Mostly Monday Read: American Carnage

“The quote he will be remembered for.” John Buss, @repeat1968

Good Day, Sky Dancers!

President’s Day is an underlooked holiday in this century’s USA.  The amalgamation of Washington and Lincoln’s Birthday with all the others has water downed the usual class lessons and celebrations.  We now have a Republican Congress Critter trying to make Flag Day and Trump’s Birthday Federal Holidays. Jingoism has always been confused with being a patriot at some point in history.  Now, we’ve gone past that to a coup to create oligarchs to form an aristocracy and create a Monarch out of a dotard. It’s especially bad today as we see a President trying to rule like a king and transfer all the Treasury of the United States to the very wealthy.

Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) wants President Donald Trump’s birthday to be a federal holiday. On Friday, the New York congresswoman introduced in a news release what she called “Trump’s Birthday and Flag Day Holiday Establishment Act,” which would “permanently codify” June 14 as a federal holiday called “Trump’s Birthday and Flag Day,” according to the release.

About two years into the Reagan Regime and two years into grad school as I started my serious study of economics, I realized we were turning our backs on the 20th century. My vote for him is the one I seriously regretted. Although, I did not vote for him in the Republican Primary because he never struck me as intelligent enough to do the job. I’ve discovered that today’s  Republican donors only want someone who can get out votes and throw red meat. That serves their real goals for cashing in. Historian Heather Cox Richardson pointed out the Republican’s embrace of Racism and 19th-century thinking yesterday in her Substack’s “Letters from an American.”  It started decades of stereotyping everyone and a return to the Gilded Age that led to the Trump Coup.  He’s calling it the Golden Age, but seriously, it’s the Gilded Age on Viagra. It’s the rebirth of his plan for American Carnage.

After World War II, the vast majority of Americans—Democrats and Republicans alike—agreed that the federal government should regulate business, provide a basic social safety net, promote infrastructure, and protect civil rights. But not everyone was on board. Some big businessmen hated regulations and the taxes necessary for social welfare programs and infrastructure, and racists and religious traditionalists who opposed women’s rights wanted to tear that “liberal consensus” apart.

They had no luck convincing voters to abandon the government that was overseeing unprecedented prosperity until the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, decision permitted them to turn back to an old American trope. That ruling, which declared segregation in the public schools unconstitutional, enabled opponents of the liberal consensus to resurrect the post–Civil War argument of former Confederates that a government protecting Black rights was simply redistributing wealth from hardworking white taxpayers to undeserving Black Americans.

That argument began to take hold, and in 1980, Republican president Ronald Reagan rode it to the White House with the story of the “welfare queen,” identified as a Cadillac-driving, unemployed moocher from Chicago’s South Side (to signal that the woman was Black). “She has 80 names, 30 addresses, 12 Social Security cards and is collecting veteran’s benefits on four non-existing deceased husbands,” Reagan claimed. “And she is collecting Social Security on her cards. She’s got Medicaid, getting food stamps, and she is collecting welfare under each of her names.” The woman was real, but not typical—she was a dangerous criminal rather than a representative welfare recipient—but the story illustrated perfectly the idea that government involvement in the economy bled individual enterprise and handed tax dollars to undeserving Black Americans.

Republicans expanded that trope to denigrate all “liberals” of both parties, who supported an active government, claiming they were all wasting government monies. Deregulation and tax cuts meant that between 1981, when Reagan took office, and 2021, when Democratic president Joe Biden did, about $50 trillion moved from the bottom 90% of Americans to the top 1%. But rather than convincing Republican voters to return to a robust system of business regulation and restoring taxes on the wealthy and corporations, that transfer of wealth seemed to make them hate the government even more, as they apparently were convinced it benefited only nonwhite Americans and women.

That hatred has led to a skewed idea of the actions and the size of the federal government. For example, Americans think the U.S. spends too much on foreign aid because they think it spends about 25% of the federal budget on such aid while they say it should only spend about 10%. In fact, it spends only about 1% on foreign aid. Similarly, while right-wing leaders insist that the government is bloated, in fact, as Elaine Kamarck of the Brookings Institution noted last month, the U.S. population has grown by about 68% in the last 50 years while the size of the federal government’s workforce has actually shrunk.

When I read this, I always repeat the mantra, Lord, give me the confidence of a mediocre white man. I knew a bunch of them in situ when I was in high school, where they peaked.  Most barely made it through yet expected to be welcomed into top-paying jobs because, well, they were taught they could fumble through anything and still be put at the head of the line. They were told girls would throw themselves at them.  What a suprise when they found out the was a lot of competition that exceeded their skills.  They’re basically threatened by Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.  Now it’s a rallying cry that basically shows you who the sexist, the racist, and the GLBTQ bigots are.  The worst of them came from families with money who could buy them into just about anything.  We’re being ruled today by yesterday’s Trust Fund Babies. There are still a lot of Uncle Toms in the news, too.

