Said Paul Begala, quoted in "Bosses in the Biden admin are pressed over young staffers’ anonymous letters/Protest letters, like those over Israel, were rare in past administrations. White House veterans can barely contain their disdain over how times have changed" (Politico).
In the Trump presidency, unauthorized leaks became a form of political currency, with anonymous officials writing op-eds, and wild bits of drama routinely finding their way into the news. Inside the current White House, there’s a feeling that the culture has now irrevocably changed....
So... it didn't work to change the culture temporarily, to deal with Trump, that horribly abnormal President. The old culture didn't just pop back into place when Trump was gone. You have to take care of a culture and maintain its values in good times and bad.
RELATED: "Impeachment frenzy hits Capitol Hill" (WaPo)(noting "impeachment projects centering on President Biden, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin").
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Kaus keeps asking: when did American politics become so divisive? When did it become acceptable to say you were going to undermine the regime and the laws, peacefully or not? The other day he was back to saying: the Johnson administration, Vietnam, and the draft.
"In the Trump presidency, unauthorized leaks became a form of political currency"
He hired fools and snakes who stabbed him in the back. Why would he do any better next time?
Gore is who caused it. Everything before Gore contesting the Florida results was people running by unspoken rules.
Inside the current White House, there’s a feeling that the culture has now irrevocably changed....
"So the falcon's heard the falconer, huh?"
"Norms for me and not for thee" never works for long. Once territory is gained it is very difficult give it back.
If it was not so destructive, it would be very amusing to watch the Democrats get subject to their own, new rules. They may (but likely not) learn that going full scorched earth at the drop of a hat has a down side.
I preferred the old rules myself but no one listens to me...
You have to take care of a culture and maintain its values in good times and bad.
Yer damned right.
it didn't work to change the culture temporarily, to deal with Trump, that horribly abnormal President. The old culture didn't just pop back into place when Trump was gone.
YES. I've been saying this since the NYT ran an August 2016 front-page opinion piece from their media columnist essentially arguing that Trump is so bad journalists should set aside their ethics to sway the election.
The most influential media outlet in the world crossed a line that could never be uncrossed.
(See also: prosecutions, political)
Culture Change in the White House, Culture Change in the School House.
The times, they are a-changin'. To quote someone.
The opportunistic erosion of our institutions to undermine the Trump presidency had far-reaching and permanent consequences? Who could have seen this coming?! Not anyone left of center, apparently.
Churning out young left-wing ideologues must seem great when they are disrupting conservative politicians, administrators, or policy-makers, not so much when it happens to you. This is the danger when these young folks are taught that everything is some cosmic struggle between good and evil. The golem has turned on its master.
Young White House staffers are just like every kid of their generation, with the overwhelming, all encompassing sense of entitlement. Its what we do lectured our entry level staffers, days after three of them quit after failing to unite their workmates in their office coup attempt...
"Showing your ass" is the description that comes to mind when I see the interns doing something as stupid as expecting their opinions to matter. That good old phrase still covers the situation, so to speak.
I support using impeachments as a check on out of control administration behaviors, both for Cabinet Secretaries and the head honcho. I think I recall from high school Civics that impeachment is kinda designed for that purpose, among others.
So... it didn't work to change the culture temporarily, to deal with Trump, that horribly abnormal President. The old culture didn't just pop back into place when Trump was gone. You have to take care of a culture and maintain its values in good times and bad.
It's amazing how our "moral and intellectual betters" who all went to "good schools" seem to have a very fixed view of how the world works, isn't it?
Pretty confident nothing Trump administration figures did inspired Biden staffers on Palestine. More likely inspired by the idiots blocking traffic in major cities.
Ann Althouse said...
"The old culture didn't just pop back into place when Trump was gone."
The culture never did change; it's the same as before. It's just that one (several?) of Chesterton's Fences got torn down under Trump and didn't get put back.
Same happening in the private sector. Young guns openly posting about their disgust at management decisions. Lot of late career leaders scared they won't survive till retirement.
Begala is pissed because it’s lower-level staffers doing this.
It used to be only high-level staffers who would undermine the president.
No one gets more pissed than a thief when someone steals from him.
You have to take care of a culture and maintain its values in good times and bad.
And you have to understand and appreciate a culture and its values before you can properly maintain it.
These are all things understood by one half of the electorate.
Unfortunately for America, it's not the half that's in charge.
Blogger Quaestor said...
White House staffer positions should be rewarded by lottery; that way you get fewer traitors and concentration camp guards.
