The thing about government is that it is meant to outlast any political administration and even us. It is meant to be permanent, the bedrock on which we build the country, an economy and even an identity. What happens when a politician treats it as peripheral to the point that it is expendable? Can we survive that?
This is the audio version:
This is the transcript:
Can Trump turn the US government off?
It sounds like an absurd idea, doesn't it? And yet he's threatening to do it.
The latest of the many moves that he's undertaken to challenge the role of the US government is to threaten to literally close down the Federal Social Security Department. The reason why is that quite reasonably and in accordance with the Constitution, that Department is currently refusing to hand over to Elon Musk and his various operatives all the information on every single person who claims a benefit in the USA. And by all the information, I mean everything from, well, their age, their date of birth, their address, their social security numbers, their entitlement to work, their work history, their car registration plate number, and you name it, everything else, including a lot of personal financial information, of course, as well.
Musk has not been able to prove to a US Court why he needs his information. There is nothing that he has been able to say that suggests that he will be able to make better decisions about the future of social security in the US as a consequence of getting this information.
But he wants it anyway. And so we must assume, I think, as the court does, that there must be some ulterior motive for Musk demanding this, which might not be entirely appropriate for a government official to have. But the response has been to threaten to shut down social security, and let's be clear what that means.
It means that Americans with old age pensions won't get them.
It means very large numbers of people who get state support because they're on low income or anything else, including the food stamp programme, which is incredibly important to prevent poverty in the USA, will be threatened. This is a deliberate act by the world's wealthiest man on some of the poorest people in the country in which he lives.
But it's not the first time, of course, that Trump has threatened to close down the government.
He has cut off USAID almost entirely.
He has fundamentally reformed US foreign policy, including by literally demanding that people overseas come back home.
He is threatening the education programme that is run by the federal government by literally demanding that the Federal Education Department be closed.
He's threatening US universities with being closed or face massive cuts, and in one case, $400 million of cuts have already been imposed - sufficient to dramatically upset the finances of the university in question and simply because some of its students had threatened to support the cause of Palestinians who are subject to a genocide.
What else has he done? Well, he's obviously threatening the rule of law, and he's threatening in that process to also throw out those judges who oppose him. In other words, he's also threatening to turn off the law.
Is this viable? Can we have a government that says if we don't like something, we'll just turn it off as if it is weaponising the people it's meant to serve as the tool in its own programme of advancing the personal interests of those in government?
We have never seen anything quite like this before in what was previously a democracy, and I used the words 'previously, a democracy' with care there, because I do no longer think that that is what we can describe the USA as.
But let's just stand back for a moment and think about what we think government should be.
We think it should be permanent. It has existed throughout our lives.
We think it should survive from one political administration to another, and in countries like the UK, it is deliberately set up to do that because the vast majority of people appointed to work within government are not political appointees, and that is meant to provide the stability that guarantees that government continues even if the particular administration in office changes.
We see the government as the bedrock of our country, of our economy, to some degree, even our culture, for which it does become a form of guarantor by providing support for the arts and everything else.
It helps provide our identity, of course, because the government exists to defend the state, which many of us will identify with because we live in it.
All of these things are seemingly key to what we understand government to do, but now we have Trump treating government as if it is peripheral. He's suggesting that it's take it or leave it: “I can run social security or not as the mood takes me, and if somebody is hurt on the way, who cares?”
All of this is totally unknown. Can we, quite literally, survive this approach to government, and could we survive it in the UK if it was done here?
We have no idea if the USA is going to survive this approach, but this is also of relevance in the UK because we know that Nigel Farage is one of the biggest fans of Donald Trump that there is, and we know that his Reform Party is riding pretty high in the polls in this country right now.
Rightly or wrongly, people believe it's got the answers to what we need, and we know that he, too, hates many of the programmes that government runs, including many in education and many in social security. Would he decide that it was also appropriate to simply turn government off if he got into office because he is, after all, demanding that government cuts of an enormous scale take place?
Is that what is going to happen?
I ask this because I think we need to think about the consequences of current actions.
The US government has not closed down as yet. I know that, but I also know that there is risk that it might.
So, we need to understand what government is all about.
We need to understand what it delivers.
We need to talk about those things.
We need to realise how important government is in our lives, and I promise you it is.
Even if you think it has nothing to do with you, it will with regard to your children.
It will with regard to your elderly relatives.
It will with regard to the protection it provides to your property, which you don't even think about, of course, until something goes wrong.
It will, with regard to some very basic things. You might say, health and safety is the curse of humankind, but I promise you, in the UK, we drive on the left for a good reason - because that way we aren't hit by people who are driving on the wrong side of the road. And I'm aware that in most other countries where this video will be watched, you drive on the right, but it is the simple rules that are put in place by government that protect us from harm.
All of those things - can we do without them?
