Kavips separates the ominous from the merely odious
In a Dkos diary, Kavips unearths an item buried in a Memorandum to several to several heads of departments. Since we are in the habit of expecting appointees to act in the best interest of the Republic, within its established laws, norms, and traditions, we don’t scrutinize this sort of language like we probably should. Hitler couldn’t have been Hitler without a willing corps of functionaries interpreting and enacting his will in ways large and small.
Let’s walk through this… New rules will be issued by the heads of the departments. They can be capricious, random, or prejudicial. They can be made up on the spot; there is no way to know. For example based on some stories already told, you can be forced to present your phone with password. .. or… you will be body cavity searched, … or… you can be held indefinitely without further notice.
As with any law change or new power grab, in the hands of good people they can be tolerated if they are only used on known criminals. But in the hands of bad, they can destroy a nation through their random use..
Essentially this single clause should be considered an enabling act, one wide open which as with that of Hitler, simply says that all rules will now be made solely by X and must be carried out exactly as X says.
The usual level of analysis I expect from this source.
Any rule made up by the people he fears will be just as open to lawsuits as any other kind of executive-office rule — and even less likely to pass Constitutional muster.
Of course, the folks with their hair on fire (looking at you, Steve Newton) will point out that the courts could roll over on this. Sure, they could — at which point you will have 99 worries without the fate of Middle Eastern travels being one of them.
Alby if I were plotting to take down the Republic, it wouldn’t be like this.
But, hey, don’t miss an opportunity to attribute an opinion to somebody who hasn’t spoken on a subject. It’s one of those tenets of stand-out journalism that I know you aspire to.
Yeah, this equals journalism — about as much as it equals scholarship.
I was addressing your pessimism. Aren’t you the one who thought Marino would win that special election? My point was it’s not as bad as you think.
I dunno, Alby. The administration still hasn’t really TRIED anything yet. It has just been a lot of bluster and retreat at any opposition. It’s becoming clear to me just how bad they are at all of this, so to that point, you were right. But if they are ever able to get their shit together, we’re still just as fucked as my darkest nightmares suggest.
I think one thing they will surely do… and possibly ot great effect in key swing states like Colorado, is generate a LOT of ineligible voter-felons by treating state-non crimes as felonies.
A much heavier handed ICE is something they are trying. They blew past all of the “it is just going to be drug dealers and bad hombres” language and have used broad powers to lock up people they simply feel like locking up.
The private prisons sector of the stock market is surging for a reason.
Alby–yes, I thought Marino would win. That’s a pretty thin reed upon which to base “it’s not as bad as you think.”
As noted above, direct police state actions against the undocumented move forward every day. The TSA has been green-lighted for more invasive screenings. The State Department is effectively being defunded. Protest is being criminalized in state after state.
Certainly there are Keystone Cops aspects of this all, but the fact that you somehow think it’s not so bad, or the worst is over, or that Trump won’t succeed in defunding EPA, dismantling Federal supports for special needs children, etc. etc. then that makes you a person who simply wouldn’t notice if what’s left of your hair was burning.
Not to mention, openly talking about ripping families apart.
No, the worst isn’t over. But the Keystone Kops aspects of this are the worst I’ve ever seen in any government, and I’m counting student governments.
I, too, was worried at the beginning about a Nazi-style, autocratic takeover of all branches of government. But that clearly is not happening. The public has pressured the quisling Democrats enough that they haven’t rolled over. The bureaucracies are showing more backbone than I expected, and the courts, even packed as they are with conservatives, are in no hurry to diminish their own power.
Steve, IIRC you were the one who first pointed out how much stronger American institutions were than those of the Weimar Republic. You were right. Really, I’m not trying to start a feud. I was just giving you a shout-out because you don’t hang out here much anymore.
Yes, many of the awful things they want to do will get done. So when/if a Democrat wins in 2020, he or she will have to rebuild the EPA, etc. That makes this a Reagan-type presidency, one to be survived. But once we survive it we can begin rebuilding, just as we always have to do.
