Source: Washington Post
by Matt Bai
“For 50 years, every ‘outsider’ running for president has campaigned on a sweeping promise: to end the status quo in Washington and dislodge its entrenched powers. Once in office, they always become cautious incrementalists. Over and over again, they find out that federal agencies are vast and labyrinthine, and only a limited number of people in the world are even half-qualified to run them, let alone reform them. It turns out that most federal spending is immutable or popular, and no president is going to bang his head against that wall. Until this week. Donald Trump’s opening moves after winning a second term all seem to indicate that when he talked about taking vengeance on what he calls the ‘deep state’ (and what most other people call ‘government’), he wasn’t just play-acting.” (11/19/24)