Incompetence may not be accidental; it can be deliberate. Authoritarian leaders often install unqualified people into powerful roles, not to succeed, but to fail in ways that centralise control and degrade institutions. It’s a dangerous strategy, and it should be noticed and called out.
1/8
Pete Hegseth, RFK Jr, etc. Despite lacking the expertise to lead a Department their nomination reflects a concerning pattern. Leaders who rely on loyalty over competence don’t just mismanage, they actively weaken vital institutions, societies´ foundations, for personal or political gain.
2/8
This isn’t new. Authoritarians throughout history have hollowed out institutions by appointing loyalists who fail upward. Their "incompetence" is an instrument, ensuring dependency on the leader while eroding professionalism and institutional safeguards.
3/8
Past records raise red flags: mismanagement, ties to extremism, and spreading disinformation. Entrusting federal departments to someone like this isn’t just reckless, it very much seems an intentional step toward institutional decay.
4/8
Beyond individuals, this strategy harms society. It undermines trust in government, polarises communities, and degrades non-partisan values like duty, honour, upholding the law and integrity. The cost is felt in lost lives, weakened security, and a fractured democracy. It is highly polarising.
5/8
When incompetence is engineered, it paves the way for autocrats to consolidate power while silencing dissent. It’s a tactic that sacrifices the public good for personal gain, and we’ve seen it before, across history and around the world. It is not new!
6/8
Every appointment tells us something. It are calculated moves to weaken an institution that upholds democratic values and resists autocratic ambitions. This is bigger than one person. The normalisation of loyalty over competence and disinformation over truth is a strategy of erosion.
7/8
It chips away at democracy, its institutions, its foundations, leaving all vulnerable to authoritarian control. When engineered incompetence becomes a strategy, democracy itself is at risk. These tactics must be called out. Prioritise competence and the public good.
@marc_veld Trump picked them because they're on TV. Period.
@marc_veld
You are insulting the fine work of the architects of #project2025
As libertarians this destruction of the government direct or indirect (by making it unpopular) is certainly not happening by accident, it's one of their ideological goals.
@phaedral