Trump / Musk (other than DOGE) Omnibus Thread

[nycfan]

"

• President-elect Trump's appointees Musk and Ramaswamy aim to mandate full-time office work for federal employees, predicting mass resignations.
• Federal worker unions are preparing to resist efforts to eliminate remote work, arguing it would harm recruitment and disaster preparedness.
• The proposed mandate faces challenges as over half of federal workers already work in-person and many agencies offer hybrid or remote options.

...Of the 2.3 million civilian federal workers—nearly 30% of whom are veterans—more than half already work in-person because of the nature of their jobs, such as food-safety inspectors and healthcare workers, according to a 2024 Office of Management and Budget report. The rest, who are eligible to work remotely some of the time, perform an average 61% of their hours in the workplace. In U.S. Census Bureau surveys, federal and private-sector employees work roughly the same amount of time in person versus remotely.

... “We’ll want to be reasonable, as compassionate as we can, at the level of individuals,” he said. “But at the level of permanently downsizing the scope of the bureaucracy, that is obviously going to have some consequences.”

Ramaswamy predicted in a post on X that up to 25% of civil servants would leave in the event of a full-time office mandate. ...

Though some companies, including Amazon and Dell, have recently ordered staff back to offices full time, most U.S. companies offer some flexibility on where employees work, according to data from Flex Index, which tracks the policies of more than 6,300 companies.

One exception is Musk’s business empire. He scrapped remote work at Tesla, SpaceX and X postpandemic, calling it “morally wrong.” ..."

----
The Mayor of D.C. has been pushing this for the health of the District's supporting businesses, BTW, so an end to remote work will have support across the aisle.

A lot of private sector employers who want to end workplace flexibility will be watching this closely as an opportunity to eliminate private sector remote work options.

 

[Mulberry Heel]

"

• President-elect Trump's appointees Musk and Ramaswamy aim to mandate full-time office work for federal employees, predicting mass resignations.
• Federal worker unions are preparing to resist efforts to eliminate remote work, arguing it would harm recruitment and disaster preparedness.
• The proposed mandate faces challenges as over half of federal workers already work in-person and many agencies offer hybrid or remote options.

...Of the 2.3 million civilian federal workers—nearly 30% of whom are veterans—more than half already work in-person because of the nature of their jobs, such as food-safety inspectors and healthcare workers, according to a 2024 Office of Management and Budget report. The rest, who are eligible to work remotely some of the time, perform an average 61% of their hours in the workplace. In U.S. Census Bureau surveys, federal and private-sector employees work roughly the same amount of time in person versus remotely.

... “We’ll want to be reasonable, as compassionate as we can, at the level of individuals,” he said. “But at the level of permanently downsizing the scope of the bureaucracy, that is obviously going to have some consequences.”

Ramaswamy predicted in a post on X that up to 25% of civil servants would leave in the event of a full-time office mandate. ...

Though some companies, including Amazon and Dell, have recently ordered staff back to offices full time, most U.S. companies offer some flexibility on where employees work, according to data from Flex Index, which tracks the policies of more than 6,300 companies.

One exception is Musk’s business empire. He scrapped remote work at Tesla, SpaceX and X postpandemic, calling it “morally wrong.” ..."

----
A lot of private sector employers who want to end workplace flexibility will be watching this closely as an opportunity to eliminate private sector remote work options.

I have a hunch that a "leopard eating faces" thread is going to be very busy here very soon. Next year is going to be an absolute shitshow and disaster, with chaos in the federal government as these clowns get rolling as soon as Dear Leader takes office.

 

[CRHeel94]

Here's his op-ed piece published a week ago. Tariffs are the greatest thing, even Hamilton loved them!

SCOTT BESSENT: Let's talk tariffs. It's time to revitalize Alexander Hamilton's favorite tool

Prior to the 16th Amendment, which authorized the individual income tax, tariffs had been one of the federal government’s chief sources of funding.

www.foxnews.com

Reading that was hurtful to my Economist heart.

I'm glad no one has pointed out that the tariff disarmament of the past 50 years has benefitted the US as much if not more than any other nation.

 

[CRHeel94]

Trump and Trumpism didn’t happen because John Bolton, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Condi Rice and others trumped up invading Iraq in 2003.

The MAGAts, including Trump, supported, overwhelmingly supported, invading Iraq in 2003 and trying to orchestrate nation-change (on the cheap) in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Saxby Chambliss didn’t beat Max Cleland in the 2002 US Senate race in Georgia because Saxby opposed invading Iraq.

John Kerry wasn’t “Swift-boated” in 2004 because he was proposing escalating the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

IIRC, Trump was sort of for the Iraq War early on, but became a critic pretty early on (by the second Bush term?). Think he got called out for lying (what a surprise) that he was opposed to it from early on. Don't think most MAGAts were against the war back then...though obviously now all parrot Trump's position.

 

[lawtig02]

I have a hunch that a "leopard eating faces" thread is going to be very busy here very soon. Next year is going to be an absolute shitshow and disaster, with chaos in the federal government as these clowns get rolling as soon as Dear Leader takes office.

