TRUMP's PERSONNEL BLINDNESS

 

[Published in Trump’s blind spot - The Sunday Guardian Live]

Republicans are rejoicing that Donald Trump says he has learned lessons from his first term and will unleash a full-scale assault on big government and the Deep State.  Democrats are raising alarms that Trump will exceed his powers to wreak vengeance and settle personal scores.  Trump’s recent musing about being a “one-day dictator” inflamed his critics and enraptured his supporters.

They will all be disappointed.

President Trump completely failed at personnel.  He never grasped the concept that “people are policy”. Unfortunately, Trump and his transition planners are already ignoring this maxim and heading for disaster.

Many of the people being discussed for Trump’s second term were ineffective in the first. Learning from one’s mistakes is a key to successful leadership.  It is not happening.

Trump and his Second-Term planners continually refuse to look to the Reagan Transition (1980-81) for inspiration and its leaders for advice.  The Reagan Transition is considered the best planned and executed transition in history.  Even liberal historians admit this. Its success was based on ideological alignment of all participants and a clear plan for how Reagan’s Revolution would become an operational reality. 

During the 2016 campaign and transition, Trump and his advisors repeatedly ignored those who led the Reagan transition.  Eventually, some of these experienced “Reaganites’ were allowed into his transition, but in minor roles.  Their detailed reports and recommendations were tossed aside.

Instead, Trump relied on former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus.  Trump felt he had to reward them for defending him at critical points in the 2016 Presidential Campaign.  However, they filled his transition and White House with their friends drawn from Bush, McCain, and Romney political circles.  These Christie/Priebus cronies never respected Trump or supported his populist, “America First” policies.  They went onto to undermine Trump at every turn.

Trump was his own worst enemy.  He shut out potential allies among the Reaganites and welcomed anti-Trump activists.  He compounded his mistakes by not filling key positions, thinking this crippled the bureaucracy.  Instead, it empowered the Deep State players, as no one was monitoring them.

The result was Trump never achieving operational control of the Executive Branch.  Obama holdovers remained astride key functions. “Washington Swamp” operatives pursued their own agendas.  Disloyal appointees, even among his senior staff, leaked sensitive information and ingratiated themselves with the opposition media.

There were attempts during Trump’s final year in office to correct these strategic mistakes.  They failed.  Biden was handed the gift of leftist programs, policies, projects, hires, and contracts that were started while Trump was still in office.  Trump’s last wave of loyalists was blindsided because there were too few placed in the wrong places.

Except for judicial appointments, Trump’s legacy was swept away.  America, and the world, are suffering the consequences.

The opportunity to bring fundamental, and lasting, change to the Executive Branch during Trump’s second term is already slipping away.

Planning for the next Republican Administration is fragmented among five competing organizations: The Heritage Foundation, the Center for Renewing America (CRA), Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI), Personnel Policy Organization (PPO), and the America First Policy Initiative (AFPI).

Besides duplicating effort, these five entities are competing with each other to raise millions of dollars to finance their operations.  They conveniently ignore that volunteers prepared for the 1980 Reagan Revolution and that the Reagan Transition’s federal support was supplemented by only $2 million in private funds from his “Kitchen Cabinet”.

The Trump Transition money chase has led to leaking detailed plans to the media. News outlets have published insider accounts of private meetings and decisions. The transition planning groups hope donors will be impressed with their proposed actions and write big checks. It is like General Eisenhower leaking plans for the Normandy Invasion to promote WWII War Bonds.

Leaking details may inspire donors, but it allows opponents to develop counter measures. It violates timeless wisdom, “boast when coming from battle, not going to it”.

They are ignoring a fundamental truism: change occurs because there is a mandate.  These competing organizations, along with Republicans everywhere, need to be making the case for their revolution.  Otherwise, they may not gain traction for their plans, and even lose the 2024 election.

Trump’s key strategy is to remove merit system protections for thousands of career government employees.  His advisors dismiss the fact that this could be derailed by Congress (if in Democrat hands) and the courts.  However, retroactively removing protections is probably unconstitutional.

