Protecting Their Own
Trump-proofing: The Latest Lawfare Gambit
If public relations people had existed at the time, South Carolina would have announced in 1860 that it was merely “Lincoln-proofing” the state.
From the terribly run California to the terribly run Illinois to the terrified bowels of the terribly run federal bureaucracy, efforts are underway across the country to try to lessen the impact Donald Trump’s election will have on typically terribly run government agencies.
It’s being called “Trump-proofing,” though if one looks at the places engaged in this, the ultimate example of “election denying,” it is possible that “improvement proofing” could be a more accurate term.
Unquestionably, state and local agencies and governments are entitled to and actually have the responsibility to try to influence DC in ways that benefit their own citizens – the constitution is pretty clear about that.
But this is different because it’s not about policies and procedures and programs but is purely political and pertains to a personality. Nothing is in place yet – Trump hasn’t even taken office – and pols are planning peremptory pushback against putative potentialities.
Actually, that is a another parallel to South Carolina – it announced it was leaving the union because of what Lincoln might do. Like Trump, Lincoln had made specific pronouncements prior to his election that did not sit well with his opposition but had yet to take office.
Apocalyptic fear media predicting another civil war if he won aside, Trump-proofing is not about actually seceding at all. It is a movement based on possible/probable future actions that will upset the very problematic status quos of those places engaged in the effort.
Additionally, it is the logical extension of the lawfare waged against Trump personally, except this time it involves even more taxpayer money and will occur exclusively in civil court.
One of the oddest – and one of the most glaring examples of this box of self-service wrapped in a Resistance bow - is actually at the most feral of federal levels – the permanent nomenklatura.
Trump will almost certainly be re-instating his civil service “schedule F” classification. Obscure insidey bureaucrat stuff? In part, yes, but in much larger part no, because creating a different status classification for the tippity-top bureaucrats (50 -100,000 or so) has massive implications.
First, it allows for those bureaucrats who are bad at their jobs or blatantly stall or are opposed to implementing policy to actually get fired for being terrible at and/or refusing to do their jobs.
The DC culture shock over the concept is seismic, hence the establishment blob media piece after media piece decrying the idea, demanding to know how dare Trump even think about putting into place people that will properly carry out the polices the American people – pretty decisively – just approved in November?
The Biden administration, as we speak, is shifting as many people as possible and re-classifying and re-writing civil service protection (“protection racket” would be more apt) codes to safeguard those permanent people. In other words, they are trying to Trump-proof the DC blob so that it can try to repeat its obfucative obstruction of his first term.
Even more egregious is the whispered very loudly concept of issuing blanket pardons to potential Trump “revenge targets.” The pardons would be similar to Hunter’s blanket “well, we’re not saying you did anything )except the low level tax and gun stuff) wrong between 2014 and now, but just in case – wink wink – you did anything – LITERALLY ANYTHING – else that could be a problem, you’re covered.”
The entire concept is wrong, of course. To paraphrase, governing well is the best revenge, especially because it has the added bonus of highlighting how selfishly and poorly it has been done for so long.
Tiny Fauci committed perjury - multiple times – when testifying in front of Congress, as did rafts of other officials. They could be getting a similar deal, Trump-proofing them on a personal level.
Another name floated for this beneficence is Liz Cheney. I’m sure she’s done something technically illegal but most likely her awfulness is more in the realm of the “grasping desperate politician doing anything to stay relevant” type of stuff.
Liz, I think, is just a pathetic mouthpiece for the perma-war blob - if any Cheney really really needs a pardon, it’s her dad. Seriously – it just doesn’t get any worse than him.
At the state level, the same type of schemes are already underway and/or being considered. In Illinois, parody of a bloated politician Gov. J.B Pritzker “has his staff exploring ideas such as blocking GPS tracking on apps for women who may be traveling to the state to get abortions, so that there would not be records to potentially subpoena back home.”
Of course, California -where almost every terrible political idea over the past 20 years has been blurched from – is garnering the most attention. Gov. Gavin Newsom called a special legislative session to consider bills to preemptively allocate money to the state Attorney General’s office to pay to sue Trump.
They are not quite exactly sure what they will sue him for yet – cutting off federal funding for the laughable high speed rail project might be a topic or refusing the grant authority to the state Air Resource Board to mandate “green” transportation technology that does not exist or any number of border and benefit issues will be thrown at the legal wall to see if they stick.
“We will work with the incoming administration and we want President Trump to succeed in serving all Americans,” said Newsom when he called for the special session “But when there is overreach, when lives are threatened, when rights and freedoms are targeted, we will take action.”
Translation – we will keep running the state into the ground because the Sacramento blob and public unions and progressives and the bureaucracy and meddling “foundations” want and desperately need to be protected.
The session is currently considering a number of bills, but it appears that a $25 million dollars set-aside for the AG’s office to sue trump will definitely pass, possibly with an added $35 million to help people who just may happen to be caught up in the illegal alien criminal sweeps.
During Trump’s first term, California sued him 122 times, more than every other state combined, and spent an extra $42 million on the litigation, which ranged environmental issues to blocking the 2020 census from even asking about a person’s legal status in the country – How Dare They!
Considering Newsom’s presidential ambitions and Attorney General Rob Bonta’s gubernatorial ambitions, $25 million most likely won’t even cover the airfare to and from DC because everything will be sued.
Most of the sillier suits expected will lose but every lawsuit filing will be an opportunity for the media to use it as a tentpole for yet another anti-Trump piece.
Self-serving civil servants, a media desperate to skewer Trump, bureaucrats evading responsibility for at least ethical and most likely criminal misconduct, and a swamp full of hungry Dc gators looking for anything to chomp.
We’ve seen this before.
This time, Trump’s team seems to be ready for the challenge.