In the past week or so, the courts have begun to try to set some boundaries on the Musk–Miller–Trump administration’s early blitz of recklessness.
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This judicial review provides at least a small reprieve, hope that some of the administration’s most destructive impulses will be stopped. Or at least pared back. But even with the courts stepping up, and even with the reality of the administration’s ineptitude sinking in, this early Musk–Miller–Trump blitz remains very—maybe irreparably—damaging. Of course, there are a lot of moles to whack: the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are being dismantled at an alarming rate, and the court system is not known for being nimble. The administration is betting, perhaps rightly, that at least some of its thoughtless, lawless efforts will slip through the cracks.
But even if the courts caught them all—and even if every court facing each lawless escapade said, “Nope, that’s not a thing”—still the entire process would be doing serious damage to our institutions. Think of it as someone spoofing your identity and going on a shopping spree with your credit cards. Even if the goon gets caught, you still have to go store by store to argue that the fraudulent purchase wasn’t legitimate and hope the debt is forgiven. And all the while, perhaps long after all the debts are dealt with, the torrent of uncertainty kills your credit score.
It’s easy to volunteer other people, but these are civil servants who inherently believe in the rule of law by default. That programming in itself makes it hard to go against this lifelong belief in doing things by the book.
I hope they can do what they can to resist, but I also don’t believe this is on them either. If the former President in a position of power couldn’t put the brakes on this shit; if we as a society couldn’t put the brakes on this on November 5th… Well, my expectations are very low. Things will have to come crashing down hard until the apathetic and ignorant wake up, I suspect.
Most simple sabotage is doing things EXACTLY by the book… Civil servants often take shortcuts to expedite things. They should take ZERO shortcuts.
Elon toadie asks for a set of creds. Demand Toadie get all appropriate forms completed, first, and then demand documented procedure for obtaining those creds are followed TO THE LETTER. No rush jobs. No prodding the ticket holder for updates. Just exactly like the book says to do it.
Just an example.
This is called “work to rule” and it is one of the most classic kinds of industrial action, pretty much one step short of a strike.
It also means risking their livelihood, which I expect in many cases is an even greater deterrent than an aversion to rule breaking.