Hopefully, a future Congress will take up the issue of "acting" Agency officials, and will establish a strict time limit for which such individuals may serve.
The current, so-called "president" has intentionally skirted the requirement to have the Senate approve appointments to these critical positions, and has installed a series of unqualified, incompetent, and--in many cases--malevolent individuals. Most of them have NO knowledge of the agencies they are "running." Others have been appointed for the sole purpose of undermining or actually destroying the agency.
This must not be allowed to happen in any future administrations. Assuming, of course, the United States actually survives the current one.
59
Who, in their right mind, would eagerly accept a job in this administration? Every single person who has done so has been diminished at best, ruined at worst. Trump isn’t even scraping the bottom of the barrel at this point - he’s turning over rocks.
In addition to all the obvious damage that Trump and his cabal have inflicted on the American people, he has cheapened us. Just like the fake gold fixtures in his buildings, Trump has installed sub-par people who hope to enrich themselves somehow. Integrity, morality, decency, honor - name one Trump person in Trump’s cabinet who embodies these qualities.
“Acting” is right. Certainly not ready for prime-time
27
Years ago as a college political science student, one of the factoids I learned was that the federal government is so complex it can take a new department head a full year to learn the complex workings of their agency and get into high gear.
For a competent president, the implication of this is you would want to get a very competent crew of secretaries into these top jobs and then work to muddle through the first year as everyone gets their bearings. You would then get the payback of this over the final three years of the term and then hopefully a second term.
But what about cases such as the Trump Administration, where no department head can EVER make it into that second year? This arguably means you never have anyone at the top who knows what he or she is doing. But I guess that will go down in history as what was happening in this era.
172
@Jerry Schulz --Ignorance is bliss for this administration, especially given they want to kill a lot of departments to begin with.
But they cannot competently staff the departments they want to keep either.
15
@Jerry Schulz Pretty sure I did not go to school with you, but I learned the same thing in my Public Administration class, and I echo your comment.
8
@Jerry Schulz Now you have the “genius” of Trump: no one who is competent stays in office long enough to do the job well. Thus, everyone in office looks to Trump for what to do, just like any other autocracy.
14
Why not appoint the current head of the KKK or some official in the gun lobby? Trump cannot manage anything more complicated than a paper route unless someone gives him a shove in the right direction like Fox News. While he guts our government, alienates our allies and warms up to our foes, he is ignoring the Homeland. Surprise! He definitely cannot chew gum and think. This is how incompetence becomes a major danger to all associated with Trump or his minions.
5
We have a dunce running the government, unquestionably, and what’s even more concerning is that such a large number of Americans think he’s doing a fine job.
Come to think of it, that explains a lot, like why are Americans so ignorant of critical matters while absolutely on top of who’s who over at “Dancing With the Stars”?
Man, we are so in trouble.
Youth of America, step up! Please.
9
It's time to break up DHS. Argue about how, but it's too sprawling, dysfunctional, etc. Let's hope it is not too far down the priority list of whichever D wins the White House in a year.
3
Donald Trump is systematically destroying our federal government! How much longer can he find those incompetents who have what was, not long ago, considered "fringe" ideas??? Unless the Senate wakes up to reality, we are in for at least 2 more years of chaos and destruction of our government. . . .
4
Me thinks the country is running out of willing lapdogs to replace department and civil service heads...
On a more serious note, what ever happened to the concept of " best person for the job," regardless of politics?
4
I keep hearing about all the ways that Trump is doing an end run around the Senate, but the majority of Senators aren't willing to take any steps to bring him to heel. With the Supreme Court and the Senate in his pocket, we are now living in a dictatorship my friends.
I wish I were exaggerating.
444
@lilrabbit You are not exaggerating. I think the exact words the editors used was "skirting the law." Trump doesn't just skirt the laws, he defies them.
26
@lilrabbit
Shouldn't Trump's failure to follow the rules of filling department and agency positions requiring Senate confirmation be an unimpeachable offense? More abuse of power. Sounds like McConnell refusing to move Merrick Garland's nomination forward. The corrupt practices of the GOP is unprecedented. What we assumed was standard practice in the operation of our federal government has been thrown down the drain. Will things ever get back to normal?
18
The DHS was a creation of fear after 9/11 that signal our defeat to Bin Laden. Bin Laden's intent was to destroy us from within and he did. We are now a fascist country where fear and disinformation are more prevalent than courage and truth.
DHS should have never been formed. They should be disbanded now.
The fact that Trump intentionally puts them in disarray is just evidence he intends to convert them to a private police force to protect him, and to carry out his abuses. Eventually he'll have driven out all moral people and it will be left with only his minions. Much like the DOJ.
3
November 1, 2019
It's Homeland Insecurity - call it what it is.
Trump as: "the Chosen one," will demand DHS just be in line with his leadership and all is right with America and as she goes so goes the world of the great America - i. .e forget the resume but don't let anyone know the dark secret minds strategy for the greatest in making DJT - may have to lead by a Trumpian State of Emergency and suspending the legislators and the branches of government. Now their is chaos and then order by our own deprivations.
3
DHS should not even exist.
Aside from the insulting colonial name, we already had agencies to deal with security after September 11th.
The creation of this agency was the W admin continuing to loot our treasury and hand out money to their friends. Undoubtedly they used it to take the private info Our government has on us to capitalize on it. The whole thing has been nothing but a boondoggle.
1
Donald wants people who will break the law to implement his draconian immigration policies.
To that effect, he's done much better than I thought.
3
The Department of Homeland Security? Who needs it? Joe Lieberman, Former United States Senator called for this carbuncle of a department after 9/11. The entire concept is ridicules. Create an unwieldy department to oversee a plethora of unwieldy departments. Who needs it!
In 2002, as Chairman of what was then known as the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, Senator Lieberman led the fight to create a new Department of Homeland Security. One month after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, he introduced legislation to reorganize the federal government to better protect the American people from terrorism and natural disasters and steered a bipartisan plan through his committee. After months of opposing the plan, the White House eventually endorsed the concept. Legislation that passed Congress in 2002 created a department incorporating key organizational elements Senator Lieberman advocated.
It was a bad idea out of the gate and its still is.
DHS has always been a mess. When it started in 2001, it was a reaction to 9/11 which did NOT make us safer but appeared to be the Ministry of Fear and Public Intimidation where ANYONE could be labelled a "terrorist" and "no-fly" lists were imprecise at best.
1
Order is the dream of man.
Chaos is the rule of nature.
2
There may be laws against it but maybe the President can clone Stephen Miller for the job. Scientists are having much better luck with making duplicate reptiles than mammals.
4
The chaos at DHS reflects the lack of a cohesive, reasonable immigration policy. Trump turned down bipartisan proposals more than once after saying he would accept and sign them.
Meanwhile, he and his cronies at DHS went to extremes to discourage Central American immigrants while at the same time withholding aid to their countries that made them leave their homes in droves. Separation of parents and babies, losing the identity of some small children and the location of their parents, promising reunification if the parents agreed to be deported but not sending their children with them, making asylum seekers camp out in Mexico and crowded, unhealthy detention conditions leading to deaths are only a few of the horrendous results of this policy failure.
