Donald Trump's Cabinet picks

[Max Peck]

Some of the names being put forward are so outlandish that I can't help but wonder if a they are actually a smokescreen to keep everyone distracted while the adults in the incoming regime are doing something more real offstage and out of sight.

[Blackhawk]

He'll just do what all bullies do: wait until recess.

[msduncan]

Karoline Leavitt selected as Press Secretary

[hepcat]

He sure has a type when it comes to press secretaries.

[Unagi]

It's a little like wanting the boat you're on to be sunk, because you fear the captain will sink it.

It’s knowing the boat is going to sink, you’re going to end up in the water, and you don’t want to see the captain floating away in a lifeboat.

See, I can run with that.

[Unagi]

I mean fuck, at this point all I want is for just one R with a spine to try and stop the dipshittery and give me some hope again. But so far they're all complicit. Every single last one of them.

I think you are forgetting that Murkowski balked.

[Smoove_B]

Some of the names being put forward are so outlandish that I can't help but wonder if a they are actually a smokescreen to keep everyone distracted while the adults in the incoming regime are doing something more real offstage and out of sight.

Seems like they all have potential skeletons in their closet so if he can get them to agree to MAD, then his Cabinet will function as a unified front.

Maybe he is a genius - surround yourself with people of questionable character with the hopes there is some honor among deplorables.

[Alefroth]

Let's wait until confirmation hearings to declare that.

If there are any.

[Isgrimnur]

Fellow National Guardsman told superiors Hegseth might be "insider threat" before Biden inauguration

The Associated Press reported that 12 U.S. National Guard members were removed from helping to secure Mr. Biden's 2021 inauguration after vetting by the U.S. military and FBI. They were found to have made extremist statements in posts or text messages or had ties with right-wing militia groups. In an interview with podcaster Shawn Ryan, Hegseth said he was one of the National Guard members removed from securing the inauguration.

"I was deemed an extremist because of a tattoo by my National Guard unit in Washington, D.C., and my orders were revoked to guard the Biden inauguration… a Jerusalem cross tattoo which is just a Christian symbol," he told Ryan.

But that's not the tattoo that his fellow guardsman, DeRicko Gaither, pointed out to his superiors. He told CBS News, "When I looked at the pictures – in one he had the tattoo of the Jerusalem Cross, which I didn't think was a problem."

"The next photo he had on his inner bicep he had a bicep that said 'Deux Vult,'" Gaither said. "I looked it up, and that tattoo had ties to extremist groups. So, I sent to my leadership. I included the photo attachment and the Army policy about tattoos. I said I just want you to know what's going on. I received a response saying Pete had been removed from the mission."

He said in his letter, which CBS News obtained, "White-Supremacist use of #Deus Vult and a return to medieval Catholicism, is to invoke the myth of a white Christian (i.e. Catholic) medieval past that wishes to ignore the actual demographics and theological state of Catholicism today."

[Punisher]

This will be an interesting gauge of just how much power Trump wields right now.

Very true.

Or how much power they let him wield

[Unagi]

That's always the case.

[Smoove_B]

Seeing news this morning that Jay "Let it Rip" Bhattacharya is being considered to head the National Institutes of Health.

I know why he's doing all this, but it's still crazy to read.

[$iljanus]

Seeing news this morning that Jay "Let it Rip" Bhattacharya is being considered to head the National Institutes of Health.

I know why he's doing all this, but it's still crazy to read.

Yeah, that news brought some clouds into my mild sunny morning as I read about him. I had forgotten that he was one of the authors of the pretentious sounding Great Barrington Declaration

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_B ... eclaration

Americans are Pakleds. "Masks bad...MAGA...we strong...etc"

[Smoove_B]

Choose! Choose the form of the Destructor!

The voting public has chosen Trump.

[Blackhawk]

We look for things. Things that make us money.

[Grifman]

More trouble for this nominee:



It’s nice to see that Trump’s team is no better vetting nominees this time than last.

[$iljanus]

More trouble for this nominee:



It’s nice to see that Trump’s team is no better vetting nominees this time than last.

I thought sexual assault allegations were a prerequisite for serving in the Trump administration?

[Alefroth]

Has this been mentioned yet-

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hegseth-in ... uguration/

A man who in 2021 was a member of the same National Guard unit as Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to be defense secretary, confirmed he sent a letter to his superiors warning that a tattoo Hegseth bears indicated that he was a potential "insider threat" ahead of President Biden's inauguration.

[Max Peck]

Has this been mentioned yet-

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hegseth-in ... uguration/

A man who in 2021 was a member of the same National Guard unit as Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to be defense secretary, confirmed he sent a letter to his superiors warning that a tattoo Hegseth bears indicated that he was a potential "insider threat" ahead of President Biden's inauguration.

Yes

[Smoove_B]

Pretty easy pattern to see with all these nominations, eh?

President-elect Donald Trump has selected Chris Wright, a campaign donor and fossil fuel executive, to serve as energy secretary in his upcoming, second administration.

CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, Wright is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking, a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market.

...

Wright also has criticized what he calls a “top-down” approach to climate by liberal and left-wing groups and said the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight.” Wright, who has never served in government, has written that more fossil fuel production is needed around the globe to lift people out of poverty.

[hepcat]

For the first time in history, leaving the experience section of your resume blank is a strength.

[Grifman]

One of the ironies of Trump’s cabinet is that conservatives claim the DEI leads to people getting jobs not based upon merit. Yet, it’s quit clear that at least half of Trump’s appointees aren’t qualified for their jobs. It’s basically DEI for white men.

[Isgrimnur]

But they worked so hard to be white men!

[Kraken]

Two of my best friends are white men. The rest -- twice as many! -- are white women. Hide your wives, hide your daughters.

[Grifman]

More face eating:

https://www.npr.org/2024/11/17/nx-s1-51 ... jr-tariffs

Writing in the trade journal Ag Daily, she described Kennedy as "an absolute danger" to the American farm industry.

"He has gone as far as saying he would 'weaponize' regulatory agencies to eliminate the use of pesticides," Zaluckyj said, adding that Kennedy has "voiced strong opposition to the scientific consensus" on farm industry practices.

[Max Peck]

Well, the Liberal Elites already gorge themselves on pesticide-free organic crops, so they'll be fine.

[Blackhawk]

Eliminate pesticides and watch the nation starve.

[LordMortis]

Eliminate pesticides and watch the nation starve.

Eliminate imported produce via tariff and domestic immigrant farm labor and watch the nation starve.

[El Guapo]

More trouble for this nominee:

Is it, though?

[Grifman]

More trouble for this nominee:

Is it, though?

Well, I wouldn't have said it if I didn't think so, right?

[Smoove_B]

The nominees (all of them) will demonstrate two things. First, they're all appointments being made with the intention of causing irreparable harm to federal institutions. Second, they're being made to test the GOP members in Congress - to see if they're going to let Trump do what he wants or if there are members that will put up resistance. Both elements are quite concerning.

"There may be a function for that" -- Speaker Mike Johnson leaves the door open for Trump to ram through his cabinet nominees with recess appointments

The road to fascism is paved with people saying others are overreacting.

[Blackhawk]

The mandate was for what he promised, not what he's offering.

People are slowly starting to figure that out.

[Holman]

The mandate was for what he promised, not what he's offering.

People are slowly starting to figure that out.

Eliminate the word "mandate" from your vocabulary.

MAGAs are going to claim "Trump has an overwhelming mandate" up and down the line, but (electoral college aside), Trump not only didn't win the popular vote decisively, but he won less than 50% of the vote.

According to Cook, Trump got 49.96% to Harris's 48.24%. (The rest is third-party spoilers.)

[Smoove_B]

That's true - but to be fair - those updated totals have only been out for the last 2 or 3 days (I think). It's going to be hard to suppress he early reports, particularly in light of the fact that the election was largely decided by early Wednesday morning.

I'm not saying it shouldn't be screamed from the mountaintops, but I think it's going to be hard to get people to care at this point.

[Blackhawk]

I thought about putting 'mandate' in quotes to better illustrate contempt, but felt it worked better as a response without them.

I probably should have left them in.

[Holman]

The problem is that MAGA is going to claim the right to do whatever they want to do because "mandate," regardless of whatever facts we'll be able to marshal against that claim.

Just get ready to resist and mock that claim.

[Smoove_B]

Step 1: Do not argue with MAGA
Step 2: See Step 1

[El Guapo]

More trouble for this nominee:

Is it, though?

Well, I wouldn't have said it if I didn't think so, right?

Does a sexual assault allegation make it less likely for Trump to push his nomination? Does it make it less likely for him to be confirmed? Unfortunately the answers are probably no to both.

[El Guapo]

Supposedly McConnell told Trump that there wouldn't be any recess appointments, so there's anti-McConnell MAGA sentiment online.

[Blackhawk]

Isn't that up to the House? From what I understand, if they vote to adjourn, the Senate either agrees, or Trump agrees for them.