Week 6
By 
This is the week when the President of the United States and his bully boys ceased to support democracy against autocracy.
There are still a lot of things happening. I am unable to keep up with the lawsuits but will note that at least one of them is exerting pressure on the way Elon Musk and Donald Trump have set up Musk’s position in the government. If he’s firing people, yes he has authority! If it’s legal liability, no he’s just a consultant! I lack the legal training to follow this stuff in detail, but I can tell there’s something wrong with that. Follow the court-watchers (Chris Geidner (LawDork, Bluesky), Roger Parloff (Lawfare, Bluesky), and the Just Security tracker).
Feel free to add to the lists, but let’s keep it to things that have actually happened, not hypotheticals. I think it’s important to stay grounded with what has happened. Working out the hypotheticals is a different activity. Most of the comment for previous weeks has kept this grounding.
It’s exhausting. Take time out when you need to. Post your pets. Pet news from my household this week is that the kittens decided they no longer want to eat kitten food. Adult food has always been available because of Zooey, and they just stopped eating the kitten food. This makes mealtimes a lot easier for me.
Here’s what the Trump administration did this week, in no particular order
- Trump and Vance embarrassed themselves and the country in a meeting with Zelensky.
- DoD issued its order on transgender service members. Basically, they have to resign by later in March. David Kaye, a human rights lawyer, says that this goes into crimes against humanity territory.
- Amy Gleason was named as administrator for the US DOGE Service. She was inserted into government during the Biden administration, according to a New York Times report. The supervisor and contract administrator for consultant Elon Musk have not been made clear.
- Musk hits NOAA this weekend. It’s worth pointing out that the “weather services” that have been clamoring to take over NOAA do not generate weather information on their own. They are totally dependent on what NOAA does. I saw an estimate that NOAA costs us each $3 a year. The services we get from NOAA aren’t going to cost any less. I do not understand the business plans of the vultures.
- Another Saturday email demanding 5 achievements of the past week.
Continuing
- USAID is still in court battles.
Pushback
- A court decision said that OPM can’t do the layoffs it’s been doing. Not clear what comes next.
- 27 religious groups challenge ICE action in churches.
- Kevin Drum lists Trump losses in court. BTW, Kevin is back to posting and might go home from the hospital next week, although he is still very short of breath.
- 5 former secretaries of defense object to firings
202 more weeks to go. What are you doing?
Previous weeks: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5