15 November 2024

Be grateful Trump's cabinet horror show can't happen here

| Ian Bushnell
Join the conversation
99
Elon Musk smiling

Billionaire Elon Musk wants to cut trillions of dollars through the new Department of Government Efficiency. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

There is a silver lining to watching the house of horrors unfold in Washington as America’s Red Menace makes his captain’s picks for a Cabinet.

Imagine if Gina Rinehart got the call from Peter Dutton to take charge of, say, industrial relations or the environment.

Can’t happen here.

But if you’re thinking Dracula in charge of the blood bank or foxes running the hen house, or in Trump’s case, Fox News in charge at the Pentagon, you’d be on the money.

It’s a peculiarity of the US system that the President can tap unelected private sector ‘experts’ to be responsible for departments and agencies.

READ ALSO Policy rumblings begin in Australia following the US election

In years past, both sides have at least sought out people with legitimate expertise who view their role as a public duty within the institutions of government.

But as the Republican Party became more disengaged from the establishment, purged of its sensible centre and replaced it with MAGA zealots brought in from the fringes, the President’s picks turned wacky.

Eight years on from Trump 1.0, the takeover is complete, best exemplified by the appointment of the world’s richest man and now best buddy Elon Musk to run his own razor gang of the Orwellian-sounding Department of Government Efficiency, although technically it isn’t a cabinet position. No conflict of interest there.

Or there is Trump’s pick for defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, a National Guard veteran and Fox News presenter without any administrative experience who has called for a purge of generals.

The man chosen to run the Environment Protection Agency, Lee Zeldin, is promising “fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American business while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards”. Sure.

Education is undecided, but whoever it is will likely oversee a dismantling of public education if Trump’s rhetoric is anything to go by.

But even some Republicans are shocked at the choice of Congressman Matt Gaetz as Attorney-General. He was investigated by the justice department in a sex-trafficking case, though no changes were brought, and was under investigation by the House ethics committee amid allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.

Then there are the immigration hardliners and China hawks.

And so it goes.

A cabinet of Trump loyalists first and the notion of competent public administration or even a belief in government itself are well down the list.

In 2016, Trump said he would drain the Washington swamp. Well, in 2024 there are all kinds of creatures emerging from the murky waters to do their master’s bidding.

Be careful what you wish for.

The idea of the Prime Minister being able to call on people from outside of government to serve in cabinet has been raised in Australia.

In his 1979 Boyer Lecture, Bob Hawke called for one-quarter of positions in the ministry to be opened to non-politicians.

“There is a considerable range of relevant and proven talent within the community which, while not desiring to be immersed in the party-political electoral processes, would nevertheless be available and keen to serve the country in government,” he said.

Hawke said they could still be responsible to Parliament by being present at Question Time and any debates relevant to their portfolios. They would have the right to speak in Parliament but not to vote.

READ ALSO Dutton wants to give under 16s the social media ban as a Christmas gift

At the time, it sounded like a reasonable proposition, but the passage of time has not been kind to it, and the goings-on in the US only add to arguments against such a move.

The key one is that ministers should be elected and ultimately responsible to the people. There remains plenty of scope for ministers to take expert advice from within and outside the public service.

It would require a change to the Constitution, so it remains unlikely.

The Westminster system of government may have its flaws, as Hawke contended, but it continues to serve the nation well, and its traditions and conventions have proved resilient and essential to Australian democracy.

As the train wreck that will be the second Trump administration over the next four years becomes apparent, Australians should be grateful for the way we govern ourselves, uphold the rule of law and generally shun extremism.

Join the conversation

99
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

It’s really hard to bribe billionaires!

Article reads like Ian only watches CNN / ABC.

There is a reason CNN is laying off staff. They lost their audience.

How is the voice not the same thing as hiring Elon Musk.

More out of touch elitist whinging from Bushnell, who simply cannot understand why the majority of US voters didn’t listen to their betters and vote for the establishment’s puppet candidate.