3
We should not exonerate people departing the Trump administration when they offer tepid criticism of their former boss. While McAleenan may have discouraged some mass deportation raids, the harm he has caused in his short tenure is immeasurable: families devastated, communities terrorized, rule of law eroded. The measure of success versus failure is not "your ability to ever win an argument." Just ask the people who McAleenan prevented from making an argument in the first place.
2
Civilizations fail because of serious internal threats combined with serious external threats. Trump poses such a serious internal threat to our democratic institutions, our security, our stability, at a time when external forces like climate change are also squeezing us. Rome didn't fall in a day, it took a couple centuries. I guess we got some time to clean up his mess, and the mess of people who helped bring us to this sorry state of decline. Good luck America we're going to need it.
79
@Catherine Things happened much more slowly in Rome’s day. You know: no TV, airplanes, Internet, cars, trucks etc. We don’t have hundreds of years, especially if we don’t dump Trump.
22
Raiding employers is the only way to put some teeth into our employment rules. All over this country, illegal workers have supplied forged documents and perjured themselves to work. Employers have been told to accept this at face value, unless they want to be sued for discrimination. Needless to say, some employers have been happy with this arrangement because they want the employees.
We need mandatory eVerify and enough raiding of workplaces to get compliance with our employment laws. So far, eVerify is required in only a handful of states -- all Red states. In deep blue California, a law was passed to make it illegal for any jurisdiction in the state to make using eVerify mandatory.
Here is a link to a map showing the use of eVerify.
https://www.lawlogix.com/e-verify-map/
Here is a link to a story on California's law.
https://www.latimes.com/local/la-xpm-2011-oct-16-la-me-e-verify-20111017-story.html
5
There is a small but determined coterie of fervent Trump supporters in our comment section. I see your bylines all the time. No matter what the issue nor how the facts fall you always and unfailingly have his back. I will not name you, but I am sure you know who you are, my good friends. For nearly two weeks I have searched for your handles and pithy comments, but entirely in vain. Where have you gone? Please come back, we miss you!
1
This editorial is carefully silent about Steven Miller's White House role as Chief Xenophobe and DHS Hatchetman--he's the root cause of the chaos and cruelty towards asylum-seekers and immigrants.. Miller's anti-American activities are as reprehensible as those of William Barr, Mike Pompeo, and Rudy Giuliani. So, NYT, why not say so?
5
Four agency heads in three years. Are you kidding me? That's should be alarming and unacceptable even by the low standards of my Texas Senators Cornyn and Cruz. And yet they remain passive and apparently could care less.
Folks, we are dealing with a narcissistic congenital liar who is willfully ignorant. Plus he is being be enabled by a group of Senate Republicans - including the aforementioned "do nothings" from Texas - who care more about being re-elected than serving the country and their constituents.
Nothing will ever change with Trump or his pals. You can get down on your knees and ask a higher power for help. It ain't gonna work.
The only fix is to remove the President from office - which is richly deserved and supported by evidence - and vote his spineless allies out of the next time they are up for re-election.
5
How about Rudy? Now that he's done with Ukraine (or is that backwards)...
2
The title should be "The mess at DHS that continues to endanger our country."
2
Putin is very happy right now.
6
In addition to Trump’s corruption, perhaps his Democratic opponent can also focus on his sheer incompetence as an executive.
The Senate is also complicit. Allowing Trump to use “acting” appointees in so many key positions undermines their constitutional authority. But, then, the Republicans have shown a clear distain for that. The hypocrisy of their attacks on the impeachment the process is truly mind boggling, as was their failure to even vote on Merrick Garland, as will be their rush to full RBGs seat should it become vacant anytime before Nov. 2020.
3
Something hit me while reading this, specifically when I hit the paragraph about Trump liking liking the "lines of authority" staying in a tangle. Promoting this kind of chaos in our government is like promoting anarchy.
7
I felt safe when Obama was president. I knew he would take effective action in a national crisis. Trump is a bad joke who has substantially weakened the country and turned us into an international laughing stock. Both Trump and his Republican minions need to go, the sooner the better.
5
Political appointees and Trump sycophants and sadists don't necessarily make the best leadership teams. It is beyond my understanding that the Republican Senate leadership would continue to allow this President his appointments of "acting" directors as if this was adequate. Our Federal bureaucracy is under the control of "leaders" avowed to stop enforcing their own mandates and regulations to ensure public safety and promote best practice. Boeing's 737's did not crash until Trump was leading the deregulation charge! Today we have an education department dismantling public educational support systems, an FDA rubber stamping drug releases, and a agriculture department run by Monsanto. None of this is good. The D.H.S. is just the tip of a massive iceberg of greed, incompetence and corruption at the top of Trump's administration, and we are the Titanic.
5
Mr.Trump does not want a strong capable candidate for the job of Homeland Security, assuming he could find one who would work for him.For Trump Homeland Security is his Department in which he can make the most mischief-he wants to meddle at will and issue edicts .If this Department is indeed in charge of election security we need to be very apprehensive because Trump is only interested in election mischief.He wants to rule the department and has to find someone who will say “yes” to every scheme and rubber stamp his every illegal whim.He wants another Barr or Pompeo-When will the pool of Trump toadies run dry?
3
Trump's an "actor" famous for saying "You're fired" so he's hiring for firing and making sure he's surrounded by acting others.
2
A fifth Secretary of Homeland Security in just 3 years? Chaos, President Trump's misadministration of our government? Get ready for far worse as the specter of impeachment and removal from office looms over our 45th president.
Our vital agencies are being unmanned by Trump and his loyalists, and we are witnessing our democracy devolving into a dictatorship. No such thing as a benign dictatorship. 2020 will be a painful year of reckoning for America.
.
3
EVERY department of the tRump Regime is a MESS. EVERY ONE, not just this one. None of these appointees have any idea how to do their jobs, or they actively try to destroy the departments they are supposed to run. The turnover has been historic. This is classic Fascism, in its early stages. Don't believe me? Read a book. None of this will be easily fixed, and not fixed at all by CENTRISTS. We will require drastic measures, in ever corner of our country, and our government. Thank goodness for career bureaucrats.
7
fueling instability, eroding morale and draining vital agencies of experienced, competent leaders.
Putin is winning.
3
"But it is a lousy way to run a department...."
That is the point; Trump does not want any government department to run, except into the ground. That is part of what his one-time guru, Steve Bannon, said was the ultimate goal, the extermination of the administrative state. Trump, or one of his loyalists, has understood that the US government is too big to detonate all at once, but death by a thousand cuts still results in death.
There is also a snow-ball effect. By eliminating the incentive of those who really want the system to work, more will resign, leading to more who throw in the towel, until there are none left in the hated administrative state.
6
A mature democracy can be turned into a dictatorship in one fell swoop - in a revolution; or there's the way we are seeing it unfold before our eyes, slowly but surely - death by a thousand cuts. The only problem for Trump is he started his revolution on first base, rather than third base, where all his other cushy starts have originated from. It's complex, so it's very difficult for Trump to concentrate on properly. If he had been even close to the genius his imagines himself to be, we would already be saluting our own Dear Leader Donald by now. Instead, like the petulant, childlike person he is, he thrashes and flails about, trying to get his own way, always, even if it thwarts the primary objective of remaking the USA into a dictatorship, with him at its helm. It is our luck in this regard that a large amount of his stupidities are just tilting at windmills. All thinking people mock his idiocy and nothing much happens, most of the time; but the base is galvanized.
