The News Isn’t All Bad

Public Sentiment, Rookie Mistakes, and Crass Nationalism Roil Trump Administration.

The difference between words and deeds is showing itself as we head into year month two of the Trump administration. There’s some unfavorable polling showing up, town hall events saw angry constituents even in GOP dominated areas, and the Trump/Musk alliance ran into certain truths it’s been unable to plow through with alternative facts.

• 84% say Trump should follow court rulings

• 83% oppose the mass pardon of the Jan 6 insurrectionists

• 66% think the President needs to ask congress for permission to freeze funding

• 59% say what was done to USAID was a bad idea

And Trump's overall approval rating dropped by as much as 10 points in one poll. Meanwhile, he’s telling the media that his polling numbers are terrific.

Now, polling is just an indicator of sentiment, and even if you disbelieve the numbers shown in this latest batch, the fact that opposition to the administration is rising means the chainsaw approach to reforming government is in trouble. I have no doubt these surveys will influence Trump/Musk to try even harder with their schemes.

Via The New York Times:

• Republicans generally hold fewer in-person open town halls than their Democratic counterparts, opting instead for more controlled settings, such as telephone town halls, that minimize the risk of public confrontations. But even before last week, they had begun hearing frustration from voters, who have also expressed their discontent by flooding the phones of congressional offices.

• With their already narrow majority in the House, G.O.P. lawmakers are in a fragile position. A voter backlash could sweep out some of their most vulnerable members in midterm elections next year. But the pushback in recent days has come not only in highly competitive districts but also in deeply Republican ones, suggesting a broader problem for the party.

• And there is little sign that Mr. Trump is letting up. On Saturday, Mr. Trump said in a social media post that Mr. Musk “is doing a great job, but I would like to see him be more aggressive.” Mr. Musk responded by sending government employees emails that he said were “requesting to understand what they got done last week. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”

There are three moves by the administration last week the could mark a turning point in their effort to MAGAize the government.

• Capitulating to Russia on the Ukraine invasion. This is a part of foreign policy representing the tip of the iceberg of the administration’s direction. In a larger sense this reflects the transactional approach adopted by sociopaths with more money than common sense. It also fits nicely with the Christian Nationalist patriarchy crusade which aspires to Russian-style governance.

• Threatening federal employees via email. Elon Musk’s email sent to all government employees demanding a list of recent tasks, angered some of his fellow quislings overseeing agency destruction, was likely illegal, and made him look like a dick, generally.

• The Friday night purge of military leadership, coupled with removal of legal advisors, was blatantly bigoted, particularly as it was carried out via social media and because no reasons for dismissal were given. Removing the Judge Advocates General for the military branches sent a clear message that the administration was prepared to ask the armed forces to take actions in violation of national and/or international law.

As Congressional Republicans try to hammer a budget resolution into something the President would get the opportunity to sign, simple math is revealing that it can’t be done without cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. In fact, the administration has begun the process by announcing that most telehealth services through Medicare coverage will be unavailable as of April 1.This will affect Americans in rural communities, students in college towns, and more.

Closer scrutiny of the DOGE cost cutting program has revealed the effort to be generally incompetent and more about public relations than its stated purpose. Vast amounts of personnel and personal information have been hoovered up with no regard for privacy or national security. Claims as to the benign nature of intrusions into various agencies are disproven almost as fast as they are made.

The bluster and bombastic utterances from various appointees and loyalists have triggered ridicule and defiance.

Acting Director of ICE Tom Homan: "The police commission of Boston -- you said you doubled down on not helping the law enforcement office of ICE. I'm coming to Boston. I'm bringing hell with me."

Random person on BlueSky “Good Luck! I lived in Southie. Boston has RATS tougher than you” One more: ”Hell freezes over here in Boston, dude.” OK, just one more: “So how many exploding Teslas even fit in Boston Harbor?”

The US Attorney for the District of Columbia –whose qualification for the job was defending Jan 6 insurrectionists– has sent warning letters to Senator Chuck Schumer and Congressman Robert Garcia telling them they are under investigation for “threats.” Apparently calling Elon Musk a “dick” (Garcia) is a no-no.

Looking forward, if you had to pick on government agencies to hollow out, the National Park Service and Post Office would be bad choices. They are America’s most beloved parts of the federal government, with a Pew study in 2024 showing 76% and 72% favorability.

The Park Service, which handles the 320 million Americans who visit their facilities each year lost about a thousand probationary employees, but did get their seasonal employee request approved. One of the dismissed has become an international symbol of the dedication that’s almost universal among its employees. Yosemite National Park workers protested the federal firings by hanging an upside-down American flag off the side of El Capitan as a symbol of national distress.

Joshua Tree National Park is closed due UPDATE: The Park isn’t closed, but there are social media reports by locals of "severe sanitation issues" as maintenance staff were laid off.

On Friday, President Trump said he may put the U.S. Postal Service under the control of the Commerce Department in what would be an executive branch takeover of the agency, which has operated as an independent entity since 1970. The Postal Service has been the most highly rated agency, or among the highest, since it was first included in Gallup’s periodic government agency assessments in 2014.

