What President Trump Should Do
Statecraft meets the Free Press
On Tuesday, we published a Statecraft dispatch with our friends at . In it are five steps the next administration can take to make the federal government more effective and efficient.
Longtime readers will recognize themes I’ve banged on about for ages, themes like:
Being able to fire bad talent is as important as being able to hire good talent
An agency’s authorities and the authorities it believes it has are different things
Setting ambitious, concrete, public goals forces action
Experiments are how you find out if ideas work
The interagency process can work well, but often it’s a sinkhole for good policy
With Elon Musk’s Department Of Government Efficiency incoming (really a blue ribbon commission, it appears), Statecraft will continue to take apart the inner workings of government to try and understand what makes them tick.
Read the piece: The Five Things President Trump Should Do on Day One
What I’m Reading
At the Foundation for American Innovation, Thomas Hochman released “The State Permitting Playbook,” which is what it says on the tin: a comprehensive guide to reforming state permitting laws to make it easier to build.
At the New Yorker, Emma Green outlined shifts in conservative debates over family policy.
Ambrook Research published excellent reporting on how the bison industry in a time of more federal support.
I joined several of my more illustrious colleagues in contributing to “The Builder Issue” at the New Atlantis. There’s not a bad piece in the issue.
Tanner Greer has been covering “The Battle to Shape Trump’s China Policy.” I liked this two-by-two, explaining rifts on the right:
Jenny Mattingley (look for her on Statecraft soon!) testified this summer to the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration about the problems with how the Senate confirms nominees. Her testimony included this remarkable graph:
"President Bush brought squabbling agency heads tasked with combating HIV in Africa into the Oval Office and made a pointed threat. He said that if they didn’t sort things out, “I will be coming after you.” After that, according to Dr. Dybul, “The fighting dropped off remarkably.”"
Where can I learn more about this story?