The biggest danger to our democracy is the people both inside and outside of government, both domestic and foreign, who smell money and power to be had. They are like hounds on the trail of a fox. They will throw caution to the winds and democracy under the bus if they get money and power in return. After all, there are no borders for oligarchs, American or otherwise.
Only a comprehensive election defeat for Trump in 2020 will stop this descent into anarchy - if we can get to vote before democracy fails.
5
We are living through a bankruptcy of leadership.
5
Even the second-raters who rush to join the corrupt Trump administration hesitate to be associated with the inhumane treatment being dispensed at the border -- along with the overwhelming numbers, the poor conditions, and fickle support from the WH.
2
Who on earth wants to get involved in such a toxic environment?
3
Trump appointees are a basket, no, truckload of deplorable. Not an administration at all, but a search for the bottom of the barrel.
3
Meanwhile with the assassination of al-Baghdadi the Homeland is at its greatest risk in years. Meanwhile Homeland Security is hugely distorted by a policy focus on immigration and border control, potentially leaving us very vulnerable to terrorist attack!
4
Just add that log to the administration’s bonfire of incompetence. It could incinerate us to all.
Trump HAS to go while there is still something left to save.
2
Trump needs to do a walk back and ask Mcaleenan to stay with the assurance that he is in charge of messaging.
Doubt that anyone else who is not a scalawag would want that job.
“Undeterred, members of the administration began searching for ways to skirt the law...”
Whether concerning Homeland Security, or all our other beleaguered government departments, that phrase could be aptly described as the “mission statement” for the Trump presidency.
And BTW, having spent a lot of time in Virginia over the years visiting family, if Trump and his henchmen do manage to get former Virginia attorney general and rabid xenophobe Ken Cuccinelli, into the top spot at the Department of Homeland Security, he’ll make Kevin McAleenan and the others before him look like “L’il Bo Peep” in comparison.
2
Abrogation of duty captures it. That hardly fazes folks who love chaos, and run amok when there is a new substitute teacher visiting each day. They’ll pay him a lot to go golfing as long as he dismantles the place.
1
From day one, when Trump ranted about imaginary "Mexican rapists," anyone would have known what to expect.
To work for such a man, eyes wide open, is beyond comprehension.
1
Surely Stephen Miller is next in the queue of people waiting to become Director of DHS. That will complete Trump's goal of filling all cabinet posts with the incompetent and the sycophantic.
1
Chaos as a feature, not a bug.
1
Who might possibly replace McAleenan?
Erich Honecker is unavailable. Perhaps Egon Krenz could be coaxed out of retirement.
My guess is Trump will find someone from 'outside the swamp' such as Andrew Anglin whose values align perfectly with Trump and Stephen Miller and all the other little Brown Shirts running around the West Wing.
1
Can need to impeach Trump ASAP.
Hoping Pence is tainted as well by Ukraine scandal, and we can get Pelosi in there as President ASAP to start cleaning up the chaos in the DHS as well as State, Agriculture, Energy, Education, Housing. Our entire government is falling apart.
Our democracy and our government are in trouble.
1
It's ALL a distraction.
Except getting all these federal judges through. Funny how nothing ever slips up on that front.
3
Failure to form a cabinet should be just one item on a laundry list of articles of impeachment.
1
The whole of the federal government is a hot mess! That’s what you get when you put incompetents—not just incompetents but select, corrupt ones—in charge. I like my car mechanic, and by god, he is both competent and honest, but I wouldn’t want him to do brain surgery on me.
2
The media goes to total war against anyone this president puts in charge of DHS because they demand open borders, and THEN decide that there's a mess there?
Yes that make perfect sense if you live in Elbonia.
Those wanting to see a REAL mess at GHS are adviced to wait until a Democrat is choosing its leadership.
Electing a president whom no sane and reasonable person will work for sure was a dumb idea.
3
"members of the administration began searching for ways to skirt the law"
Well of course they did.
3
The real problem is: How many people know that DHS is without leadership? And how many of those live in areas which look to that department to rescue them in case of wide-ranging fires, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes? All of which are predicted to increase with climate change. Are they moved to vote their interests? My guess it that they are focused on keeping their jobs, paying the bills and checking their social media feed.
For those of you who haven't yet noticed, Donald Trump, still an owner of his own privately-held companies, is and always has been an autocrat. His dictatorial tendencies, while partly induced by his flawed personality, stem from his many years of practice in the private sector, where he got away with doing pretty much whatever he wanted.
Such behavior may have been acceptable, or at least tolerable, in a privately-held company. It is not, however, acceptable in an American president, or within the confines of the American system of government.
Having three co-equal branches of government is a Constitutionally-mandated proposition, one which quite clearly Donald Trump doesn't care about. He presumes to run the United States as his own personal business, which is to say, running it into the ground.
Homeland Security, to Trump, is a political pawn, and his inability to keep a qualified leader in place, there, creates an incalculable risk to the country. Trump doesn't care, just as he doesn't care that Congressional oversight is part of our system.
Once a dictator, always a dictator. For Trump, it's not really about our homeland security. It's about his own emotional and job security. He doesn't really care about the messes that he's created, at DHS or anywhere else.
For Trump, when all is said and done, it's not even about making America great again. It's just about Trump.
5
Government DOES matter. In the absence of leadership by figures actually believing in the public offices to which they have aspired, a nation thrashes about noisily but aimlessly. DHS is but one, albeit highly visible, agency of national governance adrift in needlessly manufactured chaos at the malign whim of a corrupt, insecure megalomaniac with no intelligent concern beyond the tip of his nose.
We are paying the very high price of national degradation, at home and in the eyes of the world. We're doing so on credit where no credit is due. The bill will take decades to pay down even if we are smart enough to recognize that government DOES matter by restoring its sanity for a long time beyond 2020.
3
Think about this: Homeland Security. Cozy, right? Keeping our country safe, even secure as the name goes.
So why, two+ years into a presidency is that agency looking for a fifth, numero cinco, director?
That’s supposed to make us feel secure? Really?
3
If Ken Cuccinelli cannot get the job because he made an "enemy" of Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, what does Mr. Trump have to do with that?
2
One of the major reasons we have massive levels of illegal immigration in the USA is because we have zero penalty for companies that use illegal immigrant workers. The construction industry is a very good example of this. Walk through any new housing development project anywhere and you will hardly see any Caucasians working on the sites. Its almost 100% Hispanic workers. There is a reason why people like Kaufman and Broad, MI Homes, Pulte and others are owned by multi billionaires. Most of their money was made on the backs of illegal immigrant labor. Democrats and GOPers know what is going on. All these raids and deportations are just window dressing. Ask yourself why Canada does not have an illegal immigration problem. Its because Canadian law comes down heavily on employers who use illegal immigrant labor. The Democrats after getting into bed with Wall Street in the 1970s and donning the identity politics garb have made illegal immigration a social issue. If possible they will invent a new kind of H1-B visa for importing Janitors and Farm workers to the USA to impoverish those of us who are citizens. The GOP being the party of rich employers and fat cats has always welcomed an increase in the labor pool so that they can go back to the times of 'I owe my soul to the company store'.
2
"I, alone, can fix it." I believe I heard that right. Looks as though Trump voters are getting what they expected.