Can we do without education?
Can we do without the medical care that is supplied in the USA by the US Federal government?
One-quarter of children in that country are dependent upon the government for their medical support.
Can we do without defence, and so on?
We have to ask these questions and understand that government exists for a reason, and if it has a cost, that's because it's worth it.
So how much are we willing to pay to have the security, the stability, the continuity, the identity, that government provides to us. I suspect that when we sit back and think about it, we are going to realise we get not a bad deal from government overall when we count the value of those services supplied.
So please talk about this issue, share this video, talk about what else is coming up in the media around these points, and whatever it is that you come to a conclusion about, be sure to share it because unless we talk politics at this moment, and unless we talk about the value of government, we're not going to have one. And that is really worrying.
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Go back to the 1890’s and it was far from a done deal that the USA would be the dominant nation on the American Continent, the other contender for the role was Argentina.
Its possible that the US could go the way of Argentina as a result of its own political choices.
Thank you Richard for yesterday’s and todays post’s about the likely trajectory and endgame of the chaos and upheaval in the US and it’s implications for the UK. Just been reading Thom Hartmann’s There’s Only One Way Out Of This Mess. He tracks the US government’s long history of trying to contain and control oligarchic power and ambition when it has threatened to overturn the authority of the state. He concludes that,
“…. there is still hope….. Because our only salvation lies in outlawing billionaires from buying politicians and political parties, the most important thing we can do right now is to participate in demonstrations and support the politicians who are leading progressive public opinion. They will give judges, law firms and politicians who know that what Trump is doing is wrong, the backing they need to stiffen their spines and hold the line until the electoral process can return sanity to America”
This advice seems appropriate for the UK – to try to prevent something similar happening here. Except that while the US has prominent progressives like Bernie Sanders who would be the equivalent in Britain? Hartmann’s argument seems to be for the construction of a strong opposition in a process that builds strength. Identifying progressive politicians who openly oppose robber baron rule and who can inspire mass public demonstrations which in turn can give confidence to civil servants, law makers and other politicians, which then gives courage to more of the public and more of the politicians who oppose neoliberalism and fascism.
We are all watching what’s happening across the Atlantic in horror and amazement, I hope it’s a wake up call for us in the UK and that people who are thinking of supporting Reform will think again.
The equivalent of Bernie?
Caroline Lucas?
Otherwise? Hard to say.
But much to agree with. Thanks.
Where the US differs from most ‘nations’ (though not so much the UK) is that it is a federation of states – and it is the federal government Trump is undermining. He is a ‘useful idiot’ for many disparate right-wing caucuses (willing to collaborate but not altogether compatible), but within this alliance a strong thread is about moving power from Washington out to State governments – an old tension, but now partly, as you recently argued Richard, to escape the federal government’s power to regulate and tax wealthy corporations and individuals. Interesting that Musk recently moved Tesla out of California to Texas, reportedly precisely to escape California’s insistence on regulating it. Needless to say, in view of his evident aim to break up the EU, and active involvement in brexit, the disintegration of the US would also suit Putin down to the ground.
Unless privacy rules prevent it I would have thought Trump could gain access to the Social Security information himself as President? If so then your hypothesis must prove the point it’s more to do with oligarchy access and power
He can’t: there are chcks and balances between the branches of govermment
One of the points you made recently seems very pertant here.
If a state wishes to defend itself, it’s population must be willing to fight for it. By removing the benefits to the population of a state existing, the will to defend such a state evaporates.
Of course there are other ways to manage and defend a country but historically they don’t often do well and their leaders do not tend to have happy retirements.
Chuck Schumer voted to “keep the USA government open” because he feared that if the USA government was shut down, the Republicans (Musk) would never re-open it.
Chuck Schumer took a lot of flak from Democrats and Trump haters but I think he made the right call.
But will he succeed?
Did you watch the next You tube item – really scary stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlLv_EIL9OE
DOGE now using armed men to enforce entry – to non Government agencies.
Well the USA government is still open so I have hope.
With regards to rest of this mess, your guess is as good as mine.
Trump could very well be taking a jump into the unknown – true, the government gets a bad rap, but also we know it gets a bad rap when it starts to let people down.
Not being there at all will be new experience and in going that far, who knows, Trump might just go too far. All these extremists carry the seeds of their own destruction with them – let us not forget that.
An account of the men sent to the El Salvador concentration camp last week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgOUxy5voTo
Dear God
Indeed
The Trump administration planned its strikes on the Houthis using a group chat—and accidentally included The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg:
Politics
The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans
U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling.
By Jeffrey Goldberg
**WOW!****
Amazing…
Jeffrey Goldberg was on NPR (National Public Radio) discussing this whole fiasco around 4:30 pm EST time.
I heard the whole interview driving home.
