Originally published at: Trump Has Ordered Safeguards Stripped From Procurement As Pentagon Prepares To Spend $1 Trillion - TPM – Talking Points Memo
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. The Trump White House this month announced two new executive orders radically changing procurement procedures, especially defense procurement procedures, in ways that will unleash waste, fraud and abuse. These orders — which largely flew under the radar — will effectively wipe out…
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Trump presumably does not drink alcohol, but nevertheless the is a drunkard, a corrupt drunkard. He is his own criminal enterprise.
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A second group is made up of the classic big defense contractors, like Lockheed Martin, which had the sense to invest $1 million in the Inauguration slush fund.
After years in Defense, I have little good to say about Lock Mart. It was always my impression that their best “engineering” was done in the halls of Congress.
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Good article. Vital to cover the administration’s under-the-radar, nuts-and-bolts depredations. Thanks.
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The number one safeguard being sacrificed is competition.
The Republican Party is committed to welfare for the wealthy.
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Great article. Too bad it doesn’t involve a hand job, a drinking allegation or some other titillating reality show type incident for the masses to gape at. Since patronage, fraud, waste and abuse are already endemic in the military-industrial complex, this is just like pouring gasoline on it and lighting a match.
It just isn’t sexy enough for primetime news, and it is too complicated for most of the population to actually understand.
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Wealthfare.
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Couple this with him suspending foreign bribery rules and other anti-corruption statutes and top it with the Supreme Coyrt saying if the president does it it’s not illegal. Trump is going to make a fortune.
Most of the MAGAs will blame Democrats for getting mad at Trump for eliminating waste.
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Robert Reich called it corporate welfare with Pres Clinton standing next to him during a Q&A. That was it for Reich.
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I totally agree…although it’s really depressing to agree since the piece is quite straightforward and clearly written…and points to real consequences that ought to horrify everyone who pays taxes…
How do we get the country to stop sleeping on democracy?
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This country will be bankrupt long before any of those sweet DOGE savings materialize.
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I don’t believe in DOGE savings.
I believe it is a redirecting of our tax money to the very wealthy.
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With apologies to Sonny and Cher…
And the grift goes on
And the grift goes on
Trump keeps sending money to his “friends”*
La dee da dee deeeee
La dee da dee diiiiiiiiii
*Trump has no real friends, just people that suck up so they can benefit from his “largesse”
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And the GOP, who also live in this country, are allowing a weaker defense system, as well as money waste and fraud. Somehow a weaker America isn’t going to affect them.
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I don’t think it’s all that complicated.
They want to remove any restraints on the Military contractors. So more Randy Cunninghams, Fat Leonards, F-35s, Freedom Class Littoral Combat things, P-39 Aircobras, and so on.
Is that what we (collectively sorta) voted for? Cut programs that feed children at home and abroad so they don’t die, cut programs that help Teens not kill themselves because, basically, they’re teenagers under pressure, cut NOAA so farmers don’t know the weather coming their way because Trump was embarrassed over his stupidity and using a Sharpie to cover it up, cut the National Institute of Health flu vaccine programs so tens of millions of Americans can get the flu and die?
Is that what a vote for Trump was for, America???
Jeebus, what a nightmare we voted for, America.
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Spent 30 years working for DOD. Two easily foreseeable outcomes from these decisions: hugely increased costs to taxpayers, tremendous loss in military capability. This is another example of: “Everything Trump touches, dies.”
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I smell Billionaire $pace Nazi all over this shit.
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Having been there and done that, I will disagree with your assessment that fraud, waste and abuse are endemic in the Defense industry. Does it happen? Yes. Is it frequent? No.
I personally only knew of two people who went to prison for f*cking around; one for bribery, one for extortion. In both cases it was for such small dollar amounts that it seemed even dumber than it was.
As to higher level WFA, I did know one VP who was padding the books to make his numbers look better. When this came to light, he was immediately fired along with several others, including a couple people who didn’t participate, but knew of it and didn’t report it.
So that’s three instances I encountered over 35 years in the industry, and hundreds of individuals I knew, the latter of which didn’t impact the taxpayer, just the company.
In general, Defense companies can’t afford to even bend the rules, much less break them. They can be disbarred from future contracts, and have current contracts cancelled. I received training every year on what is acceptable in contracting and what is not, and every facility I ever worked in had posters with phone numbers for the Fraud, Waste and Abuse hotline posted prominently, even in highly classified spaces.
In general, the people I worked with, contractors, military and civil service, were committed to delivering the best products possible to the war fighter. Certainly there were disagreements as to what was “best,” but I don’t recall any truly bad faith actors beyond those I mentioned earlier.
End of soapbox.
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A smart politician would attach Musk’s name to it. Call it the Musk Rule (or something similar) and really make a big stink about it. Kind of like Republicans rebranded the estate tax as the “death tax.” Force them to defend a rule that benefits rich, greedy bastards. Who better to name it after (and frame the debate) than the richest man in the world?
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Are you serious? When did Vice President Al Gore ever abolish entire agencies on his own “authority” and fire tens of thousands of people, just to see what happened?
The DOGGIE assault forces are said to be “evaluating” the functions of government. You know, like you would take out internal organs and throw them away, to see if they were important. Cut off limbs, to see whether or not they’re needed. That kind of “evaluation.”
Al Gore did none of this while attempting to “Reinvent Government.” It’s insulting to lump him in with Madman Elon the Chainsaw Priapist.
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