Trump's disastrous cabinet

[Starlight]

Donald Trump has assembled the worst Cabinet in American history

Some highlights of Trump's cabinet:
* Four of them are on the record as against the existence of, or fundamental purposes of their departments, or have sued their departments multiple times.
* Four of them have serious past scandals that should make them ineligible (fraud, tax evasion, insider trading, getting fired for incompetence).
* Four of them have no relevant qualifications or experience for the position.
* Zero people in Trump's cabinet have PhDs (compare to ~50% of Obama and Clinton's cabinet picks who did).


Trump's single most hilarious pick is probably Rick Perry.

Perry, ex-governor of Texas, has a reputation as a serial bumbler and his most famous moment in politics was during a presidential debate when he listed the 3 departments of the federal government he wanted to abolish and couldn't remember the 3rd one, and after fumbling for a moment just said "Oops". After the debate, he clarified that the one he couldn't remember was the Department of Energy.

So because we are apparently now living in a comedy movie, guess who Trump has picked to run the Department of Energy? Rick Perry. Oops.

Rick Perry accepted the offer, believing he could utilize his experience of being in the pocket of the Texas oil and gas lobbyists in order to be an ambassador for oil and gas around the world as Secretary of Energy. In another comedic twist, he was apparently disappointed to learn that that's not what the Department of Energy does, and that actually they manage and maintain the US's nuclear weapons. Oops.

Now that Rick Perry knows what the DoE does, he said this week: "after being briefed on so many of the vital functions of the Department of Energy, I regret recommending its elimination." Oops.

Obama's appointment to head the DoE was a nuclear physics professor who had headed the department of physics at MIT and who had previous experience in the DoE. Rick Perry brings to the role his BSc in Animal Science. Oops.

Good to know that the world's largest nuclear arsenal will be in safe hands... oops.

[Darth Executor]

Rick Perry accepted the offer, believing he could utilize his experience of being in the pocket of the Texas oil and gas lobbyists in order to be an ambassador for oil and gas around the world as Secretary of Energy. In another comedic twist, he was apparently disappointed to learn that that's not what the Department of Energy does, and that actually they manage and maintain the US's nuclear weapons. Oops.

This is a lie fabricated by Carlos Slim's blog. Rick Perry does, in fact, know what the DoE does and about its maintenance of nuclear weapons:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/video-...e=TWSAutoTweet

A New York Times report on the eve of Rick Perry's confirmation hearing for Secretary of Energy Wednesday alleged that the former Texas governor had only recently discovered that the job largely involves nuclear issues. But Perry acknowledged in 2014 that the Department of Energy is responsible for overseeing the country's nuclear arsenal. This was actually debunked days ago.

"You served in the Air Force and probably know a big part of the Department of Energy is National Security and nuclear, nuclear arsenal," said Greg Dalton, founder of the Climate One forum, during a discussion on energy independence.

"Yep," Perry said.

oops.

Oops indeed. Another humiliating, idiotic thread by Starlight that could have easily been avoided if he didn't live in a bubble and grossly oversetimated his knowledge and understanding of the world.

[JimL]

Scott Pruit for head of the EPA is another doozy of a pick. Like Trump himself, Pruit is a climate change denier, believes its a hoax, and has himself sued the agency 13 times on behalf of the polluters. Trump is appointing the foxes to gaurd the hen house. Problem with this pick, other than the fact that he is a nut case climate change denier, is that we can't afford to waste 4 more years dealing with these ignoramuses.

[Starlight]

This is a lie fabricated by Carlos Slim's blog.

It was reported by the New York Times. In the course of the article they explicitly cite a named person they talked to about it.

Rick Perry does, in fact, know what the DoE does and about its maintenance of nuclear weapons:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/video-...e=TWSAutoTweet
"You served in the Air Force and probably know a big part of the Department of Energy is National Security and nuclear, nuclear arsenal," said Greg Dalton, founder of the Climate One forum, during a discussion on energy independence.
"Yep," Perry said.

Your article is misleading. In the interview, Perry consistently talks about the Department of Energy as being about research into new technologies of energy generation. As the article quotes, the host tries to correct him by reminding him that the DoE is primarily about nuclear weapons. But Perry isn't listening to the host at the point and doesn't pick up on it. He interrupts the interviewer and ignores what the interviewer has just tried to say to him, and says dismissively and quickly "Yep, yep, and they have, and they have, listen, [quickly picks up book beside him], remember we talked about, I showed you this book, this is George Shultz's Game Changes: Energy on the Move, and it is a fascinating read if you're interested in innovation [in energy production technologies]". And then he rambles on about big government and departments that are doing innovative research on new technologies.

Perry completely missed the host's reference to the nukes, and your cited article completely misrepresents the interview insofar as it implies Perry was replying that he knew the DoE primarily managed nukes. The argument Perry puts forth in that interview for abolishing the department is essentially "research and innovation is all well and good, but the taxpayer simply can't afford it." He never addresses the issue that the interviewer tried to raise of "what about the nukes?" Which he would obviously need to address if he had realized the department primarily manages nukes if he wanted to abolish the department. That 2014 interview, confirms, IMO that Perry didn't know that the DoE primarily managed nukes and shows that in 2014 he thought its primary job was funding research on new energy technology.

