Taking advantage of the chaos.

February 18, 2025

The challenge of reporting on a torrent of bad news is to avoid the mere recitation of a string of seemingly unrelated events. Instead, we must find the throughline that extracts meaning from chaos. Here, the throughline is that the indiscriminate infliction of chaos not only makes disaster inevitable but inflicts pain in a blunderbuss manner that broadcasts the seeds of MAGA’s defeat.

Trump and Musk are creating GOP enemies at a breathtaking rate only months after a narrow victory by Trump in 2024. At this rate, Trump is rapidly erasing the slim electoral victory he achieved last November. Unabated, that trend should spell defeat for Republicans in 2026 and 2028.

We can never rely on Republicans to defeat themselves. But we should absolutely recognize the relative advantage Trump is gifting us and exploit that advantage to the maximum extent possible. As of Tuesday evening, tens of thousands of federal workers and hundreds of thousands of their family members have been laid off in an indiscriminate, unjustified, illegal manner.

Those layoffs have rippled through the economy, affecting third-party contracts, programs, and workers. Considering the cascading economic consequences, the layoffs will affect millions. And millions more will be harmed by the cancellation of clinical trials and scientific research that save lives and prevent disease.

So, the list of events in this newsletter isn’t merely a recitation of “bad things Trump did today.” It is a list of reckless cuts that will make life more difficult for Americans in every state in the Union. Merely understanding the events below is not enough. We must be able to explain to others why and how Trump's actions have made life more difficult, less secure, and less democratic for Americans.

With that background, let’s look at the developments on Tuesday.

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Trump signs executive order seizing power from independent agencies

Congress has established multiple agencies that are designed to be independent of political influence by the president. Those agencies include the SEC, the NLRB, the CFPB, the EEOC, and the FTC. Trump aggressively undermined those agencies by attempting to freeze their funds and decimate their staffs. But that was not enough for Trump.

In violation of the statutes that created the independent agencies, Trump has signed an executive order that folded every independent agency under Trump's control. See Trump signs order to claim power over independent agencies - POLITICO.

Under the executive order, the head of the OMB (Russell Vought) will exercise supervisory, performance, and budgetary control over the agencies. Vought will report to Trump regarding the agencies’ performance and budget—thereby eradicating the independence that Congress created by statute.

Trump is engaged in an ongoing coup. He confirmed that fact today by issuing the executive order that purported to seize control of independent agencies.

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Trump appoints Jeffrey Clark as legal advisor to CFPB chief legal officer

You may recall that attorney Jeffrey Clark attempted to insert himself as acting Attorney General in January 2021 when Trump's attempted coup ran into opposition in the Department of Justice. Because of his participation in the coup, Jeffrey Clark was indicted in Georgia (now dismissed), had his law license suspended for two years, and is the subject of a disbarment investigation in D.C. See Talking Points, Trump’s First-Term Inside Man At The DOJ Has Scored A Top Post At The CFPB.

With one coup attempt under his belt, Jeffrey Clark will now serve as an advisor to the chief legal officer at the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau—which has been effectively shuttered by Trump. Trump is “getting the band back together” for his Coup 2.0.

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Prosecutor in US Attorney’s Office in DC resigns over order to open criminal investigation

US Attorney Denise Cheung effectively resigned from the D.C. US Attorney’s Office rather than open an investigation that she believed was not justified (“Lacks predication”). See NYTimes, Prosecutor in U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington Abruptly Resigns. (Accessible to all.)

As described by the Times, the interim US Attorney in DC demanded that Cheung open a criminal investigation and freeze the bank accounts of third parties who received disbursements from the US to advance clean energy projects. Cheung refused to do so, saying, “I still do not believe that there is sufficient evidence to issue” a freeze order.

The interim US Attorney in DC, Ed Martin, asked Cheung to step down when she refused to open an investigation when she believed there was no evidence of criminal activity. Reading between the lines, it appears that Trump's EPA director, Lee Zeldin, asked the DOJ to obtain a freeze order because Trump opposes green energy projects.

Here’s the point: It appears that Trump's sycophants are using the criminal power of the DOJ (indictments and asset seizures) to advance policy initiatives (preventing investment in green energy initiatives). Such abuse of power is a classic tactic of a dictator who has seized power in a coup.

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General Services Administration engineer quits rather than giving Musk access to personal information about all Americans.

The US government maintains a database of personal contact information for nearly all Americans in a text-messaging database called “Notify.gov.” Over the weekend, a long-term Tesla employee (Thomas Shedd) who has been embedded in General Services Administration (GSA) reportedly requested access to the entire Notify.gov database—without providing justification for the request.

The GSA employee responsible for the security of the database refused to grant access unless Musk’s minion (Shedd) provided a reason for the access. Shedd refused to give a reason for his request, so the GSA employee quit rather than grant access. See Nextgov, Longtime GSA employee quits rather than give Musk ally access to Notify.gov.

If Shedd (from Tesla) is granted access,

Shedd “would be able to view all personally identifiable information (PII) moving through the Notify system, including phone numbers and variable data for members of the public.”

Here’s the point: A Musk employee from Tesla is demanding access to personal contact information for nearly every American—and refuses to give any justification. Why? There is no good answer to that question.

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Federal judge refuses to block Musk access to seven federal agencies

Several states filed suit to block Musk’s access to private information at seven federal agencies. After a hearing before District Judge Tanya Chutkan, the judge found that the plaintiff states had failed to meet the threshold for obtaining emergency relief in the form of a restraining order. See The Hill, Chutkan refuses to block Musk, DOGE from 7 federal agencies.

