It's too difficult to describe, but it did demonstrate to me just how very complicated our democracy is and how complex. I had no idea.....and according to the author, most Americans have no concept of how the Department of Energy works....how the Commerce Department accomplishes its goals etc.
When 45 was elected Dave and I felt some "comfort" because surely he would gather knowledgeable people for his cabinet and for all of the other government positions his administration would have to fill. But, that's not what happened.....as 45 tweeted at 9:55 PM on November 15, 2016 "Very organized process taking place as I decide on Cabinet and many other positions. I am the only one who knows who the finalists are!" (Keep in mind there are literally thousands of appointments that have to be made by any new administration.) As the author writes "By the time I arrived in Washington, the first eighth of Trump's first term was nearly complete, and his administration was still largely missing. He hadn't nominated anyone to serve as head of the Patent Office, for instance, or to run the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). There was no Trump candidate to head the Transportation Security Administration, and no one to run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The 2020 national census will be a massive undertaking for where there is not a moment to lose, and yet there's no Trump appointee in place to run it. 'The actual government has not really taken over,' said Max Stier. 'It's kindergarten soccer. Everyone is on the ball. No one is at their positions. But I doubt Trump sees the reality. Everywhere he goes, everything is going to be hunky-dory and nice. No one gives him the bad news.'"
Reading the book I learned so much about just what the DOE does....and the other far reaching government departments. And as I turned the pages the forecast for our future got bleaker and bleaker. The few people actually appointed to important positions had no real background that gave them any understanding of the scope of their responsibilities. The out-going Obama appointees and department heads had been instructed to spend a year putting together instruction and information manual to help the new administration with the transition (just as Bush had done when he handed the reins to Obama's people). But "Get to Know the U.S. Government had not been high on Donald Trump's to-do list, even after he learned that he'd be running it. On the Monday after the presidential election, the same thing that happened across the rest of the U.S. government happened inside the Department of Commerce: nothing. Dozens of civil servants sat all day waiting to deliver briefings that would, in the end, never be heard. They'd expected Trump's campaign organization to send in Landing Teams to learn about what was being done there, and why. The problems that had been Obama's problems were about to become Trump's problems. But his people didn't seem to want to know about them." Some of his people even threw away the briefing books that had been prepared for them.
The examples go on and on....and the jaw-dropping attitude of 45's staff/appointees is hard to describe, although the author does a very good job of trying to help the reader begin to understand just how our government works and how important it is for the leaders to grasp their duties.
And as my tension level built page by page I went back to the first chapter. The one where 45 was the candidate but not yet the President. It was Chris Christie (Governor of New Jersey) who offered to run the presidential transition team. But when he went to see Trump about it "Trump said he didn't want a presidential transition team. Why did anyone need to plan anything before he actually became president? It's legally required, said Christie." Much discussion about who would pay for this team....Trump didn't want to do it an didn't want the money to come out of his campaign funds either. So he ended up, not happily, appointing Christie to head the team and raise funds independently. The team started to look for people to fill the top 500 jobs in the federal government. Trump paid no attention to the work being done until reading about it in the newspaper and going ballistic about the money being spent to find qualified individuals to run our government's programs. Our revered leader-to-be yelled at Christie and Steve Bannon "You're stealing my fucking money! What the fuck is this?....Fuck the law. I don't give a fuck about the law. I want my fucking money." When the two tried to explain that he couldn't have both his money and a transition he said "Shut it down." Shut down the transition team. 45 actually thought the planning was completely unnecessary and said "Chris, you and I are so smart that we can leave the victory party two hours early and do the transition ourselves."
Yep....biggliest brain would be in charge...and all would be well.
This book is fascinating, frightening and full of important information for every citizen to read and try to understand. I had no idea just how complex our government is and how very important each department is....and how far reaching. What these behind-the-scenes experts do protects all of us...each and every day. At least we used to have experts and departments on top of so many projects.
But not so much under this administration....many of the important positions are still empty. Others are held by unqualified individuals. Read the book.....please.