 

[DiehardHeelFan]

Trump's plans to change healthcare could slash insurance for some low-income Americans and retirees

Really??

 

[superrific]

Reading that was hurtful to my Economist heart.

I'm glad no one has pointed out that the tariff disarmament of the past 50 years has benefitted the US as much if not more than any other nation.

Longer than 50 years. GATT is almost 80 years old. The big tariff reductions of the Kennedy round are 60. There are few Americans who have any memory of a world without multilateral institutions pressing free trade.

This is another area where the zombies have had incredible resilience. I had thought the issue of free trade to have been settled two decades ago. I mean, it was among serious people. There are targeted uses of tariffs that are relatively unproblematic (in part because they don't have much effect overall), and that's fine. But surely, I thought, we'd all realize that Peronism was an economic catastrophe, that tariffs never created prosperity, etc.

And it's even worse than that. Trump wasn't talking about tariffs that much until he got shot. Then he came out with his "only the greatest presidents get shot" obsession, made inconvenient by the shootings of McKinley and Harrison. So of course McKinley had to become a great president. The greatest! The US economy was the best ever under William f'n McKinley because Trump got shot in the ear.

This government-by-whim is familiar to people in many places of the world, and they might be chucking at me right now. It is shocking for it to happen here. The chuckling is justified, though it's more tragic than anything.

 

[superrific]

"

• President-elect Trump's appointees Musk and Ramaswamy aim to mandate full-time office work for federal employees, predicting mass resignations.
• Federal worker unions are preparing to resist efforts to eliminate remote work, arguing it would harm recruitment and disaster preparedness.
• The proposed mandate faces challenges as over half of federal workers already work in-person and many agencies offer hybrid or remote options.

...Of the 2.3 million civilian federal workers—nearly 30% of whom are veterans—more than half already work in-person because of the nature of their jobs, such as food-safety inspectors and healthcare workers, according to a 2024 Office of Management and Budget report. The rest, who are eligible to work remotely some of the time, perform an average 61% of their hours in the workplace. In U.S. Census Bureau surveys, federal and private-sector employees work roughly the same amount of time in person versus remotely.

... “We’ll want to be reasonable, as compassionate as we can, at the level of individuals,” he said. “But at the level of permanently downsizing the scope of the bureaucracy, that is obviously going to have some consequences.”

Ramaswamy predicted in a post on X that up to 25% of civil servants would leave in the event of a full-time office mandate. ...

Though some companies, including Amazon and Dell, have recently ordered staff back to offices full time, most U.S. companies offer some flexibility on where employees work, according to data from Flex Index, which tracks the policies of more than 6,300 companies.

One exception is Musk’s business empire. He scrapped remote work at Tesla, SpaceX and X postpandemic, calling it “morally wrong.” ..."

----
The Mayor of D.C. has been pushing this for the health of the District's supporting businesses, BTW, so an end to remote work will have support across the aisle.

A lot of private sector employers who want to end workplace flexibility will be watching this closely as an opportunity to eliminate private sector remote work options.

Musk called remote work "morally wrong"? WTF?

Vivek has never built a fucking business or anything in his life. So it's really fucking maddening to see this guy -- who is basically a computer game villain -- touting the all-time stupidest policies. Hey Vivek, do you think the 25% headcount reduction is going to be dead weight employees, or the best ones, you know, the ones who can get other jobs?

I read a book a while back called "Snakes in Suits" about psychopathic people in the workforce, especially in managerial tiers. Vivek checks every box.

 

[superrific]

IIRC, Trump was sort of for the Iraq War early on, but became a critic pretty early on (by the second Bush term?). Think he got called out for lying (what a surprise) that he was opposed to it from early on. Don't think most MAGAts were against the war back then...though obviously now all parrot Trump's position.

Yes, there was a whole exchange in the first debate of 2016 when Trump was confronted with evidence that he had loved the Iraq War from the beginning. He said, no he was against it despite those tapes of him enthusiastically cheerleading for it, and if you don't believe him, ask Sean Hannity. Ah, the days in which Trump thought it necessary to at least try to provide some evidence for his totally made-up bullshit.

 

[BillOfRights]

And I guess I understand that-don't agree-but they be scared for good reason

"DO NOT OBEY IN ADVANCE."

- Timothy Snyder, "On Tyranny"

 

[gtyellowjacket]

"

• President-elect Trump's appointees Musk and Ramaswamy aim to mandate full-time office work for federal employees, predicting mass resignations.
• Federal worker unions are preparing to resist efforts to eliminate remote work, arguing it would harm recruitment and disaster preparedness.
• The proposed mandate faces challenges as over half of federal workers already work in-person and many agencies offer hybrid or remote options.

...Of the 2.3 million civilian federal workers—nearly 30% of whom are veterans—more than half already work in-person because of the nature of their jobs, such as food-safety inspectors and healthcare workers, according to a 2024 Office of Management and Budget report. The rest, who are eligible to work remotely some of the time, perform an average 61% of their hours in the workplace. In U.S. Census Bureau surveys, federal and private-sector employees work roughly the same amount of time in person versus remotely.