However, during the hearing, Judge Chutkan suggested that the underlying claim by the plaintiffs might be meritorious. See MSN, “Chutkan went on to say that even though the states’ larger case against Musk is “strong,” their arguments at this stage in the litigation were not good enough to satisfy the standard that must be met to warrant emergency action by the court.”

Here's the takeaway: The states will likely prevail in their claim that Musk is operating in violation of the Appointments Clause, even though his actions have filed to inflict the type of irreparable injury necessary to justify a restraining order. Musk may cross that line soon, in which case the states can re-apply for injunctive relief.

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Musk is exaggerating the savings of his draconian cuts

Musk’s group is publishing a list of alleged savings. It claimed that it saved $8 billion on one contract that was cut. But the contract was only for $8 million (not billion). That single error accounts for 14% of the DOGE group’s alleged savings. Other alleged savings seem to be suspect. See NYTimes, DOGE Claimed It Saved $8 Billion in One Contract. It Was Actually $8 Million. (“A larger total savings number published on the site, $55 billion, lacked specific documentation.”)

Here's the takeaway: The teenagers and twenty-something coders do not understand the data they are looking at. They cannot even identify an error that is three orders of magnitude out of whack because they do not understand how much government services cost.

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Some good news from an unexpected source: The Catholic Conference of Bishops

The Catholic Conference of Bishops sued the Trump administration for abruptly canceling funding for resettlement of refugees. The Catholic Conference of Bishops agreed to assist with refugee resettlement and incurred millions of dollars in expenses to carry out its contractual obligations. When the Trump administration canceled funding, the Catholic Church could not cover the obligations it had incurred. See The Hill, Catholic bishops sue over freeze in refugee resettlement funding.

The [Catholic Bishop’s] suit says more than 6,700 admitted refugees were assigned to it when its funding was suspended late last month, leaving the organization on the hook for millions of dollars weekly and already forcing it to lay off employees. [¶¶]

The lawsuit, filed in Washington, D.C., federal district court, claims the freeze undermines Congress’s power of the purse and violates multiple federal laws.

Here’s the point: The Catholic Bishops is not the only organization that has been financially harmed by Trump's abrupt cancellation of funds. Other affected groups include Samaritan’s Purse, World Vision, and Catholic Relief Services. See Time, How Christian Groups Are Responding to Trump's Foreign-Aid Freeze.

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Trump imposing tariffs on autos, drugs, and semiconductors

Despite pushback on other tariffs imposed by Trump, he has announced that he will impose 25% tariffs on autos. He also plans to impose tariffs on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors. See Reuters, Trump says he will introduce 25% tariffs on autos, pharmaceuticals and chips.

Here’s the takeaway: Trump's limited understanding of finance and economics is causing him to take actions that are driving up prices—the opposite of what he promised during his campaign. It is only going to get worse—a horrible outcome for most Americans. But we must use that terrible outcome to our advantage. Blame Trump for every price increase, everywhere.

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Ukraine

In one of the most despicable statements by any president ever, Trump blamed Ukraine for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying, “You should have never started it.” See The Hill, Trump says Zelensky ‘should have never started’ war with Russia.

Meanwhile, a US delegation met with Russia in Riyadh to discuss the fate of Ukraine—without Ukraine at the table. The US and Russia issued a statement that was pablum. See The Guardian, US and Russia agree to explore mutual opportunities of end to Ukraine war.

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Concluding Thoughts

Jessica Craven and I joined about 250 members of Commit to Democracy on Tuesday in San Francisco. The event, planned shortly after the November election, was designed to allow CTD members to regroup and reflect on their hard work during the campaign. Although we did not win the presidential election, the CTD members and volunteers deserved to be thanked.

Between the time the event was planned in November and when it occurred in February, the landscape changed dramatically. No one anticipated the viciousness and audacity of Trump's assault on the Constitution. Trump told us he would be a dictator “on day one,” but even his closest aides are shocked by the way in which the Musk / DOGE hackers have circumvented Congress’s role under the Constitution. The depraved attacks on transgender people, the racist assault on diversity and inclusion, the erosion of our healthcare system, and the callousness of the destruction of USAID are breathtaking.

So, the atmosphere at Tuesday’s event was entirely different than expected. It was both more somber and more determined than anticipated. Jill and I spoke to almost everyone in the entrance line. To a person, they expressed the same disbelief and shock that each of us is experiencing. But out of the two hundred or so people we spoke to, only one person said they were pessimistic about the future.

It is challenging to remain optimistic and hopeful. While we must remain rooted in reality and clear-eyed about our challenges, the only sensible outlook about America’s future is that it will continue its long, slow arc toward a more just, tolerant, and inclusive society.

There is no good reason to believe that a political movement based on resentment and hate will prevail over an ideology based on promoting the common good. Yes, we will experience retrograde cycles and reactionary moments, but they will pass.

Our secret to success is this: We must not quit. If we can endure, we will outlast the bastards. If all we do is hold the bulwarks until this retrograde moment exhausts itself, we will prevail. But we can do much more than simply “not quitting.” If we can replicate the energy of 2024 in the midterms and the next presidential election, we can exploit every misstep and hateful action taken by Trump. We came within several hundred thousand votes in three states to win the presidency and five seats to win the House. We can overcome those margins in 2026 and 2028.

Do not quit. More importantly, rejoin the fight. We can win—again—as we did in 2018, 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Talk to you tomorrow!

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