“Pack Your Toothbrush; We’re Bound for Greenland!”

Out of sight, out of mind.

Photo by Sophia Simoes on Unsplash

Fresh news keeps blasting out from Washington at a fast and furious clip. Liberals are wringing their hands, conservatives are clapping theirs, and I have been doing my best not to get overstimulated or provoked by every daily shockwave. I tell myself that if I am patient enough, the barrage of everything-all-at-once bulletins from the Administration will cohere and assemble themselves into a recognizable pattern.

My patience has been rewarded. This week, a grand pattern emerged, clear as bottled water. Perhaps you are also seeking coherence, so let me lay it out for you, piece by piece.

First, we had Elon Musk call Social Security a Ponzi scheme, an attempt to suggest that the system is fraudulent. This was followed shortly after by an announcement that the Social Security Administration plans to lay off 7,000 staff and close regional offices, reducing the level of customer service from unsatisfactory to dysfunctional. Benefit checks haven’t been disrupted yet, but it’s well known that benefits will have to be reduced by 2034 if Congress doesn’t do something to put more money into the system. So there’s that.

Then the Administration abolished the Administration for Community Living (ACL), the agency that coordinates most federal programs…