Robert Reich on Tuesday took a step back to examine the “bigger picture” surrounding President Donald Trump’s decision to freeze all federal grants and loans, which is now the subject of a legal challenge.
It’s arguably Trump’s “most brazen move yet since returning to office,” the Bill Clinton-era labor secretary wrote on Facebook.
Reich acknowledged it “may seem like Trump just sowing more chaos and dysfunction as we’ve grown accustomed to” but warned “it’s deeper than that” and is “all part of Trump’s plan to consolidate power.”
That involves, noted Reich: “Substituting loyalists for experts across the government, using retribution to intimidate others, purging the government’s independent inspectors general, giving the Defense Department more authority over civilian life (and putting a raving loyalist in charge), giving Elon Musk authority to cut spending and roll back regulations, and readying a massive tax cut for the wealthy and big corporations.”
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Reich has been a longtime critic of the returned president.
Last week, he cautioned in an opinion piece for the British newspaper The Guardian about how “Trump’s vengeance machine is even more dangerous than it was before” with its stripping of security from former top Trump aides, despite credible threats to their lives.