American Phoenix:
What Rises from the Ashes of a Trump Administration Dumpster Fire?
The Trump administration, whether through sheer incompetence or deliberate sabotage, has always been a rolling disaster. But if DOGE, Project 2025, and Schedule F go into effect, we’re looking at something far worse than just another messy, corrupt, authoritarian-lite presidency.
We’re looking at a government gutted from the inside.
Because Trump’s people - or more accurately, the people actually running things while Trump watches TV and rants on Truth Social - don’t just want power. They want to dismantle the federal government as we know it.
And if they succeed, they’ll almost certainly have no plan to rebuild it - leaving the entire next administration with a once-in-a-century opportunity: the chance to reimagine governance itself.
This is the moment for what Jon Stewart calls the Bureaucratic Moonshot.
Trump’s Plan to Break the Government (Without Fixing It)
Trump’s people love to throw around words like “deep state” and “bureaucratic bloat.” But the reality is that the federal government runs on expertise - career officials, technocrats, specialists who actually know how to make things work.
That’s what Project 2025 and Schedule F are designed to destroy.
Project 2025(crafted by the Heritage Foundation) is the playbook for authoritarian capture: a full-scale purge of non-partisan government workers, the gutting of regulatory agencies, and the consolidation of executive power in a way that would make Nixon blush.
Schedule F would fire tens of thousands of career civil servants and replace them with political appointees - turning entire agencies into Trump loyalist operations overnight.
DOGE (Department of Governmental Efficiency) - Elon Musk’s latest vanity project - just accelerates the mess, centralizing data and decision-making in one billionaire’s hands while pretending to "streamline" operations.
So what happens when you fire tens of thousands of experienced civil servants and replace them with hacks, yes-men, and conspiracy theorists?
The answer is simple: Chaos. Paralysis. Collapse.
And because Trump world is fundamentally incompetent, they’ll probably only have time to break things - not to fix them.
The Next President’s Opportunity: The Bureaucratic Moonshot
When Trump leaves office, whether it’s in 2029 or sooner if his house of cards collapses, the U.S. government is going to be a disaster zone. Agencies will be hollowed out. Regulatory structures will be in ruins. Vital public services will be broken.
But here’s the thing: crisis creates opportunity.
Whoever comes next will inherit a mess so deep that half-measures won’t cut it. They’ll need to rebuild the government from the ground up - which means they can rethink the entire system in ways we haven’t done in generations.
1. The Next FDR Moment: A New Era of Government Innovation
After decades of privatization, deregulation, and government starvation, the next administration will have free rein to build something better:
A digitally efficient, citizen-first government that doesn’t run on outdated 1970s systems.
Effective public services with streamlined processing, drastically reducing wait times and expanding access.
Real democracy reforms, fixing the cracks that let authoritarian wannabes like Trump exploit the system.
It won’t be about restoring the old system. It’ll be about building something new - something that actually serves people.
2. The Technocratic Renaissance
The knee-jerk response from a lot of Democrats will be "We have to restore the institutions Trump destroyed."
That’s not enough.
Let’s be honest: our current institutions were already creaking before Trump came along. The government is slow, inefficient, and built for the 20th century, not the digital age.
To be fair to government employees, beyond any examples of actual ineffectiveness, the perception of the bureaucratic processes has shifted dramatically over the last twenty years for reasons beyond their control. This is becausethe way we experience the world has dramatically changed. We receive information and communications instantly - we receive packages in two days when they used to take two weeks.
So even if the bureaucracy hasn't changed or gotten worse at all, it would appear to be relatively worse when compared to everything else that has improved. This perception, likely more than any actual problems or ineffectiveness, has led to a great deal of frustration for its customers.
Instead of rebuilding old bureaucracies, the next president should modernize and streamline government services in ways that actually work for the people.
That could mean:
AI-powered administrative systems to cut through the red tape.
Universal digital IDs to make government services as easy as online banking.
Fully public digital infrastructure so that tech billionaires like Musk don’t hold the keys to our national security.
Postal banking, and other services provided through the postal service - especially in rural areas.
3. Democracy Reform at Warp Speed
The Trump era exposed every weakness in the system - from the Electoral College disaster to the judicial system being hijacked by far-right ideologues.
The next president can’t just go back to normal - they need to fix the system permanently.
That means:
Meaningful campaign finance reform, possibly based on the Connecticut public financing model.
Ending gerrymandering and voter suppression laws once and for all.
Expanding the Supreme Court and/or imposing judicial term limits to undo the Trump-McConnell court packing.
Automatic voter registration and universal vote-by-mail to make elections truly democratic.
Because if we don’t fix the structural flaws that let Trump seize power in the first place, we’re just kicking the can down the road until the next wannabe autocrat shows up.
Who Could Lead the Rebuild?
If we’re looking for a president who could actually pull off this transformation, it’s going to take someone with a deep understanding of governance, policy, and administration.
To me, a few names stand out:
Pete Buttigieg: The Bureaucratic Engineer
Buttigieg is a Rhodes Scholar and one of the sharpest policy minds in the Democratic Party.
He has a mayoral background, meaning he understands how federal policies trickle down to local realities - and how to make government more efficient.
He’s deeply tech-literate, which is crucial for modernizing government services.
His time as Transportation Secretary has given him real bureaucratic experience - navigating red tape, managing budgets, and dealing with infrastructure crises.
JB Pritzker: The Executive Fixer
As Governor of Illinois, Pritzker has already proven he can run a large bureaucracy effectively - one of the hardest jobs in politics.
He has a progressive policy vision, backing bold reforms on healthcare, labor rights, and taxation.
He’s able to mostly self-finance his campaigns, meaning he’s largely immune to the pressures of special interests.
His business background could give him an edge in efficiently restructuring government - without falling for Silicon Valley libertarian gimmicks.
Amy Klobuchar: The Pragmatic Rebuilder
One of the most effective legislators in the Senate, Klobuchar has passed hundreds of bipartisan bills—proof that she knows how to work within the system to get things done.
Her deep experience on key Senate committees—including Judiciary, Commerce, and Rules—has given her a granular understanding of how government functions (and where it’s failing).
She’s a strong proponent of modernizing government, pushing for election security reforms, antitrust crackdowns, and digital infrastructure improvements.
Unlike some progressives who dream big but struggle with execution, Klobuchar is a grinder—someone who would methodically rebuild federal agencies, cut through dysfunction, and restore competence.
Buttigieg, Pritzker, and Klobuchar represent something Democrats desperately need post-Trump: competent, strategic, bureaucratic visionaries who understand both governance and power.
Whoever it may be, the next president has to reimagine the entire structure - a government designed for the people, not the privileged few.
From Ashes to a New America
The Trump administration will almost certainly leave the government in shambles - not because they’re brilliant strategists, but because they break things faster than they build them.
They might have four years to burn everything down. But they won’t have time to rebuild it.
And that means whoever comes next gets a blank slate - a rare chance to completely rethink how the U.S. government works and actually make it work for the people.
This isn’t just about fixing what Trump breaks. It’s about using the wreckage as the foundation for something better.
