The sad truth is, whatever else is true about Trump, he is a cruel man and he is stocking his administration with other cruel men. This is clear evidence of that.
That is a matter of character. It will not change no matter what the courts say about this particular policy. They will not learn. Or rather, they'll learn how to be more surreptitious when going about their cruel business.
Isn’t the cruelty and carelessness the point? Taking inventory of programs and assessing them by some made up rubric is an excuse to show their base that they are serious about carrying out their promises, a giant attention getting flag that will continue to wave even as the courts are filled with cases and the legitimacy of this EO falls apart. Even if this EO crumbles (let’s hope it does) the impact remains. Meanwhile, the trust built with communities applying for grants over the last 4 years is being completely eroded. I work directly with communities that spent months putting together Community Change grants, and you can bet their faith in working with the federal government has evaporated. Between this order, the canceling of IRA/BIL and the severance for fed employees, it seems clear to me that the administration aims to undermine any efficiency and effectiveness in the federal government and to destroy trust in it.
And yet I remember Jen palka writing one post ago the status quo isn’t worth protecting and supporting doge. I loved Jen’s book but that was a very rash take. There is a need to protect a large part of the system. America is still a great country as compared with much of the world. Remember that most revolutions do not end well
You could have written this article over the past four years about the previous administration (whomever they were) but you choose to wait for a Republican administration showing your biased reporting!
Great post. And it's been quite the week for literature quotes!
The Great Gatsby reference you close with is one of my all time favorites. And that follows a Radley Balko post from this week (https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/clapping-for-stalin), which consisted solely of an extended quote from The Gulag Archipelago (supplemented with images Radley added), which would also undoubtedly make my list for the top 5 passages in all of literature.
This reminds me of how large scale layoffs at big companies work. It always takes a while to work through cuts and in the meantime it’s really stressful. If you’re waiting for someone who will make budget cuts in a way that doesn’t cause any negative side effects, you’ll be waiting forever.
The sad truth is, whatever else is true about Trump, he is a cruel man and he is stocking his administration with other cruel men. This is clear evidence of that.
That is a matter of character. It will not change no matter what the courts say about this particular policy. They will not learn. Or rather, they'll learn how to be more surreptitious when going about their cruel business.
Isn’t the cruelty and carelessness the point? Taking inventory of programs and assessing them by some made up rubric is an excuse to show their base that they are serious about carrying out their promises, a giant attention getting flag that will continue to wave even as the courts are filled with cases and the legitimacy of this EO falls apart. Even if this EO crumbles (let’s hope it does) the impact remains. Meanwhile, the trust built with communities applying for grants over the last 4 years is being completely eroded. I work directly with communities that spent months putting together Community Change grants, and you can bet their faith in working with the federal government has evaporated. Between this order, the canceling of IRA/BIL and the severance for fed employees, it seems clear to me that the administration aims to undermine any efficiency and effectiveness in the federal government and to destroy trust in it.
And yet I remember Jen palka writing one post ago the status quo isn’t worth protecting and supporting doge. I loved Jen’s book but that was a very rash take. There is a need to protect a large part of the system. America is still a great country as compared with much of the world. Remember that most revolutions do not end well
You could have written this article over the past four years about the previous administration (whomever they were) but you choose to wait for a Republican administration showing your biased reporting!
Have you not paid attention to the news
Great post. And it's been quite the week for literature quotes!
The Great Gatsby reference you close with is one of my all time favorites. And that follows a Radley Balko post from this week (https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/clapping-for-stalin), which consisted solely of an extended quote from The Gulag Archipelago (supplemented with images Radley added), which would also undoubtedly make my list for the top 5 passages in all of literature.
This reminds me of how large scale layoffs at big companies work. It always takes a while to work through cuts and in the meantime it’s really stressful. If you’re waiting for someone who will make budget cuts in a way that doesn’t cause any negative side effects, you’ll be waiting forever.