Hey, Pete

Opinion Columnist

By Mary Keyes Rogers | Feb. 8, 2025

I am willing to admit to liking some of Trump’s bold actions. Enforcing current immigration law is an example. I like rules and have little tolerance for people taking cuts in lines.

Rules and laws are good things. They keep us civilized, and life is most orderly when we all agree to honor them. However, my elbows sharpen when rules and laws are ignored, and chaos sets in.

When it comes to the overreaching executive orders and appointments of ass-kissers—needed to push the Trump agenda through this new government’s greased wheels—my discomfort has grown into something darker. I’m paying less attention to the agenda and more to the grease. The tactics of the administration to eliminate friction are frightening as hell.

It isn’t supposed to be this way. Friction is good and serves a purpose. Grease is bad and serves bad intentions.

Consider just this: Trump, without any audible objection from elected Republicans, insists that all federal government workers, from cabinet secretaries to lowly civil servants, must pledge loyalty to him above all. This will provide more grease and reduce friction.

If you have ever been stymied by a government worker not approving your permit for this or payment for that, you may feel somewhat delighted by the idea of sweeping civil servants to the curb.

However, senior-level civil servants have relevant college degrees, decades of experience, and deep institutional knowledge. Their workflow may appear mired in bureaucracy, requiring various departments to “sign off” or collect background checks, but again, this is good and serves the purpose of honest government without a spoils system for political lackeys or campaign donors.

Trump needs the grease. He needs a federal workforce willing to overlook the laws, norms, and standards of good government and do his bidding.

The Pendleton Act of 1883 and subsequent laws protect civil servants from partisanship. It established competitive exams for federal government jobs and made it illegal to fire employees for political reasons. That is a template for good government.

Multiple unions have filed suits in federal court, putting forth that only the Office of Personnel and Management can rescind the act by going through the rulemaking process of Congress, per federal law. Again, this is friction.

Who is the gatekeeper of the Congress? That would be the Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, who faces Trump in the pose of a Golden Retriever at the front door when his master returns from a two-week vacation. This is grease.

This puts matters in the hands of the judicial branch, now tainted with Trump-appointed loyalists, many of whom have demonstrated a rather spongey commitment to the Constitution.

These building blocks have been in motion for eight years; it didn’t happen overnight. This was a well-executed strategy of applying grease.

Elected Republicans serving in the U.S. House and Senate fail to administer friction. In fact, they are the grease. As they frolic in this pool of neglect, there is rarely any voicing of opinions or intellectual discourse on ideas, ethics, or due process. They have been reduced to scared little baby dolls, afraid of being primaried and ousted from the positions of power they have attained.

But what good is power and influence if you have given it away?

Trump’s dolls just watch from the sidelines as he ignores the limits of his power. While they facilitate Trump's agenda at the speed of light, the Democratic leadership is fiddling with a dimmer switch.

As we witness each un-American act, there deserves a response, but the Democratic Party has gone underground—not in a cool “planning the revolution” kind of way, but as a maneuver to keep the covers over their heads. This is just as well, as the party has never been able to muster the hutzpah to go bold.

People like me don’t quite know what to do with our anger and fear. We can’t wait for the next presidential election.

We need a spirited opposition leader for Democrats, Republicans, and Independents to rally behind. A fearless lover of America, a leader worthy of history books yet to be written. A leader who is savvy to the wheels of government with a wealth of common sense, a crafty tactician to all modern media who is brilliant in making unlikely partnerships, comfortable with being bold but not outrageous, and above all, a likable, trustworthy, and genuinely good person who can connect with anyone.

Who are you? I have one idea.

As I write this, reports say Pete Buttigieg is “strongly considering” running for Michigan’s vacated U.S. Senate seat. Whether he does or does not take that path, Americans beyond Michigan need him to be our guy right now.

Mary Keyes Rogers is a 25-year resident of Traverse City. She has held leadership positions with non-profit organizations, including the League of Women Voters, Civic Searchlight, Chambers of Commerce, Michigan Small Business Development Center, Marigold Women in Business, and was the host of the Mary in the Morning radio talk show.