Something tells me a lot of them are used as political currency to reward a supporter and get his granddaughter, grandson, niece or nephew an early, nice, highlight on their CV.
It's the "I am bigger than everything and everyone" culture.
What could possibly go wrong?
Good and bad are judged solely on view counts.
I'd love to see who's next on the Impeachment A Day calendar. Second only to The Far Side Day to Day Calendar.
Use the Althouse portal!
It sounds like the staffers have not learned to accept that sometimes they will win and sometimes they will lose and they need to lose with grace and dignity. They think they should win every time and make everyone miserable if they don't.
Not that the older people are any wiser, if they thought this would only be used against Republicans.
"Those meetings, former Biden aides who are in contact with the White House say, have helped influence the administration’s change in tone toward Palestinians. They’ve also allowed for frustrated staffers to let out steam.
“The meetings were the right thing to do. [The White House] maybe underestimated that the meetings would be sufficient,” said the former senior aide. “I also think the people who were participating in the meeting maybe overestimated how how quickly their conversation and their concerns would turn into United States government policy.”
That last sentence is the real issue - these brats actually think that if they bitch enough they'll get their way. After all, it has worked for them their entire lives until now.
He hired fools and snakes who stabbed him in the back. Why would he do any better next time?
Did he hire most of them or did he just not remove them from office? In business, when you take over another business, leaving people in place is often a good move that will earn you their loyalty. Trump's main problem was that he thought government could be run like a business. Perhaps it can, but not without replacing a lot of the people/snakes in it.
"You have to take care of a culture and maintain its values in good times and bad."
These people want to destroy our culture. Not kidding.
White House staffer positions should be awarded by lottery; that way you get fewer traitors and concentration camp guards.
(spellcheck changed awarded to rewarded)
Republican leaks "Patriotic people doing the bidding of the democrat party"
Democrat Leaks "FBI will be visiting you".
the president’s son
hunter biden’s cunning stunt?
you know what i mean
Biden is unfit.
He is a crook.
Crook Joe should be impeached over his secret family money laundering in Ukraine and China.
Crook Joe - Above-the-law Joe - should be impeached for the lawless open southern border.
Myorkas should be impeached as well.
Pretty confident nothing Trump administration figures did inspired Biden staffers on Palestine.
Hey them straw men aren’t gonna fight themselves to be nonsequitors of the day!
So tired of "young staffers." Aren't you?
I don't think Mayorkas is incompetent. It's just that, like any good SS officer in WW II, he will absolutely follow orders from above. That's the sort of blind obedience one wants in any good apparatchik--whether in Moscow, Berlin or in the Swamp.
And I suppose there's a touch of that in Biden---he does what his handlers want him to do. Obama was unable to accomplish the destruction of the US in two terms--so Slow Joe is the tool he is using to try to finish the job.
I don't think Mayorkas is incompetent. It's just that, like any good SS officer in WW II, he will absolutely follow orders from above. That's the sort of blind obedience one wants in any good apparatchik--whether in Moscow, Berlin or in the Swamp.
And I suppose there's a touch of that in Biden---he does what his handlers want him to do. Obama was unable to accomplish the destruction of the US in two terms--so Slow Joe is the tool he is using to try to finish the job.
When the likes of comey mccabe were fired there was a full court press same with brennan who was treated as authorities strzok anyone
Conversely trump team members were run ouy t on a rail for some perceived offense
Democrats: "You, as young progressives, are the future. You are wiser than, and morally superior to, the generation that came before, and your efforts will make America a nation worth revering someday."
Also Democrats: "What makes these young progressives think they know better than us?"
"So... it didn't work to change the culture temporarily, to deal with Trump, that horribly abnormal President. The old culture didn't just pop back into place when Trump was gone. You have to take care of a culture and maintain its values in good times and bad."
Sure it's accelerating. But history hods many examples of earlier change the culture crap.
Harry Reid and judges anyone?
We have to acknowledge these kids were taught the world was coming apart, the prevailing culture was oppressive, and it is their job to change things before we're all killed off.
As such, deferring to authority and maintaining the status quo are not part of their mindset.
Like the protesters for Hamas on college campuses, they are the heroes in their story rather than the villains.
They keep breaking the norms to save the norms.
That just breaks the norms.
Your young staffers watched what you did and learned.
Pretty confident nothing Trump administration figures did inspired Biden staffers on Palestine. More likely inspired by the idiots blocking traffic in major cities.
East Palestine, no... wouldn't be politically congruent ("=").
