Trump Administration Somehow Only Finds 'Merit' in Straight Cisgender White Men
Say what you want about Democrats, but at a bare minimum, at least Democratic administrations hired qualified people. For the most part, people appointed by Democratic presidents to, like, lead the fucking country were competent and qualified.
The same can absolutely not be said about the people that Donald Trump is picking. In fact, not only are his hires wildly unqualified, but they are also hostile to the very existence of government. Their goal is to do their jobs so badly that they help to prove the conservative notion of “government bad.”
Then there are the federal employees that Trump is allowing the richest man in the world to fire en masse. Many of these people are career civil servants, experts in their fields with deep, working knowledge of how their departments operate. In a sane world, we would simply refer to them as professionals. In Trump’s world, they are referred to as the “Deep State.”
The “Deep State” is an incredibly stupid concept that relies on a complicated web of right-wing conspiracy theories and a complete suspension of disbelief. Basically, it’s the idea that there’s an army of workers who are lurking in federal jobs with the sole goal of sabotaging the Trump Administration.
In reality, there is no Deep State, just a bunch of regular people working for the largest employer in the United States: the federal government. The majority of federal workers toil away at the Department of Defense where Trump is installing wildly unqualified people to lead one of the largest and most high-stakes agencies in the world. Remember when Musk, who does not work for the government and was elected by exactly nobody, accidentally fired the people who oversee our nuclear arsenal? Ha. Easy mistake.
This is supposedly the golden age of America where meritocracy rules. These fucks want you to believe that they are hiring people based solely on their qualifications —r emember, Trump claims to only hire “the best people.”
Currently, Trump and Musk are focused on getting rid of Black people and women who are in leadership positions in places like the military. And, wow, what a coincidence, the people they are hiring to replace them are largely straight, white, cisgender men.
Anyone who isn’t a straight, white, cisgender man is accused of being a “DEI hire,” which, in Trump speak, means they didn’t earn their position, they were just handed the job to meet some kind of nonsense liberal quota. Ironically, this is exactly how Trump is hiring people: He’s just giving these jobs to people who are loyal to him and check the right demographic boxes.
At the same time, he’s singling out transgender people in the military as unfit to serve based solely on the fact that they’re transgender. Because merit is something only straight white cisgender men can possess.
This war against federal workers depends on people largely not paying attention. The fact is, the majority of Americans have no interest in the government and do not know or care to know how it works. So a lot of Americans have no idea how many people work for the federal government, what kinds of work those people do, or how that work might touch the average person’s life. And it turns out a lot of that work probably impacts your life in one way or another.
You should care that Trump and Musk have purged federal workers if you:
Have ever traveled by plane. Or car. Or boat.
Need to file taxes.
Receive Social Security.
Like not dying at work.
Like non-toxic children's toys.
Have or will ever have cancer.
Live in an area prone to tornadoes, floods, wildfires, or hurricanes.
Need a restraining order.
Have a school-age child.
Have an aging parent.
Don’t like to be illegally discriminated against.
Send or receive mail.
Are newly enlisted in the military.
Are a veteran.
Are planning to get married.
Want to get divorced.
Want to adopt a child.
Like to visit National Parks.
Need to update your driver’s license or state ID.
Vote.
Have any type of disability.
Drink water.
Eat food.
Breathe air.
Granted, that’s only a partial list. But if you look at that list and don’t see yourself, well, congratulations on being a bot, I guess.
I wish I could say that things are as bad as they’re going to get, but we’re barely two months into this administration. My advice is to try to find things that bring you joy. Surround yourself with community. And keep calling your elected representatives at all levels of government. At the bare minimum, it will irritate them, because why should they be comfortable? Being annoying is a patriotic duty.
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