A series of "blunders" in the first few weeks by some of Donald Trump's closest aides has given rise to a belief that his plan to overturn government norms will face more problems than were previously expected
And those problems, so far, are self-inflicted, according to a feature writer.
In her column for Salon, longtime political observer Heather Digby Parton surveyed what has transpired in less than two weeks and asked, "Do they know what they're doing or are they just throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks?"
Case in point, she noted, was the Trump administration's decision on Monday to have the Office of Management and Budget order a “temporary pause” on all federal government grants and loans, which immediately created chaos that had members of both parties up in arms.
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"The next day websites went down and people all over the country were calling their representatives demanding to know what was up. Senators reportedly 'hit the ceiling.' And rather than just telling everyone to shut their traps and deal with it as they've been saying for months to anyone who questions their odious policies, the White House backed off," she wrote.
That was when the Trump White House blundered again, she said.
After first claiming the first memo wasn't "vetted" by higher-ups in the administration, newly installed press secretary Karoline Leavitt ran to social media to announce, "This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze. It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo. Why? To end any confusion created by the court's injunction. The President's EO's on federal funding remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented."
"It was a blunder and a big one considering how important this 'impoundment' gambit is to the Project 2025 architects who are running the program to destroy the federal workforce," Parton wrote before adding that Trump's billionaire adviser Elon Musk also did his part in making problems for the White House with a highly criticized "buyout memo" as part of his efforts to get rid of government employees.
"It's possible that he got a Trump thumbs up on his way out to play another round of golf one afternoon but according to the Post, none of the senior officials in the White House or the career staff at the OPM knew about it," the columnist suggested. "I don't think he cares much what they do but he's got to remember that it all blows back on him when they screw up. And they are screwing up bigly."
With that in mind, she suggested Trump's second term was supposed to be populated with people who had a definite plan to advance his agenda, and that balloon seems to have popped.
"It turns out that they are just as incompetent as the man they work for," she accused. "They can still do a ton of damage just by throwing all this stuff against the wall. But a well-oiled, systematic, authoritarian machine they aren't. I'm not sure that's any better but it's good to know what we're dealing with."
You can read more here.