This is sounding more and more like the U.S. in the Handmaid Tale.
2
By definition "Homeland Security" is something Putin doesn't want us to have. Hence a rudderless agency unable to defend America from trump, Putin's top asset in our country. Instead, the rudder has actually been inverted to go against us - especially targeting innocent immigrants in the most inhumane ways. Putin's goal has been accomplished in every instance with this president.
3
Let's just face reality.
Stephen Miller has been the Acting Head of Homeland Security, since January 20, 2017.
Now it's true, that he's not interested in Security.
His only interest is in stopping all immigration, both legal and illegal.
He takes a particular delight, in doing it in the most cruel and inhumane ways possible.
And he revels in the outcry, against his cruelty.
No matter what convenient scapegoat Trump names to replace McAleenan, Miller will be the real person in charge.
8
An acting staff for an acting president. What could be more appropriate?
1
@Joyboy Our acting president might want to go back to acting school. He's not acting very presidential.
1
Let’s not forget the chaos and long waiting periods to get a mundane Global Entry Pass. Should it really take 7 months to get an appointment? Really? Only the best people.
4
DHS' creation was a major post 9/11 reform to prevent terrorist attacks.
If Southern Border immigration issues becomes it main issue the anti-terrorism issue will get less attention, thus decreasing our safety.
1
What Trump is "running" is not an administration in any sense of the word. Chaos is the operating mode in every part of the cabinet and White House. As long as the GOP allows Trump to run it his way--outside the norms and policies of established governance, we are not living in a democracy. It is time for sixty percent of Americans to realize that if we don't do something soon to remove Trump, then we will have lost the country we've had for the last two plus centuries. The DHS that you describe here may well be the worst of the cabinet messes, but it is not the only one. This kind of chaos is the norm in DC right now. We can't keep looking the other way and hope things will improve.
Disasters coming up.
14
The Times reports "the administration began searching for ways to skirt the law". This is so Republican. The whole Republican party ought to be impeached; after all they spend all of their waking moments looking for ways to thwart the Constitution, you know that thing that politicians swear to defend. The Constitution is extremely clear about the necessity of getting senatorial approval on appointments, forget the lawyerese which the Republicans come up with to get their way - which I dread to think is the American way. No. Of course, it is impossible to use words to describe every possible situation which might arise, but politicians who take advantage of that shortcoming are totally unworthy of our votes. Honorable politicians don't scour every word of the Constitution looking for ways to thwart its intent.
11
The utter chaos is criminal in itself, even nonfunctioning Cabinets do not propel Republicans to act in the best interest of this country. Why did did Trump call a radio show in the UK yesterday to interfere in their electoral process? I feel rage when I view rabid Republicans turn Impeachment into Trump victimization. People need to be informed how damaging the instability is and the situation in the Ukraine proves no one was aware just what policy existed since obviously there was 2 distinct opinions. Forget talking about the Trump base each member of Congress has the responsibility to hold Town Halls like Justin Amish to explain why the process has begun and the importance of keeping our electoral process within this country something they should have done after the Muellar Report. The bitterness felt towards Barr's distortion of that report is equal to Muellar not acting as a patriot when he had the opportunity to before the country. That prolonged the process, a day or two after Trump brazenly made his historic call to the Ukraine which was basically extortion.
7
Isn't Trump setting a dangerous precedent by appointing department heads without confirmation by the Senate? What's to prevent future presidents to do likewise from now on, pointing to Trump's example? That's what's frightening.
6
Yes, it’s very dangerous. As is the excessive use of executive orders issued to please lobbyists, loyalists, and donors and make Trump more popular in his own eyes. Both circumvent normal channels of what should be thoughtful decision making by Congress (although things there are so partisan I’m not sure thoughtful is a good word).
2
So this is what it’s come to; Mr. Cuccinelli, who might be otherwise qualified, is a nonstarter because he backed an opponent of Sen McConnell? That’s it? That’s the outstanding criteria for consideration of someone to head our most important combined security department? The one formed after 9/11?
This is what the Republican Party, with all its flag waving, America First slogans, now allows. One man, one senator, to control our national security- not the president....but one senator. And now, a get-around of promotional exigency.
Advise and consent. In the Constitution. Taking Care that the laws be faithfully executed. What America are Republicans putting first?
5
If you wanted to neutralize national security it would be hard to top what Trump has done.
How does a roster of inexperienced "actings" working in sea of chaos possibly translate to effective security.
11
@Jack Trump doesn't have to prevent a national security disaster. If anything, it would only consolidate his "leadership" position. Think of the 9/11 effect that boosted Bush's approval ratings to the point where he thought it'd be worth a try to privatize Social Security.
4
Acting department heads suit the trump show which has moved from its weekly slot as a situation comedy into a daytime soap opera slot. The script writers, directors and sponsors work hard, but the ratings haven't improved. People seem to disappear for no reason and the plot twists confuse the audience. The star of the show keeps hogging the cameras so there is not much character development even as he blows his lines every day. The writers are left with manufacturing humor by inserting impossible things into the script like people calling for the star to be locked up.
I'm hoping the sponsors pull the show off the air and show us more reruns of Friends.
14
Regardless of who becomes the next head of this department, the fifth time will be no charm. The revolving door of this administration in too many of its most important positions has never stopped whirring like a high speed fan since it began three years ago, causing embarrassment, dysfunction and distress to all involved, especially the 'stable genius' who created it all because that's the way he wants it to be.
Three hundred strikes and you're out, Mr. President.
12
In 2021, if the Democrats have retained the House and won the Senate, changes need to be made in the requirements for how Cabinet positions are placed. There must be a clear time limit for how long an "acting" official can be in place without Congressional approval.
You'd think Republicans would be unhappy, as Trump's run around Congress takes away from them as well.
But the GOP has sold it's soul to the Devil and is blinded by their lust for overturning Roe v Wade.
A king doesn't need a Congress.
Something McConnell and the rest should keep in mind as they allow Trump to ignore the Constitution and do as he pleases.
10
It's starting to soak in that we now have the Environmental Protection Agency working diligently to make cars run less efficient and make our air dirtier and less healthy.
So, in that vein, I'm trying hard to focus on any single segment of the trump administration that's NOT a mess?
I have worked directly with an individual who used the "chaos" style of management. It's perfect for a narcissist at the top who wants 100% control because for better or worse he's the only one who knows what's going on.
Sadly, it's always doomed to failure as the guy at the top becomes completely overwhelmed and as witnessed with trump, usually slips off into total insanity. What keeps the entire trump crew moving are all the sidebar grifts going on constantly.
This political spectacle we're witnessing with trump is seen in businesses, large and small, all the time. And when seen in business it's a sure sign to run and don't look back. Unfortunately, most Americans are just unable to process a con of this magnitude.
11
We just got lucky that Navarro does not want the interim job. He would not push back. He would push forward. However, I do not recall Navarro as a Native American name nor as a Mayflower one.
4
NY banks stopped doing business with Trump because his schemes never worked out. When will the GOP realize he is herding them towards a political bankruptcy?
22
Trump's approach to (department) management is strikingly similar to the way in which the secretary-general of the communist party of the Soviet Union (1924-1953) and the chancellor and president of Germany (1933-1945) operated.
Put people "in charge" who have no job security, hardly any safety net and give them unclear instructions that they must interpret. As they depend for their jobs on pleasing the leader, they will be zealous and likely to err on the side of enforcement.
If this has negative consequences, i.e. unpopularity for the Leader, he can shift blame, remove the official and be "the good guy". This is very clever. Also because it becomes virtually impossible to detect clear lines of instruction and, hence, lay blame.
I mean, the very idea that Twitter has somehow become an accepted communications channel is beyond preposterous. And yet, here we are.
40
Chaos at DHS is one more way that Trump undermines US interests and security. The DHS mission is about a lot more than the southern border. It coordinates response to natural disasters, does counterterrorism, and handles maritime security, the likeliest avenue for a rogue WMD attack. If DHS doesn't have leadership, reports aren't channeled properly and understood, threats get ignored. Why would someone from FBI or CIA give info to a DHS that could trash it or expose sources, because it's handled by people who don't know what they're doing? This fosters the siloed security systems decried by the 9/11 commission.
Those who deny the Trump administration makes our country vulnerable (remember, the immediate alternative is President Pence, who might select appalling judges, but would not undermine national security) promote this.
7
Congress has volumes of material they can use to impeach Trump. Impeachment is our only recourse since indictment is off the table thanks to our "Justice" Department's Machiavellian rule. "The reluctance to prosecute is derived from an extrajudicial, nonbinding, self-serving, outmoded memorandum written by second-tier personnel in the Department of Justice that has taken on an unwarranted mantle of legal probity. In fact, it is more vulnerable than venerable." (See "Who Says A President Can't Be Indicted, Marshall H. Tanick, MN, Constitutional Law Attorney).
4
Chaos is a feature, not a bug, with this administration.
Constant, unending chaos, confusion, 24-hour circuses and spectacles.
Meanwhile, behind the curtain, environmental regs gutted, labor law eviscerated, entire departments unstaffed, international relationships damaged, economic stability undermined.
Chaos - deliberate, and very effective - is the governing strategy of this white house, not a bug to be fixed.
415
@Space Needle
You are right. And all of these roads that you describe lead to Putin.
93
@Space Needle
Similar to Microsoft's mantra: "It's not a bug, it's a feature."
So true that the best feature of Trump is his willingness to crash and burn the system, but this has been going on before Trump arrived. Little people have known for decades that the system is broke and laws are in place to punish little people and protect big people. The little people are so fed up with a broken system they are unintentionally accelerating the path towards totalitarian rule.
Things are only going to get better for Trump.
11
@Space Needle -- -- Those missing enough chaos in their lives can be directed to Seattle itself, where businesses are closing due to the zoo that streets have become with thousands of drug users living on sidewalks and in parking lots in tents, thanks to its ''Freeattle'' reputation.
This department was always too large. The assignment of so many functions there was an over-reaction to the Clinton administrations ordering law enforcement agencies NOT to talk to each other as a way of keeping really bad news out of the media.
Now that the Bushes and Clintons are out of the picture we can go back to having these agencies restored to workable sizes with easily definable tasks.
Having actually named Homeland Security is not necessarily the best idea.
But is the Prez determined to whittle down the D.C. culture of corruption? Yes, he still is, as is the GOP itself now.
"Mr. Trump has made clear he likes things this way; he can exert greater control over what amounts to glorified temp workers, and he doesn’t have to bother with obtaining the Senate’s approval of his appointees."
Stop right there. The actual text of the Constitution states: the president "shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint...."
There's no such thing as an "acting," unconfirmed official, let alone a cabinet chock full of them. Just in case we need any more articles of impeachment, that sounds like one to me.
145
@ghsalb Doesn't matter. The Senate doesn't care, and the Senate is the only body that has the authority to do anything about it. Senators used to be proud of their role as members of "the greatest deliberative body in the world". It has 230 years of history, courtesy, responsibility and consistency behind it, but in just the past 6 years it has thrown all of that away. The student senate at any college conducts itself with greater decorum and responsibility.
101
@lilrabbit
So do the high school students who participate in Congressional Debate and Student Council.
3
Acting this, Acting that. It's been like this pretty much from the beginning of this Presidency. There's just over a year to go, so does it really matter at this point whether we have a permanent or acting head of Homeland Security?
I don't think so, this department like so many others in this Administration are broken, and until a new President is elected, it will remain that way.
Unfortunate for America. But next November, 2020, we have one chance to save this sinking ship. Vote, please.
268
@cherrylog754 How about "vote please against Trump." And as to Homeland Security it is a sad day for this department as it has been for most departments f the government since he took over. But sadly those who voted for him or gerrymandered districts or tried to curtail honest, legitimate voters from voting are still in the US voting. And they seem doggedly in favour of this chaos for they still seem to support him. Now this is something that must change.
15
@cherrylog754 I feel worst for the career men and women who have put their hearts and souls into America and now they are working in a dysfunctional State Department. I have known many of these folks, who have an unbiased view of America. Trump has destroyed all the worked for in his "American first" dictatorial regime. Nevertheless, I appreciate the efforts of those who were able to use their positions in the past to create a better world.
7
"In other words, the Trump administration has been exercising its imagination to invent a way to doubly thwart the will of Congress and evade confirmation of an appointee to one of the most important cabinet posts."
Man, this guy is the biggest sneak there is. He will simply insist on getting his way, whether or not it's legal, constitutional, appropriate, or moral.
At a time when he needs the Senators more than they need him, it strikes me as very odd he'd risk alienating them by reducing their power.
Its one thing to ignore the Democratic house, quite another to thumb one's nose at the one chamber whose undying support has been keeping him afloat.
182
The loser needs not care; he knows that enough Senators are yes men—and, yes, men.
When their immediate—or ultimate—boss says "Jump", depend on the vile GOP to say "How high, off which roof, and how many Americans and Constitution articles do we take with us?"
63
He has gotten away with immoral, illegal, unethical all of his life. But now he is destroying my country in the process.
98
@ChristineMcM Senate Repubs are too far up Trump's rear end to notice.
47
Bannon said the task for the Trump mob was to "deconstruct the administrative state". I heard him loud and clear. This translates as allowing more air and water and soil pollution, as well as less oversight of the food that we eat, less safety at work and less health care for millions and so on. It also translates as reducing the number of staff at federal agencies, giving away the trees and minerals and protections of our national parks and approving drilling in the most delicate ecosystems. And of course it also includes privatizing prisons and such and giving operation contracts to friends.
So what to do? Get out the vote, beat these monsters at the polls and rebuild our system of government and law.
274
@greg Make sure that you are legally registered and stay registered, that you are not removed from the voter rolls, and know where your polling place is.
We have to assume, given the craven quality of Republican Senators, that Trump will be their candidate next year unless his hamberders get him first. That said, you can rest assured that the R. Party will be spending a lot of time and money to reduce the number of Democratic voters in every district in every state.
54
Absolutely agree about the need to keep up voter registration ( especially in states that are purging voter roles). Consider supporting Stacy Abrams's organization that is supporting voting rights.
I worked at a polling place in the last election ( in my gerrymandered district in NC). At least a third of the voters who came to that polling place were turned away because they had come to the wrong location. If you have internet access ( a lot of poor and elderly folks here don't), Google " where is my polling place" and then enter your address.
32
@B. Rothman The R party will be aided and abetted by tons of cash, cyber "assistance", vulnerable voting machines and assistance from outside of our country. The Mercers, Kochs, Murdochs, Adelsons et al will be so pleased.
5
Isn’t Trump’s failure to fill so many high-level positions an abrogation of his duties as POTUS? Isn’t his unprecedented use of “acting” fillers in these positions an illegal circumvention of Constitutionally mandated Congressional oversight? Trump himself has said on many occasions that he prefers to use “acting” players because it gives him “more flexibility.” Isn’t that a clear example of Trump’s intentional and numerous violations of Congressional oversight regulations?
197
@Scott Fordin
He also uses "acting" b/c no one of quality and reputation wants to work for him and have that permanent stain on their resume.
40
@caljn So then we can assume there is no Republican who is worth hiring and that would include some of the past Administration Advisers. I know I have never heard a peep from any of them since he took office & this includes the well-known Mr. Kissinger. I blame them and the conservative think tanks for staying silent.
22
@Scott Fordin Unless and until Republican Senators are willing to stand up and say so, the answer to all of your questions is, "No." Only the congress has standing to take any action, and unless Mr. McConnell has a crisis of conscience, his Senate majority can and will simply laugh at your ever-so-plain, strict constructionist reading of the Constitution. The Republicans have decided that this is all a game where the only thing that matters is that Team R wins. The Constitution, the People of the United States of America, and the integrity of our nation mean nothing. The only thing that matters is stuffing the ball into the face of the Democrats whenever possible.
14
Senate Republicans are alienated from Trump because of his run-around and skirting of the law when it comes to appointing "acting" officials. Why are so many Republican senators still protecting Trump when he is fooling them, and using them, and ignoring them, and messing with their minds as much as he does to everybody else?
6
The Constitution states that the President may fill his cabinet with candidates of his choosing upon the advice and consent of the Senate. His continual evasiveness of this particular constitutional requirement is just another tactic he has chosen to use to place himself above the law and declare himself emperor. It specifically exemplifies his unwillingness to follow the both the spirit and letter of the constitution that our country is based on and he swore to uphold.
For “strict Constitutionalist” Republicans, it just shows the hypocrisy of their continued support of Trump.
10
... as a Trump voter said on John Oliver [Last Week Tonight]: “If he (Trump) runs the country like he runs his organization, then we will well off.”
No, you won’t - and, no you aren’t.
From afar, it’s absolutely unfathomable that Americans (and in particular Republicans) have allowed this atrocity to play out this way.
When you start on the road back to normalcy, and you will, please be aware that it will be a l o n g road to travel.
9
For as far back as I can remember there has been the idea floated that government should be run like a business. Well, those believers got what they wanted with Trump. The United States government is being run like a business, a Trump business, where there are few rules and no ethics guidelines, directed by only one person for the benefit of himself and his family. If Trump thinks making government work for himself, he in his great and "unmatched wisdom, will cause chaos and disruption and insist on blind loyalty in whatever way he can. He will lie, cheat, intimidate, skirt taxes, laugh at the law because he always has. He thinks that's the way the world works.
I've been politically aware since Dwight Eisenhower was president and have seen a lot. Never in my experience has there been a more scurrilous, arrogant, destructive human to occupy that position than Donald Trump. And, he'll do whatever he has to do to retain his power.
28
Trump has no friends, only enemies he hasn't made yet.
19
Why isn’t trump impeached for incompetence?
8
“The Trump administration has been exercising its imagination to invent a way to doubly thwart the will of Congress and evade confirmation of an appointee to one of the most important cabinet posts.” Trump’s gross mismanagement of the apparatus of government is also an impeachable offense.
4
This is a job for an evil man. stephen miller is an evil man.
5
That must be the Department of Homeland Insecurity.
how to tear apart the security of a country 101 by V. Putin.
6
Sure,
lay administrative and managerial shortcomings at DHS at Trump's feet,
along with administrative and managerial shortcomings at other federal agencies.
But do not attribute those shortcomings to changes in immigration policy in the direction of much stronger immigration control.
Whoever is President,
America needs much stronger immigration control,
both on the administrative and managerial side,
and -- and this means Congress --
on the legislative and funding side.
2
The Department of Homeland Security was a bad idea, and it failed. It is now a very expensive obstacle to the very things it was meant to accomplish.
It was created out of a desire for greater efficiency and effectiveness, in the wake of 9/11 failures.
Instead it added another layer of bureaucracy on top of the existing layers. It made things even more difficult to manage.
In addition, it created its own "Law Enforcement" agency that crossed the lines of Federal vs local authority that the FBI had always stayed back from. Worse, it is not very good at it, but is huge and intrusive.
We need to eliminate the Department, and all the new layers it brought, and all the new law enforcement agencies it created. That would at least get us back to where we started, from which we have declined a long way.
Yes, there were real problems. The Department solved none of them, and in fact made many of them worse.
8
Even if your job title will start with "acting" and can only last a few months, your indictment will still start with "conspiracy" and last a lifetime.
Why anyone still answers Trump's phone calls remains a mystery to me.
55
Yes, Frankenstein’s laboratory. Shocking, Right ?
5
The entire DHS, like the Stasi before it, needs to just be shut down. It's more trouble than it's worth.
It would be a nice change to see the USA move away from being a police state for once.
19
DHS was a bad idea that was foisted upon George W. Bush by his sycophant Joe Lieberman.
The agency used to have the excuse for dysfunction that it was "new." That was ten years ago. Now it has become an unmanageable hydra headed monster. Think of GM, Apple, Boeing, and Amazon operating as one company.
Think of any one of these companies being run by Traitor Trump!
9
D.H.S. has always smacked like Deutschland über alles, to me, but the sad note is it is one of many ‘security devises’ these days. Arm Bands would help a lot.
8
Since he has no understanding or respect for either the rule of law or the constitution, mismanaging the executive branch’s intelligence/law enforcement agencies is Job#1 for President Trump.
Trump can lay claim to so many superlatives when compared with the other 43 presidents. He is The Ignorant president, The Unfit president, The Unbalanced president,... ...and, of course, The Lawless president.
Being surrounded by clear-thinking patriots and unbribable police-types gives President Lawless the willies.
The business of crippling the Office of the Attorney General, Dept. of Homeland Security, etc. Trump has won the only (misguided) victories of his administration. Trump can destroy, but can’t build. He can cripple, but can’t kill. A mangler, you might say.
Trump has, in truth, the heart of a gangland boss, however his irrational thinking and his big mouth got him trapped into running for president.
And everyone knows how well that’s gone.
Don was born to bribe corrupt building inspectors and crooked zoning officers. To brag about cheating on his wives with rental units. To think the world of himself, although no one else does.
Strange how things work out.
7
What about naming an alligator? After all, President Trump was thinking about creating artificial pound filled with alligators.
5
Trump ought to be, “fired!” [Constitutionally]
—
I couldn’t even finish reading the article.
This man, who we’ve been forced to call, “our President,” is no better than a classic, saboteur. [“Saboteur,” is a French word for someone who literally threw his shoe(s) into the machines he was hired to operate.]
—
This makes the President no better than a criminally minded subversive, whose driving ambition is to wreck, in our case, the machinery of the Federal Government.
—
Anyone who aids and abets this man is also, “a saboteur.” Which simply means that our entire Federal Government needs a complete, “house-cleaning.” In both “Houses! [of Congress], if you get my gist.
