Recent Forum Topics › Forums › The Public House › Cabinet Game
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PA Ram.
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January 18, 2017 at 10:15 am #63827
ZooeyModeratorHere’s the game:
You can reject any ONE Trump appointment. Which one would it be, and why? I’m going to have to give this one some thought. They are all terrible, but seem to range from incompetent to appallingly dangerous.
Off the top of my head…
Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State. Likely to cozy up to Russia and get that trillion dollar oil deal done for Exxon. Beyond that…?
Jeff Session, Attorney General. Thinks that the first amendment only applies to god-fearing racists, anti-faggots like him, and not to unbelievers and disciples of Satan.
Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education. Longtime, anti-union Republican donor who has made a mission of backing charter schools. She’s fought to make it easier to start Charter Schools, harder to make them accountable for their results, thinks teachers make too much money, and believes public school’s should advance the mission of God. The charter schools she supports are religious, typically. Has no background or experience in education.
Scott Pruitt, EPA head. Hates the EPA, and has sued it. Close ally of the fossil fuel industry, and would basically be in charge of dismantling the EPA. Climate change denier? I’m not sure, but wouldn’t be surprised.
Ben Carson, HUD. No government experience of any kind, let alone housing, nor knowledge of the department whatsoever.
Mike Pompeo, CIA director. Don’t know much about him except he said he opposes torture and I read somewhere that he is in favor of a Holy War in the Middle East. Saw no documentation of that claim, however.
Steven Mnuchin, Treasury. Classic fox in charge of henhouse. Former Goldman Sachs executive who would be in charge of government borrowing in the financial market, rewriting tax codes, and lifting sanctions against foreign countries.
Andrew Puzder, Labor. Long history of aggressively rigging the system against workers.
Then there are advisers: Preibus, Bannon, Icahn, and Kushner, among others.
OMG.
January 18, 2017 at 10:31 am #63829PA RamParticipantOnly ONE?
That’s one hell of a choice.
The question becomes: which one of these dolts will do the most damage?
There is also short term and long term damage.
I’m a big fan of the environment. And I’d like to see the EPA stick around. I think that could be a big fight with a lot of opposition, however. I’m hopeful that this clown’s damage can be minimized and hopefully the damage reversed.
Betsy Devos wants to bring back child labor and pretty much end public education. This. “dumbing down” of the public is all part of a greater plan as the powerful seek more and more control. That sort of terrifies me.
I have no clue what the heck sort of damage Jeff Sessions can do but it’s a case where I HOPE the laws in place prevent some of the worst things he can do. There will be a lot of damage with some of the things he doesn’t do, as well.
I’m hearing Puzder may be having second thoughts about taking the position but whoever replaced him would be equally horrible. This guy will have the power to appoint the heads of labor boards. Unions will be in big trouble. All workers will, really.
But I may have to agree with Tillerson. I would have felt much better with Romney–but Trump was just making a fool out of him. The next four years can completely change our relationship with other world powers and who knows what kind of trouble Trump will get into and will need a smart, qualified person as Secretary of State to bail him out.
It’s a disaster of epic proportions.
I can’t imagine what’s ahead. I don’t want to.
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. " Philip K. Dick
January 18, 2017 at 11:04 am #63833
Billy_TParticipantZooey,
Those are difficult choices. I have no idea who is the worst of the worst, or who will wreak the most havoc.
Probably Tillerson and Pruitt. But I don’t see any of them not harming Americans and the planet.
One additional thing to note about Betsy Devos. Her brother is Eric Prince, of Blackwater fame. Not sure if you saw this article, but I’ll repost link here, from Jeremy Scahill:
Notorious Mercenary Erik Prince Is Advising Trump From the Shadows
Jeremy Scahill2017-01-17
January 18, 2017 at 11:27 am #63835ZooeyModeratorYeah, I know about Erik Prince and Betsy. That is a family society didn’t really need.
The whole question is tough, and merely academic, but it’s true that any nominee who got blocked would be replaced by someone just as dangerous. It isn’t going to matter. No fight can be won at this point, I don’t think. The best hope we have is to stall things as much as possible, and limit the damage, and pray to the lord gawd almightee that informed voters turn out in 2018, and low-information voters stay home.
I look at this list, and I consider irreparable, long-term damage, and I think Pruitt and DeVos are in prime positions for that level of destruction. Tillerson is going to make the Exxon deal. Well, so what? It’s totally unethical and disgusting, but oil wells are all over the place, and so what? It might actually ratchet down a global hot spot. As far as the rest of his foreign diplomacy, well, there are thousands of diplomats, and the intelligence agencies, and people around who may mitigate this somewhat.
Sessions is an asshole, but his damage is likely to be temporary and “local.” I mean…particular people will get screwed as opposed to the whole nation. There will be setbacks, but society will recover even if individuals don’t.
DeVos can funnel money away to charter schools, and shutting off those pipelines of cash is hard to do. Once millions have been invested, it’s very difficult to just shut that down and return the plumbing towards public schools. This is bad. And she will undoubtedly place public schools in a vice. She’s an ideologue who just doesn’t give a fuck about other people.
But Pruitt has to be the worst because we have one world, and it’s threatened to death, and there simply is no recovering.
January 18, 2017 at 11:39 am #63837Billy_TParticipantI can see all of that, Zooey.
It might be the case that no matter who Trump picked for State, he or she would act on the behalf of Exxon and Corporate America anyway. Clinton pushed the privatization of Central and South American public works, for instance — which should be illegal. This is basically the norm for State in the neoliberal era. Trump won’t change that, obviously. It will get worse, most likely. Probably didn’t need the CEO to keep that going. And in relative terms, he’s not a raging fanatic, like Devos.
So, yeah. She’s going to do horrible things to the nation’s educational system, and that cuts deep.
About 2018? I am not sanguine in the slightest. Actually, I think the GOP is likely to pick up seats in Congress, primarily due to the huge number of Dems defending in “red states” and the continued effects of gerrymandering the House.
Demographics favor the Dems. Systemic structures favor the Republicans. I think the latter win for now.
January 18, 2017 at 12:34 pm #63839PA RamParticipantAbout 2018? I am not sanguine in the slightest. Actually, I think the GOP is likely to pick up seats in Congress, primarily due to the huge number of Dems defending in “red states” and the continued effects of gerrymandering the House.
Demographics favor the Dems. Systemic structures favor the Republicans. I think the latter win for now.
Unless the Democrats are able to correct the gerrymandering that the Republicans have built into the system to hold their majorities–I don’t see how 2018 hurts them.
This is going to be a disastrous 4 years. No one is going to save us.
We have to hope for the best and hope that someone can clean it up in 2020.
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. " Philip K. Dick
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