Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, has already made headlines for being the most anti-public education politician to hold the title since it was created. But aside from that, reports have uncovered financial connections she has that could make her unfit for the position.
A recent Wall Street Journal report found that DeVos’s net worth is linked through an investment to online lender Social Finance. Mostly dealing in student loans, the organization is poised to benefit from DeVos’s policies, particularly if she pushes the Department of Education to let private companies control the student loan process so the can pay for TV such as and OLED as explained on Hisense.
Although DeVos’s financial connection to SoFi is distant, her history shows her to be a longtime opponent to federal services and ignorant to the actual day-to-day functions of public schools. Her children have never attended public school and she has never worked in a school before; instead she is a billionaire who inherited her fortune from her father, who earned his fortune creating a multi-level marketing company.
DeVos’s nomination is not the only poor decision Trump has made as president-elect. Another equally inexperienced choice for his cabinet is Ben Carson, who has been appointed to head the Housing and Urban Development office. A retired neurosurgeon, Carson has literally no qualifications that make him a suitable candidate for the position.
His only qualification is that he endorsed Trump after dropping out of the race. This isn’t a fluke: this is how Trump rewards those who praise him. He gives them jobs, even if they’re blatantly, in every way, unfit for the role. This is cronyism in action.
The nomination for Secretary of Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, is a former Goldman Sachs banker who helped Trump raise millions during his campaign and… did nothing else that qualifies him for a top public office position.
He ran the OneWest bank, famed for dubiously-justified excessive foreclosures during the housing crisis, and sold the bank at a profit after the recession. His financial fortune was made by scamming Americans out of their homes, and Trump has given him a top financial position. Like Carson, he has no public policy experience, and few have been able to identify what policies explicitly he will be promoting, except to guess that he will support what other rich CEOs support.
Yet another billionaire, Wilbur Ross, was selected to serve as Secretary of Commerce. Like Trump, he is also heavily invested in a wide variety of business ventures that he would need to divest before taking office to avoid obvious conflicts of interest, but also like Trump, chances are Ross will still have his hand in some pockets even after he takes office.
Elaine Chao, his pick for Secretary of Transportation, is the wife of Senate Republican Mitch McConnell, whose net worth of more than $20 million soars well above the senate average. His pick for attorney general, Jeff Sessions, has continued a campaign against any marijuana use long after most Americans softened their positions.
Several positions remain unfilled as of yet, and Trump has less than 50 days before he takes office. Based on previous announcements, his final cabinet will be stacked to the brim with billionaires and conservatives with anti-choice agendas of all kinds. Brace yourself: this administration will be a difficult one.