Weaponized Incompetence?
- 5 minutes ago
- 4 min read
I’d really like to describe the Trump administration as an example of Weaponized Incompetence, but I really can’t. Intuitively, the term seems to fit, but it already has a definition in the psychological literature.
Setting Trump aside for the moment, the term refers to strategically avoiding responsibility by pretending to be incapable so that someone else helps, takes over, or stops delegating tasks. Over time, the person avoids more and more work, leading to unbalanced relationships, unfair division of responsibilities, and other issues.
The key is that the “incompetence” being weaponized may or may not be genuine, and the real goal is to avoid the task in question by pretending incompetence. And that is where I struggle. From what I see, Trump and his ilk are neither avoiding work nor pretending incompetence.
All evidence suggests to me that the Trump admin focuses on things Trump wants, and ignores everything else, so when people accuse him of “failing” to do something, the most likely explanation is that he was simply lying about intending to do it in the first place. Or that he changed his mind, or was bullied, convinced, or flattered into taking a particular course of action.
Similarly, with regard to the incompetence of Trump and those in his administration, I don’t think they are pretending. While the first Trump administration was chaotic, and demonstrated a frightening level of corruption and incompetence, resulting in two impeachments and an insurrection, there were at least a few people in the government who prevented Trump from doing some of the more blatantly idiotic things he wanted to do.
This time around, however, the guardrails are off, and the incompetence is apparent to all. Signalgate is one example, demonstrating both a disregard for rules and a terrifying level of incompetence.
Trump’s tariffs are another great example. Almost everything Trump said about them was a lie, and demonstrated a near-total lack of understanding of how tariffs work, but they were also implemented so incompetently that most of them were struck down almost immediately. My favourite part, though, was the fact that the Heard and McDonald Islands were included. These islands are Australian territories, with no human inhabitants, but a whole lot of penguins.
And, this time around, his cabinet is made up of sycophantic cronies who are constantly demonstrating their dishonesty and incompetence. While I could probably write posts about each of them (and have already written several about RFK Jr...), I think it’s illustrative to compare Scott Bessent, US Secretary of the Treasury, with his predecessor, Janet Yellen.
Bessent has a BA in Political Science from Yale, then worked in investing and real estate. Without researching the details of his career, the only thing which seems clear is that he had sufficient connections to get jobs in investment banking at large firms, and has experience in the industry.
In contrast, Janet Yellen has a BA in Economics from Brown University, and an MA and PhD in Economics from Yale. Her academic work includes teaching at Harvard, the London School of Economics, and Berkley, while her government work includes working as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve, Chair of the Federal Reserve, and Secretary of the Treasury.
For Trump, the choice is clear. Bessent is a sycophantic toady, apparently willing to say anything to justify the policies Trump wants justified, whether they make sense or not. Yellen, on the other hand, is a dedicated professional with a lifetime of education and service, and dared to tell the truth about her assessment of Trump’s (lack of) knowledge and understanding of economics.
Sadly, this all means that I really can’t call the fascistic, evil clown-car that is the Trump administration “weaponized incompetence”, but it also led to me learning a new word!
TIL the term “patrimonialism”, which is described as “a form of governance in which the ruler governs on the basis of personal loyalties which are derived from patron-client relations, personal allegiances, kin ties, and combinations thereof.”
Um, yes. Exactly that! To me, this appears to entirely explain everything that Trump is doing. While there is certainly a lot of overlap, describing Trumpism as fascist has bothered me for some time, because it only describes part of the equation.
I consider Trumpism a cult of personality which has congealed around Trump, consisting of overlapping groups of “christo-fascists”, “neo-Nazi/white-supremacist fascists”, “Q-Anon”, and “tech-bros”.
The “christo-fascists” are relatively straightforward in their tactics and goals, and their ideological focus is on establishing a theocratic government.
The neo-Nazi/white-supremacists are made up of a relatively large number of groups, with different goals, leaders, and tactics. While some of the more visible figures seem to follow a Nazi ideology, many of the “rank-and-file” appear to be “gravy seals” and other groups who, while I would describe them as cosplaying Nazis, rather than as being Nazis, are still dangerous in large numbers.
Qanon is the “one conspiracy to rule them all” and is a phenomenon which is likely to be studied for decades, particularly by those trying to understand how to encourage people to come back to the real world. ‘Nuff said.
And then, there are the “tech-bros”, epitomized by Elon Musk.
In contrast to Nazism, Trumpism really has no single, underlying ideology, or plans for the future. While Project 2025 is widely considered in that light, it’s “success” is due mainly to the fact that Trump wants these things for his own purposes, and the fact that so many christo-fascists are in Trump’s inner circle. I’d speculate that the christo-fascists and Trump consider each other to be “useful idiots”.
As evidence of this, Project 2025 seems to be focused on trying to build a “deep state” where the government is controlled by the president, and the president is (or has been) controlled or influenced by key religious figures, such as those involved with the Seven Mountain Mandate, like Ted Cruz, Paula White, and Mike Johnson.
But Trump is entirely focused on Trump, and appears to be trying to burn everything down. His actions seem to focus on eliminating any accountability, and the incompetence of his appointments almost guarantee that things won’t work.
I honestly don’t know whether to be scared of the breakdown of the US system, or glad that Trump and his ilk are apparently too stupid to accomplish everything they want.
But I know that, sadly, it’s both.
Cheers!