they were all offered the 8 months severance, but he doesn't think anyone other than those close to retirement are considering it. Managers must be freaking out. Besides not knowing if your entire agency mission is going to drastically change on a mentally ill dementia riddled man's whim, but all of your staff were offered a giant severance package to leave. If even a few take it, your staffing is royally fucked!

[P.D.X.]

this and the birthright citizenship thing are trial balloons to see how much they can fuck with the constitution I suspect

It reminds me of an interview I heard with one of the South Park guys on how they got so much past the censors on one of their movies. They had jokes they really wanted to get in which they knew would never fly, so they wrote a bunch that were way over the line, knowing those would get cut, and they could replace those with what they really wanted, and it seemed tame in comparison. I really don't know if it's well thought out, or they are just flooding the zone with everything and see what gets through. For Trump, he just wants praise and attention for getting shit done he doesn't care if it stands in a month, he just wants the instant gratification. And he knows if shit gets overturned, his people won't remember anymore because that'll be 20 issues ago.

Since I haven’t seen evidence of any masterminding or 4d chess playing in the last decade but have consistently seen irrationality and impulse, imma go with Occam’s here on out

[bfj]

It sure put the disability community into a HUGE panic yesterday. Yours truly included.

This on the heels of Maryland’s governor closing down a grant that helped families of/those with disabilities apply for $2000 a year to help with expenses.

[The Sybian]

It sure put the disability community into a HUGE panic yesterday. Yours truly included.

This on the heels of Maryland’s governor closing down a grant that helped families of/those with disabilities apply for $2000 a year to help with expenses.

In a couple of days they will all pronounce Trump is a hero, as he is the only President to unfreeze over a $Trillion in government spending.

[DaveInSeattle]

For Trump, he just wants praise and attention

You could have ended it right there. He just wants to be the Main Character, every day.

is people won't remember anymore because that'll be 20 issues ago.

He is what happens when the Gish Gallop becomes a real boy.

[tennbengal]

I guess most of you guys probably heard, but they had to rescind the federal funding freeze.

Sort of…

They are trying some weasely stuff around that particular announcement too…

[sancarlos]

[The Sybian]

I’m starting to think we need to create two separate countries and give people a year to figure out a way to move to the correct country. It’s like this country is in a toxic marriage and we need to break it off and move on.

[Tom 1860]

So, is it black, disabled, gay, or other people who are forcing planes to crash?

I am a little confused and keep picturing a blind, brown dwarf from Iran sat in a wheelchair in front of a air traffic control panel with a Demoncrate pin on their non binary lapel, accidently spilling their fair trade oat milk coffee on the control panel and trying to mop up the mess with meal vouchers...

[rass]

Uhhhh