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Comment by sanderjd | Hacker News Reader

With all due respect, I don't think you have done the best you can with the information you have. The only source of information your answer reflects is the stated intention of the people in question. But you don't seem to have made an effort to use information about the behavior of those people in order to evaluate whether to take their stated intentions at face value. You need to do that part to have done your best here.

It's fine if you don't want to do this, you're under no obligations here, but I just don't think "I've done the best I can with the information I have" is accurate.

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The rest of this thread is based on about 1-2 weeks and people making wild projections based on it, that’s not much better.

For example multiple people here are making broad claims like Consumer Protections is completely shutting down, when all that’s been announced is a temporary freeze on operations as the new lead takes over (which happened in multiple agencies). Likewise the stated plan for USAID is to trim down foreign grants and merge the rest with the state department, so we don’t know what functions will continue there or if the Executive branch even has the authority to do that. Courts have already blocked last week’s freeze on federal grants and a few other things. The Mexican tariffs are already paused too and Canada probably isn’t far behind given the large risk to US markets and prices.

As dumb as plenty of this stuff is, it’s easier to get worked up and believe every dire headline you read than maintain a sober look at what tangible things have actually changed or can change that fast.

There is a lot of truth to this point that not much time has elapsed yet.

But, I think a lot of the thread is more informed by things that have already happened over much longer periods of time in the recent past than it is by the things that have happened in the last couple weeks. Specifically, there is a large amount of information available on the behavior of the current president during his last administration, and on the actions of the person behind the DOGE efforts.

Nobody is under any obligation to maintain a veil of ignorance about who these people have shown themselves to be. They have not earned any benefit of any doubt.

> the thread is more informed by things that have already happened over much longer periods of time in the recent past than it is by the things that have happened in the last couple weeks

Almost the entire modern history of the US government (including his last term) showed that not much at all changes. And it definitely doesn’t change quickly. Even stuff like tax rates have barely had any meaningful change considering US tax revenue has only increased exponentially since the 1980s along with the GDP. On paper very little changes in gov when you look more than skin deep.

This might be a new precedent where politicians actually do what they say and work hard to change the government but I’m highly skeptical.

Sounds like a lot of noisy broad stroke announcements and highly reactive social media headlines that will turn out to be minor IRL outcomes or get smacked down in court.

There's a difference between trying to improve stuff and wrecking stuff with no concern for the law. The later is a lot easier.

I think we're talking about different things. The history of human government is chockablock full of corruption. Not just in the US, but everywhere. Individuals with power often use it to enrich themselves at the expense of the public.

The people currently arrogating unaccountable power, illegally, have given us no reason whatsoever to trust them to use it for the public good rather than their own enrichment.

> behavior of the current president during his last administration

And what has been the lasting tangible effects of his last administration? Was it the end of democracy and the rise of fascism the Left loves to get hysterical about? Nope. And it won't be the case in this administration either. We can check back in four years to see who's right.

In 2016 people predicted he wouldn't leave office peacefully, and then 4 years later his administration closed with an armed insurrection, thus ending the tradition of peaceful transfer of power in America going back over 200 years.

So you might not want to take that bet, they have a good track record predicting Trump.

> his administration closed with an armed insurrection

This is an opinion held by the Left.

Isn't it a bad sign that this admin is launching tons of ill-conceived initiatives that will be blocked?

I can't see how that is a good thing either, even if you are somehow credulous enough to believe their claims.

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