Trump likes “blunt instruments” to get his way.  Reagan’s appointees “sweated the details” to establish complete control of the Executive Branch.  His appointees, and their political staff, thoroughly studied each agency and methodically implemented substantive and sustainable change.

Establishing a compelling mandate for change, and effectively implementing it, can be summarized by the “SARS” strategy: Stop; Abolish; Reverse; Streamline.

Every day, until the election, a vivid case must be made to:

-       Stop Biden’s Leftist assault on America. Detailed lists of executive orders, policy memos, budget plans, regulations, court cases, hires and contracts must be compiled and exposed.  Every agency and program must be searched.

-       Abolish every entity and program started by Biden and Obama.  We must roll back big government back to at least 2009.

-       Reverse Biden/Obama decisions, especially personnel.  Most Americans don’t realize there are countless advisory boards within each department and agency that shape policy.  Their members are selected by agency heads not the President. Reagan established a special unit to select loyalists for these panels.

-       Streamline the Executive Branch. Republicans should cite hundreds of reports generated by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the 74 Inspectors General among Departments and agencies. Each one exposes waste, fraud, and abuse, which can guide revolutionary change.

These “SARS” actions are opportunities to educate and motivate voters to elect a Republican President, Senate, and House in 2024.  Ignoring them places America’s future in jeopardy.

Scot Faulkner served as Chief Administrative Officer of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was Director of Personnel for the 1980 Reagan Campaign, served on the Presidential Transition team, and on Reagan’s White House Staff.  He currently advises corporations on strategic change.

 

 

POPULISM TRIUMPHANT

[Published on Newsmax]

Senator Bernie Sanders’ rise to front runner for the Democratic Party’s nomination should be welcomed. The underlying cause of his ascendancy is very similar to Trump’s.  It represents a bipartisan rebellion against the elites and is healthy for America.

Since Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal expansion of government in the 1930’s there has been an entrenched elite that runs America.  The bureaucrats in Washington, DC make common cause with crony capitalist lobbyists and pliable Members and staff in the Legislative Branch.  Together with their media allies, they have relentlessly thwarted the will of the people.  Government has expanded, waste of tax dollars has gone unchecked, and breaching our privacy is now commonplace. 

The denizens of the “Swamp” and “Deep State” have become rich and arrogant.  They have banked on the complexity and longevity of their schemes to bewilder and intimidate those unlucky enough to exist outside their circles of power. Their defense systems have been perfected to absorb and neutralize even the most assertive reformers. 

The Swamp/Deep State players depend on both Democrats and Republicans to nominate Presidents who are either already loyal to the status quo or, after winning with reformist rhetoric, revert to passivity.  This has been a reliable strategy for generations.

The Swamp/Deep State have had shocks as the grassroots can stir and surprise.  Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980 was built upon a conservative movement that arose in the 1940s.  The elites had dismissed conservatives for years and viewed them like a newly discovered Amazon tribe when they took the Presidency and Senate.  The Reagan Revolution overturned the common wisdom that the Soviets would never be defeated, and that big government would forever expand.  It took 12 years of the Bush dynasty to dilute Reagan’s achievements. 

The Gingrich Revolution became another shock to the power elites.  They never saw the ground swell against the Congressional Kleptocracy that burst out of the ballot boxes in November 1994.  The Congressional breakthrough was short-lived.  By 2006, exploiting earmarks and the lobbyist revolving door stemmed the reformist tide.

While the elites celebrated their triumphs, Americans grew restive.

On February 16, 2009, the Tea Party Movement erupted to counter the political power grabs of Obamacare and the unchecked spending under the Recovery Act.  Two years later, Occupy Wall Street (OWS) took over Zuccotti Park in New York City, calling attention to “crony capitalism”.

Commentators across the political spectrum denounced both movements as “AstroTurf” – fake grass roots.  Both movements were accused of being funded and organized by nefarious forces.  Their motives were assailed.  According to the elites, the Tea Party was racist and OWS was communist.  Everyone within the political elites, conservative/liberal, Republican/Democrat, studiously avoided linking the growing dissatisfaction with the status quo as the unifying theme of these two populist protest movements.

