Dismantling checks on his power
The Washington Post on the purge:
The White House late Friday fired the independent inspectors general of at least 14 major federal agencies in a purge that could clear the way for President Donald Trump to install loyalists in the crucial role of identifying fraud, waste and abuse in the government.
Which is kind of a bad idea from the point of view of wanting fraud, waste and abuse prevented. What you want in people identifying fraud, waste and abuse is not personal loyalty but disinterested dedication and skill.
The dismissals appeared to violate federal law, which requires Congress to receive 30 days’ notice of any intent to fire a Senate-confirmed inspector general.
Which tells us that Trump is not a legitimate head of state but a criminal determined to trash the state.
Oversight of some of the government’s largest agencies was affected: the departments of Defense, State, Transportation, Labor, Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Energy, Commerce, and Agriculture, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, Small Business Administration and the Social Security Administration.
…
The chairman of the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency challenged the White House’s action in a letter late Friday to Sergio Gor, head of the presidential personnel office.
“I recommend that you reach out to White House Counsel to discuss your intended course of action. At this point, we do not believe the actions taken are legally sufficient to dismiss Presidentially Appointed, Senate Confirmed Inspectors General,” wrote Hannibal “Mike” Ware, inspector general of the Small Business Administration and acting inspector general at the Social Security Administration.
Ware, who was among those fired, cited a law Congress approved in 2022 that requires the White House to inform Capitol Hill 30 days before removing inspectors general and to provide a “substantial rationale” for the decision.
Trump doesn’t recognize laws, which makes him a dictator.
The emails informing the watchdogs of their dismissals rippled across the agencies Friday. Another fired inspector general learned of his ouster by reading the email for the first time while on the phone with a Washington Post reporter who had called to ask about it. The person reacted by saying the new administration “does not want anyone in this role who is going to be independent.”
“IGs have done exactly what the president says he wants: to fight fraud waste and abuse and make the government more effective,” that person added. “Firing this many of us makes no sense. It is counter to those goals.”
His purported goals are window dressing. What he wants is to bully as many people as possible and draw as much horrified attention as possible.
Some inspectors general are presidential appointees, while others are designated by the heads of their agencies. They serve indefinite terms and typically span administrations to insulate them from shifts in political winds. A president can remove them but must notify both chambers of Congress in advance.
“It’s a purge of independent watchdogs in the middle of the night,” [Senator Elizabeth] Warren said Friday in a post on social media. “Inspectors general are charged with rooting out government waste, fraud, abuse, and preventing misconduct. President Trump is dismantling checks on his power and paving the way for widespread corruption.”
And rubbing our noses in it.
This has to be handled carefully, lest Trump throw a tantrum and chuck all of his toys out of his playpen.
Again.
But this is all normal and legitimate, right? I’m guessing that this is all part of what Mad King Donald’s handlers want, a combination of ludicrous distraction (Greenland, Canada), along with wholesale deregulation, privatization, and tax cuts. While he capers and blathers, the federal government is taken apart, or bent to private purposes rather than public ones. It’s the biggest fire sale in history; a penny auction for billionaires. All those trillions “saved” will have to go somewhere.
Once he’s served his purpose, Trump can be deposed/removed/whatever once he becomes a dangerous liability. By the looks of things, and the rate of his ridiculous, illegal, and impossible pronouncements, that “dangerous liability” phase might come sooner than they expect. How many bright shiny things (or countries) can they keep dangling before his eyes to keep him safely occupied? How sure can they be of their puppet’s obedience? How long before he crosses the interests of those directing him? Asserting his power against these interests will only speed up the process, and there’s no guaranty that a showdown between them and Trump would go their way. Trump has the clout of an unfortunately high degree of popular support, along with all those newly-pardoned devotees who now owe him for their freedom. It may be a movement based on little more than xenophobic pig-ignorance that worships Might as Right, and the naked self-interest of Trump himself, but it is a powerful one nonetheless. And who else could pull off what he’s doing? Who else could be the public face of this rolling disaster? MAGA is Trump; Trump is MAGA. What it lacks in nuance, political sophistication, or even coherence, it makes up for with numbers and fervour. Who’s going to step up to be the next Mike Pence against a Trump-directed howling mob/private army?