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Trump is destroying the merit system in federal governement, yet MAGA says people should be hired based on merit?

Axulus

Axulus

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The federal government purges Trump is enacting is designed to destroy the merit system. By replacing competent people with political lackeys, you make the job into one not about competence but about political loyalty. Not how good are you for the position, but will you always follow orders? And yet MAGA has the audacity to complain about DEI hires?

Trump's latest move was a buyout offered to all federal employees. Guess which ones are the most likely to take it? Those who have the best private market prospects and thus more likely to be very knowledgeable and talanted in their particular areas of expertise. Those who have few alternatives other than to say "yes, Trump, thy will be done.", will remain.
 
In Trumpworld, the more you suck up to the boss, the more "merit" you have. For them a meritocracy is exactly as you describe. It doesn't matter how good you are at your position, or even if you know what you're doing. What matters is your loyalty.

Lost on them is that this will be a disaster for the agencies involved and the American citizens who depend on them. Think about putting the newest recruit in charge of an aircraft carrier for no other reason than he's the favorite of some admiral. Then he fires most of the crew and fills the ranks with his friends, even if they're not in the Navy. The ship sure won't be combat ready, and might just sink on the way out of the harbor, but the kid will probably get a medal.

This is what the next 4 years will be like.
 
Axulus said:
The federal government purges Trump is enacting is designed to destroy the merit system. By replacing competent people with political lackeys, you make the job into one not about competence but about political loyalty. Not how good are you for the position, but will you always follow orders? And yet MAGA has the audacity to complain about DEI hires?

Trump's latest move was a buyout offered to all federal employees. Guess which ones are the most likely to take it? Those who have the best private market prospects and thus more likely to be very knowledgeable and talanted in their particular areas of expertise. Those who have few alternatives other than to say "yes, Trump, thy will be done.", will remain.
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That is the merit they seek.
 
I doubt the federal government has ever been a meritocracy under any administration.
 
Axulus said:
Trump's latest move was a buyout offered to all federal employees.
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This was an idea first floated by Curtis Yarvin, a blogger of prominence who says America needs to accept a dictator.
 
steve_bank said:
I doubt the federal government has ever been a meritocracy under any administration.
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Andrew Jackson's cabinet would be a good example of some silly governance. But Trump is really taking things to a new level with idiots like RFK Jr. as HHS.
 
Ford said:
In Trumpworld, the more you suck up to the boss, the more "merit" you have. For them a meritocracy is exactly as you describe. It doesn't matter how good you are at your position, or even if you know what you're doing. What matters is your loyalty.

Lost on them is that this will be a disaster for the agencies involved and the American citizens who depend on them. Think about putting the newest recruit in charge of an aircraft carrier for no other reason than he's the favorite of some admiral. Then he fires most of the crew and fills the ranks with his friends, even if they're not in the Navy. The ship sure won't be combat ready, and might just sink on the way out of the harbor, but the kid will probably get a medal.

This is what the next 4 years will be like.
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This reminds me of what my father said about his time in WWII.
A lot of smaller ships had "90 day wonders" as captains, because their daddy was rich.
If you wanted to know what to do you would ask the old veteran Chief.
 
robnisch said:
Ford said:
In Trumpworld, the more you suck up to the boss, the more "merit" you have. For them a meritocracy is exactly as you describe. It doesn't matter how good you are at your position, or even if you know what you're doing. What matters is your loyalty.

Lost on them is that this will be a disaster for the agencies involved and the American citizens who depend on them. Think about putting the newest recruit in charge of an aircraft carrier for no other reason than he's the favorite of some admiral. Then he fires most of the crew and fills the ranks with his friends, even if they're not in the Navy. The ship sure won't be combat ready, and might just sink on the way out of the harbor, but the kid will probably get a medal.

This is what the next 4 years will be like.
Click to expand...
This reminds me of what my father said about his time in WWII.
A lot of smaller ships had "90 day wonders" as captains, because their daddy was rich.
If you wanted to know what to do you would ask the old veteran Chief.
Click to expand...

On the darker side of things, one of the Vietnam vets I've known said they'd get new lieutenants every now and then that were rich kids who went to West Point or such, all gung ho to be a hero and lead "their men" into battle. It was always the same. "Yes sir (the grunts would say), the enemy is just up ahead. Show us the way, sir!" He'd go up ahead, and suddenly a firefight would erupt. The parents would get a letter about how he bravely died in combat. Was he shot by the VC? NVA? Nobody knew...it was all so sudden and confusing...

I wonder how many underlings in the new Trump regime will realize that their ass is grass if they follow the idiot in charge of their department, and let slip a little fratricidal information to the press.
 
Ford said:
I wonder how many underlings in the new Trump regime will realize that their ass is grass if they follow the idiot in charge of their department, and let slip a little fratricidal information to the press.
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They'll have to leak it to foreign press. I doubt ours will be willing to print it pretty soon.
 
Well, Kristi showed us that she'd bust a cap on her own dog. Imagine what she'll do to a terrorist -- probably tie him up and put him through a wood chipper.
 
Shadowy Man said:
Actually it is Congress that is destroying the merit system by confirming Trump’s unqualified picks.
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This. Trump is one guy. He has the full unwavering support of the entire GOP. He is just spreading chaos and flooding the zone with shit so the mega corps can do want they want to get done behind the smoke.
 
Ford said:
This is what the next 4 years will be like.
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I disagree. This is what it will be like as horror story after horror story emerges and we become inured to it over the next year or so.
Then will come the actual disastrous effect, which will be much much worse.

Pretty much like last time, except last time it took him 3 years to truly rain horror down on us by ignoring the warnings he got in late 2019. This time I don’t expect such delays in making actual people physically miserable.
 
Politesse said:
ideologyhunter said:
Well, Kristi showed us that she'd bust a cap on her own dog. Imagine what she'll do to a terrorist -- probably tie him up and put him through a wood chipper.
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Killing a man is much harder than killing a dog.
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Well, obviously. Bigger animals can survive losing much larger amounts of blood, and can shrug off larger wounds. They tend to have more physical structure (muscle, bone, etc.) enclosing their vital organs, and those organs are themselves larger and more able to continue to function when partially destroyed.

Killing an elephant is notoriously difficult, and requires very large calibre guns.

I know you meant that it is more difficult psychologically, but that's true only for non-psychopaths, which seems a poor assumption to make in Kristi's case.
 
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