> sure, making the government smaller is basically the same as putting the government in control of everything.

Come on. A "hostile takeover and dismantling of our democracy" is completely orthogonal to the size of government, before or after the takeover.

How do you clean up a corrupt organization?

By making it more transparent

It's probably best to start by not appointing a serial liar, convicted felon and conman to head it.

But if for some insane reason you do, you probably want to keep him and his cronies accountable to the law of the land. The conduct expected from someone with that history should be unimpeachable.

Instead, what we got is the conduct of someone who is unimpeachable. None of the rules apply to him or his friends, and neither do any of the checks and balances.

He's a rapist too, isn't he?

He literally bragged about it before he was elected the first time.

I know we live in chaotic times and all but "grab them by the pussy" without clear consent is, in fact, sexual assault, no matter how much of a celebrity you are.

And there's a long trail of credible accusations against him ranging from various forms of sexual assault to unequivocal rape:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_sexual_misconduct...

IANAL, but if you're asking for a technically-correct answer, it depends on which place's laws you're using for the statement.

If the crime can be done with hands and objects, yes.

If the crime requires an actual phallus, no. (It'd still be something else, like sexual assault.)

Surely not by appointing other oligarch and cronies at high position of said organization.

Bernie Sanders has been trying to tell you this since I can count.

Corruption is fought by cutting off external, financial influence and lobbying and by putting the voters front and center.

It is however _not_ fought by firing and going after dissents, pardoning violent extremists, stepping over the separation of power.

> How do you clean up a corrupt organization?

1) The US government isn't "corrupt." It might be inefficient, it might be bloated, but it isn't generally corrupt.

2) You definitely don't try "clean up corruption" by out-doing it in corruption and lawlessness.

Is this admin making the government smaller?

So far they are expanding power, firing dissents and trying to reduce spending to humanitarian causes and education, to expand its hegemony, to agitate allies. They even attempt to increase means of incarceration.

But there’s no attempt to decentralize power.

> government smaller

I'd also emphasize that a dictator is smaller than a Congress, but not better, and "fewer written rules" can easily conflict with "more freedom for individuals."

Just imagine if the many state laws concerning crimes and misdemeanors were torn up in favor of "don't piss off the police." Sure, it's way shorter, but you've simply replaced the hard-fought written rules (which you have a chance to see, understand, contest, etc.) with hidden unwritten ones that change semi-randomly.