Incidental Tourist7:58 pm 16 Nov 24

To prevent such swing back leftists must have been kept at bay. ACT Greens constantly changing the tenancies act or managing Building / Construction brought housing supply in ACT to record lows. I don’t think if Rinehart shaped IR laws the unemployment would be as bad as housing supply under Green’s reign.

If Greens won more votes then Ratteburry could become treasurer. Greens looking after treasury is not much different from what author says “fox running the hen’s house”.

Musk has demonstrated not just starting mass production of EVs but he also built South Australia’s Virtual Power Plant on time and on budget. Was it one and only large government’s project in living memory done on time and on budget? Why do leftists love driving EVs while fearing Musk?

Some leftists want to leave this planet. At least Elon Musk is working on that

Capital Retro8:31 am 18 Nov 24

Great analysis there.

HiddenDragon9:10 pm 15 Nov 24

In the 45 years since Hawke’s Boyer Lecture the political gene pool has narrowed notably, with Himalayan levels of front and an ability to talk under wet cement (without actually saying anything) becoming the predominant traits over now occasional optional extras such as significant experience beyond the usual fields of law, the union movement, think tanks or, most likely, serving as a political staffer.

At the same time, and this may be no coincidence, accountability in between elections – most notably the complete farce which Question Time has become under both sides of politics – has been almost completely white-anted.

Choosing ministers from the house-trained products of the party machines has delivered – just to give a few of the more spectacular and publicly-known examples – Sports Rorts (the 1994 version), Children Overboard, the pink batts fatalities, an NDIS which has exploded in cost way beyond what was originally estimated and, of course, Robodebt. The same system, in the UK, recently produced the utterly shameful Post Office scandal.

The fact that there seems to be an increasingly inverse relationship between having wide and deep experience before elected politics and the chances of becoming a minister might have something to do with this sorry tide of events.

Our system has also, even more seriously than those fiascos and disasters, given us a lazy, inward-looking national economy increasingly reliant on government spending to sustain employment and produce barely measurable aggregate growth while real per capita incomes fall – but with the governing classes still doing very nicely for themselves.

Hawke’s idea is worth revisiting. It could be implemented with a small change to s.64 of the Constitution, which allows a person to serve as a minister for up to three months without being an MP or Senator – the same provision which allowed John Gorton to serve as PM after resigning from the Senate and before he was elected to replace Harold Holt as MP for Higgins.

In the meantime, whatever thrills and spills Trump 2.0 produces, it’s a fairly safe bet that the US will continue to leave smug little Australia in the dust when it comes to innovation and real wealth creation.

Or “smug little Australia” (funny thing to say aren’t you a part of the “If you don’t like it leave” crowd) could just jump in and take over American markets thanks to Diaper DonOld’s tariffs that trashed markets and sent farmers bust last time and will completely trash their economy if he applies the industrial scale tariffs he’s been threatening out of industrial scale stupidity.

@HiddenDragon
“Hawke’s idea is worth revisiting. It could be implemented with a small change to s.64 of the Constitution …”
Yeah, about that ‘small change of the Constitution’?

While I don’t necessarily disagree with selecting non-politicians as ministers, the issue I have is that it may well be replacing a like-for-like system.

We have progressively seen, over the years, the upper echelons of the public service become, more and more, partisan appointees – who no longer seem to be capable to (disposed to?) delivering ‘impartial, frank and fearless advice’. Former departmental secretaries, Pezullo and Campbell, are but two examples.

So there’s no guarantee that changing the system, for appointing ministers, will be any different to the ‘political’ appointment of departmental Secretaries, and therefore deliver a better (for the people) outcome.

Capital Retro11:07 am 16 Nov 24

I object to your repeated use of the term “Diaper Don”, Seano.
The alliteration may sound cool to you and your peers but believe me, it is no fun having to wear a sanitary nappy (diaper if you want to be American).
Napkins don’t discriminate between the left and the right either so maybe in a few years you may remember this post.

