It used to be the status quo, before the civil service reforms ~1875.

Trump 45 never got off the ground because he just tried to pick the smartest generals, who in turn disagreed with him on many things and eventually broke with him. Republican legislature is similarly undisciplined. On Democrat agendas, a single senator will defect during important bills. When Republicans have control, some random Rep stages a coup against the leadership.

I think they're realizing that you don't win at party politics by failing to have a party, and the party is more than just cheerleaders and fundraising. They're clearly not done consolidating power yet, considering the withdrawal of Gaetz and the lingering of a few impeachment representatives.

Hopefully what he gains in consistency and teamwork isn't totally overshadowed by the fact that his loyal people are, in many cases, not longtime government officials.

> I mean, we're closing in on banana republic levels of overt corruption: the only thing that matters is bending the knee.

my dude, we passed that in 2016

Let's hopw this whole federalism thing works out and states pick up the slack when the federal government can't.

> What kind of government is this? Not democracy

The Westminster system on which almost all of the world's democracies are based rely on an independent, unelected civil servants who serve the government of the day.

You will never get well-run governments if you require every person involved to be elected and an expert on politics and not on specific subjects e.g. renewable energy policy.

All US government agencies are created through congress, by your elected representatives. It is the executive branch (the president, who is also elected) that is then responsible for carrying out the agency's mission. All the high-level government bureaucrats are confirmed by the senate, all elected officials. If a president dismisses them, the senate has to confirm their replacement.

This kind of government is described in the US constitution.

> remarkable to call yourself a populist

Trump never used this language. (He was also aggressive against Big Tech in his first term.)

Is this some kind of joke? Air travel and telecommunications had some of the worst consolidations over time. Nothing good came out of it precisely due to decrease in competition.

This reminds me 1984 with its war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.

Now add to that your "monopoly is free market" koolaid.

> I won't demean you by suggesting that you're unaware of the absurdity in that.

It's by far the least absurd thing about Trump, who also got a press conference in a garden centre car park between a sex shop and a crematorium, which was then was mocked by furries who turned it into a VRChat environment, and the lawyer presenting that press conference got disbarred for trying to overturn the election; while the man himself has 34 felony charges for falsifying business records to hide showing he paid off a porn star that he claims not to have had sex with even though the sex part and the payment for silence is totally legal just you need to not lie about how much you spend in total on campaign finance and business expenses.

I think that's the kind of setup that Douglas Adams or Armando Iannucci would use.

Oh, and I almost forgot about the gold-coloured toilet.

Oh, honey...

Edit: ignore this first sentence. I mistook two people. It originally said “Then why paint this as an issue with the left?” Because that’s what the original person who is now flagged was doing.

Remaining comment below. ——

It seems both parties have similar targets but for different reason.

I think Microsoft and Google are most likely feel the brunt of the government after Trump is back in, because it greatly benefits Elon’s competing ambitions.

I think Meta will largely be untouched due to Marks close relationship with Peter Thiel, and he’s already bent the knee before the election to the GOP.

Apple is the one oddity. Trump doesn’t have much against them, even though they’re outwardly the most progressive of the big tech.