Will the Senate Confirm Thugs Like Bill Pulte & Todd Blanche? (w/ Tom Joscelyn) | Bulwark on Sunday
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Quick Read
Summary
Takeaways
- ❖Trump's appointments to DNI (Bill Pulte) and Attorney General (Todd Blanche) are driven purely by loyalty, not expertise, to ensure compliance with his agenda.
- ❖The DNI is being used to spread propaganda about past elections and create pretexts for federal intervention in future elections, citing "foreign interference."
- ❖The Department of Justice is actively harassing states for voter rolls to create a centralized federal database, aiming to control who can vote.
- ❖DHS is being transformed into a massive, paramilitary force with unprecedented funding to execute an extreme mass deportation scheme.
- ❖The systematic replacement of non-loyalist civil servants with sycophants across agencies like Justice and DOD indicates a consolidation of authoritarian control.
- ❖The current situation is framed as an ongoing constitutional crisis, with the executive branch pushing unlawful actions and Congress failing to act as a check.
Insights
1Loyalty-Driven Appointments to Subvert Elections
Trump is installing loyalists like Bill Pulte as acting Director of National Intelligence and Todd Blanche as Attorney General, not for their expertise, but to ensure they will not impede his agenda. The DNI position, under previous loyalists like Tulsi Gabbard and now Pulte, is being used to propagate false narratives about past election rigging and to create pretexts for federal intervention in future elections under the guise of combating foreign interference.
He's been doing is looking for loyalists and installing loyalists everywhere he can. And, you know, with Pultay and Blanche, those are two loyalists. These aren't guys who are going to be put in these positions because of their expertise... It's purely about serving Trump's interests. () Trump said about Polti being put in this in this place... that Polti as as the sycophant, as his loyalist, is going to carry water for him and basically continue lying about the 2020 election. () The excuse of foreign interference is the ground for getting our our intelligence community involved in election supervision and maybe election subversion. ()
2DOJ Weaponization for Voter Control
The Department of Justice, under loyalist leadership like Todd Blanche, is actively seeking to centralize control over voter rolls. This involves harassing states for voter data to build a federal database, with the ultimate goal of dictating who can and cannot vote, effectively "cooking the books" for elections.
What DOJ has been doing... is basically harassing states for their voter rolls to get all this data that they want to put into like a a centralized federal database for voters and then tell states who are citizens, who aren't, who basically who can vote and who can't. ()
3DHS as a Paramilitary Force for Mass Deportation
The Department of Homeland Security is receiving massive funding, creating a "paramilitary force" at Trump's disposal. This force is intended to execute an extreme mass deportation scheme, which is described as a "linchpin of the regime," involving illegal detentions, denial of habeas rights, and due process violations.
The Senate Republicans jammed through this multi-year appropriation... for ICE and Border Patrol... ICE will have 50,000 employees maybe 2 years from now. Uh they're going to be at Trump's disposal. () You now have a massively funded apparatus to do um you know, in service of this um mass deportation scheme that Trump is overseeing. This is the This is really the the linchpin of the regime. ()
4Systematic Purge and Replacement of Civil Servants
Across federal agencies, including the Department of Justice, non-loyalist civil servants are being fired or quitting due to ethical concerns. They are being systematically replaced by Trump loyalists, gutting the non-partisan nature of the civil service and ensuring compliance with the administration's agenda.
A quarter of the lawyers have left or been fired. Many have quit... They have been replaced mostly by... Trump loyalists. () The notion of picking non-partisan lawyers who want to serve the country, nope. You Trump loyalist, you can get a job. ()
Bottom Line
The administration's use of "remigration" and other white nationalist tropes on official White House social media accounts indicates a deep ideological commitment to an extreme, racially-driven agenda.
This isn't just policy; it's a foundational ideology driving actions like mass deportations, aiming for a "purer, whiter nation," which is explicitly authoritarian and extremist.
Opponents need to clearly articulate and expose the ideological underpinnings of these policies, connecting rhetoric directly to actions and their impact on democratic values and human rights.
The vast and incomprehensible scale of corruption within the current administration, involving Trump, his family, and numerous appointees, creates a powerful incentive for loyalists to prevent any future accountability.
This widespread corruption means many individuals have a personal stake in maintaining power and avoiding an independent investigation, making them more likely to support anti-democratic actions to prevent the "rocks being turned over."
Documenting and exposing this corruption, even if overwhelming, is critical for public awareness and for building a case for future accountability, which could serve as a deterrent or a basis for legal action.
Key Concepts
Regime vs. Administration
An 'administration' governs according to the rule of law and the Constitution, while a 'regime' operates outside these bounds, engaging in unconstitutional behavior and not ruling according to law.
Lessons
- Recognize that the current political landscape involves authoritarian threats, not just normal partisan disagreements, requiring a different mindset for opposition.
- Actively strengthen and build new democratic guardrails through legislative action, judicial challenges, and civil society engagement.
- Scrutinize and publicly challenge appointments to federal agencies, focusing on whether candidates prioritize loyalty over constitutional principles and expertise.
Quotes
"The lesson of January 6th was that if he has people around who are going to say no, who aren't total sycophants, who aren't total loyalists all the way... that his plans can get interrupted."
"It's purely about serving Trump's interests, and that's why we have to ask... what exactly are those interests?"
"The excuse of foreign interference is the ground for getting our our intelligence community involved in election supervision and maybe election subversion."
"We're going to invent this lie in order to justify what we want to do, uh which is a complete abrogation of the constitutional authority."
"If you're willing to send federal agents into homes to take out... immigrants who are here under, you know, lawfully in a lot of cases... and break up families and just in in the name of getting a a purer, whiter nation, right? That is extreme authoritarianism."
"The constitutional crisis is already here. Um, the question is how it's going to end and will be resolved."
"We should at least take the threats seriously and understand the threats are authoritarian threats. They are not normal political partisan threats, right? These are not This is not politics as usual. This is something very different."
Q&A
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