Methinks our foundations are slipping away

BONUS: Stop making 'cents'

Musk with then-president-elect Donald Trump in November 2024. -Wikipedia

In the years since I became a journalist in 1996 covering local affairs, and later as a columnist for CTNewsJunkie opining on state politics in Connecticut, I’ve often been frustrated by the slow pace of reform. Most of the time I attributed the lack of progress to those who prefer the status quo or to those who have the most to lose in the face of reform.

But even when things didn’t go my way, I still had confidence in our institutions. I was always convinced the center would hold. But in the weeks since Donald Trump’s inauguration for a second term, I’ve lost the faith.

The incoming president promptly created a government efficiency department (DOGE) headed by the world’s richest man. Elon Musk’s panel has made a series of cuts and, in some cases, has closed down entire agencies such as USAID. There are real questions as to whether these widespread actions are even legal, given the fact that it is Congress that must approve the creation of a federal agency — and therefore should also be the body that puts it in mothballs.

Conservatives love to rail against “unelected bureaucrats” who wield enormous power and often abuse it. And that’s precisely what Musk is doing. Yet since he is acting not as a government employee collecting a salary, but essentially as a volunteer, he is not subject to good-government laws pertaining to ethics. Musk’s companies, including SpaceX and Tesla, have billions in contracts with the federal government (see more precise numbers here). Does anyone think he will recommend cuts to the NASA or Pentagon budgets pertaining to his companies’ contracts?

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt laughably suggested “that the tech billionaire himself would determine potential conflicts of interest with his businesses.” So the billionaire is his own judge and jury. Hmm … maybe those left-wing cries of oligarchy aren’t an exaggeration after all.

Both Donald Trump and outgoing President Joe Biden have thrown around pardons like candy at a firemen’s parade. Biden granted more acts of clemency than any president in U.S. history, including for members of his own family. Trump has pardoned roughly 1,500 criminal defendants, some of whom beat up cops during the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the Capitol. Most recently, Trump has pardoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who, among other egregious acts, tried to sell then-President-elect Barack Obama’s empty Senate seat to the highest bidder. And yesterday, Trump instructed the Justice Department to halt its investigation into foreign bribery allegations against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. This seems to be a pattern.

The Washington Post is reporting (free link) that law enforcement candidates in the Trump administration are facing loyalty tests and are being asked to give “yes” or “no” responses to questions such as: Was Jan. 6 “an inside job?”

There is foolish talk coming from Trump himself about making Canada the 51st state and taking Greenland away from the Danish. After floating the idea of turning Gaza into a tourist beach resort, Trump has now said there will be “hell” to pay if Hamas does not turn over more Israeli hostages this weekend, as it had agreed to. Trade wars with our North American neighbors are almost a certainty at this point and are already being felt in some quarters.

But more than anything else, I am concerned about a possible constitutional crisis here at home. What happens, for example, if the Trump administration simply refuses to comply with court orders arising from lawsuits concerning the constitutionality of DOGE and its highly controversial actions? Our federal courts are our remedies of last resort. The U.S. Marshals Service serves as the enforcement and security arm of the U.S. federal judiciary. It only has a few thousand deputies and could not possibly enforce compliance with hundreds of crucial judicial decisions at one time.

Don’t take my word for it. Ask these five former treasury secretaries who are concerned about “DOGE’s reported entry this month into the Bureau of Fiscal Services payment systems, essentially the government's checkbook, sparked mass concern about the safety of sensitive data and ability to restrict federal funds.” Here’s one of them, former Harvard President Larry Summers:

It just looks like the America I grew up in and studied for much of my adult life is moving to a new scarier phase. And no one really knows how it’s going to turn out.

Stop making ‘cents’

I have a number of sharp differences with President Trump but when he gets it right, I’ll acknowledge it. Trump thinks the U.S. Mint should stop producing pennies and has instructed the Treasury to cease manufacturing them. I’ve been saying this for years. The smelly copper coin is virtually worthless in 2025, and it costs nearly 4 cents to manufacture. Retailers who take cash can round up to the nearest nickle. Speaking of the five-scent piece, it, too, costs more to produce than it’s worth. Both coins cost more than they were worth for the 19th consecutive fiscal year, according to the US Mint.

The downside of eliminating pennies, according to CNN: “Experts say getting rid of the penny, however, could burden the US Treasury Department with producing more nickels to fill the gap, ultimately worsening the financial burden.”

The ultimate goal should be a cashless society. If you’ve been in a position where you’ve had to handle a lot of cash (either coinage or bills), you can actually smell the filth on your hands. The odor comes from the bacteria and microbes that attach themselves to the bills and coinage.

But one thing at a time. As the Brookings Institution warns, while it might not be practical to go cashless at this time (the ACLU, for example, has major problems with it) we should be ready when cash becomes obsolete.

Canada stopped producing its penny in 2012. They are now relics from a bygone era and can be recycled. It remains to be seen whether Trump succeeds or not. After all, this might be one of his attention-grabbing stunts that disappears like the change in my pockets.