The second Trump administration is starting to round out in anticipation of Inauguration Day. Given his propensity to reward fierce loyalty mixed in with a large dose of admiration for television, most of the choices have been… curious, at best.
When you see the scaffolding going up around Washington D.C., don’t just assume it’s for the inaugural parade. That’s a tent because the circus is moving to town.
Many names you likely know. Dr. Oz – the pill pushing TV host – will be in charge of Medicare Services. Homeland Security advisor will be noted racist and all around Bond villian, Stephen Miller. The Surgeon General will be Dr. Janette Nesheiwat who is a regular contributor to Fox News.
Ties to Fox News will be huge in this second attempt at a Trump administration. His defense secretary will be a man from Fox News that got kicked off of an assignment while with the National Guard due to his tattoos possibly indicating affiliations with extremist groups. Mike Huckabee, another former Fox News host and former governor of Arkansas will be the ambassador to Israel. And there are countless more.
Let’s not forget his first selection for the Department of Justice, Congressman Matt Gaetz, was pulled after numerous accounts of Gaetz’s inappropriate sex with minors. That’s minors with an “s” as in plural.
If you’ve got a TV show or have said anything nice about Trump in the past, check your mail, you might be in Trump’s cabinet.
But the wing-doozie of a pick is a new position given to donor and supporter and “genius” Elon Musk. Musk’s business “successes” are well documented. But most notably, bought Twitter for $80 million dollars and almost immediately lost half its value through cut slashing, feature tweaking and reversal of safety policies.
If you felt that the position had any hope of being a serious examination at the bureaucracy of the government, he named it the Department of Government Efficiency, or D.O.G.E. This mirrors a bitcoin ponzi scheme he has financial ties to. It’s like if Bill Gates were asked to run something in the government and wanted to make the department “Micro-Soft.”
This is a collection of unserious people working for an unserious man. Or, put more bluntly, a group of dumb dangerous people working for a dumb dangerous man.
And, yes, he won handsomely earlier this month. He is claiming a mandate. He won both the House and the Senate and already has the Supreme Court in his pocket. His hiring of late-night snake oil salesmen and dangerously thinking “yes” men is something to watch.
This is the opposite of Dancing With The Stars where they assemble a collection of D-List celebrities. It’s basically asking that same cast, “Wanna run the government?” But this is the guy you voted for. You wanted to watch a former reality show host hand out roses to other names you might recognize despite their credentials, level of education, experience, or capability.
But hey, at least when the inmates run the asylum, you might get some free pudding.
(Get more Kamler on Twitter, where you can find him as @chriskamler)
