Posted on 11/11/2024 4:12:27 AM PST by MtnClimber
Eight years ago, the incoming Trump administration did not “hit the ground running,” to say the least. Indeed, many have speculated that Trump was surprised that he had won. Whether or not that is true, he was not ready with a slate of people to fill the top cabinet and other posts. On top of that, many of his early initiatives quickly got stalled or hobbled by an orchestrated barrage of attacks from the Deep State. Examples include pervasive FBI investigations of his people for phony “Russian collusion”; a fake yet successful criminal gambit by the FBI/DOJ against his first choice for National Security Advisor (Michael Flynn); false rumors that delayed confirmation of, and then hobbled his first Attorney General (Jeff Sessions); a successful effort to get a special prosecutor appointed; and so forth.
This time around, I expect a very different scenario. The Trump transition project looks much better prepared. Nobody is going to buy the kind of Deep State scams that stalled Trump’s first administration. Both houses of Congress look like they will be supportive. There is a real opportunity for Trump’s team to come in with an immediate “shock and awe” cascade of initiatives to put the Deep State on the back foot.
So herewith some ideas for early actions that I would hope Trump will take. Most of these ideas are not unique to me, although I don’t necessarily know who may have first come up with them. I will give credit where I think it is due. Note: I’m leaving out the subject of climate and energy for now, and saving that for its own upcoming post.
- Communications. Take immediate control of all government websites, and replace the messaging of the left with the messaging of the new administration. This is not something that requires any Congressional action, nor going through any kind of complex process to revise regulations. You would think that this item would be an obvious first priority of any incoming administration. However, the first Trump administration was inexcusably slow to take control of the communications function of the government. Dozens of government websites continued to parrot the left’s messaging years into Trump’s first term. In an example that I am most familiar with, the websites of EPA, the Department of Energy, and others continued to broadcast the climate alarm message two years and more into the first term, and when the sites changed, that occurred slowly and piecemeal.
- Immobilize the administration’s enemies in the bureaucracy. The federal bureaucracy consists of well over 90% partisan Democrats, and large numbers of them are hard at work right now figuring out ways to “Trump-proof” their agencies, and to stall and undermine any changes the new administration might want to make. Meanwhile the career functionaries have what is called “civil service” protection, and theoretically can’t be fired without some proof of “cause” and a lengthy process. How to deal with that? The best suggestion I have seen comes from Steven Hayward writing at The American Mind on October 25: “Trump ought to have his cabinet officials determine who is useless or obstructive and order them to work from home. Then cut off their email and access to department computer servers the next day.” My only quibble with this is that I don’t see any reason why, with 2 million or so federal bureaucrats, this needs to be an individual process where cabinet secretaries make decisions person by person. This process could be applied wholesale to entire groups advancing agendas that the new administration opposes.
- Department of Justice and FBI. These agencies have been shown over the last eight years to be thoroughly corrupt, with corruption for these purposes defined as participating in using the processes of criminal justice to attack political enemies. It’s not just that a few partisan people at the top got involved in illegitimate prosecutions of Trump or January 6 protesters or Trump allies; it’s that every single person went along, and not a single person spoke out against this. The entire top echelons of both agencies should be fired immediately, no questions asked. Those at mid to high levels with theoretical civil service protection should get the treatment of the prior bullet point. At lower levels (line prosecutors) it won’t be possible to fire or immobilize everybody, because there won’t be enough people left to do necessary work; but I would recommend erring on the side of getting rid of people. If the feds bring fewer prosecutions for some period of time, I don’t see a problem with that. Indeed, my experience with observing federal prosecutions over the course of my career is that a high percentage of them are dubious, more designed to bring down some big target and to advance the career of some prosecutor than to deal with real criminality. The highest profile prosecutions were often the most dubious, and also consumed disproportionately large amounts of resources. See my tag Phony Prosecutions. In the case of the FBI, I would recommend shuttering it, and creating a new agency with a new name. Current FBI agents could apply for employment at the new agency.
