Donald Trump's Administration Picks

[Hands]

Except he didn't.

"Correction: December 5, 2016 - An earlier version of this article, relying on information from Armstrong Williams, a close friend of Ben Carson, misstated a part of Mr. Carson's childhood. Mr. Williams said Monday that Mr. Carson had never lived in government housing."

https://thehill.com/homenews/308908...n-stories-claiming-carson-lived-in-government

My theory is that he's actually going to be Secretary of Being Black, in case someone calls out how all the key positions are going to white men. (Admittedly there are two women, one in Transportation and another in Education, the latter of which is going to run a Department with some cachet, so you can't say both of them are pure tokenist fillers at least).

To further add to this, that fraudulent story about Carson's home has been used mostly by right wingers on social media as a literary Uncle Tom in a massive macro post that uses the life of one man to claim that institutionalized racism doesn't exist.

 

[Biogoji]

I think James Maddis will be a good Secretary he has alot of experience in the military's workings and seems like an intelligent man. Although Carson in Housing and Urban Development has me scratching my head, being a former surgeon i think he would be more quailed to be in Health if he was going to have any role on the cabinet. I'm still interested to see if Romney's going to make it onto the cabinet.

 

[Esper]

Al Gore met with Trump the other day. From what I read Ivanka feels strongly about climate change (?) and since she's one of Trump's kids/business partners/advisors I'm thinking it's not entirely out of the question that Gore went as a possible interview. I don't expect at all to see him added as a cabinet member or anything, but who knows at this point.

 

[Ivysaur]

If he appoints Al Gore as leader of the EPA, both Fox News and West Virginia will implode and catch on fire for years to come.

 

[Sektor]

If he appoints Al Gore as leader of the EPA, both Fox News and West Virginia will implode and catch on fire for years to come.

I think I could toast to that.

 

[Aliencommander1245]

Trump has chosen Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA, both a "climate sceptic" (Climate change denier, basically) and someone who believes the EPA has too much power, as well as a person who very likely has personal links with fossil fuel companies.

I agree with the statement Michael Brune (of the US based environmental group Sierra Club) gave on the appointment:

"Having Scott Pruitt in charge of the US Environmental Protection Agency is like putting an arsonist in charge of fighting fires"

 

[User19sq]

About 80% of Trump's cabinet picks are like going out and trading away a shiny, Dragon Ascent-knowing Rayquaza for a Modest Machamp. Nothing but a team full of six Modest Machamp.

 

[Esper]

I don't think Trump has picked a good cabinet member yet. Some of the generals/admirals he's picked/thinking of picking for Defense, State, and so on might not be the worst, but should his cabinet be filled with 30-50% military? That seems like a bad decision on top of all his other bad decisions.

 

[Sektor]

About 80% of Trump's cabinet picks are like going out and trading away a shiny, Dragon Ascent-knowing Rayquaza for a Modest Machamp. Nothing but a team full of six Modest Machamp.

In comparison to what? The current administration is hardly even a shiny Male Combee, let alone a shiny Rayquaza. Some of the problems that we have now can be attributed to them.

 

[User19sq]

No, but at least that administration was picked by someone who knew what they were doing.

Trump assigned Carson to Head of I-Need-A-Black-Best-Friend. Carson, the guy who he himself said that he's not qualified to run a government agency in spite of what he did in the year following that admission.

 

[Sektor]

No, but at least that administration was picked by someone who knew what they were doing.

I'd argue against that, but alright.We have more problems now than, and I really hate to admit this, than when Bush Jr. was in office. I honestly thought it couldn't get any worse.

 

[User19sq]

I feel Trump is a key role in making America great again. Because, let's face it: America's got racial tension, bank-frauds, and angry middle class citizens, yet this country's still freakin' great. So how can we make a great country great again? By electing a man who is guaranteed to make it suck, so that the next guy can make it better.

The people Trump appoints are this generation's most controversial picks, or so that's what they're looking to become. The people this man picks can set a foresight into what kind of direction the executive branch is planning to take the country down through. Sure, Obama inherited a horrible state of the country, and he's yet to close Gitmo like he promised, but if Trump has to be calling him up constantly like an 8th-grade jarhead trying to copy off the smart kid's paper during a test, well... we can see how many promises this guy will care to keep.

 

[lloebet]

Assuming every action and choice Trump makes is stupid or going to fail based off nothing is a very pessimistic way of looking at someone who isn't even in office yet.

 

[User19sq]

Not all his choices are stupid. Questionable, maybe, but there's a few nuggets. Mnuchin's inclusion is such an example: he knows money, so he'll manage money. The problem? He's the kind of person Trump bashed Clinton over she herself being.

 

[Aliencommander1245]

Trump has picked Andrew Puzder, a fast food company CEO, to be his labour head. Choosing a CEO who vehemently dislikes the idea of any minimum wage increases and runs/ran a chain of the one of the most worker exploitative industries there is is just... not really unexpected, considering Trump, but just as wildly baffling in the sort of way where you're expecting something bad but then given something bad that comes out of left field.

Some new information on Pruitt that's not really new, just things I hadn't seen in my very very short research stint of the man:

Donald Trump has nominated Pruitt to lead an agency he has sued multiple times in his role as attorney general of Oklahoma. Pruitt has vowed to dismantle serried environmental rules and is currently involved in a legal effort by 27 states to overturn Barack Obama's clean power plan, the president's centerpiece policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

EPA staff have expressed nervousness over Pruitt's nomination, given his zealous pursuit of the agency. Pruitt has fought against EPA regulations that prevent air pollution haze in national parks, methane leaks from drilling and mercury and arsenic seeping from power plants.

Also on news for picks: Here is Trump's Small Business Administration pick being KO-ed by WWE wrestler Stone Cold

 

[User19sq]

...I think I might want to take back that last post I posted...

 

[Somewhere_]

...I think I might want to take back that last post I posted...

nah you are right to an extent. Assuming Trump retains his usual habits, he will run the country like a businessman. I foresee a radical different approach to issues with this mindset than we would with a seasoned politician in office.

 

[lloebet]

Eh. He ain't perfect but give him a chance to f*** up before we all assume the worst. I'll be more than happy to flip this hat around if he starts acting a fool once in office.

 

[Aliencommander1245]

nah you are right to an extent. Assuming Trump retains his usual habits, he will run the country like a businessman. I foresee a radical different approach to issues with this mindset than we would with a seasoned politician in office.

Considering his business track record, and the way you fundamentally can't run a government like a business without running it into the ground, I'd say this is a pretty bad thing overall?

You're right to say that it's not likely that everything he'll do is going to be objectively bad, but with the way he's going so far it seems like he might just come close to that

Eh. He ain't perfect but give him a chance to f*** up before we all assume the worst. I'll be more than happy to flip this hat around if he starts acting a fool once in office.

Uh, I suppose right now doesn't technically count as "in office" but you really should be preparing to flip that hat like Ash Ketchum come january, all considering

 

[Somewhere_]

Considering his business track record, and the way you fundamentally can't run a government like a business without running it into the ground, I'd say this is a pretty bad thing overall?

You're right to say that it's not likely that everything he'll do is going to be objectively bad, but with the way he's going so far it seems like he might just come close to that

In theory, running government like a business is a mixed bag imo. But we've never had a businessman (in orientation, practice, everything) president. So if we can ignore the stupid crap he may do, we can probably gather some empirical evidence to see how running government like a business will work and if its good or not.