... “We’ll want to be reasonable, as compassionate as we can, at the level of individuals,” he said. “But at the level of permanently downsizing the scope of the bureaucracy, that is obviously going to have some consequences.”

Ramaswamy predicted in a post on X that up to 25% of civil servants would leave in the event of a full-time office mandate. ...

Though some companies, including Amazon and Dell, have recently ordered staff back to offices full time, most U.S. companies offer some flexibility on where employees work, according to data from Flex Index, which tracks the policies of more than 6,300 companies.

One exception is Musk’s business empire. He scrapped remote work at Tesla, SpaceX and X postpandemic, calling it “morally wrong.” ..."

----
The Mayor of D.C. has been pushing this for the health of the District's supporting businesses, BTW, so an end to remote work will have support across the aisle.

A lot of private sector employers who want to end workplace flexibility will be watching this closely as an opportunity to eliminate private sector remote work options.

I think an estimate of 25% leaving if return to work is implemented sounds very high. I don't think there are enough private sector jobs to absorb all those people leaving and I can't imagine that many workers will have the option to go without a paycheck.

 

[aGDevil2k]

I think an estimate of 25% leaving if return to work is implemented sounds very high. I don't think there are enough private sector jobs to absorb all those people leaving and I can't imagine that many workers will have the option to go without a paycheck.

It's actually more that they can get a pension so going to the private workforce really can be a penalty

 

[superrific]

I think an estimate of 25% leaving if return to work is implemented sounds very high. I don't think there are enough private sector jobs to absorb all those people leaving and I can't imagine that many workers will have the option to go without a paycheck.

It depends on what is meant by return to work, and how many people are capable of that. If "return to work" means an office in the Department of Labor building, and someone is sitting in Pennsylvania interfacing with a local DOL branch office, I anticipate:

1. The person will not move to DC.
2. If the local DOL branch office is considered "returning to the office," it could work in theory for that person (though the commute would be long).
3. If the person is expected to spend every day in the DOL main building in DC, that person will quit.

It's almost as if it's actually a bad idea to disrupt longstanding employment practices of country's largest employer -- an employer orders of magnitude bigger than any company Elon or Vivek has managed -- on a whim.

And will they find another job in the private sector? They might not. Unemployment will go up. If Trump and Elon are able to do what they keep saying they will do, the result will be stagflation and probably the worst economy we've seen in our lifetimes.

 

[nycfan]

FCC chair nominee

 

[Mulberry Heel]

FCC chair nominee

It'll be classic Russian mob boss government administration - kowtow to the current administration or face severe consequences. And I have no doubt that the vast majority of our current media will indeed cave. The WaPo already seems to be doing so, as is MSNBC with Scarborough seeing Trump personally in a kind of preemptive surrender. Somehow I think that right-leaning media will fare just fine in the coming regime, though.

 

[Geisterfahrer]

It'll be classic Russian mob boss government administration - kowtow to the current administration or face severe consequences. And I have no doubt that the vast majority of our current media will indeed cave. The WaPo already seems to be doing so, as is MSNBC with Scarborough seeing Trump personally in a kind of preemptive surrender. Somehow I think that right-leaning media will fare just fine in the coming regime, though.

We should hope that’s all it is. That language has an older lineage.

 

[BillOfRights]

It depends on what is meant by return to work, and how many people are capable of that. If "return to work" means an office in the Department of Labor building, and someone is sitting in Pennsylvania interfacing with a local DOL branch office, I anticipate:

1. The person will not move to DC.
2. If the local DOL branch office is considered "returning to the office," it could work in theory for that person (though the commute would be long).
3. If the person is expected to spend every day in the DOL main building in DC, that person will quit.

It's almost as if it's actually a bad idea to disrupt longstanding employment practices of country's largest employer -- an employer orders of magnitude bigger than any company Elon or Vivek has managed -- on a whim.

And will they find another job in the private sector? They might not. Unemployment will go up. If Trump and Elon are able to do what they keep saying they will do, the result will be stagflation and probably the worst economy we've seen in our lifetimes.

Unemployment, inflation, and GDP shrinking. Just what maga voted for.

 

[JCTarheel82]

FCC chair nominee

Well that's certainly foreboding. If applied in good faith, Fox News, Newsmax, OAN, etc. would be first in line to face consequences for violations of the Communications Act but we all know that's not how this administration will operate.

 

[superrific]

Well that's certainly foreboding. If applied in good faith, Fox News, Newsmax, OAN, etc. would be first in line to face consequences for violations of the Communications Act but we all know that's not how this administration will operate.

Only broadcast licenses. ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS. I don't even know how much difference the broadcast licenses even make these days.

 

[JCTarheel82]

Only broadcast licenses. ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS. I don't even know how much difference the broadcast licenses even make these days.

Thanks. Just took a couple minutes to better understand what these licenses are and yeah they obviously don't apply to the conservative disinformation networks I mentioned.