Capital Retro, and yet through your crocodile tears I have not seen you or any of the MAGAs object to the vile and vicious insults Trump has made a part of his political discourse.

Apparently, it’s ok for the Donald to insult others for their looks, age, race, religion, gender, sexuality, IQ, service, ability or disability but heaven forbid anyone throwing similar back at him.

No prizes for guessing where I think this level of hypocrisy should go. Meanwhile, I’ll keep talking about the diaper-wearing, makeup-caked, bad toupe, sundowning traitor in chief in exactly the same way as he talks about others, thanks champ.

Never argue with a leftist. A brick wall remains a brick 🧱

As arguments go Futureproof I’m sure that one stacks up in the schoolyard.

CaptainSpiff5:55 pm 15 Nov 24

For probably the first time in his life Bushnell is seeing actual democracy. And guess what …. he hates it. Really really hates it.

@CaptainSpiff
Perhaps you can help us mere mortals, and give us the benefit of your enlightened superiority, by explaining that, as it’s not “actual democracy,” what political system we have in Australia.

It was a democracy when Obama won, and when Trump won and when Biden won even though Trump tried to steal it and should have gone to jail for that and it’s democracy when Trump won again… no one “really, really hates it”, grow up champ.

What they hate are the coming, anti-democracy abuses of power Trump has promised that I’m sure you would have found inexcusable if they were committed by a politician you didn’t like.

CaptainSpiff11:05 am 16 Nov 24

@JustSaying – Sure thing, mere mortal. In Aus we have elections where you effectively choose between Coke and Pepsi. The media and the leading parties make sure that any options outside of that are eliminated (just like has happened in the US for many decades), and successfully programs people like yourself to think that such a system is “democracy”.

CaptainSpiff11:09 am 16 Nov 24

What anti-democracy abuse of power has Trump promised? Is he going to cancel elections? Establish a dictatorship?

What is it about Trump that so upsets people like yourself? If he’s so bad, he and his movement will just burn out. We’ll all move on wiser for the experience – that’s how actual democracy works.

@CaptainSpiff
Really? They don’t have two major parties in the US?

Didn’t Trump succeed as the nominated Republican Party candidate for president?

Do you actually understand the concept of democracy?
BTW that last question is rhetorical as you clearly do not

“What anti-democracy abuse of power has Trump promised?” deporting 11 million people without due process. Thanks for playing champion.

And you can pretend that Trump wasn’t an incompetent fool who tried to steal and elections and did great harm last time but the facts don’t lie, given he wants to do even worse this time I look forward to the MAGAs beclowning themselves defending the clownish, indefensible and down right evil.

Deporting illegals without due process………who poured across the border without due process

Capital Retro8:56 am 20 Nov 24

Seano, isn’t it strange how those 20 million voters who supported Biden 4 years ago failed to return for the latest poll?

How do you know they’re “illegal” without due process champ?

@CApital Retro, what are you talking about? The election wasn’t decided by 20 million votes. Sorry I don’t do conspiracies.

Meanwhile, you can support the diaper-wearing, pancake-makeup, bad toupe, sundowning, felonious, adjudicated r*pist and traitor, but winning an election doesn’t change who he is nor does it absolve his supporters as his failures and abuses of power mount up.

CaptainSpiff4:07 pm 20 Nov 24

@Seano You’re going to burst an artery soon 🙂

Lol…yeah can’t defend the indefensibly stupid statement that 20 million votes disappeared so go the sad little ad hom.

No wonder you’re a fan of the Diaper Don.

Oh yes, we can face a very similar set of circumstance, with an Australian flavour, in fact we already are. Cabinet appointments come from within the elected class, agreed. That does not mean you get the best and brightest. It means you get the factional slice-up based on agreements between people you never see or vote for. Cabinet can and is stacked. I give you Barnaby Joyce as exhibit A. At the next level – departmental heads – thanks to John Howard these roles are now filled by contracted people who often show a loyalty to the party. Once in place these people can then help manipulate those who may speak out against bad policy, illegality or poor behaviours out of positions of influence. This then renders the department – the free and frank advisors, part of the braking system on illegal actions by government – completely in the hands of the cabinet with no desire to speak up if poor policy is presented. I give a Royal Commission into RoboDebt as exhibit B.

