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The problem is the folks in clown shoes set a climate that attracts competent but evil shitbags, eg. the way Himmler (a jumped-up chicken farmer) ended up with henchmen like Heydrich and Eichmann.
mathstodon.xyz/@SvenGeier/1134

MathstodonΣ(i³) = (Σi)² (@SvenGeier@mathstodon.xyz)@cstross@wandering.shop Quote "clown shoes are preferable to jackboots" https://www.popehat.com/p/refuge-in-kakistocracy
Jaime Robertson

@cstross Two possibilities for Donnie’s cabinet picks.
He’s intentionally putting bad choices forward to get rejected, so that he can put in his real, more competent and evil choices.
Or he thinks he’s casting a new season of The Apprentice, and wants there to be ‘drama’.
With his cognitive challenges, I doubt it’s the first.

@JamesPadraicR @cstross I suspect it’s a little cannier than that: he’s rewarding loyalists at little cost—whether they get approved is irrelevant. Gaetz in particular gets the spotlight (in a positive-ish sense for a change) and an excuse to resign from the House before the ethics report

@karchie @JamesPadraicR @cstross This plus his nominees are aligned with his worldview, and his creditors’ agenda. And his VP is completely in venture capital pockets.

@JamesPadraicR @cstross Is Gabbard (a probable Russian asset) part of the smokescreen or is she the payload? In a sane world, she’d be laughed out of the room, but a sane world wouldn’t have elected Trump twice.

@JamesPadraicR @cstross

Gabbard is a Russian puppet. That's not an accident. She could (and I believe would) feed our secrets to Putin.

@JamesPadraicR @cstross Option 3: These chucklefucks are all he's got left. Nobody competent or worth a shred of self-respect will work for him so he's down to people like this

@JamesPadraicR @cstross Trump is what some call a "high conflict" person. Even if his lackeys start performing well, he'll step in and pit one against the other to keep the attention on himself. He's the boss and he won't let his lackeys forget that.

@JamesPadraicR @cstross If you’re assuming some kind of 3D chess game is being played, don’t. There are people around him wanting to run some kind of strategy using bits of Project 2025 or flattery to get whatever they want, but for him it’s what it looks like. Authoritarians surround themselves with incompetence & drama as a shield against internal coups & to deflect scrutiny. The chaos works to their benefit. I really don’t think he’s carefully thinking it all through.

@JamesPadraicR @cstross What Trump learned the first time around is that loyalty outranks all other concerns. He doesn't care about competence he only wants to make sure they are slavishly devoted to him.

This is not "4D chess". There's no deeper strategy at work.

@JamesPadraicR @cstross neither. It's authoritarian consolidation. A loyalty test and demonstration of power.

The Senate will either back Gaetz - and know that they are owned - or they will not, and those who hold out will be targets.

@phenidone @JamesPadraicR @cstross He literally has the authority to disappear them consequence-free. Wonder which of them want to be a test run for that?

@JamesPadraicR @cstross He's testing loyalties.

Anyone who stands in his way goes on the list for Russian Window Cancer regardless of party.

Musk is setting up his non-governmental shadow government to do whatever Trump needs done without taxpayer oversight.