Outside the Beltway

Trump’s reaction to the air disaster is telling in a variety of ways.

The new administration is gutting the senior ranks of the civil service.

The courts will decide whether we have a President or a King.

I have questions.

Is it even a traditional “Buy Out” and is it already in conflict with OPM statutes?

Partisanship is more important than institutional autonomy.

Piling absurdity atop cruelty.

And USAID leadership placed on leave.

Will the pattern persist?

Thoughts on an unnecessary confrontation.

More immigration politics.

Federal workers are afraid and in the dark.

Words to the AfD.

And remembering “jokes” about governing like a dictator.

Yet again, too little, too late.

A billionaire troll with a West Wing office.

Coping in a second Trump term.

On Christian compassion (and hypocrisy) and a little bit of the Streisand Effect for good measure.

You get what you vote for

Agencies are quickly seeking to comply with the President’s order.

Trying to upend 150 years of legal understanding with the stroke of a sharpie.

Only a handful of Republican Senators have objected. Mildly.

Multiple executive orders aim at rooting out the Deep State.

Not all norms.

A difference in degree is a difference in kind.

Another severe deviation from our norms.

Proud Boys and Oath Keepers insurrectionists are now free.

Symbols matter.

It was a busy eleventh hour.

Today’s an appropriate on to think about the role of suffering in change

A preemptive strike against potential abuse of power.

The political upstart may have worn out his welcome.

Normal transition . . . and potential red flags.

Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and both Roosevelts pushed the envelope, too!

Going out on another unforced error

The Curtis Yarvin interview.

And so it begins.

“…but I didn’t vote for that.”

Title IX, football, and the economics of college athletics.

About half the country wants about half of Trump.

It is not ratified.

The Majority Leader has a bigger role than previously reported.

An observation or two.

It “literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.”

There are a lot of people there.

Letting wild claims drive the policy discourse.

A surprising honor.

Is there an echo in here.

Legions of unpaid drones . . . ? . . . budget cuts.