Trump and Musk are trying to rewrite the rules of the American system. They are trying to instantiate an anti-constitutional theory of executive power that would make the president supreme over all other branches of government. They are doing so in service of a plutocratic agenda of austerity and the upward redistribution of wealth. -Jamelle Bouie @ NY Times
Best distillation of the moment I've come across so far in the legacy press; that Leon wants to destroy, of course.
"This Isn't Reform. It's Sabotage
When the country encountered a rampaging novel disease, he [RFK jr.] told us very clearly, he would have preferred we all faced it naked and alone.
This should be disqualifying. Instead, it proved the opposite. In the name of reform and government overhaul, the new administration is approving and ushering in something much more like destruction, with the president imploring his new health secretary to “go wild” in the role. The admonition does not apply just to Kennedy and public health, or even just to Musk and his initiative. A new generation of libertarians is not letting the country’s crisis of confidence go to waste. On Tuesday, Ted Cruz declared, “Abolish the IRS.” Up first, apparently: the Department of Education."
David Wallace-Wells @ NY Times
My shaky memory of Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine was that the IMF/WB and Chicago schoolers figure out it works out better to apply neoliberal shock therapy when countries have faced some kind of big disruption to normal times, perhaps like the "crisis in confidence" that might follow a global pandemic? In better times the extreme economic austerity, inflation, no jobs, or no living wage jobs freaks people out; they protest and the shock therapy is withdrawn or scaled back. How much damage has already been done may vary but there is always some. But the full fascist ordoliberal state is averted. If economic times are already really tough, however, many of the new austerity measures, slashing government services, might be overlooked, or swallowed as a necessary budget cutting measures during hard times. A small bump in unemployment might go unnoticed. The popularity of Grump will weigh heavy on whatever outcomes result here and surely his popularity will not survive blowing up the economy, or will it? If nothing else, indeed, we must conclude by now Grump is "a prime piece of political horseflesh"; his appeal, while not majoritarian, is undeniable. The only thing we can count on with this guy is that he'll over-estimate his own capacities and under-estimate his enemies and this blundering narcissism fucks stuff up and gets him in trouble with the law, which to date he has always uncannily managed to elude. And will continue to do so until the Law says enough is enough and super majorities or enough to overwhelm his stormtroopers rise up.
Anyway, these are some of the reasons why we can't have nice things.
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