Latest news with #deepstate
Associated Press
3 days ago
- General
- Associated Press
Trump has long warned of a government ‘deep state.' Now in power, he's under pressure to expose it
NEW YORK (AP) — As he crisscrossed the country in 2024, Donald Trump pledged to supporters that voting him back into the presidency would be 'our final battle.' 'With you at my side, we will demolish the deep state,' he said repeatedly on the campaign trail. 'We will liberate our country from these tyrants and villains once and for all.' Four months into his second term, Trump has continued to stoke dark theories involving his predecessors and other powerful politicians and attorneys — most recently raising the specter of nefarious intent behind former President Joe Biden's use of an autopen to sign papers. The administration has pledged to reopen investigations and has taken steps to declassify certain documents, including releasing more than 63,000 pages of records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Yet many of Trump's supporters say it's not enough. Some who take him at his word are beginning to get restless as they ask why his administration, which holds the keys to chasing down these alleged government secrets, is denying them the evidence and retribution they expected. His Justice Department has not yet arrested hordes of 'deep state' actors as some of his supporters had hoped it would, even as the president has been posting cryptic videos and memes about Democratic politicians. 'People are tired of not knowing,' conservative commentator Damani Felder said on podcaster Tim Pool's show last week. 'We actually demand answers and real transparency. It's not that hard to deliver.' A promise to reveal and dismantle the 'deep state' Trump has long promised to dismantle the 'deep state' — a supposed secret network of powerful people manipulating government decisions behind the scenes — to build his base of support, said Yotam Ophir, a communications professor at the University at Buffalo. 'He built part of this universe, which at the end of the day is a fictional universe,' he said. Now that Trump is in power and has stocked loyalists throughout his administration, his supporters expect all to be revealed. Delivering on that is difficult when many of the conspiracies he alleged aren't real, said Joseph Uscinski, a political scientist who studies conspiracy theories at the University of Miami. To be sure, the president has prioritized retribution in his second administration. He has fired federal workers and targeted law firms he disfavors in executive orders. He has ordered the revocation of government security clearances for political rivals and former employees who dissented during his first term. His Justice Department has fired prosecutors who investigated him and scrutinized career FBI agents who investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Even so, Trump's administration hasn't gone as far as many of his supporters would like. They want to see steps taken against people he has long claimed were involved in sinister plots against him, such as former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former FBI Director James Comey. The administration also hasn't offered proof of the ' egregious crimes ' that Trump claims have corrupted the federal government for years. Conspiracy theorists focus on Epstein and Trump's assassination attempt Tensions erupted this month when FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, dismissed two of the unsubstantiated conspiracy theories that have animated Trump's base the most — that financier and sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein was murdered in a cover-up, and that Trump's attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania, was a government plot. 'You know a suicide when you see one, and that's what that was,' Patel said about Epstein's death in a Fox News interview. 'I have seen the whole file,' Bongino added. 'He killed himself.' Conservatives online demanded to see the evidence, pointing to Bongino's past statements as a podcast host, when he suggested the government was hiding information about Epstein. 'No matter who gets elected, you get the same foreign policy, you get the same economic policy, and the Epstein videos remain secret,' right-wing podcaster and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson said on his show. 'They told us for months leading up to the Election that it wasn't suicide,' Newsmax host Todd Starnes wrote on X.. 'But now they tell us it was suicide.' He added: 'Pardon me, but what the heck is going on at DOJ?' Attorney General Pam Bondi said this month that FBI officials were poring through 'tens of thousands' of videos related to Epstein and would make more materials public once they took steps to protect the victims. In the same Fox News interview, Bongino and Patel said they had been briefed on the attempted assassination of Trump during a rally in July and there was no explosive conspiracy to be revealed. 'In some of these cases, the 'there' you're looking for is not there,' Bongino said. Skepticism among 'deep state' believers Bongino appeared to try to throw a bone to Trump's base this week when he announced the agency would reopen some prominent cases that have attracted public interest. He said the FBI would investigate the planting of pipe bombs found near the Democratic and Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington the day of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, the leak of the Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson draft opinion in 2022 that overturned the constitutional right to abortion and the discovery of cocaine in the White House in 2023. But it wasn't enough for everyone who weighed in on his X account. 