Populism defined Andrew Jackson’s victory in 1828.  He tapped the concerns of western settlers who were tired of Eastern elites dominating the White House.   It arose again in the1890s as farmers felt unaccountable moneyed interests were exploiting and ignoring them.  Donald Trump tapped similar sentiments as he shocked the status quo in first winning the Republican nomination against heavily favored establishment candidates and then toppling Hillary Clinton, the anointed one, in November 2016.

President Trump openly draws inspiration from Andrew Jackson.  Trump’s policies are very Jacksonian, challenging elites and boosting America first.

It is no surprise that rallying the disaffection on the right would inspire a candidate to tap the disaffection on the left.  Sanders rise scares the establishment, just like Trump.  Sanders has assailed the Democratic National Committee for aiding the elites, just like they did in 2016.  He has called out the media for unfair treatment.  His legions of supporters are filling auditoriums. His is a real movement.

Americans should look forward to a Trump-Sanders race.  There have only been a few times in our lifetime when two candidates offered stark and fundamentally different futures for our country.  It will be a clarifying moment, awarding the winner a crystal-clear mandate to boldly act.  Only Johnson-Goldwater 1964, McGovern-Nixon 1972, Carter-Reagan 1980, and Mondale-Reagan 1984 have provided such opportunities. 

Americans should rejoice that a Trump-Sanders general election campaign would be the first time since Davis-Coolidge in 1924 to shut out the elites across the political spectrum. 

2020 could be the triumph of Populism. 

SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME

[ALSO PUBLISHED IN NEWSMAX]

In 1933, science fiction writer H.G. Wells wrote “The Shape of Things to Come”. His startling predictions covered 173 years into the future. Many of his visions were tragically accurate, like the strategic bombing of cities.

The following vision of December 2020 is one possible reality of the next two years. These predictions could become real if Republicans remain complacent, disorganized, and disloyal. Republicans bungling their historic opportunity over the last two years was terrible. Republicans failing during the next two years will be disastrous. Time to stand for something. Time to fight for something.

It is December 2020. President-elect Michelle Obama is filing her transition team and administration with liberal activists. The media is gushing over her every move.

Obama waged the most effective nomination fight in memory by not waging one. She hinted and teased, but waited until May 2020 to plunge into the fray.

The crowded Democrat field played its part brilliantly. Each of the fifteen candidates exhausted themselves moving ever further left with each debate, caucus, and primary. Conservative pundits and social media were delighted to assail the Democrat field and make fun of their over the top stances. It all paved the way for Obama to enter the race to “save the Democrats from themselves”. Democrat Party leaders breathed a sigh of relief and rallied to Obama’s cause.

Starting with the release of her book, Michelle Obama fostered “Obama Nostalgia”. This movement spread throughout media and academic circles. The movement expertly positioned the Obama years (2009-2016) as a calm, scandal free, period. They claimed that Republican Bush destroyed the economy, Obama rebuilt it, and Trump benefited from it.

“Obama Nostalgia” capitalized on the chaos in Washington.

House Democrats launched investigations into President Trump and his administration on an unprecedented scale. They voted to impeach Justice Kavanaugh in March 2019. His Senate trial failed to convict with only 40 votes. The House voted to impeach Trump in May 2019 on five counts including the emoluments clause, treason, exceeding authority on border security, and obstruction of justice. The Senate trial dominated the summer of 2019. Sixty Senators voted against Trump on the emoluments and obstruction charges, falling short of the 66 votes required to convict. The 13 Republicans voting to convict tore apart the GOP across America.

Democrats shifted to impeaching Trump appointees. Two Cabinet Secretaries resigned during their impeachment processes. The third Cabinet Member fought back and the House impeachment effort failed with only 170 votes. Speaker Pelosi stopped further impeachment actions stating, “it is time to heal”.

The impeachment assault achieved its goal. No further Trump appointees were confirmed by the Senate, including judges. Fewer and fewer people were willing to be named to Administration positions. Except for a steady stream of Executive Orders, Trump’s Executive Branch ground to a halt. The Stock Market sagged and economic indicators reflected increased uncertainty.

Romney, Flake, and Kasich ran against Trump. They benefited from a flood of leaks from the Romney, Bush, and swamp dweller operatives embedded in Trump’s inner circles. The Never-Trump candidates collectively garnered 35 percent of the delegates, but winning only a handful of caucuses and primaries (i.e. Utah). Trump prevailed and continued to speak to huge enthusiastic crowds throughout 2020.

