Thread by @donmoyn

At @napawash panel on the Trump administration and the effects on the machinery of government, will report out useful comments. Start with paper w @AlasdairRoberts and I on Trumpism as an administrative doctrine forthcoming in Public Administration Review papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…

.@LorenRaeDeJ: ongoing challenge that got worse under Trump was the politicization of the military, undermining civilian control. Undermines credibility of military as a bipartisan institution.

@LorenRaeDeJ: politicization of intelligence is not a new challenges, but the select declassification and challenges to the intelligence organizations as a body may leave lasting harm.

Under Trump, data was delayed, hidden or eliminated when it was inconvenient for Trump administration political goals - provides examples with COVID, census, pollution information. - @LorenRaeDeJ

Lawsuits, bad press did not stop administrative politicization under Trump - those traditional constraints did not work. Points to example of AGM.

https://twitter.com/donmoyn/status/1353024605456396289?s=20

Jason Briefel of SES: Part of the problem is that Congress is not doing its job overseeing the administrative state, and has not been doing so for a long time. Leaves a lot of room for executive branch mismanagement.

Briefel: preferences for acting leaders, and failure to appoint to adjucutative bodies like MPSB means employees have no way to complain about abuses. Allows for growth of spoils systems. We are not cultivating or investing in federal workforce.

Steve Redburn: there has been a challenge to basic notions of good government. The Biden administration is in a period of restoration of good government norms, but many do not believe in those ideals.

Congress has both delegated too much (on Title V personnel authority, allowing for appointees, hundreds of different personnel systems) and not enough (micro-manages budge execution via appropriations bills, prevents coordination across agencies).