On Monday’s The 11th Hour, MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle joined up with Washington Post investigative reporter Carol Leonnig to warn that Donald Trump and other Republicans are not fans of the unelected bureaucracy and have “very alarming plans” to do something about that could lead to “autocracy.”
Ruhle lamented, “In today's edition of A Democracy is a Fragile Thing, the New York Times is reporting some very alarming plans that are in the works. Trump and his allies are reportedly-- they want to toss-- toss out this idea that we have three separate but equal branches of government and move things to make the Oval Office way more powerful, looking a lot more like an autocracy.”
If one were to actually read the article Ruhle referenced, it would be clear that the talk is about giving more power and authority to the elected president while removing it from the unelected administrative state. It is not about taking powers away from the other two branches.
As it was Leonnig, who might be the administrative state’s number one fan, joined in on the mourning, “one of the reporters on that story broke something very similar when he worked at another institution looking at how the Trump Campaign was plotting for a second presidency and how certain institutions would be rendered sort of meek puppies that the executive office would rule over. They would have the iron fist.”
For a brief moment, Leonnig acknowledged that conservative trust in the bureaucracy is something that is not unique to Trump. Of course, for Leonnig that didn’t make things any better:
And, you know, I hate to say this Steph, but there are-- this is a vision that many conservative Republicans have in which career bureaucrats are spat upon as, you know, wonks who are part of this deep state, maybe liberal-leaning, maybe progressive-leaning, they don't trust those bureaucrats who base their decisions in facts, science, and protocol and using agencies who are career people, rather than politically minded, is one of our safety stopgaps in a democracy.
Leonnig can deny it all she wants, but it is a simple fact that bureaucrats are not going to react as well to a party that is ideologically opposed to rule by bureaucracy. She also added, “You know, they decide whether or not mercury, certain amounts of it, are dangerous to children's health.”
Leonnig knows full well that mercury and children’s health is not what conservatives are talking about. Nevertheless, she turned the conversation back to Trump:
They decide whether or not we should be investigating, say, potential criminal evidence implicating Rudy Giuliani, the president’s lawyer. Career bureaucrats make these kind of, you know, objective, impartial decisions without caring about party and that makes Donald Trump, as you know, from the many things he has said, extremely uncomfortable. He wants people ruling the way he wants them ruling and he has said that even about, quote unquote, “my judges.” The Supreme Court judges he nominated, he wants them ruling in a way that helps him.
Judges aren’t bureaucrats, but regardless, does MSNBC believe that Trump is unique in wanting his judicial appointments to rule a certain way. Joe Biden didn’t appoint Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court because he believed her to be a centrist.
This segment was sponsored by AARP.
Here is a transcript for the July 17 show:
MSNBC The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle
7/17/2023
11:12 PM ET
STEPHANIE RUHLE: All right, Carol, new topic. In today's edition of A Democracy is a Fragile Thing, the New York Times is reporting some very alarming plans that are in the works. Trump and his allies are reportedly-- they want to toss-- toss out this idea that we have three separate but equal branches of government and move things to make the Oval Office way more powerful, looking a lot more like an autocracy. What do you think about this?
CAROL LEONNIG: Not really a surprise. I mean, that was some really good reporting but one of the reporters on that story broke something very similar when he worked at another institution looking at how the Trump Campaign was plotting for a second presidency and how certain institutions would be rendered sort of meek puppies that the executive office would rule over. They would have the iron fist.
And, you know, I hate to say this Steph, but there are-- this is a vision that many conservative Republicans have in which career bureaucrats are spat upon as, you know, wonks who are part of this deep state, maybe liberal-leaning, maybe progressive-leaning, they don't trust those bureaucrats who base their decisions in facts, science, and protocol and using agencies who are career people, rather than politically minded, is one of our safety stopgaps in a democracy.
You know, they decide whether or not mercury, certain amounts of it, are dangerous to children's health.
They decide whether or not we should be investigating, say, potential criminal evidence implicating Rudy Giuliani, the president’s lawyer. Career bureaucrats make these kind of, you know, objective, impartial decisions without caring about party and that makes Donald Trump, as you know, from the many things he has said, extremely uncomfortable. He wants people ruling the way he wants them ruling and he has said that even about, quote unquote, “my judges.” The Supreme Court judges he nominated, he wants them ruling in a way that helps him.
