Random Thoughts (10): Stories for Our Time

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I wasn’t planning on posting again so soon, I was working on a nifty piece about guacamole for the weekend, but even given the extraordinary times we live in these are some of the most extraordinary days that I can remember.

If you were going to write a novel based on the past few weeks, it would get rejected by a publisher as too far out there to be credible because it would read as mash-up of “Bonfire of the Vanities” meets “Seven Days in May” meets “What About Bob?”.

One

The Democrats finally found a stop-line for their rout and they are going to fight on… USAID. Press conferences and political theater outside of the shuttered USAID HQ. Shutting down the Senate confirmation process for Trump nominees. The media stating that the world will starve.

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Seizing the Archives

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When a regime collapses, there is a race to grab control of its archives.

That’s what we are seeing play out right now.

In one sense we all knew this battle was coming, yet from a different direction. Hegseth, Patel, Bhattacharya, Gabbard. They were all nominated to uncover the rot and conspiratorial natures of their respective agencies. That’s why their nomination battles are so contentious.

However, that was the attack everyone knew was comin –, the one to fix your attention so that you never see the other one, that is going to hit you in the flank.

Last week, Trump suspended the entire senior leadership of USAID for insubordination. Over the weekend, he announced that the entire agency was shut down and Secretary of State Rubio was to be the interim head. As of Monday, there were DHS agents patrolling the lobby of its offices at the Reagan Building, and no doubt its networks have been airgapped.

USAID is better known to the public as the agency that provides foreign aid. Officially, it sends money abroad to combat poverty, assist those suffering from natural disasters, and promote democracy and human rights. However, it is one of the crown jewels of the Deep State because it serves as the pass-through for tax dollars flowing to various slush funds and projects, both foreign and domestic.

The other big news was that Treasury Secretary Bessent granted Elon Musk access to the Department’s payment systems. The Bureau of the Fiscal Service uses the systems to disburse more than $6 trillion in annual payments. The Left is abuzz, thinking that this is a fascist hijacking of the government. In reality it is part of the same plan as is the reassertion of control over USAID.

If the archives at USAID and various agencies are the libraries for the federal government, then the Treasury payment system forms its rudimentary index. In movie terms, getting into the payment system is like grabbing Capone’s accountant.

Of special note, one of the young whiz kids Elon has parsing code at Treasury won a prize for deciphering an ancient scroll through the use of AI. Seems like just the man for the job.

Yes to a Victory Parade, but Keep It Modest

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Glenn Ellmers writes:

“Christopher Rufo has done vital work exposing the truth about Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the insidious ways it has infiltrated America’s public schools. For that he deserves the thanks and congratulations of all patriotic Americans. Having achieved notable success at a relatively young age, however, Rufo may be tempted to overestimate the impact of his victories. In many ways—not the least of which is the re-election of Donald Trump—the left does seem to be in retreat today. But this poses a tremendous hazard for the right, which is that it might decide to “declare victory and go home.”

“Rufo seems to be encouraging this unfortunate error with his essay, “America’s Verdict,” at IM1776. The essay argues, correctly, that the acquittal of Daniel Penny in New York City is a vindication of common sense and the rule of law. But then Rufo jumps to an unwarranted conclusion, claiming that “Americans are finished with the failed regime of the Left.” “Today’s verdict,” he continues, “marks the end of an era. BLM, which seemed unstoppable four years ago, is finished…. [A] brutal and stupid decade of moral and judicial corruption has come to a close.” As much as we might want this to be true, it is dangerous wishful thinking.”

Ellmers is a little harsh. Rufo does say that “ No doubt the violent spirit of the movement will seek to resurface in the future, but a brutal and stupid decade of moral and judicial corruption has come to a close.”

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Should President Trump Abolish FEMA?

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FEMA is arguably the federal government’s most compassionate agency, helping households when they need it most. It became a 2024 campaign issue when it was reported that it refused help to households displaying Trump political signs. Then, in the wake of the recent massive California wildfires, California’s Governor Newsom recoiled at President Trump’s suggestion that aide may come with strings attached. President Trump has responded by suggesting he may once again attempt to reform FEMA or even abolish it.

FEMA was created by an executive order issued by President Carter in 1979 with a “dual mission of emergency management and civil defense.” It has gone through numerous reforms and restructuring efforts since, growing to over 20,000 employees and an elastic budget of $30 billion, plus supplemental appropriations as needed. In 2001, Congress put this now huge agency into the new Department of Homeland Security, a behemoth with over 260,000 employees – third behind DOD and the VA – with a budget of $108 billion.

FEMA says its current role is to provide “experience, perspective, and resources in emergency management….. to help people and support the Nation’s disaster and emergency management needs.” By 1979 there were multiple agencies of the federal government that responded in one way or another to “national disasters,” so FEMA was created to improve management efficiency. But FEMA’s 52-page mission statement, titled “We Are FEMA: Helping People Before, During and After Disasters” doesn’t define what a “disaster is” (whatever POTUS says) or exactly what people, how and how much. It also does not address the role of state, local and other governments, nor the role and responsibility of households, primary casualty insurers or reinsurers.

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Of Window Frames and Air Traffic Controllers

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There is a lot of talk in politics concerning the “Overton window,” the range of discourse that is acceptable to the mainstream population at a given point in time.

While a window defines a space, another key and related metaphor defines an object. A framework provides a central point or idea from which other concepts can hang (or, more importantly, collect). While a friend of mine said that the better metaphor would be a magnet, given that it “attracts,” the framework is better conceptually because it defines something that one consciously constructs.

Trump has shown himself to be a master at constructing new political frameworks that redefine the political landscape. He has been called crazy, but sometimes it’s crazy like a fox. His comments, often outrageous, shock the existing political system and allow new political movements to form and ideas to be injected into the political discourse. His promise to build a “big, beautiful wall” was not only to be both a deliverable and a symbol of his commitment to securing the southern border, but provided a new framework for how to deal with the problem of illegal immigration. Trump was reframing illegal immigration as something to be decisively stopped at the border rather than managed. The same with his “Remain in Mexico” policy which functioned as a virtual wall, enlisting Mexicans into stopping immigrants from approaching their aside of the border

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