'Anything to distract from the Epstein files,' one user replied to his announcement. 'No results,' wrote another. In an interview Thursday on 'Fox & Friends,' Bongino teased that the FBI would soon release video captured outside Epstein's jail cell and materials related to Trump's attempted assassination. He said he understands the public's demands for transparency but called for patience and noted not all information is the FBI's to declassify. That didn't satisfy everyone who wants answers to the conspiracy theories. 'I am convinced that the deep state can only be defeated by God at this point,' Philip Anderson, a right-wing influencer who participated in the riot at the Capitol, wrote Thursday on X. 'Kash Patel, Dan Bongino, and Pam Bondi are completely useless.' Promoting conspiracy theories as a tactic to distract All the while, Trump has continued promoting conspiracy theories on his Truth Social platform and elsewhere. He shared a video this month about mysterious deaths allegedly being linked to the Clinton family and shared someone's image of himself with former President Barack Obama with the text, 'ALL ROADS LEAD TO OBAMA, RETRUTH IF YOU WANT MILITARY TRIBUNALS.' Ophir, the University at Buffalo professor, said it's a tactic that distracts Trump's base and helps inoculate him from criticism. 'When something good happens, it's because Trump is great and his agenda is brilliant,' Ophir said. 'When something bad happens, it's because of the Obamas or the Clintons or whatever forces are undermining him from within Washington.' Trump this week fueled newer theories, without sharing evidence, that Biden's use of a mechanical device called an autopen during his presidency meant he didn't sign his executive orders willingly or that aides profited from controlling it. He has called for people who operated it to be charged with 'TREASON.' The narrative has gained momentum on the right because of allegations that Biden's aides covered up his mental and physical decline. Presidents have used autopens for years to sign certain documents. 'Whoever used it was usurping the power of the Presidency, and it should be very easy to find out who that person (or persons) is,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. At least one user of his platform was unimpressed and questioned why Trump and his allies, holding all the power, still didn't have any answers.
CTV News
3 days ago
- General
- CTV News
Trump has long warned of a government ‘deep state.' Now in power, he's under pressure to expose it
Attorney General Pam Bondi, right, and FBI Director Kash Patel speak during a news conference at the Department of Justice, Wednesday, May 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) NEW YORK — As he crisscrossed the country in 2024, Donald Trump pledged to supporters that voting him back into the presidency would be 'our final battle.' 'With you at my side, we will demolish the deep state,' he said repeatedly on the campaign trail. 'We will liberate our country from these tyrants and villains once and for all.' Four months into his second term, Trump has continued to stoke dark theories involving his predecessors and other powerful politicians and attorneys — most recently raising the specter of nefarious intent behind former president Joe Biden's use of an autopen to sign papers. The administration has pledged to reopen investigations and has taken steps to declassify certain documents, including releasing more than 63,000 pages of records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Yet many of Trump's supporters say it's not enough. Some who take him at his word are beginning to get restless as they ask why his administration, which holds the keys to chasing down these alleged government secrets, is denying them the evidence and retribution they expected. His Justice Department has not yet arrested hordes of 'deep state' actors as some of his supporters had hoped it would, even as the president has been posting cryptic videos and memes about Democratic politicians. 'People are tired of not knowing,' conservative commentator Damani Felder said on podcaster Tim Pool's show last week. 'We actually demand answers and real transparency. It's not that hard to deliver.' A promise to reveal and dismantle the 'deep state' Trump has long promised to dismantle the 'deep state' — a supposed secret network of powerful people manipulating government decisions behind the scenes — to build his base of support, said Yotam Ophir, a communications professor at the University at Buffalo. 'He built part of this universe, which at the end of the day is a fictional universe,' he said. Now that Trump is in power and has stocked loyalists throughout his administration, his supporters expect all to be revealed. Delivering on that is difficult when many of the conspiracies he alleged aren't real, said Joseph Uscinski, a political scientist who studies conspiracy theories at the University of Miami. To be sure, the president has prioritized retribution in his second administration. He has fired federal workers, installed loyalists in key positions and targeted law firms he disfavors in executive orders. He has ordered the revocation of government security clearances for political rivals and former employees who dissented during his first term. His Justice Department has fired prosecutors who investigated him and scrutinized career FBI agents who investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Even so, Trump's administration hasn't gone as far as many of his supporters would like. They want to see steps taken against people he has long claimed were involved in sinister plots against him, such as former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former FBI Director James Comey. The administration also hasn't offered proof of the ' egregious crimes ' that Trump claims have corrupted the federal government for years. Conspiracy theorists focus on Epstein and Trump's assassination attempt Tensions erupted this month when FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, dismissed two of the unsubstantiated conspiracy theories that have animated Trump's base the most — that financier and sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein was murdered in a cover-up, and that Trump's attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania, was a government plot. 