Here’s a headline from the Financial Times that should curl your toes. “Trump administration pressures Romania to lift restrictions on Andrew Tate. Tristan and Andrew Tate have been charged with sexual misconduct, organised crime and money laundering.” Gee, isn’t that special?

The Trump administration has pressured Romanian authorities to lift travel restrictions on the self-described misogynist influencer Andrew Tate, a champion of the US president who is facing criminal charges in Bucharest.

Andrew and his brother Tristan Tate, who are dual US and UK nationals, have become a cause célèbre in rightwing social media after having been arrested in Romania in 2022 and charged with human trafficking, sexual misconduct and money laundering, as well as starting an organised crime group. They have denied wrongdoing.

The Tates’ case was first brought up by US officials in a phone call with the Romanian government last week and then followed up by Trump’s special envoy Richard Grenell when he met the Romanian foreign minister at the Munich Security Conference, according to three people familiar with the matter.

A fourth person said a request was made to return the brothers’ passports and allow them to travel while they wait for court proceedings to conclude. Romanian foreign minister Emil Hurezeanu declined to comment on his exchange with Grenell. His spokesperson said Hurezeanu initiated the meeting and that they had “known each other for a long time” as they had both served as ambassadors in Berlin during the first Trump presidency.

The spokesperson did not comment on their specific discussions but said: “Romanian courts are independent and operate based on the law, there is due process.”

Grenell said he had “no substantive conversation” with Hurezeanu, whom he denied knowing. He “saw me in the hallway” in Munich and “asked for a meeting”, but there was no other follow-up encounter, Grenell said. “I support the Tate brothers as evident by my publicly available tweets,” he added.

This month Grenell wrote on X that Romania was the “latest example” of how funds disbursed by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) had been “weaponised against people and politicians who weren’t woke”. The Trump administration has slashed USAID payments and attempted to fire many of its staff.

The Tate brothers have millions of online followers in the “manosphere” — online platforms targeted at young men that promote male superiority and reject feminism — which played a role in Trump’s re-election. Tucker Carlson, a Trump ally and former Fox anchor, has carried out sympathetic interviews with both brothers, calling on viewers to “make up their own mind” about them.

Tristan Tate boasted on X in November about the brothers’ role in the US election, claiming that “millions of young men in Europe and the USA have a healthy rightwing approach to politics that they would NOT have if Andrew Tate had never appeared on their phone screens”.

The UK is also seeking the brothers’ extradition after police in Bedfordshire obtained an arrest warrant as part of an investigation into allegations of rape and human trafficking. A Romanian court ruled last year that they can be extradited once there is a final decision in their case in Romania.

These are just perfect examples of “the many fine people on both sides.” Covering up rapes and sexual assault is a major activity for Trumplandia.  FARTUS himself is a participant in these illegal and immoral activities. No Republican seems to care, though.  Meanwhile, Trump is busy letting others destroy the government of the United States while traveling to various events like the Super Bowl and, now, the Daytona 500.  Such a manly man!  This is from MTN. “Trump Posted 14 Times About His Daytona 500 Trip, Nothing About Multi-State Flooding. An indifferent Trump was chauffeured around the racetrack as Kentucky mourned 8 deaths including a mom and her 7 year old child.”

On Saturday, Donald Trump posted on Truth Social:

“Every single day I will be fighting for you with every breath in my body. I will not rest until we have delivered the strong, safe and prosperous America that our children deserve and that you deserve. This will truly be the Golden Age of America.”

Yet, just one day later, as deadly storms and catastrophic flooding ravaged Kentucky, Tennessee, and other states, he remained silent on the disaster on Truth Social, instead flooding his social media platform with 14 separate posts about his trip to the Daytona 500.

Videos, event clips, and even a screenshot of a tweet from the racetrack dominated his feed—while families in Kentucky and other states faced devastation, loss, and uncertainty. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear called the devastation, “one of the most serious weather events we’ve dealt with in at least a decade.”

A mother and her 7 year old child were among 8 people in Kentucky who died due to the storm.

Trump’s trip to Daytona was a spectacle of taxpayer-funded extravagance. The cost of moving a sitting president, including Air Force One, Secret Service, and logistical support, runs into the millions.

Yup, it’s a return to the Gilded Age.  Right down to child labor and life-threatening workplaces. This is from Popular Information. “In botched DEI purge, OSHA trashes workplace safety guidelines.”  Hell, we don’t need no stinking immigrants!  We got 8 year olds!

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has ordered the digital and physical destruction of 18 publications on workplace safety practices, according to an internal February 7 email obtained by Popular Information. The email says the publications have been removed from the OSHA website and tells staff that any physical copies should be “disposed of or recycled.”

