Trump returns to patronage system
Trump is not just firing experienced government workers. He is selectively hiring supporters for a patronage army. Trump wants loyalists, not competence.
Trump’s patronage hirelings owe their livelihood to him. They will do anything to keep him happy. What happens if a patronage economist, for example, learns that economic numbers look bad for Trump? The simple answer: numbers will change. Somewhere a decimal will move in Trump’s favor. An overlooked math error will nudge things to benefit Trump. If you can analyze data, you can make fabricated statistics appear solid.
Such system-gaming will fail, but not in the short term which buys time. Trump’s patronage loyalist knows that whenever needed Trump can yank our attention away from economic numbers. Trump’s circus has many unused distractions: rename DC as DT (the District of Trump), invade Greenland, Venezuela, or both, coordinate ICE raids on preschools, impose tariffs on interstate trade. While citizens recover from Trump’s clown show, the patronage economist remains safe and stands ready to change the numbers whenever Trump honks.
Patronage, or the Spoil System, had its American heyday between 1820 and 1883 when the Pendleton Act slowed it down. Patronage saturated the government with corruption and incompetence at that time and will continue to do so today if we let it.
At one time, Americans learned to base government hiring on merit, competence, experience, not loyalty to one person. Following Trump’s every dictate lacks merit, breeds incompetence, and ignores experience.