TRUMP’S CLOWN SHOW – EXCEPT IT’S NOT FUNNY
Dr. Common Good
I ask, is this the United States of America? One wonders. A brief look at the roster of Trump’s bizarrely unqualified or at least inappropriate, undemocratic, dangerous, and sycophantic nominees cannot help but raise the question. Here are a few of his “gems”:
Pam Bondi for Attorney General?
This committed Trump loyalist and personal lawyer offered some stunning testimony in her confirmation hearing:
- She still does not admit that Biden won election and still claims there was fraud.
- She seems either strangely unaware of well-known facts about Trump’s election manipulation attempts (especially for a lawyer) or is falsely denying knowledge – for example, claiming that she was not aware that Trump asked the Georgia Secretary of State to “find” votes that would overturn the election results in his favor, or that he had any role instigating the January 6 insurrection attempt. How could she not know this? She even claimed that there was a “peaceful transition to power” in 2021.
- She says she will “look into” birthright citizenship. Really? It’s in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, clear as day.
On top of all that, she made over $3 million from the creation of Trump’s Truth Social parent company and has invested millions in Trump Media. Last year she earned over $1 million lobbying for companies that have a direct interest in Justice Department affairs or have been the subject of recent DOJ investigations (Pfizer). She also earned over $500,000 consulting for the Trumpist America First Policy Institute. How can she possibly serve as an independent AG?
Pete Hegseth for Defense Secretary?
In addition to all the significant allegations of sexual abuse and alcohol abuse, even while on the job, Hegseth is patently unqualified:
- He has no experience with global organizations, regional organizations, security organizations, or managing any government agency. He was even kicked out of several small nonprofit veteran’s organizations for mismanagement. And during his hearing, he could not even name a single member of ASEAN, or the range of security arrangements to which the U.S. is a party.
- He has no apparent commitment to the US Constitution — refusing to say whether or not he would order troops to shoot protesters if Trump told him to, and stating that he would not rule out using invasion forces to take over Greenland and the Panama Canal in line with Trump’s expansionist fantasies. Generally, he would not answer whether or not he would obey an illegal order from Trump.
How can this man be Defense Secretary?
Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence (DNI)?
Although this born-again Trump loyalist and new MAGA star served four terms in the House, she has never held any senior government role and has no intelligence experience. And even more troubling:
- She was a public supporter of brutal Syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad, even meeting with him in 2017 and denying that he was responsible for the atrocities so clearly linked to his regime.
- Russian media have praised the choice of Gabbard for DNI, hailing her public rationalizations for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and her opposition to the Biden Administration’s support for Ukraine’s resistance.
Our allies are not likely to share intelligence with the US if she is DNI. So, what possible reason is there for her to hold this office?
RFK Jr. as Director of HHS?
There is just too much here to cover. He is so flagrantly inappropriate and unqualified for HHS Secretary it defies explanation:
- He has no science or public health background, and does not apparently understand the nature and process of scientific research, and he has no experience in government.
- He has been a leading promoter of misinformation and lies about vaccines and their consequences – promoting the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism, the purported danger of COVID-19 vaccines, and that there are generally no safe vaccines, ignoring the vast body of medical studies that have demonstrated that the opposite is true and that vaccines have been one of public health’s greatest success stories.
- He has dangerously promoted numerous unproven and demonstrably ineffective alternative therapies, including raw milk (a transmission vector for H5N1/avian flu) and the use of Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19.
- He even promoted the racist and antisemitic theory that the COVID-19 virus targeted white and Black people but not Chinese or Ashkenazi Jews.
- He has stated that he would shut down infectious disease research for eight years and fire 600 NIH employees on Day 1.
HHS is a massive organization overseeing 13 agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and others – all highly important for the nation’s health. RFK Jr. has no business whatsoever leading this agency.
Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary?
While he does have some of the background common to Treasury Secretaries, his policy positions are clearly oligarchic:
- As a billionaire hedge-fund manager, he supports extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which are estimated to increase the deficit by $ 4 trillion over the next ten years (per the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget).
- He opposes raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25/hour, a rate that has stayed the same since 2009. A person earning that amount makes just over $15,000 annually. It is not a living wage.
- He opposes raising taxes on high income earners at any level as a means to pay down the deficit, making the age-old and many times debunked claim that these are job creators.