We are not immune. Our systems are not immune. Our level of concern should be heightened because all of the toxic elements that have led the USA down the path it has taken – including neo-Nazis and far-right extremists – exist here, and some were even at Trumps victory party.

To those with terminal TDS – Yes I am looking at you Ian: Trump won the house, the senate, the presidency, the popular vote and every single swing state. That is a clear MANDATE from the American people to implement his policies.

You will just have to spend the next four years crying about it, but the American people have spoken… loudly and you’ll just have to deal with it. That’s Democracy for you.

Whilst I would have hoped Americans were sensible enough not to want to try full idiocracy I look forward to the MAGA clowns either defending the nonsensical and indefensible (coz that will at least be funny) or simply going MIA as the reality of a clown cabinet, tax cuts for billionaires, social welfare cuts for everyone else, tariffs and rounding up millions including American citizens destroy America. That’s Democracy for you.

… is that you, Don?

Roughly 2/3 of the USA citizens of voting age actually vote. Of that roughly a couple of per cent more than 1/2 who voted for the next President. How is it around 1/3 of the voting age population, voting for a candidate with a raft of policies, convert into a mandate for each and every policy?

Bob, if you had taken the time to read about the exit polls which were taken, as well as the subsequent expert post-mortems of the election outcome, you would be aware that it was the economy (i.e. the cost of living) that was the main concern for the majority of voting Americans. In their eyes, his “tough man” image made him more likely to force a change there.

That is not “a clear MANDATE from the American people to implement his policies”, especially as he had few or no policies or plans other than extreme promises of an action e.g. a mass deportation. It was merely a lot of people hoping he could make their lives cheaper.

On the other hand, Kamala Harris, already in office as the current VP, did not represent Change to them. Perhaps her greatest error leading up to the election was responding in an interview that she wouldn’t have done anything different to Biden in this current administration. That just said to many that she’d perpetuate many of the perceived issues. She also heavily campaigned on Women’s Rights which appeared to be only #3 (after #2 Immigration) of the majority of people’s priority for resolution.

The only thing I agree with in your post is “that’s Democracy for you”. Trump was very successful in generating FUD (look up the definition on Wikipedia), whereas Harris tried more to promote positivity. Fear is a more effective motivator, but not an ethical one.

Capital Retro9:31 am 15 Nov 24

Similar things happening in Argentina but no one reports that, do they.

Probably because Argentina is all but inconsequential to most of the world. Unlike the US sadly.

Capital Retro6:36 pm 15 Nov 24

Yes JS9, its population is only 47 million but about 40 years ago a book was written by two Australian academics called “Australia and Argentina: On Parallel Paths”.
I’m surprised that a person of your high intelligence and knowledge on everything wasn’t aware of that.
I suggest you and some of your fellow travelers read it. It compares things between us an Argentina that are much more consequential that those between us and the USA.

@Capital Retro
So one book, published 40 years ago, suggested Australia and Argentina were on similar paths, and you want us to believe it’s applicable today. So, which economists or financial analysts have predicted Australia is heading for over 100% inflation (official figure in Argentina in Sep 24 was 209%!), when our latest figures show a downturn in inflation?

Alternatively, perhaps you can enlighten us as to where we can buy Australian bank notes, which a local artist is using as a canvas? (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-13/how-did-argentina-end-up-with-100-per-cent-inflation-/102707204)

Capital Retro11:02 am 16 Nov 24

The figures show a downturn in the RATE of inflation – we still have unsustainable inflation.
In recent years, the cost of a lot of essential items (energy and fuel) has increased 100% in Australia.
I haven’t referred to your link because ABC “analysis” on anything financial is irrelevant.

