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MaddowBlog-With chaotic freeze gambit, the Trump White House shows its incompetence (again)
On the one hand, Team Trump is launching legally dubious power grabs and wreaking havoc. On the other hand, these guys have no idea what they’re doing.
https://bsky.app/profile/stevebenen.com/post/3lgv4ypo7t22y
Remember eight years ago, when Trump launched an ugly and poorly thought-out Muslim ban, sparking outrage, bureaucratic chaos, family hardships, and messy legal fights?
Eight years to the day later, he did it again with an ugly and poorly thought-out spending freeze.
Eight years to the day later, he did it again with an ugly and poorly thought-out spending freeze.
Link to tweet
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/chaotic-freeze-gambit-trump-white-house-shows-incompetence-rcna189776
Exactly eight years to the day later, Trump’s budget office ordered a freeze to federal grants, loans and related assistance — money that Congress has already appropriated — effectively trying to transfer the power of the purse away from lawmakers. A massive national freak-out soon followed, with widespread confusion and chaos, even among the administration’s allies, about how to implement the White House’s policy.
With just minutes remaining before the freeze was scheduled to take effect, U.S. District Court Judge Loren AliKhan agreed to halt the process. NBC News reported:
......It began with a terribly written memo from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which The New York Times’ Jamelle Bouie accurately described as “delusional.” White House officials spent much of the day insisting that it was perfectly clear, and news organizations were to blame for any confusion, but many of those same White House officials struggled badly to answer specific questions about the details of the policy — most notably related to the impact on Medicaid beneficiaries. (“I’ll check back on that,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at her first briefing.).....
In case that weren’t quite enough, the White House also spent much of the day defending the freeze by referencing the “Green New Deal,” which is a broad progressive agenda that, in reality, never actually passed — and therefore can’t be defunded.
The resulting image was unsettling. On the one hand, the president, his political operation and his policy team are engaged in ugly and legally dubious power grabs, wreaking havoc as part of a radical scheme to transform the American system.
On the other hand, these guys still don’t know what they’re doing. As The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank summarized in his latest column, “In just eight days on the job, Trump has taken a wrecking ball to the federal government, and he and his aides apparently couldn’t be bothered to give any thought to the damage and chaos that would ensue.”
With just minutes remaining before the freeze was scheduled to take effect, U.S. District Court Judge Loren AliKhan agreed to halt the process. NBC News reported:
A federal district judge on Tuesday granted an administrative stay in a case challenging the Trump administration’s planned freeze of federal aid, pausing the plan for a week and setting a hearing for further arguments Monday morning. The order applies only to the pause of disbursements in open grants, Judge Loren AliKhan said. And it doesn’t get into the legality of the freeze; instead, it gives her time to hear more fleshed-out arguments from a coalition of nonprofit groups about why she should issue a temporary restraining order that could block the freeze for an additional two weeks.
......It began with a terribly written memo from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which The New York Times’ Jamelle Bouie accurately described as “delusional.” White House officials spent much of the day insisting that it was perfectly clear, and news organizations were to blame for any confusion, but many of those same White House officials struggled badly to answer specific questions about the details of the policy — most notably related to the impact on Medicaid beneficiaries. (“I’ll check back on that,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at her first briefing.).....
In case that weren’t quite enough, the White House also spent much of the day defending the freeze by referencing the “Green New Deal,” which is a broad progressive agenda that, in reality, never actually passed — and therefore can’t be defunded.
The resulting image was unsettling. On the one hand, the president, his political operation and his policy team are engaged in ugly and legally dubious power grabs, wreaking havoc as part of a radical scheme to transform the American system.
On the other hand, these guys still don’t know what they’re doing. As The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank summarized in his latest column, “In just eight days on the job, Trump has taken a wrecking ball to the federal government, and he and his aides apparently couldn’t be bothered to give any thought to the damage and chaos that would ensue.”
TFG is a very stupid person. His staff is just as incompetent as the idiots who tried to do a Muslim ban 8 years ago
2 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
The White House sparked a national controversy when it ordered a freeze on federal grants. Under pressure, Team Trump rescinded its scandalous memo.
https://bsky.app/profile/msnbc.com/post/3lgvkv265z225
Link to tweet
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-rescinds-federal-funding-freeze-memo-chaos-confusion-rcna189851
Some political observers argue that Donald Trump and his team are simply impervious to pressure. No matter how great the outrage, the argument goes, the president and his Republican operation will ignore criticisms, rewrite history, deliver marching orders, and refuse to back down.
This observation is mistaken. Indeed, several examples have emerged since the president’s second inaugural.
Take, for example, the White House’s budget office ordered a freeze to federal grants, loans and related assistance — money that Congress has already appropriated — effectively trying to shift the power of the purpose to the Trump administration. The OMB memo sparked widespread confusion, chaos and controversy.
And it’s against this backdrop that the White House rescinded the memo on Wednesday.
.....The criticisms are more than fair. White House officials have been planning for this moment for months. They had every opportunity to carefully and deliberately flesh out a policy, prepare for its unveiling, and implement it effectively. Instead, Team Trump issued a terribly written OMB memo, generated chaos and confusion, spent a day pretending it was sound, only to retreat under pressure that officials should've seen coming......
With this in mind, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer issued a celebratory statement — “Americans fought back, and Donald Trump backed off,” the New York Democrat wrote — warning of a second round to the broader fight.
“Though the Trump administration failed in this tactic, it’s no secret that they will try to find another, and when they do, it will again be Senate Democrats there to call it out, fight back, and defend American families,” Schumer concluded.
This observation is mistaken. Indeed, several examples have emerged since the president’s second inaugural.
Take, for example, the White House’s budget office ordered a freeze to federal grants, loans and related assistance — money that Congress has already appropriated — effectively trying to shift the power of the purpose to the Trump administration. The OMB memo sparked widespread confusion, chaos and controversy.
And it’s against this backdrop that the White House rescinded the memo on Wednesday.
Link to tweet
.....The criticisms are more than fair. White House officials have been planning for this moment for months. They had every opportunity to carefully and deliberately flesh out a policy, prepare for its unveiling, and implement it effectively. Instead, Team Trump issued a terribly written OMB memo, generated chaos and confusion, spent a day pretending it was sound, only to retreat under pressure that officials should've seen coming......
With this in mind, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer issued a celebratory statement — “Americans fought back, and Donald Trump backed off,” the New York Democrat wrote — warning of a second round to the broader fight.
“Though the Trump administration failed in this tactic, it’s no secret that they will try to find another, and when they do, it will again be Senate Democrats there to call it out, fight back, and defend American families,” Schumer concluded.