They Want to Disappear You
How OMB will politicize the federal grant system with this one weird trick.
1. Hurt
If you missed yesterday’s Triad, please give it a read. We talked about how one of the keys to understanding the MAGA movement is that Trump’s supporters resent the existence of people they find repulsive. They want the out group to disappear; to go away. They are opposed to pluralism.
The Trump administration is acting on this impulse in many ways. Some are visible, like yesterday’s Supreme Court1 ruling that the courts don’t get a say if the president unilaterally revokes temporary protected status for certain classes of migrants and deport them.
Another thing the administration would like to do is lock away Americans with disabilities they find unappealing. Catherine Rampell has the story on this. Warning: It will make you very angry.
Other anti-pluralistic policies are happening below the radar. I’d like to shine light on one small case that hasn’t gotten a lot of attention: The OMB has proposed a rule change to the Federal Register, 2 CFR §200.205.
I know that sounds boring and incredibly small-ball. It’s not. This rule change is an attempt to politicize all federal grants.
This is a weapon designed to disappear disfavored people, groups, and ideas—and the blast radius on it will be enormous.