Hoo Boy. Taking on the Postal Service is akin to swatting a hornet’s nest with a broom. It has 640,000(ish) employees and is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the Constitution. It’s also a major employer of armed forces veterans. And, oh yeah, they’ve done a good job of having a diverse workforce, which must terrify MAGA.

• Women make up nearly 46% of the workforce

• Minorities represent 49% of the workforce

• The Postal Service employs nearly 73,000 veterans

• The Postal Service employs more than 35,0000 employees with disabilities, including nearly 10,000 disabled veterans

After years of losing money (due in large part to a hinky pension deal imposed on them), the service had its first profitable quarter at the end of 2024. It’s been speculated that by taking away its independent status, the Trump administration would use its power to restrict the flow of mail in ballots.

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The negative publicity the current administration is getting is starting to achieve balance with the firehouse of bullshit they’ve been disseminating in the first month. People-powered expressions of anger over impacts of decisions already made have increased both in frequency and volume in recent days.

Some folks are saying this week amounts to a turning point. I say it’s too soon to tell. The worst of the billionaire agenda is yet to come, and given that legislative action isn’t an option, other avenues of pushback are fraught with challenges.

The arrogance of those in the Trump/Musk administration is their achilles heel. At the CPAC conference, Musk’s performance was a perfect TV ad for the future, both with his juggling chainsaw and an on stage interview where it was easy to speculate that he was under some form of intoxication.

Under Musk, DOGE has become a tool for government surveillance, with teenage hackers and unqualified tech bros accessing sensitive private information. This is a development that has even some Republicans worried; lots of citizens are pissed about having their lives hung out to dry.

Too many elected Democrats are fundamentally misunderstanding the moment, bragging about introducing legislation that simply won’t happen. By virtue of their status it’s their visibility that could be most effective. They need to be politicians, to not care about the name-calling from the right, and to visibly support resistance actions in ways more substantive than emailing press releases.

You don’t need to agree with Sen. Bernie Sanders on everything to understand that he’s out in the heartland being heard about the real basis for the coup currently in progress. We need more of that.

At least five major lawsuits have been filed by Democratic State Attorney Generals against Trump and Musk. These cases will likely reach the Supreme Court, and when they do, the justices will have to decide whether they stand with America—or with authoritarianism.

There are no guard rails in American politics any more, and while running amok is something that should be left to the Goths ransacking the capital, excuses about decorum and procedure are just that: excuses. Excuses never accomplish anything.

Your Kink Is Health Care? Good Luck, Babe. by Melanie Carlson & Maureen Tkacik at The American Prospect

• CHAPPELL ROAN ENDED UP WINNING THIS ROUND against Rabhan and the Machine. She donated $25,000 to a nonprofit that facilitates mental health care for music industry professionals. Charli XCX and Noah Kahan pitched in, Halsey wrote a spirited rebuttal of Rabhan’s “boot licker behavior” on Instagram, and Live Nation donated $25,000 as well.

• But the vehemence with which Rabhan, Bill Maher, and their ilk instantly struck back at her brief invocation of a more egalitarian music industry shows how entrenched their worldview has become. By dressing down Chappell, Rabhan is advocating for a world where there is no sunshine between the worker and the brand. The industry expects artists to cultivate a personal brand that aligns with future corporate partnerships at all times.

• The hypocrisy of this system is glaring. Artists are free—encouraged even—to partner with brands promoting alcohol, gambling, pharmaceuticals, or, as the Black Keys were forced to when the canceled tour zeroed out their revenue for the year, crypto. Yet advocating for something as basic as better health care for fellow artists? That’s where the industry draws the line, unless, like Roan, she is satisfied to channel her energies into something harmless and superficial like a 501(c)(3).

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Make Tesla Toxic by Evan Sutton at Ctrl Alt Right Delete

• Later that evening, I headed out for one of my few non-political activities of the week—playing poker (a game Elon Musk fundamentally misunderstands) at a local card room.

• About an hour after I sat down, one of the regulars started telling a story that caught my attention. He had been at the grocery store earlier when he was accosted by a woman who wanted to know “how can you drive that thing.”

• He’s a proud Model Y owner. I’ve seen him in Tesla hats at the table. I stayed out of the conversation because I wanted to see where it would go. The most telling moment was when one of the players said, “There’s a crazy deal on Model 3 leases right now, but I wouldn’t get one because I don’t really want people flipping me off all the time.”

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HUD cuts expected to worsen America’s housing crisis, staffers say by Rachel Siegel at The Washington Post

• Sharp cuts at the Department of Housing and Urban Development are likely to upend housing markets, make homes less affordable and roil mortgage transactions, according to current and former employees, contractors and housing experts.

• The changes come amid a national housing crisis, with not enough homes and ever-rising costs. Current and former staffers, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal, said it was increasingly difficult to answer how and whether HUD can carry out its core functions as the federal government’s top housing agency.

• Those concerns have grown, they said, since officials from the U.S. DOGE Service, billionaire Elon Musk’s effort to slash federal spending and regulations, appeared at the department’s headquarters. HUD’s entire workforce is projected to drop by about half — from about 8,300 employees to just over 4,000 — with deep cuts in field offices nationwide, according to an internal memo obtained by The Washington Post.