Jon Udell<p>"No modern president has ever tried to unilaterally shut down a federal department."</p><p>This framing - "no modern president" or the very common "in modern times" - is an infuriating normalization of things that have *never* happened in the whole history of America.</p><p><a href="https://social.coop/tags/nytimes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>nytimes</span></a> <a href="https://social.coop/tags/normalization" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>normalization</span></a> <a href="https://social.coop/tags/ItNeverHappened" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ItNeverHappened</span></a> <a href="https://social.coop/tags/education" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>education</span></a></p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/06/us/politics/trump-education-department-executive-order.html" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">nytimes.com/2025/03/06/us/poli</span><span class="invisible">tics/trump-education-department-executive-order.html</span></a></p>