Reality Bites

 Richardson references something that has been kicking around my brain a lot since the initiation of Project 2025 on January 20th. Back around 2004, there was a famous article interviewing a Bush Administration figure talking about the "reality based community" whereas they were "creating their own reality" through their actions.

I don't think we need a primer on how that ended in Iraq and Afghanistan. How that ended in the housing market.

The obvious parallel is the speed and mania of the assault on the basic functions of government. Beginning from a place of deep misunderstanding - namely that you can run government "like a business" - the Muskenjugend have been taking Milei's chainsaw to really important government agencies without first coming to understand what the do or how they do it. 

"Efficiency gains" is corporate-speak for laying people off, but that only works if you are providing a consumer good and automation has reached a point where it can replace workers. The problem is that government is not providing consumer goods, they are providing public goods. There might be, ideally, a moment if we survive all this where some of the technological efficiencies allow for smoother operations. However, government agencies have access to all sorts of sensitive information, and information can be hacked, especially if you are "moving fast and breaking things".

Trump and Musk - two megalomaniacs - believe that they can create their own reality. Ironically, Trump himself is a captive of the reality beamed into his tiny little brain by Faux and NewsMax. Trump believes that because he says something, usually something stupid like the Canada or Greenland bullshit, and then it gets repeated by the craven courtiers on the TeeVee, then suddenly "people are saying" and it becomes real. The feedback loop is insane here.

Reality, though, tends to get the last word. The Bush Administration was unable to create its own reality. In fact, early in 2005, Bush - with his mandate - attempted a privatization scheme with Social Security. His popularity plummeted. That August, Katrina hit New Orleans and his popularity never recovered. In 2006, Democrats won the House. In 2008, Obama won the highest share of the popular votes since 1988 (52.9%).

Someone on the Socials asked what it would take for Trumpists to abandon him. Most commenters said nothing could shake his grip on them, and for the true members of Cult 45, that's true. The people who cross state lines to go to one of his rallies are never abandoning him. But there are tens of millions of Americans who voted for him, because they were Republicans or because they wanted to "run America like a business" or they hated whatever woke is. 

If - or rather when - reality has its say, that contract could shatter. If Social Security checks don't come out (and some Trump officials seem to be laying the groundwork for that eventuality) that will be a huge event in the lives of a lot of people who voted for Trump, because they wanted a business man in charge. When school districts run out of money because the Department of Education is dysfunctional, that will have an impact on people.

Hubris is the sin of excessive pride, arrogant belief in one's equality with the gods. I can't think of a better word to describe those running our government right now.