The purge appears to be part of the Trump administration’s effort to terminate any activities associated with “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility,” or DEIA. The email advises OSHA staff that “[i]f you have wallet cards that include language, or can be interpreted, on DEIA or gender ideology, please dispose of them as well.”

Popular Information has obtained archived versions of most of the deleted publications. Almost all of them are not associated with DEIA topics but appear to have been targeted because they include a DEIA-related keyword used in a completely different context.

For example, one of the purged publications is “OSHA Best Practices for Protecting EMS Responders During Treatment and Transport of Victims of Hazardous Substance Releases.” Popular Information was able to obtain an archived version of the publication through the Internet Archive. The 104-page document — a collaboration between dozens of government agencies and NGOs — was published in 2009 to detail the steps “employers need to take to protect their EMS responders from becoming additional victims while on the front line of medical response.” DEIA issues are not discussed.

On page 94 of the publication, however, the words “diversity” and “diverse” are used in a context that has nothing to do with race or gender. The publication notes there is a “diversity of state-specific certification, training, and regulatory requirements” for “EMS agencies” and “diverse conditions under which EMS responders could work.” Similarly, on page 96, the publication notes, “EMS responders are a diverse group” and “risks vary with their primary and secondary roles.”

“Guidelines for Nursing Homes: Ergonomics for the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders,” is a 44-page publication released in 2009. It provides “recommendations for nursing home employers to help reduce the number and severity of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in their facilities.” It has nothing to do with DEIA. On page 10, however, it notes that “development of MSDs may be related to genetic causes, gender, age, and other factors.” The single use of the word “gender” appears to have flagged the publication for deletion and destruction.

Another purged publication, “Small Entity Compliance Guide for the Respiratory Protection Standard,” contains the sentence, “[t]he new computer software reflects the concept of government leadership through collaboration with diverse technical organizations.” It has nothing to do with DEIA.

It’s pretty clear that our European allies are worried about our commitment to NATO and the idea that no country should invade a sovereign country. This is breaking news from the AP. You know the AP, the news agency that’s banned from FARTUS pressers?  I’m absolutely certain we are now more apt to get Terrorist attacks between knowing we’re not on good times with the Allies that went to war last time and with the FBI and CIA kneecapped.  “European leaders gather for emergency talks, fearing that Trump has abandoned age-old allies.” I thought these things were solid Republican values?  FARTUS sides with the bad guys.

 European leaders gathered in Paris Monday for emergency talks on how to react to the U.S. diplomatic blitz on Ukraine, which has thrown a once-solid alliance into turmoil and left the Europeans questioning the reliability of their key transatlantic partner.

Shortly before the meeting, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump, but Macron’s office would not disclose details about the 20-minute discussion.

Leaders of Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark and the European Union arrived at the Elysee Palace for talks on Europe’s security quandary. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is also attending.

Last week, top U.S. officials from the Trump administration made their first visit to Europe, leaving the impression that Washington was ready to embrace the Kremlin while it cold-shouldered many of its age-old European allies.

Despite belligerent warnings for months ahead of Donald Trump’s reelection as U.S. president, leaders hoped somehow that Trump would stand shoulder to shoulder with Europe in opposing Russia’s war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the continent would finally start to beef up its defenses and become less reliant on American firepower.

But a flurry of speeches by Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week questioned both Europe’s security commitments and its fundamental democratic principles. Macron said their stinging rebukes and threats of non-cooperation in the face of military danger felt like a shock to the system.

The tipping point came when Trump decided to upend years of U.S. policy by holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in hopes of ending the Russia-Ukraine war. Then, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia on Saturday all but ruled out the inclusion of other Europeans in any Ukraine peace talks.

Alexander Vindman has this to say about our intelligence capability in the age of FARTUS and Putin’s Girl Tulsi.  “The Dark Age of American Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard and the End of Intelligence Sharing.”

Tulsi Gabbard represents a major challenge to the basic functions of American government and the long-term safety of the American people. Tulsi’s sympathies for the brutal dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad and ideological alignment with Russian media networks like RT suggest that her tenure as DNI will be characterized by an adversarial relationship to the rest of the intelligence community. The best-case scenario for the United States is that Tulsi Gabbard’s willingness to accept the narratives peddled by adversaries of America at face value is the result of poor judgement. The worst-case scenario is that Tulsi Gabbard is operating in bad-faith and actively seeking to limit American intelligence capabilities. Regardless of whichever scenario is closer to reality, the United States will face major changes in how its allies will approach the process of intelligence sharing.

