I fully expect that I will have to keep adding names to this image… I have a suspicion these appointments have the Mark of Bannon on them - waiting to see if the Secretary of State will be an angel or a devil. If you are a politics junky you know who all of these people are, what positions they will have unless the Senate can stop their confirmation. The most despicable, Flynn and Bannon will remain since they don’t need Senate confirmation. Thus two of Trump’s closest and most trusted advisors will be paranoid conspiracy believers.
I’m coming to the conclusion that the best we can hope for is that Ivanka and Jarod Kushner can add some sanity to his inner circle. I’d consider supporting giving Kushner national security clearance if he’d sit in on all briefings with the delusional paranoid General Flynn.
People like Flynn who believe in conspiracy theories are extremely resistant to change. That’s why it sometimes requires inpatient treatment — or informal and potentially dangerous “deprogramming” to break the belief system of cult members who believe outlandish things like, as with Heaven’s Gate, that aliens in a spaceship hidden by the Hale-Bopp comet were coming to take them away.
- Andy Pudzer, Labor, the fast food burger guy who is obsessed with women’s breasts.
...what makes Puzder a particularly Trumpian pick is his attitude toward women. Like Trump, Puzder is very open about how much he enjoys objectifying women, and how he likes to use that objectification as a business strategy. Puzder is the CEO of CKE Restaurants, which operates Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s. For the last decade or so, Carl’s Jr. has been known for running controversial TV ads featuring models eating hamburgers in various gross, oversexed ways. from www.vox.com/…
- Wilbur Ross, Commerce, billionaire foreclosure king.
- Steve Mnuchin, Treasury, from Goldman Sachs.
- Scott Pruit, EPA, former Oklahoma attorney general, and outspoken climate change denier.
- Betsy DeVos, Education, the anti-public school billionaire from Michigan.
- Jeff Sessions, to be in charge of civil rights enforcement… No link needed… nuff said on him.
- With no need for Senate confirmation, General Flynn as Trump’s national security advisor. General Barry McCaffery who originally supported his selection said after discovering his belief in conspiracy theories and face news: “I’m now extremely uneasy about some of these tweets" (which) "border on being demented. I think that we need to look into this and sort out what's going on."
- Of course we all know who Steve Bannon is.
- Not on the list, Dr. Ben Carson at HUD: ”journalist Ana Marie Cox made an observation that captured the ongoing spectacle of Donald Trump appointing right-wing zealots and unqualified hacks to staff his Cabinet and his administration. In discussing Trump’s naming Ben Carson as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Cox said of the president-elect, “He’s too lazy to have an ideology himself, so he just kind of lets other people think it up for him.” www.salon.com/...
Come inauguration day, the Gates of Hell will open… we already know who some of the devils will be. The only major appointment left to be made is the most important, Secretary of State. I suspect it’s taking so long only because Giuliani is out of favor. I believe Trump will rely on Bannon, and all the interviews are just for show.
I doubt many of you ever go to the Breitbart website. I did it for you, so here’s my prediction: It will be John Bolton. So I will be ready to revise my image next week.
Recommended reading by Gary Legum in Salon:
FRIDAY, DEC 9, 2016 02:02 AM PST
Donald Trump’s lazy, slipshod transition: No ideology, only cynicism and corruption
Friday, Dec 9, 2016 · 5:10:22 PM +00:00 · HalBrown
Quote without comment:
Former Goldman Sachs partner Steven Mnuchin, the president-elect’s choice for Treasury secretary, served as Trump’s top fundraiser and personally contributed $430,000 to Trump and to the Republican National Committee’s joint fundraising account.
Pro wrestling magnate Linda McMahon, Trump’s pick to head the Small Business Administration, gave $6 million to Rebuilding America Now, a super PAC that backed Trump. She also gave $153,000 to Trump’s joint fundraising account and more than $400,000 to the RNC.
Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, Trump’s choice for Commerce secretary, had a senior role on Trump’s fundraising team. He gave $200,000 to Trump’s joint fundraising account and $117,000 to the RNC.
Andy Puzder, the fast-food CEO chosen for Labor secretary, raised campaign cash for Trump and personally contributed $388,000 to the RNC and $150,000 to Trump’s joint fundraiser. He also gave $10,000 to Rebuilding America Now.
thehill.com/...
Friday, Dec 9, 2016 · 5:22:09 PM +00:00 · HalBrown
Saw this on Slate: www.slate.com/… about whether the Time photographer was trying to send a message. Trump didn’t object to the image. Rather he criticized the text about being president of the divided states. His appointments have underlined the truthiness of this.
Friday, Dec 9, 2016 · 9:02:51 PM +00:00 · HalBrown
Trump look at her for Interior:
Cathy McMorris Rodgers was a co-sponsor of a 2011 bill that would have sold off 3 million acres of public lands.
Environmental groups have criticized McMorris Rodgers, saying she has not supported protecting public lands
“In Congress, Rep. McMorris Rodgers has consistently voted to prioritize drilling on our public lands and waters, including in sensitive areas like the Arctic, and even to open up our public lands for sale to the highest bidder,” said League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski in a statement. from www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Saturday, Dec 10, 2016 · 3:28:31 AM +00:00 · HalBrown
Well, it may not be neocon John Bolton, instead just another super-rich guy, Rex Tillerson, the CEO of EXXON for SecState.
In 2011, Exxon Mobil signed a deal with Rosneft, Russia's largest state-owned oil company, for joint oil exploration and production. Since then, the companies have formed 10 joint ventures for projects in Russia.
In 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded Tillerson his nation's Order of Friendship.
But U.S. sanctions against Russia for its incursion into Crimea cost Exxon Mobil dearly, forcing it to scrap some projects and costing it at least $1 billion in losses. Tillerson has been a vocal critic of the sanctions.
in.reuters.com/...