- January 6. I have seen multiple people calling for immediate pardons for all January 6 defendants. I would not go that far. Instead, I would suggest getting a panel of Republican lawyers to review the convictions. In each case the conviction should be reduced to what would be the norm for the conduct at issue in non-political circumstances, which in the most severe cases will be something like misdemeanor criminal trespass; and the punishment should be commuted in each case to the extent that it is beyond what would be the norm for the conduct in question in non-political circumstances. That would mean no jail time for any but those who committed actual acts of violence. Those who merely wandered around the capitol non-violently should get full pardons. Under this regime, essentially every J6 defendant still in prison will be immediately released. The worst offenders will be left with a misdemeanor conviction on their record, which is appropriate. Anyone who was prosecuted for something that would not be prosecuted in normal circumstances should have his attorneys’ fees paid by the government. Anyone who was incarcerated for longer than would be the norm for the conduct in question should receive compensation for the time. Meanwhile, the entire team of J6 prosecutors in the Justice Department, and everybody in the FBI who worked on this, should be fired immediately. Also, the records of the DOJ and FBI should be de-classified to reveal how many sources the feds had among the protesters, and the extent to which the government sources instigated or directed the rioting.
- Eric Adams prosecution. As I have written in several previous posts on this subject, the Adams prosecution is about relatively minor conduct, none of it involving any federal office. Given the overwhelming stench at Justice and the FBI, there is a reasonable hypothesis that this prosecution is revenge for Adams speaking out about the migrant crisis. My recommendation: Trump (or his new AG) should refer the case to the Manhattan or Brooklyn District Attorney’s offices, for them to decide whether to pursue the case as a matter of state bribery law.
- Media and social media censorship. I have no doubt that a vast network of media and social media censorship organizations continues to operate in the federal government, even after the extensive exposure of that network that has occurred via litigation of the New Civil Liberties Alliance and others. A little-remarked aspect of this problem is that it seems to have originated — or at least first grown to critical mass — during the first Trump term, as a response of the public health authorities to what they saw as Covid “disinformation.” I doubt that Trump himself was much aware of this, but still, it was on his watch. Anyway, these censorship bureaucracies should be immediately dismantled, and their personnel fired. If that’s not possible, see second bullet point above.
- DEI. The DEI cancer took off and metastasized throughout the federal government during the Biden administration. Biden issued multiple Executive Orders calling for more and more DEI initiatives, for example this one on his first day in office, January 20, 2021; and this one on June 25, 2021; and this one on February 16, 2023. Trump can and should revoke these Executive Orders on day one. Equally important, the entirety of the DEI bureaucracies in every agency should be dismantled, and the personnel fired.
- Defund the Left! OK, this is not something that can just be done on day one. But there is a lot that can be done without waiting for new acts of Congress. Throughout the federal government, grants are being made on a daily basis to fund things like critical race theory, anti-Israel propaganda, “history” projects that teach hatred of the United States, and so on and on. This can be greatly reduced by a determined effort to take control of the grant-making bureaucracies, currently in the firm grip of the left.
That’s it for now. Commenters are welcome to put forth their own brilliant suggestions.
Treason can come in many forms. Even a simple note with instructions to subvert official orders from congress or the president could be just that...yes?
Start prosecuting the crime whenever and where ever it happens and soon it will cease.!
I live on a lake in Central Florida now. I have to watch out for alligators and poisonous snakes. There is an alligator cruising about 20 yards off shore right now, but it is only about 6 ft long so not a threat to my dogs. There is one that I see occasionally that I estimate to be about 12 ft and 500 lbs. Alligators that size occasionally eat dogs and even people.
Bookmark - Good thinking
Does the FBI require a "security clearance"? If so, loss of clearance because of devious and unruly behavior would be quite possible. You lose your clearance, you lose your job...