@CapitalRetro
It’s ok, I get that you and facts are not regularly acquainted, CR, no matter who provides those facts.

Nevertheless, the last reported annual inflation rate in Australia, for the Sep 24 quarter, was 2.8%; the lowest rate since the first quarter 2021, and within the Reserve Bank’s target range of 2 – 3%. Check those figures with whatever news outlet you like.

As of October 2024, Argentina’s inflation rate was 193%.

So are you still wanting to use a 40 year old book, to suggest Australia and Argentina are on the same path?

Capital Retro8:27 am 18 Nov 24

Inflation has always been a problem in Argentina. Australia’s current inflation rate reduction has resulted from government energy subsidies which is just kicking the can down the road.
The federal debt Argentina owes needs to be repaid in US dollars, which is not their currency. So as the US dollar gets stronger and the Peso weakens due to inflation, the debt they owe increases dramatically. As debt increases relatively, their credit (interest rates) and value of their currency decreases further, and the situation worsens exponentially.
If you can’t see an Australian parallel with that well I guess you have never studied economics.
I have spent some time in Argentina where about 20% of the “workers” are “employed” in the public service. I know some of the public servants who don’t even bother going to work because there is nothing to do. But they still get paid and at the same time people who try to set up manufacturing industries end up paying taxes up to 80% of their income.
The new government in Argentina want to abolish their reserve bank as it has been used as a “tool” by previous inept governments. Meanwhile, in Australia the current Labor government has a plan to take control of our independent RBA.
Doesn’t that worry you?

@Capital Retro
“If you can’t see an Australian parallel with ….”
Errr parallel with what, CR? Do we pay our federal debt in $US? So you know of Australian “public servants who don’t even bother going to work because there is nothing to do”?

Where has the federal Labor government stated its plan “to take control of our independent RBA”?

I understand that you have your juandiced ideological mantra that you need to trot out, but, as usual, without supporting facts, it’s just empty rhetoric.

Trump Derangement Syndrome by the tonne.

You can call it what you like Ken but President Adjudicated R*pist appointing a clown cabinet of the unqualified, cooked, corrupt and kooky can only end in disaster….here in the real world Trump was cratering the economy (check the numbers) before COVID…and that was with adults in the room.

I look forward to your retractions once this all goes t*ts up…lol…I kid, we both know you don’t let facts intrude on opinions.

I’ll just refer you to the type of individuals your mates appointed to sensitive positions: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Brinton

Your obsession with and rage at who another country elected is amusing though. Very stable behaviour. 🤣

@Ken M
So a nuclear engineer was appointed to the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary for the US Office of Nuclear Energy, in June 2022, and “left the role”, six months later, after being charged with luggage theft on three separate occasions.

That’s your earth shattering revelation is it?

Oh wait – they also happened to be an LGBTQ activist. Perhaps it’s homophobia that’s the news here?

LOL
Oh, imagine my shock that you would pipe up to defend putting a visibly mentally ill person in charge of nuclear energy.

@Ken M
Any verifiable evidence to support the fact that the appointee was known to be “a visibly mentally ill person” at the time they commenced in the role? Oh, just to be clear, homophobia is not verifiable evidence, Pinocchio.

Hardly a horror show. But keep the lefty tears coming Ian.

Stephen Saunders7:43 am 15 Nov 24

The last kind of cushy advice that Copacabana Albanese and his Cabinet (Chalmers, Bowen, Burke, O’Neil, Plibersek, etc) need to hear is that they are “better than America”. Let’s see what the 18m voters think about that, when we have an election, remember them.

Trump won very comprehensively, not just the Electoral College but the popular vote as well., largely because majority of Americans think the system, which you’re so defending here, doesn’t work and needs to change. Australian politicians would do well to recognise that, as a lot of similar sentiment is creeping into Australian society. The point of these crazy appointments, like Musk and Gaetz, is exactly to destroy the system; complaining what poor job they will do, and how ill-equipped they are to the task, means you don’t understand the task.