'You know a suicide when you see one, and that's what that was,' Patel said about Epstein's death in a Fox News interview. 'I have seen the whole file,' Bongino added. 'He killed himself.' Conservatives online demanded to see the evidence, pointing to Bongino's past statements as a podcast host, when he suggested the government was hiding information about Epstein. 'No matter who gets elected, you get the same foreign policy, you get the same economic policy, and the Epstein videos remain secret,' right-wing podcaster and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson said on his show. 'They told us for months leading up to the Election that it wasn't suicide,' Newsmax host Todd Starnes wrote on X.. 'But now they tell us it was suicide.' He added: 'Pardon me, but what the heck is going on at DOJ?' Attorney General Pam Bondi said this month that FBI officials were poring through 'tens of thousands' of videos related to Epstein and would make more materials public once they took steps to protect the victims. In the same Fox News interview, Bongino and Patel said they had been briefed on the attempted assassination of Trump during a rally in July and there was no explosive conspiracy to be revealed. 'In some of these cases, the 'there' you're looking for is not there,' Bongino said. Skepticism among 'deep state' believers Bongino appeared to try to throw a bone to Trump's base this week when he announced the agency would reopen some prominent cases that have attracted public interest. He said the FBI would investigate the planting of pipe bombs found near the Democratic and Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington the day of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, the leak of the Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson draft opinion in 2022 that overturned the constitutional right to abortion and the discovery of cocaine in the White House in 2023. But it wasn't enough for everyone who weighed in on his X account. 'Anything to detract from the Epstein files,' one user replied to his announcement. 'No results,' wrote another. In an interview Thursday on 'Fox & Friends,' Bongino teased that the FBI would soon release video captured outside Epstein's jail cell and materials related to Trump's attempted assassination. He said he understands the public's demands for transparency but called for patience and noted not all information is the FBI's to declassify. That didn't satisfy everyone who wants answers to the conspiracy theories. 'I am convinced that the deep state can only be defeated by God at this point,' Philip Anderson, a right-wing influencer who participated in the riot at the Capitol, wrote Thursday on X. 'Kash Patel, Dan Bongino, and Pam Bondi are completely useless.' Promoting conspiracy theories as a tactic to distract All the while, Trump has continued promoting conspiracy theories on his Truth Social platform and elsewhere. He shared a video this month about mysterious deaths allegedly being linked to the Clinton family and an image of himself with former President Barack Obama with the text, 'ALL ROADS LEAD TO OBAMA, RETRUTH IF YOU WANT MILITARY TRIBUNALS.' Ophir, the University at Buffalo professor, said it's a tactic that distracts Trump's base and helps inoculate him from criticism. 'When something good happens, it's because Trump is great and his agenda is brilliant,' Ophir said. 'When something bad happens, it's because of the Obamas or the Clintons or whatever forces are undermining him from within Washington.' Trump this week fueled newer theories, without sharing evidence, that Biden's use of a mechanical device called an autopen during his presidency meant he didn't sign his executive orders willingly or that aides profited from controlling it. He has called for people who operated it to be charged with 'TREASON.' The narrative has gained momentum on the right because of allegations that Biden's aides covered up his mental and physical decline. Presidents have used autopens for years to sign certain documents. 'Whoever used it was usurping the power of the Presidency, and it should be very easy to find out who that person (or persons) is,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. At least one user of his platform was unimpressed and questioned why Trump and his allies, holding all the power, still didn't have any answers. 'IF IT'S EASY,' the commenter posted. 'WHY HASN'T YOUR ADMINISTRATION FOUND THESE CRIMINAL'S ALREADY.' ___ Ali Swenson, The Associated Press The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Washington Post
3 days ago
- General
- Washington Post
Trump has long warned of a government 'deep state.' Now in power, he's under pressure to expose it
NEW YORK — As he crisscrossed the country in 2024, Donald Trump pledged to supporters that voting him back into the presidency would be 'our final battle.' 'With you at my side, we will demolish the deep state ,' he said repeatedly on the campaign trail. 'We will liberate our country from these tyrants and villains once and for all.'
