White House Installs Political Aides at Cabinet Agencies to be Trump’s Eyes and Ears - Polidicks

[quote]The political appointee charged with keeping watch over Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt and his aides has offered unsolicited advice so often that after just four weeks on the job, Pruitt has shut him out of many staff meetings, according to two senior administration officials. At the Pentagon, they’re privately calling the former Marine officer and fighter pilot who’s supposed to keep his eye on Defense Secretary Jim Mattis “the commissar,” according to a high-ranking defense official with knowledge of the situation. It’s a reference to Soviet-era Communist Party officials who were assigned to military units to ensure their commanders remained loyal. [B]Most members of President Trump’s Cabinet do not yet have leadership teams in place or even nominees for top deputies. But they do have an influential coterie of senior aides installed by the White House who are charged — above all — with monitoring the secretaries’ loyalty, according to eight officials in and outside the administration.[/B] This shadow government of political appointees with the title of senior White House adviser is embedded at every Cabinet agency, with offices in or just outside the secretary’s suite. The White House has installed at least 16 of the advisers at departments including Energy and Health and Human Services and at some smaller agencies such as NASA, according to records first obtained by ProPublica through a Freedom of Information Act request. These aides report not to the secretary, but to the Office of Cabinet Affairs, which is overseen by Rick Dearborn, a White House deputy chief of staff, according to administration officials. A top Dearborn aide, John Mashburn, leads a weekly conference call with the advisers, who are in constant contact with the White House. [/quote] [url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/white-house-installs-political-aides-at-cabinet-agencies-to-be-trumps-eyes-and-ears/2017/03/19/68419f0e-08da-11e7-93dc-00f9bdd74ed1_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_minders-705pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory]The Washington Post[/url]

Hold on, is this normal practice? Because otherwise, :bullshit:

[QUOTE=Dom Pyroshark;51987005]Hold on, is this normal practice? Because otherwise, :bullshit:[/QUOTE] Actually... [quote]The arrangement is unusual. It wasn’t used by presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush or Bill Clinton. And it’s also different from the traditional liaisons who shepherd the White House’s political appointees to the various agencies. Critics say the competing chains of command eventually will breed mistrust, chaos and inefficiency — especially as new department heads build their staffs. “It’s healthy when there is some daylight between the president’s Cabinet and the White House, with room for some disagreement,” said Kevin Knobloch, who was chief of staff under Obama to then-Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. “That can only happen when agency secretaries have their own team, who report directly to them,” he said. “Otherwise it comes off as not a ringing vote of confidence in the Cabinet.” The White House declined to comment about the appointees on the record, citing the confidentiality of personnel matters and internal operations.[/quote]

There's a federal hiring freeze but the White House has the resources to install meddling overseers. Great. If your administration is inviting comparisons to both Stalin [I]and[/I] Hitler and you've only been in office for two months, you might just be fucking up.

How do I escape this reality?

I see we've got commissars in our government now, wouldn't want any ideological impurity.

[QUOTE=shad0w440;51987533]How do I escape this reality?[/QUOTE] Suicide.

[QUOTE=ZakkShock;51987872]Suicide.[/QUOTE] Maybe.

[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;51987217]There's a federal hiring freeze but the White House has the resources to install meddling overseers. Great. If your administration is inviting comparisons to both Stalin [I]and[/I] Hitler and you've only been in office for two months, you might just be fucking up.[/QUOTE] The best part is that the Trump Administration is pulling this tyrannical Russian-style bullshit while thousands of government positions in various departments, agencies and committees remain unfilled. Because ensuring personal loyalty (including the frantic mole hunts) is more important than having a functional government :vs:

[QUOTE=ZakkShock;51987872]Suicide.[/QUOTE] Murder :eng101: [Sp]I'm not seriously calling for a presidential assassination, but if anyone's dying, I prefer it to be the one causing the pain and suffering [/sp]

What next are they gonna install loud speakers and start broadcasting messages like the Lord/Overseer in Dishonored series.

[QUOTE=Terabit;51988311]What next are they gonna install loud speakers and start broadcasting messages like the Lord/Overseer in Dishonored series.[/QUOTE] Somebody had posted something before about wondering when our phones and televisions will start playing the emergency alert broadcasts every time Fucknut tweets something. I'm waiting for that to be the case.