Yes, Americans voted the way they did because the system is broken, ironically for the people who have done the most harm but there’s no 3D Chess being played here by Trump. He ran the first time because of ego, the 2nd time because of incumbency and the 3rd time to avoid jail.

What’s going on now is President Narcistic Felon is surrounding himself with people who tell him he’s great and won’t say no, not people who will remake the system for the common good.

joller, what you describe as designed to “destroy the system” will result in a lot of collateral damage to people. The plans include cutting access to education, health care and social security (in a country where those services were already limited). Already in the US, they claim is most people are only two pays away from being homeless. Can you image what is going to happen when someone like Musk, who has no grip on reality, cuts just for the sake of cutting? And do you really think all those people who lose jobs/homes are going to just creep away and quietly die in a corner? Would you?

“ThE sYsTeM iS bRoKeN wHeN iT dOeSnT dElIVeR tHe ReSuLt I lIkE!!1+!!!”

-Seano

Irrespective of what side you sit on in the political world, implicitly suggesting the American system is not a chaotic, gerrymandered mess is a pretty long bow to draw. Not saying our system is in any way perfect – but its a whole lot closer to what democracy is meant to be about than that.

Same goes for the FPTP nonsense in the UK voting system.

Weird how the people complaining about it have nothing to say when it works in their favour though.

Not sure if you know what gerrymandering is, but Trump won the popular vote.

Samuel Gordon-Stewart7:32 am 15 Nov 24

I don’t see any horror show unfolding in Washington. Quite the opposite actually. A President-elect nominating people for various roles who he believes will be well-placed to help him enact the policies which he took to the election.

Don’t forget, most of these appointments require senate confirmation. While it is true Republicans have a senate majority, that doesn’t mean they will all necessarily fall in line if a nominee turns out to be unreasonable.

There really is something to be said for a system where the leader can choose from the millions of people in the country who know a thing or two about a particular department, pending confirmation by elected senators, rather than having to choose from just a couple dozen people foisted on them by a party machine in safe seats whose understanding of the subject matter of their portfolio may be limited at best.

A TV show host in charge of the largest military the planet has ever known…get a grip dude.

A TV host with operational experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. Right there, he is more than qualified for the job than some lifer pollie. But as most lefties, you think that anyone connected with Fox News should be disqualified from any appointment

That has to be the dumbest comment I’ve seen on this site since…yesterday….I can drive a bus that doesn’t mean I can fly the space shuttle.

So a sergeant telling the Generals what to do? It’s made a joke of his appointments. Could you imagine Jacqui Lambie Minister for Defence? LOL

No, the job of the minister of/for defence in Australia also isn’t to be the top general, or to tell generals what to do. It’s to set policy for defence, control strategic procurement and surround themselves with the right advisors on other subjects.

So you can drive a bus. Good for you. So get off the picket line and go back to work

The only good news out of Trump’s American Idiocracy is that the President Diaper’s clown show cabinet and MAGA will own all of it, there’s no blaming anyone else for the coming disaster.

CaptainSpiff8:35 am 15 Nov 24

So will you also be crediting them if things go well?

I half think the only solution is to let him have his way and let the disaster happen. It is the only way people will wake up to what a con artists he is. The trouble is all the collateral damage that is likely to happen.

Of course I will credit them if things go well, it’s not something we have to worry about though champion.

I understand that feeling Megsy but I think the opposition has to be on the record opposing the worst of “only I can fix it” Trump’s insanity before the inevitable disaster if there’s any hope we’ll have something better on the other side.

TDS is off the scale. 🤣

The unwillingness to engage with reality is puerile…and boring.

I look forward to being nowhere to be seen Ken when MAGA voters work out what a tariff is and why they’re bad.

No, I’m unwillibg to engage with deranged lefties who have spent the last 8 years obsessing over an orange guy, and not realising people are voting against them, not for the orange guy. You live so far outside the bounds of reality that it’s hilarious.