Associated Press
3 days ago
- General
- Associated Press
Trump has long warned of a government 'deep state.' Now in power, he's under pressure to expose it
NEW YORK (AP) — As he crisscrossed the country in 2024, Donald Trump pledged to supporters that voting him back into the presidency would be 'our final battle.' 'With you at my side, we will demolish the deep state,' he said repeatedly on the campaign trail. 'We will liberate our country from these tyrants and villains once and for all.' Four months into his second term, Trump has continued to stoke dark theories involving his predecessors and other powerful politicians and attorneys — most recently raising the specter of nefarious intent behind former President Joe Biden's use of an autopen to sign papers. The administration has pledged to reopen investigations and has taken steps to declassify certain documents, including releasing more than 63,000 pages of records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Yet many of Trump's supporters say it's not enough. Some who take him at his word are beginning to get restless as they ask why his administration, which holds the keys to chasing down these alleged government secrets, is denying them the evidence and retribution they expected. His Justice Department has not yet arrested hordes of 'deep state' actors as some of his supporters had hoped it would, even as the president has been posting cryptic videos and memes about Democratic politicians. 'People are tired of not knowing,' conservative commentator Damani Felder said on podcaster Tim Pool's show last week. 'We actually demand answers and real transparency. It's not that hard to deliver.' A promise to reveal and dismantle the 'deep state' Trump has long promised to dismantle the 'deep state' — a supposed secret network of powerful people manipulating government decisions behind the scenes — to build his base of support, said Yotam Ophir, a communications professor at the University at Buffalo. 'He built part of this universe, which at the end of the day is a fictional universe,' he said. Now that Trump is in power and has stocked loyalists throughout his administration, his supporters expect all to be revealed. Delivering on that is difficult when many of the conspiracies he alleged aren't real, said Joseph Uscinski, a political scientist who studies conspiracy theories at the University of Miami. To be sure, the president has prioritized retribution in his second administration. He has fired federal workers, installed loyalists in key positions and targeted law firms he disfavors in executive orders. He has ordered the revocation of government security clearances for political rivals and former employees who dissented during his first term. His Justice Department has fired prosecutors who investigated him and scrutinized career FBI agents who investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Even so, Trump's administration hasn't gone as far as many of his supporters would like. They want to see steps taken against people he has long claimed were involved in sinister plots against him, such as former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former FBI Director James Comey. The administration also hasn't offered proof of the ' egregious crimes ' that Trump claims have corrupted the federal government for years. Conspiracy theorists focus on Epstein and Trump's assassination attempt Tensions erupted this month when FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, dismissed two of the unsubstantiated conspiracy theories that have animated Trump's base the most — that financier and sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein was murdered in a cover-up, and that Trump's attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania, was a government plot. 'You know a suicide when you see one, and that's what that was,' Patel said about Epstein's death in a Fox News interview. 'I have seen the whole file,' Bongino added. 'He killed himself.' Conservatives online demanded to see the evidence, pointing to Bongino's past statements as a podcast host, when he suggested the government was hiding information about Epstein. 