Who is actually running the government?

[haele]

13. Actually, no one person that I can see.

You have a bunch of figureheads strutting around, going to conferences and hearings, and opining their asses off to the press and Social Media, while any actual work is being done by transitory appointees and senior bureaucrats in their departments who have been given free range to experiment with their varied political "rice bowl" ideologies and personal levels of lazy comfort - so long as those ideologies and actions are somewhat aligned with the general "vibe" of this administration.
People who become senior beurocrats in Institutional, Government and Public/Private sectors generally do not do so through talent or any drive to improve the system.
They do so because they are politically aligned with those in power or ownership who are looking for senior managers they can "work with" and direct the group focus and actions.
I've been to this Rodeo before. From childhood - when Reagan started dismantling the California Education sector, state oversight of financial regulatory systems, and links between Labor and Business that had been built up to protect and help average Californians since the Great Depression.
What we have are bubbles.
Lucky or Privileged grown assed mental children comfortably enthroned in the bubble their wealth or position gave them with automatic grievances against anyone who doesn't just accept and allow them to exist only in their worldview instead of being part of the greater real world.