9
@ppromet At the time working class people of France were wearing "Sabot", as shoes. So they were throwing their "sabot" into the machines they were hired to operate. This is why those people were called "saboteur".
4
Maybe Trump’s personal pastor could jump in?
4
Again Trump is shooting himself in the foot. As others have mentioned, the federal government is easily the biggest and most complex organization on earth.
If Trump believes that by juggling leaders of his agencies he can eventually reach a formula that allows his authoritarian control over every little detail, he is sadly mistaken. These agencies can only run by virtue of career government servants who will not and cannot be bounced around like balls in a pinball machine. This is NOT just another one of Trump's 100's of real estate LLC's.
Trump's policy of chaos and changing leaders is slowly making government agencies degenerate into a degenerate stupor with little leadership or long term policy. They are slowly grinding to a halt as Trump continues to micromanage and key employees retire or quit.
Another great accomplishment for DJT.
4
OMG, this is all so depressing . . . USS America heading towards the rocks, capable crew jumping ship to save themselves while self-serving Capt. Chaos madly rants of 'witch hunts'.
Can this rudderless ship be righted?
7
A Cabinet post founded in fear after 9/11 that should have been strangled at birth. Holy Joe Lieberman birthed it in an attempt to put a band aid on and to distract from the intelligence failures that led to 9/11.
If it disappeared the country would not be less safe.
7
However cruel Trump's xenophobic impulses are, he has been consistent in exercising his abuse of power, disregarding the rule of law and certainly no decency in his ugly dealings. Keeping his 'officials' in an "acting" position is shameful, but meant to make them 'yes-men', unable to fulfill their job with the independence of judgment and decision to do what's right...without Trump's odious interference.
5
Is there anything this man can't ruin?
23
In the impeachment proceedings underway in the House, as additional witnesses testify, the final articles of impeachment will be drafted and put to a vote. We already know that Donald Trump’s attempted bribe of the Ukraine president by denying needed weaponry to fight the Russians until Ukraine comes up with dirt on Joe Biden and his son will be the centerpiece.
There will be other articles related to Trump’s invitation to Vladimir Putin to interfere in the 2016 election and to the continuing pro-Russian moves by Trump. Other articles are likely to be for obstruction of justice in refusing to produce documents and witnesses.
It will be interesting to see if an article treats the willful decisions by Donald Trump to create chaos in our government by not nominating people as permanent heads of important agencies and cabinet positions. The chaotic style of government makes it easier for Donald Trump to rule by fiat. The situation of the huge Department of Homeland Security is an egregious example of mismanagement.
The inability to create operational structure in our government, or the calculated refusal to try, seems like an impeachable misdemeanor or misbehavior.
8
It’s hard to imagine the kinetics of the rampant incompetency of the Trump appointees colliding with the career professionals in so many departments. In many areas, the government has ceased to function. We may not be able to assessed the extent of the damage domestically and internationally for years to come. Not a comforting thought for the next administration(s).
6
Looking back a month, 100 ISIS fighters would still be detained instead or running free and 100s of Kurds and other civilians would still be alive, if Trump had just left " well- enough alone" in Syria.
Looking back 2 1/2 years, no little children would have been taken from their parents at the border if Trump had hired more immigration judges to process asylum seekers quickly And if he had never hired Stephen Miller ( I hesitate to mention Miller because I think it stokes his ego when he hears how much people detest him).
20
On the other hand, if we were to focus solely on Miller, and give him credit for everything, it would drive trump nuts. So he’d have to fire Miller.
8
The sad fact is, Trump didn't conjure all these incompetents out of thin air, they already existed and were already serving in some position of authority somewhere. That should give everyone pause.
39
Hard to fathom how chaos & incompetence 'protects and defends' the constitution. Somehow, not abiding by an oath has morphed into a conservative principle.
6
The Editors make a mistaken assumption that DHS is even a legitimate or necessary organization. It isn't. It was formed extra-constitutionally (like the Patriot Act) from the 2001 GWOT program, out of the Clinton administration and the work of Janet Napolitano. It was a "mess" then and always has been. But it is far worse than that: it is an "Orwellian dystopia" construct, with its tentacles into social media data collection; illegal spying; privacy invasion; illegal search; self-warrant fraud and of course airport "security" and invasive body searches. It was re-formed under Bush II and escalated and consolidated under Obama. It absorbs over $100Bn per year in a sprawling, monolithic bureaucracy. It would otherwise draw the contempt of the Editors, but, alas, it is yet another opportunity to project onto Trump, while suspending and compromising all journalistic moral, ethical and business judgment. A mess indeed.
6
@Matt Andersson And you forgot to mention FEMA whose budget and personnel have increased astronomically even before the increasing emergencies due to climate change and its consequences including fires.
2
@Matt Andersson
DHS has parallels in paramilitary groups seen elsewhere in history. It exists not to protect but control. It serves an Imperial Presidency.
Bush II laid the foundations for a 'new' America freed from Constitutional restraints. His administration made good use of 'a new Pearl Harbor' to transform this nation - and the world - following a blueprint set forth by the Project For a New American Century. Given the absolute failure of its efforts in transforming Iraq into a stalwart ally of America and the mess it created in the Middle East, we should be doing all we can to UNDO anything that came out of that Presidency.
5
Well, NYT, what did you expect? You had 40+ years of Trump's antics to investigate - right in your own backyard. You did nothing except pander to him and encourage him- right up until when he won the election. Did you really expect any different result from what we are now witnessing? You, in part, own all of this mess. All of it.
17
@Rufus Trump lost nyc 85% to 15%. To know him is to be disgusted by him. NYers knew him plenty from the times.
3
A key phrase in this disheartening review of acting administrators thus far is at the end: "if one can be found." What competent person of good character who respects societal norms of decency would be willing to get on board with this administration's ship of fools, brazen loudmouths and proven liars? It's like asking someone to jettison what they hold dear to risk destroying their reputation. Just signing on with Trump makes one suspect.
14
We need to all remember the career federal workers who are enduring this administration. They deal with changes with every new president. But this time things are in utter chaos. The progress that folks worked decades to achieve has been erased. I grew up in suburban DC, the child of a career engineer in the federal government. Even so, I think if the federal government stops functioning , I would quickly realize that my safety and comfort relies on a functioning government for much more than getting my Social Security payments.
8
@Katydid
With its broad assignment, DHS cannot run aground. It is, as all departments are, vital to our country. State, CIA, FBI and others have been decimated and crippled by current misadministration. With other problem areas, Congress needs to look closely, ask questions, and listen to career employees.
1
Each time I read the NYT I see more indications of the US of A letting itself be propelled towards becoming a failed state by Trump - a descriptor increasingly used by people around me watching this reality train wreck in the making from afar. And to a person, we are asking, as we wring out hands in anxiety and disbelief: "Why?"
12
@Cass Phoenix *wring ouR hands*
Homeland Security is the 3rd largest government department. Republicans under Bush we’re responsible for this monster. Yet, the GOP likes to say that Democrats are are all for big government.
66
No American will miss that unchecked, unconstitutional monster when it's finally repealed.
Nor ICE.
6
@Brigitte Wood
Part of its size is the USCG and other agencies that predate the creation of DHS. Much of it is not really new at all.
