Here’s an argument that I’ve heard exclusively from strivers who are unwilling to risk career opportunities to stand up to the Trump administration: “It’s important that good people remain in government, or else only the bad people would be running things.”
I’m so sick of this argument, and versions like it, I want to vomit. It’s one thing if you are a saboteur. It’s one thing if you understand your role in government as actively trying to frustrate your colleagues and bosses. Delete all the files! Lace all the Keurig cups with laxatives! Take the bastards down from the inside. Double agents will be rewarded when the glorious revolution comes.
But most people are not doing that. Most people don’t have the will to do what must be done, and so their work in the government is just work for the government. They’re helping the white supremacist administration win, even if they personally object to the policies they have chosen to tacitly support. I don’t give a damn if you are part of an administration that cages children, but feel really super bad about it. You are part of an administration that cages children. That’s on your soul. Either you are actively working to, most likely illegally, sabotage the administration’s efforts, or you are part of the problem.
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The head student loan officer for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finally realized his complicity and decided to become part of the solution. He quit the CFPB. From the Wall Street Journal:
“The bureau’s new political leadership has repeatedly undercut and undermined career CFPB staff working to secure relief for consumers,” Seth Frotman, the bureau’s student-loan ombudsman, said in the letter dated Monday, referring to enforcement matters. “Their actions will affect millions of student loan borrowers, including those harmed by the company that dominates this market.”
A CFPB spokesman declined to comment, saying the bureau doesn’t discuss personnel matters. “We hope that all of our departing employees find fulfillment in other pursuits and we thank them for their service,” the spokesman said.
Look, at some level this happens with every transfer of political power. Executive agencies wax and wane depending on the party in power. Republicans, generally, don’t believe in government and don’t want it to work. When they are in power, executive agencies are neutered in their scope and effectiveness, except for the DoD and — USUALLY — the F.B.I. When Democrats are in charge, these agencies are empowered to do their jobs.
But the Trump administration is different. Instead of merely neutering his agencies, the Trump administration seeks to actively turn them against the American people. The Department of Justice is now the enemy of justice. The Environmental Protection Agency is now a threat to the environment. And, obviously, the CFPB is now being used to help the rich and powerful predate on “consumers.” Trump makes us all live in opposite world, the very name of a thing denotes what the thing is now set to destroy, not protect.
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So, I also hope that departing CFPB officials find “fulfillment” in other pursuits. I hope that all people currently working for the Trump administration find the moral strength to work against it.
CFPB Student-Loan Official Quits, Citing Boss’s Enforcement Policy [Wall Street Journal]
Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at [email protected]. He will resist.