Donald Trump’s embarrassing DOGE assault on every corner of government continues to misfire. The strategy: set a target for cuts in each agency, immediately fire workers with no consideration of their contribution to making government work, backtrack when those cuts blow up. In the words of Elon Musk, “we’ll make mistakes will act quick to correct.” But the reality is that “all the king’s horses, all the king’s men, can’t put complex programs back together again.” And that means chaos for all Americans and around the world literally tens-of-thousands, many of them children, dying. Anybody want to buy the Department of Justice HQ? FBI HQ? Invent a bird flu vaccine? Put out forest fires

In Michigan, we have two national figures looming high in the headlines. Elissa Slotkin has vaulted onto the national stage with a spot-on response to Trump’s 99 minutes of self congratulations and grievances. Pete Buttigieg tells Stephen Colbert that he’s definitely looking at running for U.S. Senate, possibly setting up an All-Star Democratic primary.  

With the beginning of Trump’s North American trade war the state’s shoppers face ever-higher prices for groceries, the state’s farmers brace for massive export reductions, and everything imported, and the auto manufacturers get a 30-day reprieve as they deal with the uncertainty over tariffs.

Also on our radar:

Joining the conversation is longtime Lansing insider Jeff Padden, the founder of the non-partisan Lansing think tank Public Policy Associates.

Jeff has more than 35 years of experience in the public policy arena, including 10 years as a member of the Michigan House of Representatives, where he chaired the House Corrections Committee.  In addition, he served as deputy director of the Michigan Department of Commerce and director of the Governor’s Human Investment Project. He was first elected to the Michigan House after an upset primary victory over the then-chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

Since founding PPA in 1991, Padden has led multiyear, multisite evaluations for clients such as the U.S. Department of Labor, the Ford Foundation, and the James Irvine Foundation.  Jeff has designed and led technical assistance and training programs for public agencies and nonprofits.  At the state and national levels, he has guided clients in the development of new strategies, policies, and initiatives.

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