Donald Trump is reportedly considering giving an important if low-profile Labor Department job to a man who has said that Democrats want the “liquidation of white, blue-collar working families,” opposed legal immigration, has written for Breitbart and WorldNetDaily, appeared regularly on Steve Bannon’s radio show, and called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell “China’s bitch.” But those aren’t the only reasons to be concerned about the possible hiring of Curtis Ellis to head the Bureau of International Labor Affairs, which “leads the U.S. Department of Labor’s efforts to ensure that workers around the world are treated fairly and are able to share in the benefits of the global economy,” and which helps “ensure a fair playing field for American workers and contribute to stronger export markets for goods made in the United States.”
Those are important tasks, one of which Trump even claims to care about—the American workers part. The workers around the world part, not so much. The possibility of Ellis being put in charge is being greeted with horror by people who care about labor rights, human rights, and how the United States is viewed by other countries:
“It’s dangerous to have somebody who writes about white nationalism representing the U.S. government on the international or national stage in any capacity,” a former Obama DOL official said. “That’s a calculation that this administration and this secretary of labor are going to have to make.”
But, as we so often see with Trump hires, there’s not just an evil problem. There’s a basic competence problem, too:
“Despite being with the department for four months, Ellis still does not seem to understand the most basic aspects of the work,” a senior DOL source told Bloomberg BNA. “There is widespread concern that if this is the person who represents the interests of the American workforce in international negotiations and other foreign affairs, other countries are going to eat our lunch. It won’t end well for American workers,” a senior DOL source told Bloomberg BNA.
There’s another finalist for the position, one who might even be qualified. Which virtually guarantees Ellis will be chosen, unless maybe Steve Bannon, to whom he has ties, falls decisively out of favor with Trump.