So by "fresh thinking" he actually means "sycophancy," right?
That seems to be one of the defining traits of the Trump administration - be a malicious, incompetent, self-serving fuck-up, and fire anyone who won't pretend that that's not what you are.
I wonder if there's a specific name for that dynamic by which the ruling class separates work from reward so that they can keep the reward of other people's work for themselves, then ends up conplaining that nobody wants to work any more.
They're asked to choose to recuse themselves? As if they actually have even the tiniest speck of integrity?
I'm not even sure what the point is. It's like asking a termite to not eat my house.
So that means another important threshold is coming.
Trump and Musk, being the psychopathic pieces of shit they are, are going to want to treat their growing unpopularity and ever-stronger opposition as some sort of conspiracy rather than an honest expression of popular opinion, and they're going to try to clamp down on it - to start arresting and silencing people for the "crime" of opposing them.
And the question is going to be, will Americans again just roll over and take it as a couple of psychopathic dickweeds with daddy issues systematically destroy everything the US has ever stood for?
Even a year ago I would've said no, but now...
psychopath /sī′kə-păth″/
noun
A person who engages repeatedly in criminal and antisocial behavior without remorse or empathy for those victimized.
A person with a personality disorder indicated by a pattern of lying, cunning, manipulating, glibness, exploiting, heedlessness, arrogance, delusions of grandeur, sexual promiscuity, low self-control, disregard for morality, lack of acceptance of responsibility, callousness, and lack of empathy and remorse.
That's what Daddy Putin wants, so that's what Daddy Putin gets.
This is just the tip of the iceberg.
It's not an accident that Muskntrump are slashing federal spending but Trump threatened a government shutdown to get the debt ceiling increased.
It's all sleight of hand. The budget cuts are intended solely to cripple departments and programs that benefit common people or inconvenience the wealthy and empowered few, and all of the money that's not spent on those programs and agencies (and more) is going be funneled directly into the pockets of the wealthy and empowered few.
NO money is actually going to be saved. It's just going to be redirected, to even more directly benefit the wealthy few.
I can do a spot-on impression of the standard deep, booming monster-truck rally advertising voice.
"This FRIDAY! (Friday... Friday...) Only at the Gigantodome! Beer Swiller Productions presents MONSTER TRUCK MAYHEM! You'll pay for the entire seat but you'll only need the EDGGGGGGGGE!"
Well... of course you can't hear it, but if you could, seriously, it's dead-on.
Yes, because if it was more open, there would be a risk of leftists gaining influence.
Huh - apparently just being not-the-Republicans isn't enough.
The important question is, will the DNC learn anything from this?
I'm guessing no.
It'd be bad enough if that just meant that the US is for all intents a one-party system, but at this particular point in history, the future of the country and the lives of millions depend on effective opposition to those who are building a plutocratic/fascist oligarchy, and the exact institution that should be the vanguard for opposition is just a bunch of greedy pigs and cowards.
There are no depths to which he will not stoop.
And that's part of what his fans like about him.
I wonder if there's been any scholarly research on that? It seems on reflection that it's actually fairly common for autocrats to not only be foul, destructive, self-absorbed pieces of shit, but for them and their supporters to treat that as some sort of badge of honor.
More broadly, it's striking me that there are likely dominant moods in countries - periods during which for instance, a plurality of progressives elects a progressive or a plurality of patriots elects a patriot or a plurality of warmongers elects a warmonger.
And the current US is a plurality of assholes who elected an asshole (two for the price of one even).
Presumably his advisors determined that he needed to Overton more and faster if he wanted to ensure that he'd be the neolib weasel the DNC shoves down our throats in 2028.