I gotta tell you, it’s reaching a point where I can’t even keep up with the pace of events anymore. I do find it not only amusing, but ironic that the GOP congressional leaders, at the very start of what was supposed to be a whirlwind 100 days of legislative triumph are in a congressional retreat. If what is being reported in the press is true, it’s not just congress, the entire Trump administration seems to be in full blown retreat.
Yesterday, I wrote a DIARY stating that Mein Furor’s ongoing battle with the press was going to cost him, but his attempts to stonewall the entire government from communicating with the people they work for would kill him. You can’t put dissent into a vacuum. Nixon tried that and ended up with “Deep Throat”. At that time, I note that the NPS had come up with an alt Twitter account in response to the administration muzzling the official one, and it had a larger following than the official site. I called that the first leak.
My good Lord, things have accelerated in the last 24 hours! There are now something like 9-10 (at least) alt government department sites out there, with more to come I’m sure. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times has released a series of Tweets chronicling her conversations with West Wing insiders who are demoralized at the chaotic atmosphere. There is a DIARY on the Rec list right now about an unnamed source who leaked the fact that the draft memo on torture actually was generated in the White House, contrary to a spokesman’s claim. There is another DIARY atop the Rec list that tells of a source calling themselves “Whistleblower” who who is a mid level WH staffer who has Tweeted extensively about his own observations of the staff mood in the White House, Trump’s demeanor, and confirming the accuracy of Maggie Haberman’s contacts and Tweets.
Then there is the more practical, dangerous stuff. One day after Rex Tillerson visited the State Department, it was announced that four of the most senior civil service staff members had resigned. NBC has confirmed that were asked to do so. These are not jobs that you learn on the fly, it takes years of hands on experience to become proficient at them. Where do the replacements come from? Then there is the news that under the new administration, the CEO of Voice of America, a US run radio station that traditionally broadcast to overseas countries, but recently received permission to broadcast in the US, was replaced by the bipartison board who appointed him, not by the board, but the administration, and two Trump campaign workers in their 20’ were installed as co CEO’s, I would presume with the goal of turning Voice of America into a government run propaganda arm.
My dear Kossacks, this is not sustainable. Most certainly not in the long run, but not even in the short run. The most serious leaks in Nixon’s administration did not occur until the second term, when the outrages reached a critical mass. And here we are, seeing these preliminary leaks in the first seven days of this new administration. Due to his thin skin and the fact that his ego got dented by his popular vote loss, Trumpelthinskin entered the White House with a bunker mentality. The more of these leaks that occur, and the more the hated media covers them, they will build a basement in that bunker. And the more erratic the administration becomes, the more, and more serious leaks will spring out. It will literally become a death spiral for the White House.
Up until now, we have all been concentrating on the tragic damage that the Republicans will do to the fabric of this country with their sadistic social and economic policies. If this keeps up, it might not even get that far. If this continues, If this Klown Car Demolition Derby continues unabated, it may well destroy the functioning fabric of the White House, grinding the entire functioning of the legislative process to a halt. And the congressional GOP is busy partying down for four days in Philadelphia. What a mess.