'No matter who gets elected, you get the same foreign policy, you get the same economic policy, and the Epstein videos remain secret,' right-wing podcaster and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson said on his show. 'They told us for months leading up to the Election that it wasn't suicide,' Newsmax host Todd Starnes wrote on X.. 'But now they tell us it was suicide.' He added: 'Pardon me, but what the heck is going on at DOJ?' Attorney General Pam Bondi said this month that FBI officials were poring through 'tens of thousands' of videos related to Epstein and would make more materials public once they took steps to protect the victims. In the same Fox News interview, Bongino and Patel said they had been briefed on the attempted assassination of Trump during a rally in July and there was no explosive conspiracy to be revealed. 'In some of these cases, the 'there' you're looking for is not there,' Bongino said. Skepticism among 'deep state' believers Bongino appeared to try to throw a bone to Trump's base this week when he announced the agency would reopen some prominent cases that have attracted public interest. He said the FBI would investigate the planting of pipe bombs found near the Democratic and Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington the day of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, the leak of the Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson draft opinion in 2022 that overturned the constitutional right to abortion and the discovery of cocaine in the White House in 2023. But it wasn't enough for everyone who weighed in on his X account. 'Anything to detract from the Epstein files,' one user replied to his announcement. 'No results,' wrote another. In an interview Thursday on 'Fox & Friends,' Bongino teased that the FBI would soon release video captured outside Epstein's jail cell and materials related to Trump's attempted assassination. He said he understands the public's demands for transparency but called for patience and noted not all information is the FBI's to declassify. That didn't satisfy everyone who wants answers to the conspiracy theories. 'I am convinced that the deep state can only be defeated by God at this point,' Philip Anderson, a right-wing influencer who participated in the riot at the Capitol, wrote Thursday on X. 'Kash Patel, Dan Bongino, and Pam Bondi are completely useless.' Promoting conspiracy theories as a tactic to distract All the while, Trump has continued promoting conspiracy theories on his Truth Social platform and elsewhere. He shared a video this month about mysterious deaths allegedly being linked to the Clinton family and an image of himself with former President Barack Obama with the text, 'ALL ROADS LEAD TO OBAMA, RETRUTH IF YOU WANT MILITARY TRIBUNALS.' Ophir, the University at Buffalo professor, said it's a tactic that distracts Trump's base and helps inoculate him from criticism. 'When something good happens, it's because Trump is great and his agenda is brilliant,' Ophir said. 'When something bad happens, it's because of the Obamas or the Clintons or whatever forces are undermining him from within Washington.' Trump this week fueled newer theories, without sharing evidence, that Biden's use of a mechanical device called an autopen during his presidency meant he didn't sign his executive orders willingly or that aides profited from controlling it. He has called for people who operated it to be charged with 'TREASON.' The narrative has gained momentum on the right because of allegations that Biden's aides covered up his mental and physical decline. Presidents have used autopens for years to sign certain documents. 'Whoever used it was usurping the power of the Presidency, and it should be very easy to find out who that person (or persons) is,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. At least one user of his platform was unimpressed and questioned why Trump and his allies, holding all the power, still didn't have any answers. 'IF IT'S EASY,' the commenter posted. 'WHY HASN'T YOUR ADMINISTRATION FOUND THESE CRIMINAL'S ALREADY.' ___ The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about the AP's democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
New York Times
19-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Washington Needs This Medicine. Trump's Formula Is Poison.