3
@Brigitte Wood
In case you haven’t noticed, Republicans say whatever is convenient in the moment. They hate big government, until it’s their idea. They hated the national debt until Trump, and now you don’t hear about it. They hated Trump until he won and became their ticket to run the country from their minority position.
They are all liars and hypocrites pure and simple.
4
Reality always wins. Competence and expertise matter.
The Trump administration is so malign and corrupt, it’s tended to obscure how mind-bogglingly incompetent it also is. The Department of Homeland Security debacle is a case in point.
24
Donald Trump is a far greater threat to our security than are the immigrants he demonizes.
140
@NM And they add more to our country.
1
@JKile
More demand for housing, fuel, water...
1
Everything Trump touches dies. A Republican wrote a book about it. Republicans don't seem to care.
28
My comment does not reflect on the main issue the Editorial Board is addressing, the replacement of Kevin McAleenan, the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland. However, I would like to state it - I think it is time, long overdue, that the 1951 Refugee Convention is revisited and updated (or declared void and unsustainable) for the current era which is 2019. Much has changed since 1951 (the year of my birth).
An informative and interesting read which was published almost 20 years ago and foretold many of the current issues with the Convention: "The Problem with the 1951 Refugee Convention".
https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp0001/01RP05
2
Chaos is better than authoritarian racist repression. Trump’s best quality is his bumbling. Trump’s sole fixation is stopping illegal immigration to please his base. He opposes investigating white supremacist terrorists and shows little interest in investigating ISIS and Al Qaeda. He encourages ICE and Border Patrol agents to break the law, and cages refugees and children to terrorize Central American migrants. A Democratic President should move immigration and refugee administration to the State Department, customs to Commerce, and focus Homeland Security on white supremacist and politicized Islamist terrorists, ending surveillance of non-existent “black identity extremists.”
13
And it just gets worse.
Thanks Republicans and supporters. The POTUS certainly is a "stable genius" and "knows" what he's doing.
4
There's another reason McAleenan must go. Trump loves to fire people (he was so happy in his television gig doing that) and he loves to mistreat people so badly that they leave. Some areas that he doesn't care about, like Education and Housing, he may let the office holders hang around as long as they are completely sycophantic. But if he cares about an area he wants to mistreat whomever he appointed.
9
The people who "click" with Trump, have to be corrupt, criminal. If they are not, they become so, or they leave one way or another. What's left? People who are corrupted and soon to become criminal. That's what is growing in the executive branch, legitimizing corruption and criminal acts.
12
Put in a monkey as Homeland Security Chief, install a cork board covered with yellow stickies that have possible actions written on them. Give the monkey some darts. Trump picks the actions to write down, the monkey throws the darts, and the undersecretary gets to work on the implementation. At least until the monkey throws another dart. It would be at least as effective as current morass and much more dignified.
8
I am glad someone can keep track of all these "actings", but I don't want that job.
Despite a news reader I lost track a while ago.
It is almost like PBS' "Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy" LeCarre over 7 episodes and you had to remember tons of characters who would surface and disappear across episodes.
He is running out of characters to recycle and anyone considering a job should "lawyer up" first.
9
This is one of those stories, like all those about the EPA, that is a neglected victim of all the attention spent on the headlines, impeachment. When Americans are being confronted with a president who assaults with impunity the foundations of their government, we're distracted from seeing all the ineptitude, mismanagement and malfeasance.
16
If gibbering Trump lackey Cuccinelli falls down the stairs into the job, the country can forget about any progress in fighting the violent, right-wing white nationalism that has claimed scores of American lives since Trump assumed office and made the problem much worse (and which McAlreenan warned about in his testimony yesterday). Cuccinelli, like all Trump supporters, will never fight something he agrees with.
7
The selection of the next chief at DHS is critical for our democracy's survival. DJT already runs the country with bullying, lies, propaganda, and a puppet GOP. Will the next SecDHS facilitate further legal and political abuses by an aspiring dictator? I fear for my grandchildren. I hope the NYT keeps us informed daily about this critical developments.
8
Trump's goal is to get rid of all federal departments and shovel their budgets into his pockets and the pockets of his friends. Making a mess is a great justification in his mind. It is the strategy that he has used throughout his entire life. Unfortunately, he seems on track to me here too.
45
DHS is a mess, to be sure, but is there a better answer? Given Trump's draconian immigration goals, in what respect would achieving greater clarity and efficiency in DHS operations constitute an actual improvement?
Until Trump departs the scene, one should probably regard inefficiency and incompetence as the best available outcome. Anything that slows the machinery of oppression is a blessing.
20
In addition to "all roads leading to Putin", this is another example of how this otherwise directionless administration makes our country less safe on a daily basis.
33
In addition to "all roads leading in Putin", this is another example of how this otherwise directionless administration makes our country less safe on a daily basis.
5
I am heartened to learn that we had somebody like this stand up and do the right thing. Thank you and you will be missed by decent people everywhere, if not by the White House
3
Skirting laws is a specialty of the Trump administration. Then the GOP says that’s why he was elected- to change Washington. Well why not change the laws if you’re trying to change Washington. No, they’re too lazy for that. Just like what they say if someone disagrees with them-they’re in the Deep state. So I guess everyone but Trump fans are in the Deep state.
7
Read it and weep. To Trump, it's nothing but a game. As a citizen and former public servant, I could never have foreseen this catastrophe happening to our country. But here we are.
181
@justicegirl
You should read the rules here.
Only columnists are permitted to use the Journalistic Passive. And they do, to the max.
This catastrophe did not "happen to" your country. It was planned, funded, and carefully executed over a half-century of concerted, directed effort.
Whatever you may think of Hillary she was not wrong; we are suffering the endgame of a vast right-wing conspiracy.
Our Senate is literally traitorous. SCOTUS and the lower courts are hopelessly corrupt. Ruee of Law is a quaint relic of a distant past.
Education in America is a sad, partisan joke. Freedoms of speech and religion are in tatters. Our market, not free for decades, has become a command economy; its just that its not our government issuing the commands.
Our media are not; they are profit centers purely, or propaganda organs operating with zero responsibility or control.
So, we end up right where the most ignorant or greedy among the citizenry placed us. It was an active choice. It was a program.
We have us right where we want us.
20
Mr. McAleenan may partially redeem himself from being the "Kevin" to whom Trump referred as he helped Trump prop up the Sharpie-doctored Dorian hurricane chart. (A simple search will reveal the infamous video.) I felt sorry for him at the time, to be known through history from his association with Trump in that video.
5
While laser focused on immigration over the Mexican Border, DHS stood down the rapid response teams responsible for protecting against smuggled nukes or dirty bombs. The training for State, Local and Federal coordination and rapid response was halted and the federal training teams were disbanded. The budget for catching smuggled nukes was not spent. Our borders were left open for any adversary in possession of a nuclear device to smuggle it via commercial means, unchecked, into the US.
20
Governing by chaos is not a good management style, not good in business and industry, and definitely not good for a country.
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@Krismarch
"... not good in business and industry, and definitely not good for a country."
Maybe not, but its good for about eight years, which is the only thing Trump cares about.
2
@oogada Once the Southern District of NY gets into the finances, I think it will be good for 10 to 15 yrs.
11
@Krismarch Now you know why Trump has had six bankruptcies.
7