The Rain Man Cometh
I’ve not been properly able to keep up with what’s been happening since The Return of the Jedi Trump 2.0
Things seem to be developing faster than anyone can keep up with. And maybe that’s the point. By the time the Blitzkrieg1 has settled down a bit, it will be too late.
In that typical divergence of perception that I talked about last time you will either see this as the End of Civilization™ or a much-needed initialisation of swamp drainage.
Trump 1.0 was timid by comparison. Trump 2.0 seems much more purposeful and determined.
There are dangers here. Whilst I do think the ‘sledgehammer’ approach is necessary to begin with - the whole system of corruption and malfeasance needs dismantling, and quickly - Trump will need to calm down a bit eventually and return to a more ‘consensual’ style of operation. Will he be able to do that? I hope so, but we’ll see.
But on the whole the program so far has been hugely entertaining and, I think, absolutely spot-on.
By Executive Order, Trump has dismembered the whole governmental focus on Trans-Pandering™ - it’s Government Affirming Care™ on steroids without even any kind of social transition before the scalpel dug in.
Also by Executive Order he has delivered a deadly blow to the whole DEI infrastructure in government institutions. I hope it proves fatal. DIE, you fucker.
Trump has sent Heinrich Musk and his merry band of neurodivergent geniuses into the deepest bowels of government spending. And many people are finding that they don’t really enjoy colonic irrigation. It’s de-colon-ization as it is meant to be.
In truth, I don’t know whether the team of young engineers Musk has brought in are actually ‘neurodivergent’, but that’s the way some are portraying this (negatively) on 𝕏. Neurodivergence, it seems, is a thing to be celebrated when you can control it. When this (previously) celebrated Oppressed Minority™ turn against you, it’s not so welcome then.
And yes, they’re finding that the US government really did fund ‘work’ on “Ukrainian Resilience through Fashion”. Along with funding lots of other absurdities.
Perhaps the funniest ‘criticism’ that has been levelled is that this team of youthful Spartans have no ‘experience’ of government. They don’t know how it is all supposed to work.
And this is a bad thing?
Because when you want to really root out malfeasance and bring an end to a whole corrupt infrastructure you really need people who have been mired in it and conditioned by it for the last 30 years, right?
Many (but by no means all) of the greatest advances in physics and maths have been made by people who didn’t really “know how it is all supposed to work”. It’s actually a plus point when coupled with the necessary raw ability and curiosity.
It won’t take these Spartans very long to understand what’s been going on (and going wrong) - and they’ll form this improved understanding in a matter of months, not years. They’ll know how it is all really supposed to work far better than any politician or civil servant by the time they’re finished.
And my oh my are we seeing the howls of anguish as the irrigation tube is boldly inserted into places they never expected or bargained for.
I’m no economic genius and have difficulty balancing my own budget every month, but a country that’s adding over a trillion dollars of debt to its account every year surely needs some kind of course-correction? Or is there some deep economic wizardry I’m missing here?
If you actually need to be racking up that amount of debt, then perhaps spend it on things that are useful? Whilst $39 million is a drop in the ocean by comparison, this was the amount given to a project to increase gender equality in the water, power, and transportation sectors globally.
You and I both know that spending $5 on a coffee every morning may seem like nothing, but by the end of the month you’ve spent $150. Add in the cookie and any tips and pretty soon you’re wondering why the hell you can’t afford your energy bill at the end of the month.
Economic cognoscenti will doubtless tell me that ‘analogy’ is hopelessly naïve and misguided and that “it doesn’t work like that” - but, honestly, it bloody well should work like that.
You definitely get a sense of having the wool pulled over your eyes by the technical arguments of the economically literate, don’t you? That seems to be the primary modus operandi of these government departments like USAID, which seem to be little more than a money-laundering operation on a global scale.
What do you mean? Don’t you realize just how critical it is to fund queer dance workshops for climate awareness in Outer Mongolia?
Meanwhile, in the UK things are much worse. We have the same kind of bloated government funding all sorts of bonkers bullshit, but instead of Trump, here’s what we have
This soulless and robotic tit is what we get. Just peachy.
Hey, Don me old mucker. Fancy buying the UK instead of Greenland?
Did you see what I did there?
The only reason I see for Trump to slow down would be because I don’t want him to tire himself out too early in the game! We voted for exactly what he and his team are doing. Blow the whole motherfucker up and start over. Much smaller. Much tighter. Much more transparent. The folks screeching loudest have puckered assholes knowing their 30years of graft are gone. And with Pam Bondi as our new AG they’re scared shitless. What Elon and his crew of merry men have unearthed is just the teeniest tip of a gargantuan iceberg. It’s a beautiful thing to watch and I’m glad to be able to see it in my lifetime. Pop more popcorn…this is going to be a fun four years.
"Trump will need to calm down a bit eventually and return to a more ‘consensual’ style of operation."
Why? Honestly asking, mind. The only reason I'd see to slow down or return to normal in his position, would be that the job of cleaning up was done and dusted.
And even if so, I'd fire up all the stuff that's needed doing for decades but no-one's bothered with due to all sorts of stupid non-reasons.
"Economic cognoscenti will doubtless tell me that ‘analogy’ is hopelessly naïve and misguided and that “it doesn’t work like that”'
Been a while and half since I studied national economy as we call the subject over here, but that is exactly how it works. All the state's little black holes of spending adds up to an ever-growing deficit, unless you institute a "Kartoffel-kur": the Danes did this in the 1970s, due to their economy being busted thanks to political mismanagement - Kartoffel means potatoe, so it refers to being so poor you only have potatoes to eat, while saving and investing your resources in next year's crops and harvests. Sweden did the same in the 1990s.
If you have a sit down and read through the detailed budget of your county (or whatever the term is in the UK - I mean we use "commune" for our lowest tier of admin, and that really says what the ideological attitude behind it all is, no?) you'll probably find that you could reduce spending by at least 1/3 just by way of basic rationalisations and pay-scale adjustments. Ten years ago, a Swedish commune tested a proto-AI algorithm for their welfare office. Easy, no? The algo checks if every box is crossed correctly and can check towards bank accounts et c to see if the statements given are correct, and then authorise payment, and pay it out, let's say 5 seconds per case to have good upper limit margin.
Anyway. What the test suggested was that public admin in all its forms can be reduced by more than 90% of staff and locales. Needless to say, the unions and politicians buried this deep.
Look at our Office of Unemployment. Budget in excess of 80 000 000 000:- (ca 7bn pounds). Average positions being filled, per clerk per month? 0.85. Zero-point-eight-five.
And we have in excess of 450 government agencies at the state level alone. . . We could probably save about 400 000 000 000:- by cutting out grift, chaff and waste, and the same again by closing the border and deporting illegals, fraudsters, and the like.
Moderate estimates by economists here is, ca 10% of GDP at least is pure waste.