The Republican Party, broadly. It's much easier to dismantle government when you've convinced voters that it is untrustworthy and incapable of success.
So their plan is:
1. Destroy the government.
2. ???
3. Profit.
Step 2 is privatization, preferably to your friends and donors.
How do they intend to keep away angry people with pitchforks without a government?
> How do they intend to keep away angry people with pitchforks without a government?
We're talking about America here, not France. :)
Okay, I meant angry people with guns.
That's the neat part about these fascist morons. They have delusions of longevity and have convinced themselves that they'll be the despots that never get overthrown. Or they flee to Argentina, as is tradition
Has already started. Peter Thiel!
Oh, they don't want no government at all. Just to get rid of the parts that redistribute wealth downwards and/or make it more difficult for private enterprise to make profit. The police can stay, provided they stay on-side.
What angry people with pitchforks?
They want very strong government. Surveillance, ICE, FBI, police all available to go after opponents. And going after fraud as long as it's committed by the little guy.
They intend to keep people in a precarious position of debt and dependence such that they can't afford to pay attention because they're too busy trying to get by and afraid to lose their health insurance.
They tell the angry people all their problems and fears are the fault of one or more out groups (e.g., immigrants, non-whites, and trans people) like they have for decades already.
2. "Do whatever the fuck we want because who's gonna stop us, the government we gutted? lol"
Duh.
They'd rather be in control of ashes than not be in control of a functional society.
Step 1: Render government services ineffective
Step 2: Award contracts to private companies to fulfill the recently created gap in need
Step 3: profit
In Britain that seems to be the game plan for the NHS.
Newt Gingrich set the standard for modern Republican obstructionism, but the idea goes further back. For example, Reagan’s “I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.” Ghastly statement in retrospect given what’s happened in the past 40 years. Imagine taking over an org and saying that you don’t think it’s capable of producing any positive outcomes for its shareholders (or stakeholders, more generally).