Damaged men and broken government

Elon is nominally gone, but the DOGE-inspired shitshow is ongoing:

Hundreds of staff fired from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention late Friday have been reinstated, according to the American Federation of Government Employees.

After a new round of layoff notices sent late Friday night to around 1,300 workers at the CDC, approximately 700 were reinstated on Saturday, while about 600 remain laid off, according to the union, which represents federal workers.

“The employees who received incorrect notifications were never separated from the agency and have all been notified that they are not subject to the reduction in force,” said Andrew Nixon, director of communications for the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Among reinstated employees are staff that publish the agency’s flagship journal, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, according to Dr. Debra Houry, who recently resigned as the agency’s chief medical officer and deputy director for program and science. Houry and other high-level CDC officials resigned in August in protest over the firing of recently confirmed CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez.

Peter Thiel’s fake-Appalachian messenger boy knows who to blame for the comprehensive unilateral incompetence of the Trump administration:

We fired people we had no reason or budgetary need to fire and we actually screwed up and fired the wrong people and then rehired them the next day and all because of Chuck Schumer

[image or embed]— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm.bsky.social) Oct 12, 2025 at 10:23 AM

In addition to its transparent falsity, I just don’t see how this is going to play to people who aren’t hardcore MAGA already. Seems whiny and weak, especially coming from the smarmy Yalie rather than the reality show businessman.