On twitter the other day, I injected myself into a conversation:
These people thought they were going to ride into D.C. like Genghis Khan and now they have no idea what to do: https://t.co/Z4oEm6T8Mn
— Daniel Schultz (@pastordan) March 26, 2017
@pastordan Genghis Khan kind of made it up as he went along too.
— Komputernik (@komputernik) March 26, 2017
@komputernik @pastordan Trump doesn’t have a Subutai to lead his campaigns, and he won’t get one because he doesn’t practice meritocracy.
— Doug Masson (@DougMasson) March 26, 2017
I’m no scholar of Mongol history, but my understanding is that Subutai was a remarkable general who was with Genghis from very early on in his conquests. Genghis conquered a huge empire, and Subutai was one of his key leaders. Part of what made Genghis so effective was his willingness to promote competence wherever he found it.
Trump has no skill in that arena. His businesses are closely held, family affairs that he runs in a paranoid and insular way. Nothing in his early administration suggests that he rewards and appreciates competence. I see that he plans to appoint his son-in-law to try to “lead a SWAT team to fix government.” He’s trying to mount a difficult campaign without generals who know their way around the battle field, and he lacks the temperament and good judgment he would need to acquire competent help.
The huggington post has a very informative and humerous article stating all of the duties Trump has given his son in-law Jared.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jared-kushner-everything-czar_us_58d95499e4b02a2eaab6664f?section=us_politics
From the Washington Post article on the “swat team.” :
We should have excellence in government,” Kushner said Sunday in an interview in his West Wing office. “The government should be run like a great American company. Our hope is that we can achieve successes and efficiencies for our customers, who are the citizens.” Excellence from this administration. They cannot even rise to incompotence. And I hope his daddy-in-laws are not the success[ful] company they wish to emulate.
And sorry, little dude, we are not customers. We cannot go to another vendor. Because of fraud, possible treason and the anachronistic Electoral College that was designed to block populist demagouges instead of promote them, the nation is stuck with your ilk until impeachment and conviction.
Kushner proudly notes that most of the members of his team have little-to-no political experience, hailing instead from the world of business. They must live in an irony-free zone.
Irony indeed. Back in the day, school board election candidates were often quoted about “running schools like a business”. Until they got elected and saw the vast differences between reality and their imaginations. I have little hope for this administration, wait, no, I have none.
There are always opportunities to run any government entity in a more business like fashion, but at the end of the day, they are tasked at accomplishing tasks that are inherently inefficient and can’t be run that way.
Absolutely, Paddy. I WANT more efficiency in government. Who doesn’t? As you note, government is tasked with things that are inherently inefficient. It cannot pick and chose its products and customers. Government steps in when private markets cannot deliver necessary goods and services.