"Bosses in the Biden admin are pressed over young staffers’ anonymous letters/Protest letters, like those over Israel..."
The adults aren't in charge? Who'da thunk it?
The left destroyed our culture in order to save it. Except now it's destroyed. I want to say maybe they should have thought this through, but if they were capable of thinking it through, they wouldn't be leftists.
One impeachment, two impeachments... ha ha ha.
One indictment, two indictments, three indictments... now I know my one, two, threes, next time won't you bray (sic) along with me.
It seems that loyalty is the issue. This was thoroughly burned out of political culture during the Obama years. Think Snowden.
Trump suffered the metastasis throughout all levels of government.
And now we have a schlep executive that doesn't seem to care....
So... it didn't work to change the culture temporarily, to deal with Trump, that horribly abnormal President. The old culture didn't just pop back into place when Trump was gone. You have to take care of a culture and maintain its values in good times and bad.
What a shock!
Not. The only people "shocked" by this are complete morons and total ignoramuses
This entire Congressional term has been a disaster for House Republican leadership.
Readering said...
Pretty confident nothing Trump administration figures did inspired Biden staffers on Palestine.
That's because you're an idiot.
Those weren't "Trump administration figures", those were "members of the Resistance!!11!"
And once you've established that "Resistance is good", it becomes a game everyone can play. And does play, as this post is pointing out
Democrats are losing control of the monsters they created. The left just wanted to use them when necessary to further their cause. Riots against Trump were good optics for the left since it gave the perception that "everyone" hated Trump. They are having a hard time corralling the power they gave to the young people who now think (rightly so) that they are in control.
"He hired fools and snakes who stabbed him in the back."
True to some extent. But not necessarily true of those positions that require Senate confirmation (i.e., approval of Mitch McConnell). Does anyone really think McConnell would allow the confirmation of anyone with integrity to run the FBI? That's why we got Wray.
Also, for those that would discard Trump for his poor personnel choices, who in the current crop of candidates would do better, why do you think they would do better, and, in particular, why do you think they will have better success in getting real reformers through the Senate confirmation process?
Its Hell when the "new rules" bite the other hand.
They're part of the "Resistance" - isn't that a noble thing?
If these "young staffers" are upset at Genocide Joe using American taxpayer money to help the IDF kill 20,000 Arab women and children in Gaza, then I'm with them.
I Just wish They'd go public before israel completely Genocides them.
Hello Young staffers whoever you are
I hope your troubles are few
All my good wishes go with you tonight
I've been against Genocide, like you
Doesn't the White House understand who these staffers are!?! They're Harvard/Yale/Penn grads!
If you want to talk frenzy, how about trying to impeach a president who is no longer in office? The likelihood of assassination is higher now I think. I hope Trump has his own security. I don't trust the Secret Service. Obama pretty well corrupted them.
Staffers are there to learn and to support who they work for. It isn’t to determine and set policy.
If a staffer doesn’t understand that, they should resign and move on.
It’s called “disagree and commit”. Say your piece, then, if your view is not adopted, join with the decision and own it. If you’re a young staffer, in particular, you don’t have the responsibility nor the accountability to make the decision so you simply have to let it go. It’s not your time. Be grateful anyone listened to your viewpoint at all, then learn from the episode and move on. Why immature people think they have all the answers is um, normal, but they’re rarely right in the grand scheme.
Well. Now we know what Paul Begala thinks. If Paul Begala gave me a dollar, I'd know what he thinks AND I'd have a dollar. I don't get out much, would that still buy me a cuppa coffee?
We're coming up on 100 days since Oct 07. And shortly after that, 100 days since the start of the Israeli response to Oct 07. I, for one, look forward to the reporting on accomplishments in destroying and dismantling Hamas from all major US news sources to mark the day. /s
No, I expect journalists to continue lip syncing with Hamas spokesmen. And I expect pro-Palestinian protests worldwide. Without the protesters noting that nobody in the world is anti-Palestinian, just anti-Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS, Iran etc., violence directed at Israel.
And I expect the IDF to continue until finished with their job.
"If you’re a young staffer, in particular, you don’t have the responsibility nor the accountability to make the decision so you simply have to let it go. It’s not your time. Be grateful anyone listened to your viewpoint at all ..."
That assumes that their viewpoints are ever heard or asked for.
Do you really expect a know it all like Begala to ask anyone lower on the org chart what they think?
I think staffers are tired of being ignored by boomers, who no longer even pretend to listen to their ideas. Having consulted some, it's surprising what bad management can do to the attitudes of those doing the work on the ground floor.
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