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Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: FAFO continues apace [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-02-10

A disturbing piece from Suzanne Schneider/The New European:

America’s all new economic model The neoliberal economic model has gone, and been replaced by something much more powerful – and troubling The two ascendent factions of the American right may advance fundamentally different economic and social visions, but both reject neoliberal economic orthodoxies about free markets and the role of the state. On the one hand, you have the traditionalists who have coalesced around the National Conservatism movement helmed by the Israeli-American political theorist, Yoram Hazony. NatCon has become an umbrella for the global right and made significant inroads with figures including Viktor Orbán, Suella Braverman, Nigel Farage, and several US Senators – most notably, vice president, J.D. Vance. Thinkers in this world sometimes sound more like Wolfgang Streeck than Milton Friedman, rebuking the degrading effects of capitalism on families and communities and calling for states to intervene. The engineers, on the other hand, represent the triumph of instrumental reason in our new century. They fetishise efficiency and understand the democratic state as an impediment to the sort of “progress” they desire. For devotees to what the philosopher Curtis Yarvin calls turbocapitalism – wherein maximizing profit depends on seizing the state apparatus – invocations of laissez-faire are notably absent. They have given up the libertarian lie that business can thrive without the state and are far more interested in conquering it, not just via regulatory capture, but by directing economic and industrial policy and positioning their preferred firms as national champions. This is not the free market but the patronage market.

x The CFPB union has just sued Russell Vought over shuttering the agency — David Dayen (@ddayen.bsky.social) 2025-02-10T03:34:08.494Z

New York Times:

Vance Says ‘Judges Aren’t Allowed to Control’ Trump’s ‘Legitimate Power’ The declaration by the vice president came as court orders have temporarily blocked parts of the Trump administration’s agenda. Mr. Vance, a 2013 graduate of Yale Law School, has repeatedly argued in recent years that presidents like Mr. Trump can and should ignore court orders that they say infringe on their rightful executive powers. While his post did not go that far, it carried greater significance given that he is now vice president. The post may also offer a window on the administration’s thinking toward the orders against it as Mr. Trump has openly violated numerous statutes, like limits on summarily firing officials and effectively dismantling U.S.A.I.D. and folding it into the State Department. It also raised the question of whether the administration would stop abiding by rulings if it deemed them to be illegitimately impeding his agenda.

When what Trump/Musk does is illegitimate, Vance’s point is irrelevant. And it’s the courts that decide that point, not Vance.

x less than 3 percent of federal workers have submitted their "deferred resignations." 7 percent voluntarily leave the government every yearhttps://t.co/sw8z8T57oQ — Rachel Cohen (@rmc031) February 8, 2025

AL.com:

Katie Britt vows to work with RFK Jr. after NIH funding cuts cause concern in Alabama “While the administration works to achieve this goal at NIH, a smart, targeted approach is needed in order to not hinder life-saving, groundbreaking research at high-achieving institutions like those in Alabama,” Britt told AL.com. cutting payments toward overhead costs for research institutions that receive its grants, a policy that could leave universities with major budget gaps, The Associated Press reported. On Friday night, the NIH announced it wastoward overhead costs for research institutions that receive its grants, a policy that could leave universities with major budget gaps, The Associated Press reported.

Katie Britt, fake concerned Republican from AL, is a Trump supporter who is distressed at what Trump is doing. Hello. Meet Susan Collins.

HuffPost:

A Look At All The Lawsuits Coming For DOGE Eight have been filed so far, with more on the way. Trump created DOGE at Musk’s behest, enlisting the world’s richest man to cut costs across the federal government after Musk spent more than $250 million to help elect him. He’s since plunged the government into chaos as he’s tried to bully and cajole federal workers into quitting and reportedly siphoned government data off onto private servers. Musk also has not been vetted or approved by Congress. House Democrats attempted to subpoena him this week, but Republicans on the House Oversight Committee blocked the motion.

That’s because House Republicans are horrible in every sense of the word.

Will Bunch/Philadelphia Inquirer:

Trump’s ‘mass deportation’ TV reality show is both fake and incredibly dangerous Trump's 'mass deportation' is so far a TV reality show of shackles, Gitmo and raids to terrorize migrants and thrill MAGA. The cruelty was the point when 104 undocumented migrants from India were placed in leg shackles and handcuffs and loaded onto a U.S. Air Force C-17 last week for a grueling 40-hour deportation flight from the United States to the northern city of Amritsar in their native country. The harsh treatment on the first time that a $1 million-a-pop military jet was used for the long-distance India deportation run was not meant to be a secret. To the contrary, the head of the U.S. Border Patrol posted a video to the Elon Musk-owned X social media platform showing the shackled deportees getting marched onto the aircraft and issued a warning that “if you cross illegally, you will be deported.”

Yes a long post, but worth the read:

x [Long post, sorry]



For all the noise & confusion, I feel like after the last 2 weeks or so I have a much clearer sense of the rough DOGE game plan that @elonmusk has in mind



I haven't spoken to Musk so I don't know for sure but my impression is the plan is something like:



1/… — Jeff Stein (@JStein_WaPo) February 8, 2025

Margaret Sullivan/The Guardian:

Here’s how Democrats should fight back against Trump It’s easy to be disgusted with the Democratic party right now. Donald Trump is running roughshod over the rule of law, treating the US constitution like toilet paper. His trusty pal Elon Musk is the arsonist in chief, burning down worthy democratic institutions and installing his minions in the heart of government where they have gained access to citizens’ private information. Much of what’s happening is illegal and unconstitutional. And the Democrats, mostly, look less like an opposition party and more like stunned bystanders. As my Guardian colleague Moira Donegan put it, they are “out of touch, opportunistic and cowardly”. But not all. Some Democrats in a new generation are punching back hard, and in so doing, showing their colleagues how to overcome their reputation for spineless dithering.

x Any cop that ever endorses a Republican again has no shame https://t.co/lyE06oCp5N — Florida Data Geek ✝️🇺🇦 (@MappingFL) February 10, 2025

Matt Robison on Trump’s gutting of foreign humanitarian aid:

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