Originally published at: Trump Says He’ll Move Thousands of Federal Workers Out of Washington. Here’s What Happened the First Time He Tried.
This article first appeared at ProPublica and High Country News. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. In 2019, the administration of then-President Donald Trump announced plans to relocate the federal government’s largest land management agency from the nation’s…
I do believe he hasn’t read it because as we know he can’t read but that doesn’t mean he won’t implement what’s in it.
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“Fish always flop around before they die.” – David Jolly
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I realize that this is miniscule compared to the damage that TFG is planning to do, but OK Governor Stitt moved the Oklahoma Public Health Lab from the OKC to Stillwater in 2020, using a combination of state funds and Covid funds. For some context, he moved it from the area where it could function near the OU Health Sciences Center to Stillwater, home of his university alma mater, Oklahoma State University. Besides giving the staff the option of moving to Stillwater (roughly 70 miles) or be unemployed, the facility as it stands now doesn’t provide testing for e coli and other bacterial infections. That means if Oklahomans become ill from eating a fast food burger from a company that has most famously hosted a man who regularly soils his adult diapers in one of their kitchens, there would be no way to test to see what the cause of the illness. In Oklahoma, playing “gotcha” about which of the major universities will benefit from a clearly political move is more important than people’s health.
Imagine how much TFG will profit from moving federal beauracracies to areas that will profit him or his donors. The GOP has been corrupt for years; this is just one more chance to put profit over people.
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ASININE is always a good word to use when describing something from the Mango-Mussolini-wanna-be.
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Chaos as planned.
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It’s becoming more and more clear that Project 2025 is the Republican party’s (and their donors’) wet dream. That they have attained so much power that they actually published the plan and released it to the public thinking it would be accepted and implemented should give us all pause.
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Well DonOLD if you want the federal gov’t to be closer to the people, closer to the land, and the like, so why not move the Capitol to Lebanon, KS? Added benefit is that it’s safe from sea level rise.
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The exodus of experienced and knowledgeable senior staff and the ensuing chaos were features, not a bug. That is what trump hopes to replicate.
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From NPR:
USDA Research Agencies ‘Decimated’ By Forced Move. Undoing The Damage Won’t Be Easy
During the Trump administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers published and funded objective analyses of issues such as climate change, the efficiency of food assistance programs, and tax cuts that mostly benefit the richest farmers. It wasn’t received well.
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Trump officials also proposed deep cuts to USDA research agencies. When Congress wouldn’t go along, the administration came up with plan B: Move two agencies — the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Economic Research Service — far away from Washington.
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Dozens of local governments courted the agencies aggressively, much as they would a corporate headquarters. Greater Kansas City won with support from both Kansas and Missouri as well as millions of dollars in local incentives. The Agriculture Department promised huge savings for U.S. taxpayers, and more than 550 new, high-paying jobs for the Kansas City metro.
It hasn’t worked out that way.
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donald trump … the model of efficiency
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The simpler thing is… trump hates science
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William Perry Pendley has spent most of his long career trying to eliminate our public lands and give them to corporations. He was absolutely the worst possible pick to head the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). This was a pattern in the Trump administration, always the worst appointee they could find and preferably one who was opposed to the mission of whatever agency they were assigned to. For example, Rick Perry as Secretary of Energy and Betsy DeVos at Education.
Another thing, 43.5% of Washington DC residents are Black. Not surprisingly, federal agency headquarters offices in the city including BLM HQ tend to have more Black staffers than offices in places like Grand Junction, Colorado. And a lot of the people who refused to make the move were, you guessed it.
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Shades of James G. Watt, Sec of the Interior under Reagan and a devout anti-environmentalist (and Christianist bigot and perjurer and convicted influence peddler and …but who’s counting)
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Main goal is to give away or sell at bargain prices, OUR federal lands.
Privatization is what it’s all about.
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Hmm. I wonder if the Reich GQP will be bringing back uber weirdo Ryan Zinke to lead Interior again? I mean, he fills the bill: he a walking scandal mill and he’s got a special flag to fly over department headquarters whenever he’s in Washington.
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DJT, the Chaos Candidate…
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You know why there’s no “Apple Growers regulatory Agency”? Because orchard owners have never tried to fuck over America. Why is there an EPA? Because a bunch of folks have tried to fuck over America. Regulatory agencies in America are there because the behavior of bad actors made them necessary. You can shit can the agencies but the bad actors will always be there.
Like all things Trump this move is childish, superficial and nothing but grandstanding.
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But his uncle taught at MIT, which means he knows more about science than scientists do. Just ask him.
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I have words I cannot post about him
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