Even a broken clock is right twice a day. MAGAts have crowed about how 2025 is the “new 1776.” Well, they might just have nailed it. Except not the way they think. As Trump makes efforts to purge government employees, not all of them are standing still for it. Some are fighting back and quite a few have taken to social media to gather information and talk about how to fight fire with fire. Trump was not expecting this, in large part because people like Christopher Wray, Michael Whittaker (FAA head) and now David A. Lebryk, the highest-ranking career official at Treasury has also now resigned over a conflict with Elon Musk. But not everybody is going gently into that dark night.
So let’s talk about Phyllis Fong.
Fong was the inspector general of the USDA. She’d been a career servant at the agency for 22 years. She was fired by the president in violation of black-letter law. [Even Lindsey Graham admits this.]
What did Fong do? She refused to comply. If the president was going to issue orders like a gangster, she wasn’t going to pretend that everything was normal. She forced him to act like a gangster.
Fong stayed in her office—which is what the law demands—and did her work. Trump had to send security to physically remove her. By refusing to be play along with Trump’s illegality, she forced him to take off the mask. […]
While the high-level leadership has been obediently walking out the door, my sense is that the people on the front line of the workforce are galvanized.
This is only anecdotal. I know a fair number of people who work for the government. Every one of them has told me they have no intention of going quietly. The subreddit r/fednews, which is usually just a clearinghouse for mundane information, now sounds like the Continental Congress.
These workers on the line have their Irish up. And they seem to understand something that the executives do not:
The bad guys have a lot of power; we should not give them more. And going along with their schemes is giving away your power.
My prediction? There’s going to be a lot of ugly firings and people standing up to Trump in the very near future. And when Kash Patel takes over, and supposedly he will because the Republican conference is filled with cowards, he may not find it to be a cakewalk. Let the rebellion begin. As Thomas Jefferson said, “When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty.” And we have a mad king in place, just like they did back in the day. The more things change, the more they are the same.
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Jefferson was quite correct. The problem is America is full of people who want freedom without it costing THEM anything…oh, and they fail to see, that when you deny it to others, you’ve lost yours in the bargain.
I remember from my American history courses that only 1/3 of the colonists wanted the Revolution. Another third were Tories loyal.to the English king ( usually white and rich.landowners) while the last third were hoping it would go away and they wouldn’t have to.take a stand. Nothing.much has changed in nearly 250 years.