By David K. Shipler 

Kakistocracy , n: government bythe least suitable or competent citizens of a state

[Note: Bowing to the influence of The Shipler Report, Gaetz withdrew only hours after this was posted.]

            When President Richard Nixonnominated Judge G. Harrold Carswell to the Supreme Court in 1970, his lack ofintellectual heft was defended by Republican Senator Roman Hruskaof Nebraska, who famously declared: “Even if he were mediocre, there are a lotof mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a littlerepresentation, aren’t they, and a little chance? We can’t have all Brandeises,Frankfurters, and Cardozos.”

            The Senate rejected Carswell, with 13Republicans joining Democrats in voting no.

            Ah, for the good old days. This timearound, it is not just mediocrity that is ascending to power but wildincompetence seasoned with wackiness. From Donald Trump on down, the federalgovernment is about to be converted into a cesspool of financial and moralcorruption, and into a juggernaut of fact-free autocratic decrees, politicalarrests, and military roundups. At least that’s Trump’s goal, which his keynominees are poised to pursue.

IfHruska were still with us, he would have to update his argument by noting thatthe country’s sexual assailants also deserve “a little representation.” Sincemost voters just elected a court-proven sexual assailant president, he wouldsurely find sympathy in the supine Senate. And remember, Republicans in yearspast confirmed Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court despitecredible accusations, respectively, of sexual harassment and assault. Today, Trumpseems partial to men who do that kind of thing, since the accused (but notproven) assailants he’s picked for his Cabinet include Matt Gaetz for AttorneyGeneral, Pete Hegseth for Defense Secretary, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. atHealth and Human Services.  

Theirslimy behavior with women is the finishing coat on layers of obnoxious absurditiesthat threaten the country’s well-being. Under the guise of federal reform anddownsizing, they and their yet-to-be chosen lieutenants in various agencies arelikely to damage Americans’ health, undermine national security, normalizesuspicions of democracy, deepen poverty, stifle news coverage, and chilldissent. Their designs would further fuel anti-government antagonism byundermining the best things government does, making it hostile to people’s needsand unworthy of the people’s regard.

 Institutions, government or private, needperiodic reform, fresh eyes to spot deficiencies, and sometimes tough measuresto improve their functions. There are many ways to tame a bureaucracy, to trimwaste and hone it for efficiency, and even to reorient its priorities. Some inbusiness who take over failing companies wield a ruthless ax, shedding workersas if they were detritus gumming up the works. Some dispose deftly ofunprofitable entities. Some use a scalpel on existing structures and makeadjustments. But the goal in most such projects is to save the company, not todestroy it.

In“Trump World,” the current euphemism for Dante’s third circle of hell, a verydifferent objective has taken shape. It contains a severe contradiction thatmight be summed up this way: destroy parts of the government doing things youdon’t like and expand its reach into things you like, particularly punishingthe poor and prosecuting your critics.

Thereis little about the Trumpists’ agenda that can be called “conservative” in itstraditional meaning, other than a push to deregulate the private sector and toslash benefits for Americans struggling low in the socio-economic hierarchy.That’s in keeping with conservative Republican values: Enrich yourselves andimpoverish the vulnerable.

Otherwise,the Trump agenda envisions government intrusion into in areas once thoughtimmune from the long arm of the state: scaring broadcasters and onlinecompanies into denying you information, sending the military into your workplacesand neighborhoods to check your citizenship and immigration status, requiringdoctors to ask women their reasons for seeking abortions, monitoring coursestaught by your local schools with the threat of defunding, and so on. Hisappointees are lined up to speed draconian changes in America.

Canit happen? The saving grace of Trump’s first term was his ignorance and lack ofcuriosity about the mechanisms of governing. He alienated the three mostimportant institutions that any wannabe autocrat would require: the policeapparatus in the form of the FBI, the intelligence-gathering establishment, andthe military. Trump has learned, though, and he is recruiting collaborators—someof the vilest people in America—to align these powers to support hisauthoritarian aspirations.

Witha clever sleight of hand, Trump projects his own nefarious defects onto hisopponents—e.g., the Democrats threaten democracy, the Democrats weaponize theJustice Department. His propaganda deflected many voters’ gaze. When he says hewants to turn the Justice Department against his political enemies and thepress, and nominates Gaetz to do it, he’s finally telling the truth. It’s wiseto believe what he says.

Gaetzhas such a record of nutty confrontation that some of his Republican colleaguesin the House are delighted that he resigned to curtail his ethics investigation.So there’s little doubt that he, along with a Trumpist FBI director, would aimthe immense powers of federal investigators and prosecutors squarely at Trump’sDemocratic critics, including California Senator Adam Schiff. News reportersare likely to be targeted if they cover Trump negatively. Even if fourRepublicans are sensible enough to reject Gaetz, which seems possible, Trumpcan be counted on to replace him with a nominee tuned to his revenge portfolio,even if less flamboyantly.

Hegsethalso poses acute dangers. He could be a gateway into enhancing the whitesupremacist presence in the armed forces. His tattoo resembling one used byextreme right-wing militia got him taken off the national guard detail guardingthe Capitol on January 6, and his inclination toward Christian nationalism hasa whiff of ethnocentrist religiosity. White nationalism is already present inthe ranks to an extent, but having a Defense Secretary tolerant of extremeracism, and pledging to purge senior officers, sets the stage for a dramaticremaking of a military that has been staunchly apolitical. And using activeduty forces to impose internal order by rounding up undocumented immigrants orputting down demonstrations would cross a line that would not be easily reestablished.  

Kennedy,with his crackpot conspiracy theories about various health issues, would damagemedical research for a generation, setting the United States back behind mostof the industrial world. “COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Blackpeople,” he said in July 2023. “The people who aremost immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.” This is the man Trump wantsrunning federal health programs. Yet Kennedy strikes a chord with the public inchanneling their suspicion of authority and expertise, and in railing againstpreservatives in food, to take just one example.

Thatis a tactic often used by people who peddle misinformation, according to Dr. Leana Wen, who writes a columnfor The Washington Post. “It’s not that all they say are lies. If that’sthe case, no one’s going to listen to them. But instead, you can listen tosomeone like this, you can nod your head and say, yes, that’s right, that’sright, that’s right, and then you end up going along with the other things thatare then said that are actually not right.”

Kennedyand most other nominees look attractive to the rank and file voters who hatethe federal government and think it needs to be broken. Trump has tradedcleverly on this antipathy and sense of alienation and powerlessness, and hisnaming of non-experts appeals to nihilist impulses in the broad electorate.

Ironically,though, appointing people outside their areas of expertise might impede Trump’sability to refashion the federal bureaucracy. Because “experts” are part of the“elite” that have become the “enemy” in the faux internal war exploited byTrump, he is not installing anybody who knows much about the agencies he wantsthem to run. How effective their demolition will be is a question. Nevertheless,their less visible incoming deputy secretaries, assistant secretaries, anddepartment heads, who might be equally bizarre, might know better how to getthe job done. The press—even the remaining free and fair press—will not havesufficient resources to cover those agencies at the grassroots level where they’llneed to be monitored.

Theterm kakistocracy should now enter our everyday language. It comes fromtwo Greek words meaning “worst” and “rule,” that is, a society ruled by itsworst people. Trump is obviously one of the worst, and many of those he iselevating to positions of authority are among the worst of America. How many ofus, in our own lives, have ever met anyone like Trump or the others? Certainlyvery few. It’s a good bet that very few of his own voters have, either.

Soit's time to ask why the worst people in this society are rising to govern us,why voters are allowing the United States of America to become a kakistocracy.