In recent weeks, President Trump has been ratcheting up a cunning tactic for consolidating political power: the relocation of parts of the federal government. Far subtler than defying court orders or renditioning people to foreign prisons, it is nonetheless an alarming development — and all the more shameful because it corrupts what could have been a valuable government reform. In the earliest moments of his last presidential campaign, Mr. Trump promised to 'shatter the deep state' by moving as many as 100,000 government positions out of Washington 'to places filled with patriots who love America.' In February, the administration began making good on that promise by calling on agencies to submit plans by April 14 for moving offices away from the D.C. area, purportedly to reduce costs. A day after the deadline, Mr. Trump signed an executive order to help carry out those plans by removing longstanding restrictions on federal office locations. All the while, Mr. Trump's appointees at organizations like the F.B.I. and the Department of Agriculture have been informing employees of their intent to disperse them across the country. Federal officials who are unable to immediately relocate their families hundreds or thousands of miles away will face termination, paving the way for their replacement by Trump loyalists. A bitter irony of such a destructive project is that government decentralization is a good idea. But politically motivated relocations will not improve the government or make it more responsive to its citizens; they will merely hollow out its functions and replace what's left with a sprawling network of loyalists. There's a better way. In a country of 340 million people scattered across nearly four million square miles, executive power should not be concentrated within a single metropolitan area. Although 85 percent of federal workers are stationed around the country, the officials making the most important decisions still do so largely from Washington. In this sense, the picture of U.S. executive authority is not so different from how it appeared in 1800, when collaboration was limited by the speed of the fastest horse and buggy. When the leadership of any organization is separated from the people it is meant to serve, both lose out. Leaders often have a better sense of what different people want, and care more about helping them get it, when they live across the street from them rather than across the country. (Even Starbucks is attuned to local signals, rolling out its pumpkin spice latte based on the arrival of fall in different places.) By the same token, residents care more about organizations they can reach with a walk or a drive rather than a flight. Imagine how much harder it would be for DOGE to destroy the executive branch if more people knew someone working for it. Distributed organizations also benefit from distributed expertise. If you want access to specialized knowledge in both finance and tech, for example, it only makes sense to have some employees based in New York City and others in Silicon Valley. What would a constructive vision of a decentralized federal government look like — one designed to foster genuine connection with the public and to ensure that its varied interests are better represented? At first, it would involve delegating more authority to executive officials already stationed across the country. From there, leaders might explore the possibility of relocating some D.C.-based officials, as Mr. Trump has suggested — but with respect and care, taking time to figure out which federal workers might actually be open to moving and where they should be located to complement work already being done in Washington. Most top officials would continue to reside in Washington. A legislative affairs official who acts as a bridge between Congress and the Department of Justice, for example, needs to be on Capitol Hill to do the best job. But a director at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who regulates coastal erosion might be more effective if immersed in the coastal regions and communities that erosion affects. If this sounds like an exotic experiment, consider that decentralized leadership has already proven itself a successful model in many large organizations — private companies, yes, but increasingly governments, too. Germany's Federal Constitutional Court, for instance, operates hours away from the top executive and legislative officials in Berlin, which helps safeguard judicial independence. South Africa distributes power by separating its three governmental branches across different metropolitan areas. On a smaller scale, the Pentagon operates a Silicon Valley office to enhance collaboration between the military and the tech sector. Up until now, few people in Washington have been willing to consider a more decentralized federal government. Some members of Congress in recent years did show serious interest in the idea — notably Representative Ro Khanna on the left and former Representative Tim Ryan in the middle — but they were always the exception. Democrats, for the most part, did not consider it a priority, often equating a good government with one heavily concentrated in Washington, while thoughtful Republican leaders on this issue never emerged. The result is that a good idea was left in the hands of Donald Trump and his allies, who are seemingly transforming a promising medicine for healing the executive branch into a poison to destroy it. In 2019, after Mr. Trump announced the relocation of two Department of Agriculture offices, his acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, lamented how hard it was to remove civil servants and described relocations as a 'wonderful way' to accomplish 'what we haven't been able to do for a long time,' celebrating that when civil servants were told they would have to move to 'the real part of the country,' many quit. Though Mr. Mulvaney claimed that the relocations were intended to 'streamline' the two offices, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees said that they were designed to weed out dedicated civil servants 'and silence the parts of the agencies' research that the administration views as inconvenient.' A few weeks earlier, the administration announced the relocation of the Bureau of Land Management to Grand Junction, Colo. Bureau officials were given 30 days to move from Washington or face termination, resulting in more than 87 percent resigning or retiring. The new offices opened in the same building as the oil and gas companies that the officials were tasked with regulating. To some degree, the relative quiet with which the administration's relocation efforts have been met is understandable: Detailed plans are not expected to be made public, and calling on this Republican-controlled Congress to exercise oversight can seem futile. But one surefire way of losing a fight is to forfeit it in advance. Drawing attention to the Trump administration's evident efforts is crucial, but opponents must also reframe the issue. The goal should be to rescue the good idea of decentralization from the Trump administration's destructive vision. Americans deserve a federal government next door — not because we need to move it away from evil people in Washington, but because we should share it with the talented people around the country who already are or eventually could work for it.