The media positioned 2020 as the choice between continued Trump chaos or a return to Obama calm. Republican hopes for taking down the Clintons as a counter narrative were dashed when members of the Federal Grand Jury nullified federal law by refusing to indict. Several jurors explained that, while the Clintons broke numerous laws, they could not put America through the tragedy of their trial. This was applauded by the media and academia as the right decision to “heal the country”.

Republicans in Congress and their media allies, remained ineffective and panicked throughout 2019 and 2020. They were in disarray about Trump, and how to counter the Democrats. Republicans paid the price by losing the Senate. Voters defeated the most zealous Democrat House Members, who over reached on anti-Trump accusations, shrinking their majority 223 seats.

Time is running out to craft a different future. Our nation is at stake.

CREEPY CONGRESS

#CREEPYCONGRESS  #NAKEDEMPERORS  #DEEPSWAMP

Published in Newsmax.

“Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

The darker side of Washington unfolds around us - Members getting drunk to the point of falling off bar stools and then being dragged to the House Floor to vote; married Members hitting on and picking-up young female staffers and interns; lobbyists bringing attractive female “associates” with them to draw Members to their tables. It was stomach turning. We, sadly, could only shake our heads in amazement and shame. We pledged to rid the House of this culture of moral abandon if we ever got control of the Chamber.

What an insane place it was.  Could the Republicans actually change such a dysfunctional and abusive environment?  A close friend and colleague walked in on his boss having sex with a young female staffer in the middle of his desk. The married Congressman immediately fired this senior legislative aide and warned him that he would make sure he never worked again in Washington if he ever told people the real reason he was let go.

House staffers would relate countless stories of staffers they knew who had to do personal errands and favors for House Members or face immediate dismissal. Tantrums by Members, sometimes resulting in physical harm, sometimes in mass firings of their staffs, were commonplace. Our running joke was that the U.S. House of Representatives was America’s largest adult daycare facility.

We encountered ever stranger evidence of the most corrupt, dysfunctional, and surreal operating environment in any of our professional careers. The fact that this abuse and mayhem was being fueled by public funds appalled all of us.

Every hour that went by unearthed amazing stories of abuse and chaos. Were they fact or fiction?  Some overlapped material already known, but others broke new ground for audacity…this was flagrant abuse of congressional power. “It’s almost too much to bear. What kinds of people are running this place? This is madness!”

The worst stories related to how sexual favors were demanded by both supervisors and Members. They told of how stress and hopelessness led to fist fights and, in one case, a knife fight. They told us of how their supervisors and the Capitol police looked the other way.  Everyone seemed scared of what powerful Members and their handpicked managers would do to them… this sickened us. Was this really happening in America?

These horrific descriptions are excerpts from the book “Naked Emperors” that was published in 2008 [https://www.amazon.com/Naked-Emperors-Failure-Republican-Revolution/dp/0742558819/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511223742&sr=8-1&keywords=faulkner+%22naked+emperors%22].  It revealed rampant abuse dating back to the 1970s, documented with over 300 footnotes and countless interviews. 

In 2008, the public was not ready to confront just how bad Congress had become.

Thankfully, victims are now more willing to come forward and the media is more willing to believe them.  Decades of damage occurred because few wanted to risk reprisals from the powerful they unmasked. It is tragic to think of all the lives that are forever damaged by not stopping this sooner.  Too many politicians and journalists callously looked the other way. 

Finally, Congress seems to be coming to grips with its institutionalized abuse. House Speaker Paul Ryan has mandated sexual harassment training for both Members and staff.  He is the first Congressional leader saying he is willing to stop the systematic and systemic cover-up of their toxic work environment. 

We can only hope that Ryan and the Republicans are sincere and that the era of Congressional perversion and abuse may finally be over. 

[Scot Faulkner advises corporations and governments on how to save billions of dollars by achieving dramatic and sustainable cost reductions while improving operational and service excellence. He served as the Chief Administrative Officer of the U.S. House of Representatives.  He also served on the White House Staff, and as an Executive Branch Appointee.]

