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Opinion | America has trouble coming

A government operated by the worst, most incompetent people results in the worst, most incompetent government. Just ask Alabama.

A banner left by a supporter of President Donald Trump stands in front of the U.S. Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021 in Washington. AP PHOTO/MANUEL BALCE CENETA
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The guy he wanted for AG is a credibly accused sexual predator. The guy he wants to run the Defense Department has been accused of sexual assault and his only qualification appears to be that he served in the military. The lady he wants for education secretary used to spend Monday nights taking stunners from Stone Cold Steve Austin. And the guy he wants for health secretary has worms in his brain and thinks the drinking water is turning people gay. 

It’s hard for me to believe that people voted for more of this. 

This absolute chaos. 

Every single day. Without a break. Without a breath. Just chaos from clock-in to clock-out. 

The worst people imaginable in charge of everything. The goofiest possible approach to every level of government. The most grift you’ve ever seen. And the administration hasn’t even started on Day 1 yet. 

How many eggs were y’all eating that you thought it was worth all this? 

Look, I know a lot of the magas love to giggle and take some childish glee in “owning the libs,” because the libs have this crazy idea that maybe – just maybe – we should at least attempt to put competent, non-criminals in charge of the government agencies responsible for educating our children, defending our nation and protecting our people, but I have to tell you, you might be forgetting a few real-life consequences. 

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Like, oh, I don’t know, do you remember that time we had a bunch of Trump lackeys running various government agencies during a global pandemic, and then more than a million Americans died, our economy cratered and the nation essentially came to a halt? I know that y’all somehow turned that whole escapade into Joe Biden’s fault, but facts – and a calendar – tell a different story. 

And now, it’s worse. Somehow. 

Who thought we could ever top the Mooch, Bannon, all of those Russian stooges and Giuliani? The “largest inauguration crowd ever – period.” The press conference in front of Four Seasons Total Landscape. Those off-the-books meetings with pretty much anyone with a Russian accent. 

Yet, in Trump 2: Griftnado, we have this spectacle: One AG nominee being forced to withdraw after a report accusing him of spending thousands on hookers and “drug-fueled sex parties” and the backup AG pick is a former state AG who was credibly accused of accepting a $25,000 bribe from Trump not to go after his scam university.  

By the way, it’s probably worth mentioning that the scam university that was shut down and fined didn’t spend its time scamming a bunch of rich people. It took advantage of poor, working-class folks who were spending their limited dollars trying desperately to get a leg up in life. 

I get that people like to laugh and joke about the incompetence of government and how government can’t do anything right. But the reality is that while government agencies and some government employees certainly have their problems, government also does a helluva lot of good in this country. It saves people’s lives every day. It protects people from abuse and fraud every day. It helps desperate people every day. It defends us from threats every single day. 

That doesn’t happen with incompetent toadies filling the most important roles. That leads to disaster, as we’ve seen. 

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Trust me on this, I’m from Alabama. A state that has been run almost exclusively by inept brothers-in-law who needed a job for most of our existence. We’re at the bottom in health care, life expectancy, education, infant mortality, maternal mortality and infrastructure. We’re near the top in gun violence per capita, heart disease and obesity. 

We are the warning light for what America could become under such corrupt, ignorant leadership: A land with tons of potential, fantastic natural resources and good, hard-working people but one that is constantly undone by a government operated by self-serving, self-enriching, pandering, uncaring, ignorant and downright cruel leadership. 

The one saving grace we’ve always enjoyed here is that there is, or was, a federal government set up to serve as a backstop for all the really mean and ignorant stuff we tried. I don’t know what would happen without that safety net that has caught us so many times. 

But I fear that America is about to find out.

Josh Moon is an investigative reporter and featured columnist at the Alabama Political Reporter with years of political reporting experience in Alabama. You can email him at jmoon@alreporter.com or follow him on Twitter.

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