When the shoe dropped on November 8th and Hillary Clinton conceded the Presidency, more than 50% of the electorate felt it. We wondered what happened. We went through the various stages of grief and wondered what was in store for this country. A lot of us are still wondering.
At one point, I asked myself “Will Donald Trump be the same guy that was on the campaign trail? Will he do all the things he said he would do or was he just saying these things in order to win over his base?” I, like others was hopeful that Trump would lighten up on the extreme campaign promises and consider how his policies would impact so many people in such a profound way.
No such luck. Trump appears to be headed full steam ahead.
It’s pretty clear by his cabinet choices that he has no intentions of pulling his punches. The only campaign promises he WON’T be keeping will involve making American’s lives better and draining the swamp. Everything else is going as planned.
Let’s go through the play by play:
Steve Bannon: Whitehouse Chief of Staff
Bannon is the current Executive Chair of Breitbart News; a far right, Alt-Right news/opinion and commentary website. He has said "We think of ourselves as virulently anti-establishment, particularly 'anti-' the permanent political class. As per Wikipedia, The New York Times described Breitbart News under Bannon's leadership as a "curiosity of the fringe right wing", with "ideologically driven journalists", that is a source of controversy "over material that has been called misogynist, xenophobic, and racist." The newspaper also noted how Breitbart was now a "potent voice" for Donald Trump's presidential campaign.
Fun Fact: Bannon is also a former Goldman Sachs Executive — So much for “draining the swamp”
The idea of Bannon being Trump’s Chief of Staff eliminates the possibility of any kind of moderate voice in the Whitehouse. Someone with Bannon’s history cannot be a President’s most trusted confidant and also protect the rights/values of Women, immigrants and minorities.
Michael Flynn: National Security Advisor
Using his “very good brain”, Donald Trump chose this loose cannon to be his National Security Advisor. When issues related to Foreign and Domestic policy come up that involve America’s Security, It’s this nut job who will be whispering into his ear what he should be doing.
Flynn has referred to religion of Islam as a “political Ideology” and a “malignant cancer”. He has claimed that Sharia Law is “taking over America”.
From a New York Times Article:
“He is a very talented information gatherer,” said Sarah Chayes of the Carnegie Endowment in Washington, who worked with General Flynn when he ran military intelligence in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2011. “But his thinking process is not sufficiently analytical to test some streams against others and make sense of it, or draw consistent conclusions,” she said. “If you listen to him, in 10 minutes you’ll hear him contradict himself two or three times.”
Michael Isikoff from Yahoo! News said of Flynn:
“Flynn began sitting in on classified intelligence briefings with Trump last summer. Flynn was reportedly so assertive during the initial briefing in August, peppering the briefers with rapid-fire questions, that Trump’s adviser Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, who also attended the briefing, was prompted to try to calm him down by placing a hand on his arm. “
Flynn also has some serious conflicts of interest, including currently working for a firm that represents the Government of Turkey. This man still receives National Security Briefings while working for a foreign government.
How is this man going to advise Trump? Not exactly a centrist. I personally question his sanity.
Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III: US Attorney General
Current Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions’ name is being put forward to be the Highest Ranking Law Enforcement Officer in America. Whoa! This one is scary kids!
Jeff Sessions is a former Alabama Attorney General, known for trying to prosecute African American leaders for “Voter Fraud” in 1984 for doing something unspeakable: registering blacks to vote. Sessions was unsuccessful in his attempts. Sessions is on record stating that NAACP and ACLU are “un-American” and “communist-inspired”. Sessions was tapped by Ronald Reagan to be a federal Judge, but could not be confirmed by the US Senate because he was “too racist”. During a Klan related murder of a black man in Alabama that he was prosecuting, Sessions was overheard stating that The KKK were “okay” until he “found out that they smoked pot..” Sessions has also recently stated that “anyone who smokes pot is not a good person”.
Not exactly Mr. Moderate. How do you see of Jefferson handling the legalization of recreational Marijuana in 8 states and DC? I think he’ll be a busy boy come January.
Rep Tom Price: Secretary of Health & Human Services
Former Orthopedic Surgeon and current Georgian Congressman Tom Price is Trumps current nominee to handle American’s healthcare systems. He originally considered former Presidential Candidate; Doctor Ben Carson, but the ol’ sleepy eyed former Brain Surgeon felt that he was “unqualified for the role”, which makes you wonder why he felt he could be President, but unable to handle a role with far less responsibility….. and in his previous area of expertise.
Price is very much anti-Obamacare and wants to completely dismantle it. Price thinks that Doctors should be able to control their own rates and charge patients directly for increases when Insurance companies limit coverage. Price wants to eliminate any clause that would prevent an insurer from throwing a patient off their plan for reasons like pre-existing conditions. He would prefer to go with Speaker of the House; Paul Ryan’s plan to eliminate Medicare & Medicaid in exchange for healthcare savings plans, which put the responsibility of saving dollars to individuals and forcing them to make healthcare choices based on need and budget. This would put Insurance companies in charge of all healthcare, including senior citizens and indigent people.
Sensing a pattern here?
Other winners:
- former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin to be his Treasury Secretary (wolf in the henhouse) made Billions buying failing banks, foreclosing on bad mortgages and throwing people out of their homes.
- Billionaire Investor Wilbur Ross to lead Commerce Dept. Ross owned the Coal mine in West Virginia where 12 miners died due to the many safety violations that Ross ignored.
- Betsy DeVos, Secretary of the Department of Education. Billionaire. Betsy is a big proponent for Charter Schools and voucher programs, basically making elementary education a privatized “for profit” system.
Trump is apparently looking at Attorney General Scott Pruitt of Oklahoma as a potential EPA nominee. Scott is a Climate Change denier.
He is considering Former Half Term Gov of Alaska and Mamma Grizzly Sarah Palin to be Secretary of Veteran Affairs and Dept. of the Interior— Cuckoo!!
Ben Carson is being considered for Housing and Urban Development allegedly because he is black and lived in public housing as a child. I guess that makes you an expert? Why he feels more qualified for this role and not HHS is beyond me.
I am missing a few, but the picture is filling in. He is looking to dismantle the social democratic fabric of the country by:
- Eliminating Obamacare, Medicare & Medicaid
- Handing the keys of the economy over to Goldman Sachs
- Disabling the immigration system and deporting millions of illegal aliens.
- Disabling refugee programs
- Closing the borders to Muslims while documenting and tracking domestic law-abiding Muslims
- Privatizing School systems
- Privatizing Social Security and handing it over to Wall Street
- Making non-whites second class citizens and changing voting rights
- Eliminating the EPA and removing the USA from any Climate Change responsibilities
- Eliminating regulations laws to allow corporations to function without liability
- Making it more difficult for individuals to sue corporations
- Eliminating consumer protection laws
- Outlawing Abortion and Birth Control
- Weakening LGBTQ civil rights
- and much, much more!!
The damage that this 4 year term will do to America might not be reversible. For those of you who voted for change, you got it! No you’ll be lucky if you have any change in your pocket after this.