It is worth noting that we are only now coming up to the six month mark of Trump's second term. He has been rampaging through our institutions like rapid gorilla and done real damage to all sorts of democratic institutions. He has also made efforts to destroy basic competency. Again, I defer to Richardson.
Among the outrages to good government that are occurring this week:
- The immolation of 500 metric tons of famine relief foodstuffs.
- The incoherent and often contradictory policy towards Ukraine.
- Epstein.
With regards to destroying food enough to feed 1.5 million children, that's obviously wasteful in ways that defy calculation. Anytime some fucking Republican talks about "waste and fraud" this needs to be thrown in their face. Republicans do not care about "waste and fraud" they just want to hurt poor people.
The Ukraine issue was that the Trump White House is so fundamentally dysfunctional that some undersecretary basically cancelled military aid to Ukraine because Pete Hegseth is too busy making videos for Faux News and Marco Rubio is both an empty suit AND has too many jobs. There is no policy direction from the West Wing. It's just MAGA lunatics freelancing.
As for Epstein...who knows where this will go. Perhaps the slow rise in inflation that Krugman explains here is beginning to have an impact. What's notable - really notable - is that polling has Trump underwater on every single issue, even ones like immigration and "the economy" that have been his and Republican strong suits. When you're riding high, scandals don't bruise you as easily. Ask Bill Clinton. When people actually are angry with other stuff, then things like Epstein become shorthand for the general gestalt. Specifically with Epstein, it becomes "I didn't vote for this!" (You, in fact, voted for this.)
Again, we aren't six months in. Inflation is burbling up as markets try and figure out what will actually happen with tariffs. In Krugman's explanation, the combination of TACO and wholesalers stockpiling goods before "Liberation Day" has buffered prices from steep inclines. Sellers can eat a little profit to keep prices low, if they think the tariffs are going to go away.
However, the real crisis is likely still to come. A government and economy increasingly built on fraud and incompetence will both create a crisis and be unable to cope with it. Texas' embrace of terrible governance both created the conditions of the Kerr County tragedy and then was unable to respond quickly to save anyone. That sort of tragedy is the collapse of institutions. It took five years for Bush to gut things like FEMA. Trump has done it in five months.
Stay safe out there. No one is coming to save you.
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