We can expect that our allies will limit the amount of intelligence they share with their American counterparts and that the US will be increasingly compartmentalized within multilateral formats like Five Eyes, AUKUS, and NATO. We can also assume that the work of intel agencies involved in clandestine support efforts (such as the CIA’s support for the Ukrainian military and drone programs) will face major scrutiny and limitations in their operations. Depending on the actions taken by Gabbard and her willingness to advance the administration’s interest in supporting European far-right political actors, our allies may begin to subject American operatives to counter-intelligence measures.

Intelligence sharing allows the United States to counter threats posed by terrorists and adversarial states. With Gabbard as the head of the DNI, Americans will be facing a more dangerous world with fewer friends and less tools. While some intelligence functions may be partially insulated from Gabbard’s direct control, we can expect that her presence will lead to a considerable shift in how our allies approach cooperation with the American intelligence community for the foreseeable future.

I’m going to end with Paul Krugman, who has a lot more freedom in his Substack than he did with NYT. “Our Government Is Experiencing a Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly. Musk is moving fast and breaking important things.”  It sure stinks like Project 2025, doesn’t it?

Last month SpaceX carried out a test launch of its in-development Starship rocket. Liftoff was achieved, but as the company later announced, “Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn.” In other words, it exploded.

It would be wrong to think of this explosion as a disaster; new products often experience failures during testing. That is, after all, why we test them. Still, the euphemistic language reeks of unwillingness to take responsibility and admit that things didn’t go as planned. But then again, what would you expect from a company owned by Elon Musk?

And here’s the thing: If a rocket blows up, you can build a new rocket and try again. “Move fast and break things” is sometimes an OK approach if the things in question are just hardware, which can be replaced. But what if the object that experiences “rapid unscheduled disassembly” is something whose continued functioning is crucial to people’s lives — say, something like the U.S. government?

This isn’t a hypothetical question: Musk, with backing from Donald Trump, is blowing up significant parts of the U.S. government as you read this. And we can already see the shape of multiple potential disasters.

The Muskenjugend — the mostly very young people Musk has hired to work at the Department of Government Efficiency, which isn’t actually a government department in any legal sense but which Trump has effectively given huge and probably unconstitutional power to remake federal agencies — generally seem to share three characteristics.

First, they all seem to be extreme right-wing ideologues: whenever journalists investigate the social media trail of one of Musk’s operatives, what they find is horrifying. For example, Marko Elez, who had access to the Treasury Department’s central payments system, had in the recent past advocated racism and eugenics.

Second, they don’t know anything about the government agencies they’re supposedly going to make more efficient. That’s understandable. The federal government has around 2 million workers, many — I would say the vast majority — performing important public services, in a huge variety of fields. You can’t parachute into a government agency and expect to know in a matter of days which if any programs and employees are dispensable.

But the third characteristic of the Muskenjugend is that, like Musk himself, they’re arrogant. They believe that they can parachute into agencies and quickly identify what should be cut.

So last week, when the Trump administration began laying off large numbers of probationary workers, the only real questions were how quickly it would become clear that essential government functions were being compromised and just how scary the damage would be.

And the answers were that the damage became obvious almost immediately, and some of it looks very scary indeed.

A word about language: the term “probationary workers” can sound as if we’re talking about problem cases, people who’ve had poor performance reviews or something. But all it means is employees who were hired relatively recently, usually within the past year, and as a result have weaker job protection than their more senior colleagues.

So what would be your worst nightmare about large, hastily announced job cuts? Maybe firing the people responsible for keeping our nuclear weapons secure? Sure enough, on Thursday night, according to CNN’s reporting, Trump officials fired more than 300 staffers at the National Nuclear Security Administration, apparently unaware that this agency oversees America’s nukes. (Maybe the name should have been a giveaway?)

The next day, realizing the enormity of the error, the agency tried to reinstate those workers — but was having trouble getting in touch, because the terminated workers had already been locked out of their government email accounts.

Trump officials also summarily fired 3400 workers at the National Forest Service, which plays a critical role in fighting forest fires. The administration said that no firefighters were laid off, but right now — before fire season begins — is when the service should be trying to prevent fires by, among other things, clearing vegetation that can feed those fires. That work has now been hobbled, in some cases brought to a complete halt. (Remember when Trump blamed California for devastating fires, claiming that the state hadn’t raked enough leaves?)

There have been large layoffs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just as America is experiencing a serious spike in ordinary flu cases and alarm bells are ringing about a potential bird flu pandemic. Under political pressure, the CDC has been withholding reports. So we might not even know about the next pandemic until it’s well underway.

Large layoffs have struck at the Department of Health and Human Services, including, according to CBS, half the officers of the Epidemic Intelligence Service, sometimes called the “disease detectives,” who play a crucial role in identifying public health threats. There have been layoffs at the FDA, which monitors the safety of food additives and medical devices.

And according to the union, several hundred workers have been fired at the Federal Aviation Administration.

Are we feeling gilded yet?

What’s on your reading and blogging list today?