Trump fires dozens of line prosecutors who worked on January 6 cases; many lawsuits challenge the Trump administration's early executive actions; Mark Robinson wins the Senate Twink Memorial Award
Don't forget the president who wrote the book on impoundments, Richard Nixon. His administration gave us Train v. City of New York and the Impoundment Control Act of 1974.
Kinda weird to hear Josh suggest that Elon's mass firings at twitter were a reasonable move, given that the site more or less immediately caught fire and fell over when he did that.
I guess I just disagree with the underlying framework, then? The idea that there was some correct number of people to get rid of, and doing that would somehow improve Twitter or make it more/actually profitable, just seems obviously wrong to me, and it seems to give in to the idea driving the whole DOGE project where a thing not working right is assumed to be the result of people being paid to do nothing. I dunno. I have close family in the broader federal bureaucracy, so maybe I'm just prickly about this attitude in general.
I agree. One might very easily draw the reverse inference. If an institution is not working properly, perhaps the explanation is that the institution is understaffed and underfunded.
Of course, the idea that one will make government more efficient by firing career staff with immense institutional knowledge and either not replace them or replace them with political cronies is absurd.
Can't find the email address, so I'm dropping my question here. The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York and two officials in the Justice Department's Public Integrity Unit just resigned rather than fulfill King Trump's order to drop charges against Eric Adams. What happens if everyone resigns? Would Pam Bondi or Emil Bove have to go into court themselves?
Are the efforts by Musk and Trump to stop the spending of appropriated funds procedurally or legally different from Trump withholding funds to Ukraine in his first administration?
Twitter may well have been overstaffed but their post-buyout ability to keep the lights on only shows that they were overstaffed maintain the status quo. Most tech companies spend the majority of resources working on whatever they think the next thing is.
Gentlemen, I will not accept any Will Stancil slander on this podcast. Mr. Stancil is (usually) right, especially on all the topics that Democrats so often get wrong.
RE: Difficulty of hiring FBI agents, required training, background investigations, etc.
Is Ken serious in suggesting that these would be allowed to impede the mission? Really? Why wouldn't the President simply direct the White House Counsel office to grant them TS/SCI like the rest of his wrecking crew?
There’s a difference between having a badge and knowing what you are doing. Absolutely they could appoint idiots. But would they know how to do FBI things?
A reasonable point. I am skeptical, though, about whether the appointing officials would care much beyond whether the appointees are big and intimidating enough, and neat enough in appearance (in the federal building where I spent my civil service career, the FBI was on the 30th floor, and we always could tell who in the elevator was an agent, even when they were in drag for undercover work).
I haven't seen much of a hint so far that appointment choices go much beyond oaths of fealty.
This is now a Tom Goldstein podcast. I don’t want to hear about the legality of Donald Trump declaring he bought the moon. The people want Goldstein tax fraud pro se crypto drama.
I object to awarding a Senate Twink Memorial Award for Belatedly Good Judgment to Mark Robinson. The suit from the very beginning struck me as a cynical political ploy only intended to give his supporters something to point to. “Mark couldn’t be guilty of the things CNN is accusing him of. Look, he’s even suing them for defamation!”
I don’t believe dropping the suit is a late change of heart as much as the final step in a plan he had from the very beginning for an unwinnable case.
Love any episode featuring the STMABGJ (Senate Twink Memorial Award for Belatedly Good Judgment)
Does anyone else just feel really scared right now?
With regard to Musk-I-mean-Trump blocking payments to people & programs he doesn't like....
I'm old enough to remember Clinton's line item veto battle in 1998 when the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional. Seems kinda similar?
Don't forget the president who wrote the book on impoundments, Richard Nixon. His administration gave us Train v. City of New York and the Impoundment Control Act of 1974.
Kinda weird to hear Josh suggest that Elon's mass firings at twitter were a reasonable move, given that the site more or less immediately caught fire and fell over when he did that.
I understood his point to be that Twitter had bloat but the way Elon handled it went badly, not that the cuts were reasonable.
I guess I just disagree with the underlying framework, then? The idea that there was some correct number of people to get rid of, and doing that would somehow improve Twitter or make it more/actually profitable, just seems obviously wrong to me, and it seems to give in to the idea driving the whole DOGE project where a thing not working right is assumed to be the result of people being paid to do nothing. I dunno. I have close family in the broader federal bureaucracy, so maybe I'm just prickly about this attitude in general.
I agree. One might very easily draw the reverse inference. If an institution is not working properly, perhaps the explanation is that the institution is understaffed and underfunded.
Of course, the idea that one will make government more efficient by firing career staff with immense institutional knowledge and either not replace them or replace them with political cronies is absurd.
Can't find the email address, so I'm dropping my question here. The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York and two officials in the Justice Department's Public Integrity Unit just resigned rather than fulfill King Trump's order to drop charges against Eric Adams. What happens if everyone resigns? Would Pam Bondi or Emil Bove have to go into court themselves?
Are the efforts by Musk and Trump to stop the spending of appropriated funds procedurally or legally different from Trump withholding funds to Ukraine in his first administration?
Twitter may well have been overstaffed but their post-buyout ability to keep the lights on only shows that they were overstaffed maintain the status quo. Most tech companies spend the majority of resources working on whatever they think the next thing is.
Gentlemen, I will not accept any Will Stancil slander on this podcast. Mr. Stancil is (usually) right, especially on all the topics that Democrats so often get wrong.
I decline to obey.
Thanks for the reply lol
What is the "Administrative Practices Act" referenced by Ken at 14:30? Did he mean the Administrative Procedure Act?
- A smarmy fan
I knew that was wrong as soon as I said it but I thought “surely there is nobody out there so lost to light and love to care”
🤭
RE: Difficulty of hiring FBI agents, required training, background investigations, etc.
Is Ken serious in suggesting that these would be allowed to impede the mission? Really? Why wouldn't the President simply direct the White House Counsel office to grant them TS/SCI like the rest of his wrecking crew?
There’s a difference between having a badge and knowing what you are doing. Absolutely they could appoint idiots. But would they know how to do FBI things?
A reasonable point. I am skeptical, though, about whether the appointing officials would care much beyond whether the appointees are big and intimidating enough, and neat enough in appearance (in the federal building where I spent my civil service career, the FBI was on the 30th floor, and we always could tell who in the elevator was an agent, even when they were in drag for undercover work).
I haven't seen much of a hint so far that appointment choices go much beyond oaths of fealty.
Josh and Ken.
This is now a Tom Goldstein podcast. I don’t want to hear about the legality of Donald Trump declaring he bought the moon. The people want Goldstein tax fraud pro se crypto drama.
I object to awarding a Senate Twink Memorial Award for Belatedly Good Judgment to Mark Robinson. The suit from the very beginning struck me as a cynical political ploy only intended to give his supporters something to point to. “Mark couldn’t be guilty of the things CNN is accusing him of. Look, he’s even suing them for defamation!”
I don’t believe dropping the suit is a late change of heart as much as the final step in a plan he had from the very beginning for an unwinnable case.