[Cow Poke]

Scott Pruit for head of the EPA is another doozy of a pick. Like Trump himself, Pruit is a climate change denier, believes its a hoax, and has himself sued the agency 13 times on behalf of the polluters. Trump is appointing the foxes to gaurd the hen house. Problem with this pick, other than the fact that he is a nut case climate change denier, is that we can't afford to waste 4 more years dealing with these ignoramuses.

Trump won. Elections have consequences.

And benefits! We get to see how loony the left can be!

[Starlight]

Scott Pruitt for head of the EPA is another doozy of a pick. Like Trump himself, Pruitt is a climate change denier, believes its a hoax, and has himself sued the agency 13 times on behalf of the polluters. Trump is appointing the foxes to guard the hen house. Problem with this pick, other than the fact that he is a nut case climate change denier, is that we can't afford to waste 4 more years dealing with these ignoramuses.

And in the world's most blatant conflict of interest, Pruitt plans to continue the dozen or so open lawsuits he filed against the EPA as attorney general of Oklahoma, once he is on the other side of them as head of the EPA. So he'll be both the plaintiff and defendant.

Trump and his cabinet take "conflict of interest" to an entirely new plane of existence. With Obama, he was so worried about accepting a nobel prize that he had lawyers do research to make sure that wasn't a conflict of interest to be receiving a benefit from a foreign entity as US president. Whereas Trump thinks he can run dozens of business as President and make phone-calls with foreign leaders to tell them to help-out his businesses, and thinks its fine if his cabinet are both defendants and plaintiffs in the same lawsuits, fine if they've sued their own departments dozens of times, and fine if they have a history of doing insider-trading based on policies they are themselves writing. In fact, Trump's so dumb, he probably thinks it's "smart" to have conflicts of interest, just like it's "smart" to evade taxes.

[Cow Poke]

...With Obama, he was so worried about accepting a nobel prize...

He should have realized he hadn't done SQUAT to earn it!

[Starlight]

Trump won.

Obviously conservatives here are going to keep repeating that for far longer than I can be bothered replying to it. But, for the record, I do not agree that it is a true statement. Hillary got more votes. Therefore Hillary won. The American electoral system is utterly absurdly corrupt, rigged, and undemocratic in the extreme. Due to the absurdities of the current American system that are in absolute urgent need of fixing, the winner of the election (Hillary) was not sworn in as president. Hillary won, Trump was appointed president. Which shows the US is pretty 3rd-world when it comes to democracy really.

[demi-conservative]

* Zero people in Trump's cabinet have PhDs (compare to ~50% of Obama and Clinton's cabinet picks who did).

0 with Permanent Head Damage? sounds good to me!!!

[demi-conservative]

Permanent Head Damage

Now that I think of it, it helps to explain Merkel!!

[Starlight]

0 with Permanent Head Damage? sounds good to me!!!

Gotta love the anti-intellectualism of conservatives. They glory in their dumbness.

[JimL]

And in the world's most blatant conflict of interest, Pruitt plans to continue the dozen or so open lawsuits he filed against the EPA as attorney general of Oklahoma, once he is on the other side of them as head of the EPA. So he'll be both the plaintiff and defendant.

Trump and his cabinet take "conflict of interest" to an entirely new plane of existence. With Obama, he was so worried about accepting a nobel prize that he had lawyers do research to make sure that wasn't a conflict of interest to be receiving a benefit from a foreign entity as US president. Whereas Trump thinks he can run dozens of business as President and make phone-calls with foreign leaders to tell them to help-out his businesses, and thinks its fine if his cabinet are both defendants and plaintiffs in the same lawsuits, fine if they've sued their own departments dozens of times, and fine if they have a history of doing insider-trading based on policies they are themselves writing. In fact, Trump's so dumb, he probably thinks it's "smart" to have conflicts of interest, just like it's "smart" to evade taxes.

What I find most interesting is how unprincipled the so called principled conservatives here have shown themselves to be. Reminds me of the Trump quote early in his campaign: "I could shoot somebody and nobody would care." I guess Trump knows his people well!

[Starlight]

What I find most interesting is how unprincipled the so called principled conservatives here have shown themselves to be. Reminds me of the Trump quote early in his campaign: "I could shoot somebody and nobody would care." I guess Trump knows his people well!

Yep. It seems with conservatives it's all about cheering for their side. They have no underlying principles, so it doesn't matter what their side does or says, they'll support it anyway.

[demi-conservative]

Gotta love the anti-intellectualism of conservatives. They glory in their dumbness.

Gotta love worship-of-'intellectuals' by libs: 'Obama is 'law professor' so he'll be good!!!'

[Starlight]

Gotta love worship-of-'intellectuals' by libs: 'Obama is 'law professor' so he'll be good!!!'

I think it's good if people are educated and qualified for their positions.

I don't think a general all-purpose position like a presidency is one where special qualifications are needed though, only a general knowledge of politics and policy (which Trump doesn't have). I think Obama was okayish as President, but I don't think his law qualifications were overly relevant. During the primaries I also flatly rejected the relevance of Hillary's obsession with being the 'most qualified' presidential candidate ever.