Management By Bromide

People in seats of power need to know stuff. And they need to have a much deeper understanding of the problems than most folks. Simplistic bullet-point pronouncements just ain't gonna cut it.

WaPo:

“In over half of American households, the single largest expense is child care, even exceeding the cost of housing.”
— Ivanka Trump, assistant to the president, in Berlin, April 25, 2017

Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, has said she wants to help craft a solution to a vexing problem for American families: the soaring cost of child care. In a forum in Berlin, speaking without notes, she made an interesting observation — that in “over half” of American households, the cost of child care exceeded the cost of housing.

Is this the case?

I'm willing to give her partial credit for getting it partially right, but she loses it all in the end (as usual) because I think the main reason Ms Trump says things like this is an effort to be the "kinder gentler" face of an administration that is appallingly uncaring and unthinking in practically everything it's doing.

And when you look just the tiniest bit past the facade, we're right back to "they don't know what the fuck they're doing".

But that's too simple too.

With 45* trying to bully his way thru everything in sight, Ivanka and Jared traipse about rounding off all the jagged edges and softening every harsh reality.

So there's Ivanka, trying to make it all OK with people - like she's smoothing it over after the drunk-n-abusive step dad goes on his daily rampage (thanks, driftglass).

So we have the standard Trump approach to everything - uncertainty. He wants to keep everybody guessing (he said as much during the campaign). It's his signature move. In confusion there is opportunity. So you make opportunity by creating confusion.

But it's even worse than having an enabling apologist working on you.  Keep one of Mike's Own Proverbs in mind:

Never forget that a smiling hyena will still eat your children