Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Jens Heycke's avatar

I am no Trump fan: there are many valid reasons to reject him as a presidential possibility, some of which you have outlined. But when you throw out this hyperbolic quatsch, it only taints and undermines those valid reasons. Even worse, it "raises the temperature"--to use a phrase popular with the Left--increasing the chances that random nuts from both sides will resort to extreme measures.

Remember all the people chanting "lock her up" last time around? Nobody ever locked her up. Nor was the wall built or Mexico charged for it. And so on.

"Or, imagine the following scenario: widespread protests understandably and predictably break out in opposition to the administration rounding up and detaining millions of immigrants; Trump invokes the Insurrection Act, giving him the power to send in soldiers to restore order, which is then followed by more protests, which is then followed by more widespread deployment of troops and the de facto imposition of martial law in several American cities."

Expand full comment
Craig Knoche's avatar

I was with your argument up until the claim that the civil service is "merit based." The annual employee turnover rate is ~6% versus an the ~18% for corporations. A bit more than 3% is due to retirement and another 1% to death - and the real attrition rate is ~2%. Now anyone who has worked in a large company or for any length of time or stood in line at their local DMV will understand that a great deal more than 2% of the workers need to find other employment every year, this due to mismatch of skills, low productivity, or outright incompetence. Calling the federal civil service "merit based" is a stretch!

Expand full comment
72 more comments...

No posts