One of the very sharpest lines in the television show Succession might well stand as an epitaph for the second term of a president known as Donald J. Trump. It occurs when Logan Roy, the megalomaniac owner and chief executive of the media conglomerate he founded, makes a rare visit to the broadcast newsroom floor, roaming silently and spreading terror throughout the staff sitting at their desks. Observing from an executive suite above, a wide-eyed Cousin Greg relays the scene as it unfolds.
“It’s like Jaws,” he says in horrified awe. “If everyone in Jaws worked for Jaws.”
It often seems as though Trump moves through US political waters with the instincts and remorselessness of a shark, never resting while his cabinet, lawmakers in Congress, conservative media movement and the entire Republican Party he has remoulded works for him without a word of dissent.
One of the unintended consequences of the current government shutdown, activated by a refusal of the Democrats to pass the Republican funding Bill before the clock struck October 1st, has revolved around the threat of mass federal lay-offs because of the shutdown.
“It’s likely going to be in the thousands,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt predicted on Thursday when asked how many federal workers
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