Trump has been president-elect for just at four weeks now and 
continues to appoint people to his cabinet who are either totally unqualified, ideologues with no agenda other than to dismantle every positive step made during the Obama administration, or slobbering sycophants who expect their reward for their worship at the Altar O’ Trump during the campaign.
And sometimes it’s all three in one: the news last week was that Sarah Palin (Sarah Palin??) is being considered to head up the Veterans’ Administration, with Ben Carson for HUD. If this weren’t so important it would be hilarious.
We’ve got a couple of billionaires being proposed; Betsy DeVos for Education and a Wall Street baron (Wilbur Ross) for Commerce. DeVos, who is married into the ultra-conservative family that owns Amway (as well as the company that I work for, by the way), is the sister of Erik Prince who founded Blackwater, the defense contractor of Iraq War infamy, and is herself a devout Christian and home-schooler who believes that the solution to our education problems is to issue vouchers. Unfortunately this will lead to a reduction in educational opportunities for the poor (who can’t afford to pony up the extra cash required by elite private schools), while at the same time blurring the church/state line established by the framers of the Constitution. It is sold to a gullible public as a combination of “privatization” and “increasing available choices” for parents. If DeVos is able to implement her agenda, we’ll see things like school prayers, the gutting of any sex education programs, and non-science being taught alongside real science to let the kiddies decide for themselves which to believe. For his part, Ol’ Wilbur is known as “King of Bankruptcies” for his habit of buying up steel companies, bleeding them to bankruptcy and leaving shareholders and banks holding the bag. Gee, kinda sounds like Trump’s not the only one to get rich on the backs of the little guy.
And Sarah Palin for the VA?? On what planet is she qualified for such a position? For any position, really. Remember she bailed as governor of Alaska halfway through her term for reasons that were never fully explained. She couldn’t cut it as the head of the state with the lowest population density of the US, yet Trump thinks she’d make a great person to head up the organization tasked with taking care of our wounded soldiers? You betcha.
For his part, Ben Carson’s close friend and business advisor Armstrong Williams said (presumably with the knowledge and consent of Carson) ….”Dr. Carson feels he has no government experience, he’s never run a federal agency. The last thing he would want to do was take a position that could cripple the presidency.” That statement indicated that Carson wasn’t totally divorced from reality, but that breath of fresh air didn’t last long. Somehow he’s morphed from realizing that he’s totally unqualified for the position to delighted he gets to play god with poor people and “fix the inner cities.” Oh, man.
As the clown show continues, I recall Trump’s ridiculous statement that he was “the only person who could solve all our problems” and I wonder how long it’s going to take the people who fell for that line to realize what a horrible mistake they made.
About BigBill
Stats: Married male boomer.
Hobbies: Hiking, woodworking, reading, philosophy, good conversation.
And…the circus continues.
Trump has been president-elect for just at four weeks now and
continues to appoint people to his cabinet who are either totally unqualified, ideologues with no agenda other than to dismantle every positive step made during the Obama administration, or slobbering sycophants who expect their reward for their worship at the Altar O’ Trump during the campaign.
And sometimes it’s all three in one: the news last week was that Sarah Palin (Sarah Palin??) is being considered to head up the Veterans’ Administration, with Ben Carson for HUD. If this weren’t so important it would be hilarious.
We’ve got a couple of billionaires being proposed; Betsy DeVos for Education and a Wall Street baron (Wilbur Ross) for Commerce. DeVos, who is married into the ultra-conservative family that owns Amway (as well as the company that I work for, by the way), is the sister of Erik Prince who founded Blackwater, the defense contractor of Iraq War infamy, and is herself a devout Christian and home-schooler who believes that the solution to our education problems is to issue vouchers. Unfortunately this will lead to a reduction in educational opportunities for the poor (who can’t afford to pony up the extra cash required by elite private schools), while at the same time blurring the church/state line established by the framers of the Constitution. It is sold to a gullible public as a combination of “privatization” and “increasing available choices” for parents. If DeVos is able to implement her agenda, we’ll see things like school prayers, the gutting of any sex education programs, and non-science being taught alongside real science to let the kiddies decide for themselves which to believe. For his part, Ol’ Wilbur is known as “King of Bankruptcies” for his habit of buying up steel companies, bleeding them to bankruptcy and leaving shareholders and banks holding the bag. Gee, kinda sounds like Trump’s not the only one to get rich on the backs of the little guy.
And Sarah Palin for the VA?? On what planet is she qualified for such a position? For any position, really. Remember she bailed as governor of Alaska halfway through her term for reasons that were never fully explained. She couldn’t cut it as the head of the state with the lowest population density of the US, yet Trump thinks she’d make a great person to head up the organization tasked with taking care of our wounded soldiers? You betcha.
For his part, Ben Carson’s close friend and business advisor Armstrong Williams said (presumably with the knowledge and consent of Carson) ….”Dr. Carson feels he has no government experience, he’s never run a federal agency. The last thing he would want to do was take a position that could cripple the presidency.” That statement indicated that Carson wasn’t totally divorced from reality, but that breath of fresh air didn’t last long. Somehow he’s morphed from realizing that he’s totally unqualified for the position to delighted he gets to play god with poor people and “fix the inner cities.” Oh, man.
As the clown show continues, I recall Trump’s ridiculous statement that he was “the only person who could solve all our problems” and I wonder how long it’s going to take the people who fell for that line to realize what a horrible mistake they made.
About BigBill
Stats: Married male boomer. Hobbies: Hiking, woodworking, reading, philosophy, good conversation.