“Joe DiGenova” is almost 80 years old.
_______________
I know, he’s about Trump’s age but he comes with a lifetime of experience and still vigorous and willing to bring that institution back to respectability again. Just like Tom Homan who comes to the Border Czar position with a lifetime of experience and the right mindset to make a difference. Obviously, all U.S. Attorneys will need to go as a matter of course. All new U.S. Attorney’s will need to be appointed on merit and only after a thorough vetting without any political intervention. These U.S.Attorneys in turn will need to review their staff and aggressively cull any questionable bad apples. All divisions in the Department will need to be scrubbed of subverters. It’s a tall order but it needs to be done. The damage and embedded institutional Leftist cultural is Obozo’s legacy. It is borne on a toxic hatred of America and his culture remains entrenched throughout the executive branch. The most critical agency needing immediate attention is the DoD because it affects our national security.
Heh. We joke about gators here on the far north end of Lake Lanier to scare off the South-end Atlanta idiots, but the worst we have are the occasional coyotes.
We MUST have a FULL investigation of the Trump assassination attempts. Go all the way to the top. The FBI AND the Secret Service FACILITATED the attempted murder of the likely president and they wanted it broadcast on live TV. Don’t try to tell me Biden didn’t know it was going to happen either.
Jill Biden and Kamala Harris hastily scheduled appearances in PA the same day as Trump’s Butler, PA rally. The result was that Trump’s normal SS detail was pulled off to cover Jill and Kamala and Trump got mainly the DEI team. And CNN showed up to the Trump rally. How convenient that all of these coincidences lined up perfectly.
“Commenters are welcome to put forth their own brilliant suggestions.”
Unless I missed it in the above missive:
CLOSE THE BORDER!
CLOSE THE BORDER!
CLOSE THE BORDER!
DEPORT!
DEPORT!
DEPORT!
Then...all of the above on steroids. We don’t have ANY time to waste! You know the Socialist Democrats are doing nothing now but circling the wagons and regrouping. Their have MORE than proven to be The Enemy Within the Gates! Their current sadness will immediately turn to ANGER and ACTION and they’ll be BACK - of that I have NO doubt!
Privatize every agency and let companies bid on contracts. Then those already in government positions can reapply for their jobs and since it is for the government, polygraphs would be mandatory as a condition of employment. The contracts should be reviewed every three years to ensure deliverables established by the GSA are met. Monthly status reports are provided and if the contracting company is not meeting its obligations, a contract review is held and the contract is put out for a new bid.
DAY ONE: Close the border, send invaders back to their Third World hellholes.
Review all FACE Act prosecutions along the same lines as the J6rs & initiate immediate pardons. Speaking out & protesting abortion is not a crime. That act should probably be repealed.
Off topic from the thread, I visit Florida enough that I have learned how to determine if an inland body of water there has an alligator in it.
You walk up to the edge of the water, bend down, and splash the water with your hand.
If the water is wet, there’s an alligator in there.
Back on topic:
This may be the time to determine the Constitutionality of the Civil Service system. There is an argument that it is unConstitutional meddling by the Legislative Branch in Executive Branch prerogatives.
That’s Tom Homan. He’s awesome, saw him speak Fall of 2022. Go to Patriots.win and check some of the vidclips linked, there are a few towards the top currently.
Department of Justice and FBI. These agencies have been shown over the last eight years to be thoroughly corrupt.
With D.C. 92% democrats it’s not a silent coup it’s a dare to try and stop them.
More power to Trump for taking the dare and WIN for America liberty and the American people.
Without America the world will be total chaos.
And to assist cleaning them out, set up a tip line from conservative government employees to rat out the rats in the bureaucracy.
Republicans need to change the Census Bureau counting rules so they CANNOT include illegals in the census. There also has to be a mechanism for correcting errors.
Been saying that since before Trump was elected, now someone smart agrees with me. Cool
And the Supreme Court sets on their hands once again.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.