It’s now been more than a month since the election, and I agree with a lot of people that it was going to be the Most Consequential Election In History, the most consequential election since Lincoln, or the most consequential election since the last most consequential election, anyway.
In Alcoholics Anonymous — which has a lot of wisdom even if alcohol isn’t your problem — there is something called the “Pink Cloud” that comes when one is first in recovery. Safe Harbor Recovery explains it this way:
Pink Cloud Syndrome is a phrase that developed within the recovery community to describe someone who is new to recovery (often just out of withdrawal) and riding a wave of bliss. The person feels such confidence and excitement about their recovery that it borders on unrealistic.
Some of the signs of a Pink Cloud are:
- Euphoria and extreme happiness
- Hope
- Positive outlook about the prospects for staying sober
- Fixation on the benefits of sobriety
- Increased emotional awareness
- Naivete about what it will take to stay in recovery.
Read the whole article if you’re interested (and by all means, if you have a substance problem, look into AA, Narcotics Anonymous, etc. I got into 12 steps because my mother was an alcoholic, so I found it through Al-Anon. Same song, different verse.)
The point of the article is pretty simple. The Pink Cloud is nice, fun, and encouraging, but it also presents a risk, because when it fades, it too easily turns to despair. “I’m a loser; I’ll never really recover.”
Now, MAGA fans and Republicans, look at that list. Does it not sound a lot like many of the reactions people on the winning side have had to Trump’s election? It might be a stretch to suggest that Trump has taken on the mantle of a Higher Power, but is it really?
The problem with the Pink Cloud is more or less summarized by O-ren Ishii in "Kill Bill Volume 1." The Bride has just, in a monumental, magnificent display of wire-assisted martial arts, killed or disabled dozens of O-ren’s henchmen. She’s panting, blood-spattered, and O-ren says, “You didn’t think it was going to be that easy.”
That’s the lesson one needs in a Pink Cloud. It’s not going to be that easy.
Some of the Pink Cloud showing up is in the number of people saying that Liz Cheney, Tony Fauci, and Chris Wray all should be locked up first thing. See also removing some of the J6 judges from the bench and locking up people from FEMA. People think it’s really going to be that easy.
It’s not. Like any process of recovery; it is going to take a lot of work, and the Deep State, in the role of Demon Rum, still has a lot of hold over the government as it is.
Like it or not, the Democrats still have a lot of hold over the continuing resolution, and a lot of less-MAGA-ized Republicans are clearly worried about what power DOGE might be able to exert. So the CR contains things like a legal right to quash any subpoenas of Congress by the executive branch, and funding for things some people in Congress think essential, Trump or no Trump, have been slipped in.
The Biden administration — probably not Biden himself, if O’Keefe’s video is true — is exerting itself to make life as hard as possible for Trump, extending contracts with the IRS union, trying to sell off the unused material for the border wall at bargain basement prices, and oh, a half dozen things more.
Once again, in the Pink Cloud, a lot of people thought Trump’s election meant Trump was in control now and it just ain’t so.
Even when the new Congress is seated, and later when Trump is inaugurated, the entrenched bureaucracy is a wounded animal, and like a trapped rat, it will turn and fight. Even if the cat is really big.
In a mature society, “civil servant” is semantically equal to “civil master.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love
Grok’s summary of the Continuing Resolution is just jam-packed with instances where it says, “there is duplication and waste here.” That should make a great tick list for DOGE, but we also need to remember that there are civil servants in each of those divisions of the government who see their own rice bowl threatened, and they’re not going to go easily.
I think Musk’s idea of buying out superannuated servants with two years of severance is a good one. As long as the civil servant accepting the deal is walked out of the building that day, after having their keys and access revoked. But there will be a sub-population that think they are Serving The Greater Good and will resist.
Honestly, it’s not going to be easy.
Black Pill 💊@DOGE:
— CryptoLawyer (@CryptoLawyerz) December 18, 2024
The fact that Speaker Johnson has brought this CR to a vote and there are GOP reps who will vote yes, begs the question what can @DOGE really do!
My understanding is @DOGE will recommend cuts in the federal government, but @DOGE doesn’t have the authority to…
This omnibus is the very thing the incoming Department of Government Efficiency is trying to put an end to.⁰⁰A vote for this monstrosity is a vote against DOGE.
— Rep. Eric Burlison (@RepEricBurlison) December 18, 2024
Here’s Vivek’s response. It’s long; click through and read it all.
I wanted to read the full 1,500+ page bill & speak with key leaders before forming an opinion. Having done that, here's my view: it's full of excessive spending, special interest giveaways & pork barrel politics. If Congress wants to get serious about government efficiency, they…
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) December 18, 2024
And here’s Musk’s.
By now, they should know that I mean what I say https://t.co/84i3UXj8HX
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2024
I’m not saying it can’t be done. But it’s not going to be easy, it’s not going to be quick, and it’s gonna take one hell of a lot more lobbying than one phone call by Trump. It’s work; it’s going to be a struggle. Don’t give in to despair.
Beware the Pink Cloud.