The biggest problem I see for the Trump forces is that they have no allies. When Hitler came to power, the National Socialists had been around for a decade and had no only hundreds of thousands of members but a coterie of public officials ready to step into jobs. Bannon has so few allies that the Trump White House is still short-staffed by hundreds of people who need Senate approval.
The first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.
PS: Not to rub it in, Steve, but I still have all my hair. Just wish it wouldn’t grow out of my ears.
@Ben: “If they are ever able to get their shit together, we’re still just as fucked as my darkest nightmares suggest.”
I don’t think so. First off, where’s the evidence that they know how to get any amount of shit together?
Second, these are cowards. I know people say they back down only because they’re biding their time, but I don’t think so. Cowards back down when challenged; it’s what they do.
Third, as I said above, Trumpism (Bannonism, really) has no support outside the White House, and I see no signs of it spreading any further.
I don’t mean to minimize the human suffering this administration will cause — it will be severe. But I no longer fear for the destruction of American self-government.
“The private prisons sector of the stock market is surging for a reason.”
Yes, it is. The reason is that they plummeted when Obama said they would be phased out, so now they have regained their lost value.
Alby–referring to me as “hair on fire” doesn’t strike me as a “shout out,” but maybe I just need a safe space today.
I’ve been reading regularly, but not commenting much here or anywhere as family commitments have been eating time, and job changes impending make it important right now for me to be a little more circumspect. Eventually I will explain that.
The problem, however, is that the Keystone Cops can do almost as much harm by dismantling the structures of governance as they can be implementing policy, and they are firmly on track to do that. Destroying is almost always easier than creating.
Professor Newton makes a good point and we need to pay attention to it. While it looks like it may be very difficult (near impossible) for this administration to actively achieve policy changes they may be very effective at passively letting other institutions deteriorate to the point of near collapse (see also Departments of State, Labor and Education, EPA, etc.).
While we’re distracted by the daily carnival freak-show routine of ineptitude and buffoonery the very fundamental institutions upon which the nation is based will atrophy and wither. “Not good,” as the clown would tweet.
I am disappointed to learn about your professionally prudent circumspection, but glad you have an iron in the fire.
@Steve: Sorry about that, dude. I keep running into this with my wife, too, who is still alternating between suicidal and homicidal urges. By “hair on fire” I just meant that you have been warning of worst-case scenarios.
I agree that incompetence and apathy can destroy things, and I admit that the destruction will be wanton, capricious and cruel. But I have retired my biggest fear, which was that people and institutions wouldn’t fight back. They have, and continue to do so. What’s more, it’s working, and the success fuels further resistance. Even the Democrats are putting up more resistance than I was afraid they would, for which I credit all those people making calls, showing up at offices and marching in streets.
Best of all, the resistance is being led by the people, not the Democrats in office, who mostly have revealed themselves as useless.
We just have to find a way to keep it up. When those fighting get tired, Bannon and the Bitch will still have power. More people need to be inspired to fight…. new dem politicians must be made.
@Ben: I understand your worries, but I think we are seeing impressive levels of civic engagement, particularly because, as you noted, the Trump regime hasn’t really been able to accomplish anything yet. Many people don’t get prodded into activity until they feel it personally.
Should the new GOP health-care plan be enacted, DC won’t be able to hold all the protesters.
In addition to carefully calculated destruction by putting foes of public education and environmental protection in charge of those agencies, I also see Trump practicing what the historic preservationists call “demolition by neglect” via his failure thus far to make hundreds of second-tier appointments throughout the government, not to mention the cuts announced in the State Department at a time when our current “extreme vetting” is proposed to be made even more extreme.
These agencies cannot be let by a cabinet secretary alone. Keeping top-level positions vacant will save money (which might be used to build the wall) but it will also wear down veteran civil servants, spurring them into premature retirement.
(Or, optimistically, these dedicated civil servants will assume even greater roles in leading The Resistance.Let us pray.)