Don’t let the fact that I personally did none of that intrude on your fantasy world Kenny.

I bet on Trump, not because I wanted President Traitor to win but because the Democrats were intent on running legacy candidates and politics as usual in a broken system against the massive right-wing misinformation machine.

The reality for the terminally dim MAGAs is Trump’s clown cabinet will be a disaster which will largely hurt his base more than anyone else…elect/appoint stupid people to important positions win stupid prizes.

And whilst I hate to see battlers get screwed by the billionaires who own President Orange Makeup yet again…I am at least looking forward to MAGA dumbos trying to defend the clown show or better yet disappearing back under their rocks.

You are deranged, and your imaginary scenarios will not eventuate. Your little conapiracy theory-esue rants just tell me you need to go outside. Being terminally online in lefty echo chambers has given you a warped sense of reality, and it’s hilarious to watch the dummy spit and apparent breakdown over who another country elected.

Managerialism, the idea that as long as the form is filled out correctly and everything is done by the book there are no other considerations, is the death of civilisation, and that’s what we are suffering from here. I’d give anything for a Javier Milei figure with real power in cabinet, but I’d settle for a Ramaswamy and Musk. Government is way, way too big in Australia.

Completely removing bureaucracy isn’t always a solution either. Back when I was a public servant, we had a minister who went on a get-rid-of-red-tape crusade and had one of his staffers interfere in a contract. They took out so much, the contract basically came down to we paid the contractor and they delivered when and if they felt like it. When (surprise, surprise), they didn’t deliver to the minister’s satisfaction and he called us to use penalty clauses in the contract to get tough, he was flabbergasted to find his staffer had removed all the penalty clause (against strong departmental opposition at the time, which was dismissed as “just red tape”).

Red tape and contract clauses are not the same thing, it sounds like the staffer didn’t understand that which lends weight to the way Trump is doing things by getting ‘experts’ (using the term loosely) into government rather than career public servants who are more often that not so far removed from reality its hilarious.

The government is currently in the process of passing legislation dictating what opinions you’re allowed to have (“opinion” the words, does appear in the explanatory document). It’s too big.

There is one truism of the MAGA Clowntocracy which is it’s always someone else’s fault.

Haven’t the side you are on here spent every day since the election blaming everything but their insufferable nonsense, seano? The complete lack of introspect has been amusing to watch.

Isn’t that exactly what the left is doing now Seano….the left can’t handle democracy when it doesn’t vote for them. The left’s arrogance and hypocrisy are breathtaking.

dazzer….it doesn’t take a genius (clearly) to see that the Democrats accepted the result of the election and won’t be sending a mob and a bunch of fake electors to the capital.

You can say “The left’s arrogance and hypocrisy are breathtaking” but that suggests you don’t understand the meaning of the words arrogance or hypocrisy…..or breathtaking….or the.

PS. Trump like Biden is not a king, yet Trump is about to launch a litany of abuses (because he said he would) which will destroy the country and its economy. America is not Russia and trying to turn it into a Russia will end in disaster.

Kenneth you never seem to let reality intrude, I’m barely on here and the only people I’ve blamed are the Dems for running a bad candidate and a bad campaign and the billionaire-owned right-wing media misinformation machine that convinces people with limited critical thinking ability to vote against their own best interests.

What will actually be amusing, and not in that right-wing only punch down and laugh at your own jokes style of “comedy” but actually amusing will be watching dopey MAGAs defend the indefensible let alone outright insanity over the coming months…

🤣
You just keep proving me right.

Your conspiracy theories here are quite amusing though.

What conspiracy theories Kenbo?

Trump is literally appointing unqualified clowns as we speak.

Only the terminally dim amongst the MAGAs actually believe that appointing unqualified dopes won’t end in disaster….it may be that facts, evidence, experience and expertise don’t matter in the MAGA Clownverse but here in the real world they actually do.

Watching you have this episode is hilarious.

Watching MAGAs crawl back under their rocks over the coming months will be funnier.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.