The Carpet Bombing of Democracy

It feels like the carpet bombing of democracy. Everywhere we look, pillars of democratic government in America are ablaze.

The amorphous “Department of Government Efficiency” has what can only be called data stormtroopers invading targeted offices, agencies, and departments. Other than a Trump/Musk wrecking ball on steroids, what is this DOGE?

Among his tornado of Executive Orders, Trump has established the “U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization” as an entity which has devoured what was previously the U.S. Digital Service. That little-known organization was initially established in 2014 within OMB as a “crisis management team to tackle delivery service challenges” with HealthCare.gov. It was a ‘service’ within an ‘office’ within the executive branch. The current administrator announced in November that she would be departing.

And, ipso facto, it’s now presented as a full-on cabinet department. Yet, it was never brought into legislative existence, although Congress spent months developing the enabling legislation for the Department of Homeland Security in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. There was time then to develop plans for accountability, reporting, management, and planning for offices and staff.

Although those are critical concerns when building a business, there was no time for that with Trump’s billionaire buddy confusing speed with efficiency.

Lacking any oversight whatsoever, these geniuses nonetheless managed to mock up and create a website for hiring staff. Nice logo, right? The emperor’s clothes are nowhere to be seen.

Nice logo, right?

And that’s despite the fact that the billionaire buddy reportedly tells folks he’s sleeping in the DOGE office within the White House complex. Maybe that’s because employees of this faux department are using all the available space in Tesla’s lobbying offices at 800 Connecticut Avenue.

But for that billionaire buddy, that’s not close enough to the seat of power, because it’s on the other side of Lafayette Park—a whole city block away from the White House.

Thus, the shock troops have been deployed as far as the eye can see. Under intense pressure, and with the forced retirements of dedicated professional public servants managing the government’s checkbook, they now appear to have complete access to the Bureau of Fiscal Service—and potentially the social security numbers of everyone that has ever received a check from the government.

Think. About. That. For a moment.

They appear to have also successfully forced two USAID officials to “retire” because they did their job in refusing access to systems holding classified information. The officials were escorted from the USAID office. That office is shuttered today, its website has gone dark, and Marco Rubio has announced that he is now the Acting Director.

Formerly the USAID website.

The 22-year veteran USDA Inspector General was also escorted from her office last week.

And shock troops from DOGE locked staff out of their offices in the Office of Personnel Management (as documented below by Kent Nishimura of Reuters).

Photo by Kent Nishimura, Reuters.

Photo by Kent Nishimura, Reuters.

This will continue. We should not be naïve about that. But it is strategic and will ebb and flow. Like polluted water when it hits an object it cannot overtop, it will shift course and proceed.

So what do we do, practically, to defend our democracy? When under attack, take cover and ensure your own security as well as that of your family, friends, colleagues, and especially those without the means to protect themselves.

Taking cover is emphatically not the same as cowering. We all must focus and persevere in continuing important work. Anna Lappé, Executive Director for the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, put it so well in her post: “…do whatever we can to stay centered, connected, and calm: The terror and the chaos is the point."

Do your work and raise your voice. Label what’s happening for what it is—an attack on the foundation of American democracy. Pick your preferred way of communicating and let as many people as possible know what’s at stake.

As has been paraphrased many times before, evil does not triumph because of bad people, but rather because of the silence of good people.

Do not allow yourself to be silenced.