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   Sean Casten (seancasten@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 19-May-2025 20:12:21 JST Sean Casten

   This is scary and highlights something that's painfully obvious in DC: smart people either don't want to work in this administration or are being turned away. But effective government - especially when crisis strikes - depends on having smart people around. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/05/17/trump-administration-brain-drain-doge/

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     Sean Casten (seancasten@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 19-May-2025 20:12:58 JST Sean Casten

     in reply to

     And that's huge own-goal. There is an amazingly deep pool of talent in DC that wants to work in the WH. Not the electeds (no disrespect intended) but the people they hire. Because while winning an election depends on a whole host of factors, hiring staff is an embarrassment of riches.

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     Sean Casten (seancasten@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 19-May-2025 20:12:58 JST Sean Casten

     in reply to

     Some of the smartest people I've met in my life are the career hill staffers, and the just-below-cabinet level tier in the WH. Thousands of people want those jobs and the WH gets to pick the best.

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     Sean Casten (seancasten@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 19-May-2025 20:12:58 JST Sean Casten

     in reply to

     I think of people like Wally Adeyemo, Shalanda Young, Rohit Chopra, Jigar Shah... these are intimidatingly smart people. You may not always agree on policy but their intellect and ability to simultaneously grasp the big picture and the minutiae of public policy are unparalleled.

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     Sean Casten (seancasten@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 19-May-2025 20:12:58 JST Sean Casten

     in reply to

     The Trump admin by contrast is all 4th / 5th tier talents. Duffy, Hegseth, Gabbard, Wright, Bondi - none of these people distinguished themselves for anything but talking on television. And like all mediocre people they are intimidated by talent so hire people who won't challenge them.

     Aral Balkan repeated this.
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     Jochen Fromm (jochenfromm@berlin.social)'s status on Monday, 19-May-2025 20:12:58 JST Jochen Fromm

     in reply to

     @SeanCasten

     "Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty."
     ~Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
     https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt