Octopus Overlords

Isgrimnur wrote:Mangione only cared abut healthcare when he was the one suffering.

Pop quiz. Upon signing one of the most important federal animal welfare laws in U.S. history, a former president said:

“We have a responsibility to honor the dignity of God’s creation. With today’s act, we take the critical step toward being more responsible and humane stewards of our planet and all who we want to cherish and take care of, and all of those who live on it.”

Any guesses? Donald Trump.

He made this statement in 2019 upon signing into law H.R. 724, the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act. For years, the act had been a pipe dream among animal advocates — a federal statute aimed at criminalizing the torture and killing of “living non-human mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians.” For five years now, it’s been the law of the land.

Granted, Trump’s animal-welfare record during his first term was far from flawless. His Fish and Wildlife Service rolled back Obama-era bans on the import of elephant and lion trophies. It also nixed Endangered Species Act protections for grizzly bears in Yellowstone and gray wolves in the continental United States. (Courts later overturned these actions.) His Agriculture Department repealed a rule setting basic standards for organic farming.

However, his administration absolutely helped notch some critical victories for the broader animal welfare movement. Now, as the once-and-future president begins shaping his next administration, take notice of some of the people he has selected for Cabinet positions relevant to this issue. The list is surprisingly pro-animal.

The most outspoken of these candidates, Health and Human Services pick Robert F. Kennedy Jr., spent years going after industrial factory farming, correctly opining in one New York Times op-ed that such farms “emit an enormous amount of pollutants that taint air, land and water.” In fact, in the 1990s, RFK brought the fight directly to companies such as China-owned Smithfield, which is the largest pork producer in the United States and subjects the millions of animals under its dominion to the kind of clinical and torturous lives for which future generations will undoubtedly condemn us. He also has opposed some animal testing, which has benefited society in some cases but which roils the conscience when undertaken for anything less than protecting human health.

Pam Bondi, Trump’s selection for attorney general, is a longtime animal advocate, having backed a ballot measure to ban greyhound racing in Florida, which she called a “black eye on our state.” She’s taken on puppy mills, arrested bear baiters, supported rescue efforts and worked to raise awareness for animal adoption.

Doug Burgum, if confirmed as secretary of the interior, would oversee our public lands and, necessarily, wildlife. As governor of North Dakota, Burgum opposed National Park Service efforts to forcibly remove and auction off a herd of wild horses from Theodore Roosevelt National Park. National Wildlife Foundation president and CEO Collin O’Mara, meanwhile, called Burgum “a strong advocate for science-driven wildlife management, conservation of wildlife habitat, [and] promotion of the outdoor recreation economy.”

It’s not a bad lineup so far. Lee Zeldin for the Environmental Protection Agency doesn’t have much of a record on animal welfare, but he received support from advocates in the past for his good work getting the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act over the finish line — and has supported ending dog and cat research at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

And then, well, there’s proud dog-killer Kristi L. Noem — but she would be unlikely to have much to do with animal welfare at the Department of Homeland Security.

Selections for two other Cabinet positions that would directly impact animal welfare are less clear: U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Trump has picked a former aide, Texan Brooke Rollins, for USDA, a position that likely would intersect in a big way with RFK’s more ambitious policy goals. The USDA oversees factory farming, but there are few indications on where she might land on the issue.

No one has yet been tapped for director of Fish and Wildlife, who would play one of the more hands-on roles in managing our animal populations.

Animals still face plenty of threats under a new Trump administration. Project 2025 would gut the Endangered Species Act. And climate-change complacency remains perhaps the most existential threat to animal habitats worldwide.

Still, there’s reason for animal-welfare advocates to be hopeful about some of the people Trump plans to put in his Cabinet — and elsewhere in his administration.

As Vivek Ramaswamy, presumptive co-leader of the proposed “Department of Government Efficiency,” put it recently:

“Animal cruelty will eventually become a genuine concern for conservatives. It’s already happening. Count me in.”

“Animal cruelty will eventually become a genuine concern for conservatives. It’s already happening. Count me in.”

El Guapo wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2025 4:26 pm I assume that there will be at least a couple policy matters on which the second Trump administration will come out on the right side, by dumb luck if nothing else. Could be that animal cruelty will be one of them, who knows. But it won't matter much overall.

Holman wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2025 3:40 pm

“Animal cruelty will eventually become a genuine concern for conservatives. It’s already happening. Count me in.”

At least until Don Jr and Eric need to cut off another couple of elephant tails to prove their manliness.

Alefroth wrote: Tue Jan 14, 2025 3:28 pm Not that it matters, but Hegseth is getting hammered pretty hard.

El Guapo wrote: Tue Jan 14, 2025 3:32 pm

Alefroth wrote: Tue Jan 14, 2025 3:28 pm Not that it matters, but Hegseth is getting hammered pretty hard.

Is he getting hammered by any Republicans, and if so how many?

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the new chairman of the Armed Services Committee, acknowledged that Hegseth was an “unconventional” pick. But he said “that may be what makes Mr. Hegseth an excellent choice,” comparing him to Trump.

“Unlike the current administration, politics should play no part in military matters. We are not Republicans or Democrats — we are American warriors,” Hegseth said. “Our standards will be high, and they will be equal — not equitable, that is a very different word.”

Smoove_B wrote: Tue Jan 14, 2025 3:29 pm I'm sure he was told to endure and that he'd be confirmed regardless. I can't imagine anyone cares about the performative questioning that's going on right now; it's all meaningless.

The GOP in the House is currently floating a bill to ban trans girls from playing sports. I'm sure Pete's hearings were timed to make sure eyes were on him and not what they're doing a few rooms over.