On transition, obeying in advance, and the right to association
President-elect Trump has made his cabinet picks. To put it mildly, they include nontraditional selections. People who challenge the very idea of expertise and experience as a qualifying criteria. And you know what? It makes sense. These selections are anti-elite. They prioritize spectacle. And, most critically, they test the boundary of what the Senate is willing to tolerate. Matt Gaetz? A step too far. Pete Hegseth? [Maybe not].
We are seeing people who are obeying in advance. It's hard not to do that. You want to be able to keep operating and so you retract, something, just a little bit. But that is what creates the space for greater and greater power grabs. We all have to watch ourselves.
The kill nonprofit bill makes it possible for the Treasury Secretary to strip nonprofits of their status by accusing them of applying material aid to terrorists. To be clear, it's never been legal for nonprofit organizations to provide material aid to terrorism. This bill simply says that a letter can go to an organization accusing them, without details, and if they can't defend themselves they lose their status in 30 days. It's possible to imagine a series of knock on effects: Donors have funded terrorism and their funds can be frozen. Board members can come under investigation. Volunteers. This bill limits civil society, yes, and it does it in a way that starts to limit our right to association.