RINOgator UNBOUND

#TRUMPING  #RINOgator #DEEPSWAMP

Congressional Republicans are compiling an historic record of failure. Even though they control the Legislative Branch, they have not passed anything meaningful, cannot confirm Trump’s appointments, and refuse to reopen investigations into the last eight years of Democrat corruption and collusion with America’s enemies.  They remain stupefied and inert while Democrats and their media allies create fake scandals designed to disembowel Trump and his inner circle.

A growing number of Americans are asking, “Do these Republicans want Trump to fail?” Congressional Republicans do not comprehend the danger facing them.  If things continue as they are, Americans in 2018 will toss out Congressional Republicans for gross incompetence. 

If they lose power, Republicans will have difficulty convincing the voters that they ever deserve a return to power.

It is time to reacquaint ourselves with the denizens of the Deep Swamp who are undermining President Trump and America from both ends of Pennsylvanian Avenue…

A very dangerous species is loose in Washington, DC.  If it’s not eradicated it will bring ruin to Trump’s Administration and the nation.

RINOgator is a subspecies of fake Republicans (as in Republican In Name Only) that lives in the Swamp of our nation’s Capital.   The Swamp is its natural habitat, filled with conflicts of interest, incestuous relationships, avoidance of accountability, hiding documents and information from the public; waste, fraud, and abuse. 

RINOgators’ role in life is to expand the Swamp and to destroy anyone who tries to drain it. Any reduction in the Swamp reduces their numbers and threatens the species.

RINOgators eat tax dollars and absorb energy from reform minded humans. They have insatiable appetites and are never full.  There is always one more meal to eat.

RINOgators are highly territorial.  They relentlessly defend their turf among Congressional Committees and special interests. It is far more important to maintain their turf than for anything to be accomplished.

RINOgators live in close-knit family units.  One generation promotes the next through education, internships, sinecures, and contracts.  There is constant intermingling and intermarriage with other RINOgator family units. 

RINOgators can also be highly incestuous. They will give awards, place media stories, hire, and promote family members at every opportunity.  Multi-generational RINOgator family units hold more territory and become impervious to elections.

RINOgators may migrate to corporate, academic, and media positions, to promote the Swamp, but will always return to their native Swamp.

RINOgators are pernicious.  They use their knowledge of the Swamp to convince their prey that they are necessary.  Their prey willingly appoints them to office, listens to their advice, and invites them into their inner circles. Like cowbirds, RINOgators lay their eggs in the nests of reformers, setting the stage for their young to devour the souls of competing species.

RINOgators have a distinct call, which is heard on cable news, in policy forums, and reported in the mainstream media.  Its call is for maintaining the status quo, no matter what.  Lesser calls are for “further study”, new programs, new legislation, and more funding.  Squawks of alarm are heard whenever reformers call for accountability, transparency, “running government like a business”, “doing more with less”, privatization, and cutbacks.  Squawks are usually accompanied by assertions of “we are unique”, “it cannot be done”, and various lies about how THE PROCESS “actually” works.

RINOgators have an array of formidable defenses.  Their most effective is delay. Their other defense mechanisms include the ability to erase memory, dismiss facts, and divert attention so reformers pursue only irrelevant or tactical issues.

RINOgators are chameleons.  They adopt the rhetoric of their enemies to better blend in until the right moment to strike. 

The Trump era has become a major threat to the RINOgators and their Swamp.  The RINOgators did not see Trump as a threat until he had entered their territory. 

That is why the RINOgators have forged elaborate family groupings, nesting on Capitol Hill, to thwart Trump initiatives.  RINOgators chose not to attack the past foibles of Obama and Hillary.  They think it is better having Democrats on the offense against Trump instead of on the defense.

RINOgators have the innate ability to rebound after being stunned.  That is why, after being surprised by Trump winning the nomination, they insinuated themselves into Trump’s transition planning, transition team, and Administration.  Legions of RINOgators wrote Trump Transition briefing books and developed personnel “vetting” processes that slowed the staffing of Trump’s Administration to a crawl. They adjusted selection criteria to favor Swamp preservationists and surrounded incoming Trump Executives with them, instead of Swamp drainers.