The Atlantic article by Jeffrey Goldberg if anyone is interested in reading it.
https://archive.ph/QDRla
It doesn’t half show up Crazyland’s administration for the buffoons that they are. It’s unbelievable that this was all done by text.
They’re calling Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth, a DUI appointee rather than a DEI appointee!
Staggering incompetence at so many levels
Extracts from the Atlantic article discussing Europe’s ” PATHETIC” “free-loading” and the European Navies’ capabilities (or lack thereof) and, of course, the extraction of payment from the Europeans for the USA sorting out the shipping lane problem.
“The account identified as “JD Vance” addressed a message at 8:45 to @Pete Hegseth: “if you think we should do it let’s go. I just hate bailing Europe out again.” (The administration has argued that America’s European allies benefit economically from the U.S. Navy’s protection of international shipping lanes.)
The user identified as Hegseth responded three minutes later: “VP: I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC. But Mike is correct, we are the only ones on the planet (on our side of the ledger) who can do this. Nobody else even close. Question is timing. I feel like now is as good a time as any, given POTUS directive to reopen shipping lanes. I think we should go; but POTUS still retains 24 hours of decision space.”
At this point, the previously silent “S M” joined the conversation. “As I heard it, the president was clear: green light, but we soon make clear to Egypt and Europe what we expect in return. We also need to figure out how to enforce such a requirement. EG, if Europe doesn’t remunerate, then what? If the US successfully restores freedom of navigation at great cost there needs to be some further economic gain extracted in return.”
Richard,
Nobody wants to face up to this but in the UK we are much further down the same road than anyone seems able to admit. And it is affecting people, including me personally, in a direct way. In Scotland at least the rule of law is, in my experience, already dead. Perhaps a lawyer reading this might like to get in touch and prove me wrong? Commercial interests are above the law and anyone challenging that will face adverse consequences. It is absolutely ruthless, and no-one – government, local authorities, community councils, ombudsmen, regulators, even Audit Scotland, can be held to account at all. I am told by the police that my human rights cannot be defended and I have no remedy. The difference with America is that here there is still a pretence of democracy and human decency whereas Trump and Musk no longer care.
And the reason is exactly the same as we are seeing in America. The techno-fascists like Musk have decided to take over everything and everyone, and automate society. The World Economic Forum exists to make the world a better place for its members – at the expense of the rest of us. It’s like a Marvel comic view of the future: we will all live in mega-cities, under constant surveillance and we will do as we are told – or else. Justice is whatever they decide. Witness Guantanamo, the extra-judicial drone killings, the genocide in Palestine, the carving up of Ukraine with Putin for its rare earths. Starmer is signed up to the same vision. He too now seems to care not at all about the suffering he is inflicting on the poor and vulnerable and will gradually extend that to the rest of us. In fact is looks increasingly deliberate. As more and more jobs are automated, the billionaires just regard the 99% population as surplus to their requirements, and like concentration camp inmates or factory farmed animals, we exist solely to be exploited and discarded. We are to be utterly dependent on them for everything – even our food, water, health and lives . This means forcing dependence on means tested benefits, and any spending will be only with their approval – as it already is for those on UC. The digital currency will be programmable and controllable. And sooner or later there will be another ‘pandemic’ which will require us all to submit to house arrest, vaccine passports etc. Masking however has gone out of fashion, because policing is increasingly automated using facial recognition cameras. “You’ll own nothing and you’ll be happy” includes our very bodies and minds. No privacy or agency at all, anywhere, and everything we say or do will be recorded and used against us. Of course we and all our resources are being poured into military expenditure and extra police powers because they know full well that the population isn’t going to like what’s coming. It is the ongoing militarisation of the UK. We are all Palestinians now.
All this has been developing in plain sight for at least five years, but anyone who said so was labelled a mad conspiracy theorist. Like all fascism, this just amounts to rule by violence. Consent does not matter at all. (The ‘nationalistic’ aspects of fascism are secondary).
The broad agenda was set out in the so-called ‘Great Reset’ announced by Prince Charles and Klaus Schwab in 2020. That is where to look for an explanation of the Labour party’s Trumpian behaviour. All our parties and governments are bought and sold for the technocrats’ gold, and they believe they can do as they please and switch off government entirely if it suits them. Prince Charles is now, of course, King Charles. He is still very much their friend.
In this dystopia there are no human rights, no empathy, no kindness, the planet and its people have no value at all except where it / we can be monetised. And if you are weak, vulnerable, more a perceived cost than an asset – you have no reason to exist.
I don’t believe that Musk and co can succeed. For one thing they cannot avoid eventually fighting each other; and for another, the experience of Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Palestine is that technology cannot defeat the human spirit. They will find their technology uncontrollable and almost certainly used against them. Unfortunately the amount of suffering and death we will see before that happens is unimaginable.