The Presidential Transition Act is a LAW

TRUMP is thumbing his nose at it

Presidential transitions are complex and critically important to the maintenance of order during a regime change. The law that governs this transition was enacted in 1963. It provides support services and money to the campaigns of each potential new president/vice-president because:

“Any disruption occasioned by the transfer of the executive power could produce results detrimental to the safety and well-being of the United States and its people.” To promote the orderly transfer of power, Congress established a framework for the federal government to prepare for a transition from one president to another.”

The Law provides transition support and fundraising guidelines … you can probably guess what’s coming next …

David Davies of NPR’s “Fresh Air” interviewed New York Times political reporter Ken Bensinger, who said:

“So the government will offer (the) campaign's transition team office space, tech support, email servers, letterhead, that sort of thing, as well as money. And all they have to do to get that is to sign these memorandum of understanding to show that they're on board with the plan.”

Once a campaign has signed the memoranda, they get the support and have access to the various agencies and start getting security briefings. Harris/Walz have signed. However, Bensinger stated, “The Trump transition has taken a completely different tack. They have refused to sign either of the memoranda of understanding they're supposed to, and they have blown past both deadlines.”

Because they have not agreed to the agreement, they aren’t getting access to important information … however, they also haven’t agreed to the standard guidelines on transition fundraising which creates an open invitation to free-for-all fundraising with no accountability.

One has to wonder what Elon’s 200+ Billion might buy him? (Remember DJT already asked the oil industry to pony up a billion.)

Nazi, fascist, oligarchy or robber baron?

We are talking a lot about the evils of Nazis and fascists … maybe the bigger threat is oligarchy, a small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution. It’s not a word that just rolls off our tongues … so maybe we need to just resuscitate an old phrase … robber barons.

I do not believe that Trump is simply a Nazi nor a fascist nor even a robber baron. That would require a commitment to a set of principles. And, a degree of predictability governed by those principles. There’s only one principle that predicts Trump’s actions.

Backtracking to the definitions of these things we’re talking so much about:

Nazism's ideology was shaped by Hitler's beliefs in German racial superiority and the dangers of communism. It rejected liberalism, democracy, the rule of law, and human rights, stressing instead the subordination of the individual to the state and the necessity of strict obedience to leaders.

Fascism is a far-right form of government in which most of the country's power is held by one ruler or a small group, under a single party. Fascist governments are usually totalitarian and authoritarian one-party states.

Oligarchy (Robber Baron) definition: a form of government in which all power is vested in a few persons or in a dominant class or clique; government by the few …normally, wealthy business owners whose business practices are often considered ruthless or unethical. (Imagine eliminating Congress in favor of a Board handpicked by DJT starting with Elon Musk and the Koch brothers.)

While Trump’s actions reflect each of the above, the one principle that predicts all of his actions is self-interest. Is it good for me? If I want it; I take it.

The Alpha Particle Scattering Theory and Trump

I once worked for a company made up of PhD scientists, led by a highly charismatic and powerful leader. I was a young, non-PhD administrator when one of my scientist friends sat me down and explained the politics of the company using a scientific metaphor that made my head spin but, also, explained everything. It has helped me understand Trump.

In less than scientific terms: in each atom there is a nucleus or particle of energy that attracts other particles (call them specks) into the orbit of its energy field. However, once any particular speck comes too close (or resists in any way) to the nucleus, it is ejected out of orbit to forever wander alone in outer space. (Please forgive all the scientific errors contained in this explanation, I’m sure they’re the result of my lack of understanding, not his explanation.)

Trump is the nucleus, the highly attractive alpha particle and everything is peachy-keen until an attracted speck gets too close, or tries to act on its own accord, at which time they are ejected. Think Mike Pence, Chris Christie or the dozens of the other former Trump enablers who are now somewhere in the outer political rings of space.

Before The Heritage Foundation and its weighty plan for the future (Project 2025) became a pesky nuisance, Trump was all for it. Now he has a new favorite policy advisory group … The America First Policy Institute, a so-called “non-partisan research institute” which may be more radical than The Heritage Foundation. This interview focuses on the new close advisory group.

One of the things I find fascinating is that even though we all see specks zinging off into space, there’s always a new wannabe-close-to-power speck ready to embrace the alpha particle and his weird-ass policies and behaviors.

Other scary quotes from this important interview:

DAVIES (Gutting experienced civil service): The America First Policy Institute has a policy book called the "America First Agenda." One of the things, as I understand it, that it calls for is the elimination of civil service protection for government employees.

BENSINGER (At-will Civil Service): So the America First Policy Institute - perhaps its most aggressive idea for a policy in a new Republican administration is this concept of turning federal career employees into at-will hires. What that means is that they would lose a lot of the protections, if not all the protections that they have, that they enjoy, that are supposed to shield them from political influence, that are supposed to protect them and allow them to do their job in a way that is not political, that is supposed to be neutral and unbiased.

DAVIES (Uncontrolled donations): From what you're saying, it sounds as if this agreement is not set, then the Trump team could raise money in any amounts from large donors, from corporations, even foreign entities, and not have to report it. I mean, that's certainly very different from campaign finance rules.

BENSINGER (Security Clearances): But my colleagues, Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, recently discovered that people in - close to Trump are proposing a new system that would essentially cut the FBI out of the process and instead have sort of private firms, law firms or security firms do the vetting for them and allow that process to be sufficient to gain national security clearance.

This interview is an important read for understanding what is at stake in this election. Thank you to

Jeanine Kitchel

for bringing it to my attention.

Please VOTE … and comments welcomed.

More info:

“How a little-known organization is poised to shape a second Trump administration,” by Dave Davies Heard on Fresh Air, October 30, 2024 (Highly recommended reading or listening)

Presidential Transition Act Summary