Charles Pierce: The Executive Branch Is About to Be 'Reorganized' into Oblivion

[CousinIT]

This was ominous from the first tweet. While everyone was breathlessly awaiting the CBO numbers on the Republican tax-cut plan, the one that was so well-camouflaged beneath gauze and surgical gloves, the president* announced that he would be signing an executive order through which he planned to "reorganize" the executive branch of government. On Monday, not long after the CBO numbers lit the entire healthcare debate aflame again, he made good on his threat. He signed the "Comprehensive Plan For Reorganizing The Executive Branch." I didn't like the sound of this at the time, and it sounds even worse now that it's here.

Quite simply, this empowers the president* and his advisers simply to eviscerate the federal agencies that might inconvenience them by actually acting like they're part of the government or something. Not long ago, the president*'s plans for drastic budgetary cuts in discretionary spending leaked. People howled. (The Coast Guard? Really?). This latest move impresses me most as a backup plan in case those cuts don't fly in Congress. And considering that the White House really is being run by Steve Bannon, last heir to House Harkonnen and destroyer of the administrative state, it seems likely that this is the fundamental purpose behind the order.

In theory, the job has been handed to Mick Mulvaney, the new head of the Office and Management and Budget, most recently seen throwing shade at the CBO, and one of the original Tea Party fanatics elected in response to the Obama Presidency. (Mulvaney was one of the chief architects of the 2013 government shutdown.) But the fine print of the measure shows that it is likely more a creature of Bannon's professed love for vandalism for its own sake. From the order itself:

The proposed plan shall include, as appropriate, recommendations to eliminate unnecessary agencies, components of agencies, and agency programs, and to merge functions. The proposed plan shall include recommendations for any legislation or administrative measures necessary to achieve the proposed reorganization.

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a53848/trump-executive-order-reorganization/

[CousinIT]

1. THIS....illustrates how their E V I L plan comes together

BREAKING: So this Executive Order concerning the organization of the executive branch got signed today, and let me tell you what it does in non-legalese:

it invites the head of every agency of the government to submit a plan within the next six months to eliminate part OR ALL of any executive branch agency.

Read that again.

And then consider what the executive branch includes:

Dept. of Energy, currently headed by Rick Perry, who said he wanted to shut it down during his campaign for president

EPA, which Scott Pruitt has been battling for years

State, currently headed by friend-of-Putin, Rex Tillerson

Dep. of Education, currently headed by Betsy DeVos, who does not believe in public education

Treasury, currently headed by Goldman Sachs exec. Steve Mnuchin, who has every reason to gut every aspect of financial regulation

Justice, currently headed by Sessions, who basically doesn't believe in justice for anyone but white men

And on and on and on and on it goes.

NOW? NOW ALL THESE MONSTROUS CABINET APPOINTMENTS MAKE PERFECT SENSE.

Let's just hope he gets impeached within the next 180 days.

RESIST LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT. Because it just might.

#IMPEACH

SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/elizabethcronise/posts/10211942226254665?hc_location=ufi