RINOgator eradication efforts have been sporadic and only partially successful.  The main barrier to eradication is convincing people RINOgators exist. Their chameleon defenses allow them to avoid detection.  RINOgators and their allies have the unique talent of reflecting problems and disappointments back onto Trump.  This reflective surface is a key part of the RINOgator’s outer armor.

Thankfully, RINOgators have weaknesses.  They are susceptible to sunshine when light is shown on their true selves.  They are too smug, leading them to make wrong assumptions about the American people.

The RINOgator eradication program must begin with Americans unmasking the species and ripping away its reflective surfaces.  RINOgators are especially vulnerable during primaries. 

Trump and the nation must track down and wipe-out the RINOgator, before it is too late. 

This is critical to draining the Swamp.

[Scot Faulkner helps global corporations flatten their organizations; achieving dramatic and sustainable cost reductions while improving operational and service excellence. He served as the Chief Administrative Officer of the U.S. House of Representatives.  During the Reagan Administration he served on the White House Staff, and in Executive Appointments.]

TRUMPING THE ISSUES

[Published at http://www.newsmax.com/ScotFaulkner/d-c-washington/2016/11/07/id/757502/ ]

The fundamental question of this election is do we really want Obama’s third term?  Do we really want a President who will push Obama’s agenda even further to the left?

In 2008, America was facing a terrible economic downturn.  Does anyone really believe that Obama’s trillion dollar “shovel ready” public works, gave America anything close to a real recovery?  Does anyone really think the unemployment numbers are more relevant than the record number of Americans no longer in the workforce?  Does anyone really believe that America’s anemic recovery is the new normal?  Hillary supporters are people who think they and their fellow citizens are economically better off today than 2008. Trump’s message is that America must end the regulations and taxes that have crushed its economy.

In 2008, Americans enjoyed one of the best healthcare systems in the world.  Does anyone really like their current health plan?  Do Americans like paying ever higher premiums and higher deductibles?  Are Americans ready for a completely national healthcare system like Canada or England? 

In 2008, America was the world leader.  Do Americans like the fact that Russia is challenging the U.S., and poses more of a threat, now than at any time since the USSR fell in 1991?  Are Americans willing to watch China consolidate its hegemony in Asia?  Are Americans willing to remain silent as China peels away U.S. allies, like the Philippines, while extending its reach throughout Africa and Central America?

In 2008, the Middle East was dangerous, but at least the major extremist forces were contained.  Are Americans willing to overlook Obama’s refusal to help liberal democratic forces in Iran (the Green Revolution) in 2009 in order to promote Iranian ascendancy ever since?  Are Americans passively accepting that the “Arab Spring” brought peace and freedom to the region?  Are Americans willing to applaud Hillary for her tearing apart Libya, Syria, and Iraq during her time as Secretary of State? Are Jewish Americans really willing to let Hillary continue undermining Israel, the only true democracy in the region? 

In 2016, America is facing a world that is slipping back into 17^th and 18^th Century trade wars.  The promise of a “flat earth” without policy, technology, or logistical barriers to moving goods, services, and resources has been exploited by China and other state run economies.  America is adrift in how to compete in this “back to the future” trade environment.  Americans are grappling with how to earn a living when robots at home and sweat shop labor abroad obliterate opportunities. 

In 2016, Americans are facing dual invasions that will ultimately destroy our culture and country.  One is illegal immigrants who increase crime and burden social services. The media has been highly successful in deleting “illegal” from any discussion of immigration in order to cast Trump and his supporters as racists or 19^th Century “know nothings”. The other invasion is Islamic militants who want to supplant America’s Constitutional freedoms with Sharia law. 

Finally, in 2016, Americans are fed-up with the arrogant unaccountable political elite whose only agenda is to line its own pockets and those of its cronies.  Americans want a real revolution that ends the reign of those who thumb their noses at the law. 

Trump asserts that immigration is a privilege not a right.  Those who America welcomes should be people who will enthusiastically embrace our hard won civic values and bring skills that will revitalize America’s economy.

Trump will drain Washington, DC’s swamp and usher in ethical and accountable government.