Some of those chosen -- 17 picks so far for federal agencies and five for the White House -- are among the most radical selections in recent history.... a number of Mr. Trump’s most important selections have no experience in federal government and a great drive to undo it.But there's one utterly wrong note in this story -- or at least there was:
Scott Pruitt, the Oklahoma state attorney general who was picked to lead the E.P.A., rejects the established science of human-caused climate change and has built his career on fighting environmental regulations. At the Education Department, Betsy DeVos wants to steer government money away from traditional public schools. Rick Perry was picked to head the Energy Department -- unless he eliminates it, as he once promised.
Representative Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, the conservative Republican who was chosen as White House budget director, refused to back the 2011 deal to raise the federal debt limit and helped to bring the United States to the brink of default.
"They are neither all conservative, nor all liberal"? None of them are liberal. Why did Shear write this sentence? Even as he was describing the radicalism of many of Trump's picks, why did he feel the need to say that they're arrayed across the political spectrum??
Someone at the Times noticed the glaring problem here, or maybe it was pointed out by readers. The paragraph above is from the early edition of the print paper; online now, that sentence reads:
They are neither all hard-right conservatives, nor all mainstream conservatives.Newsdiffs says that the original version was posted at 12:23 yesterday; the revised version replaced it at 4:19.
Left untouched, however, is an assertion by Shear that "a picture is emerging of an administration with little ideological cohesion." If the Trump administration has an ideological range from mainstream conservative to hard-line conservative, how does that distinguish it from the Reagan administration or the George W. Bush administration -- apart from the fact that this one is more consistently conservative?
Also still in the story is this paragraph:
There is “no overarching theory,” said Pete Wehner, who was deputy director of speechwriting for Mr. Bush and a fierce critic of Mr. Trump during the campaign. “He’s not being driven by the usual impulses, which would be policy or ideology or political philosophy.”
I think there are two "overarching theories" in the Trump administration:
1. KA-CHING! Money is meant to flow to the plutocracy, especially Trump family members, Putin fans, and other captains of dirty-fuels industries.****
2. What do liberals hate? That's what the Trump administration intends to do.
Over in the opinion section of the Times, James Mann predicts that Trump's foreign policy team will be unstable, because there are very few people on it who know anything about their jobs, and there are policy disagreements among the principals:
... the Trump team differs not only from that of George W. Bush, but also from the teams of Presidents George H. W. Bush, Ronald Reagan or, for that matter, Gerald Ford, Richard M. Nixon or Dwight D. Eisenhower. Those teams included people with experience at the top or second levels of the cabinet and national-security apparatus in previous administrations. The Trump team has none....A foreign policy team that will struggle with internal conflicts? Intriguing thought. Mann's op-ed is worth reading -- but even he slips into "what on earth could the Trumpers' motivations possibly be?" mode:
It’s not just their lack of experience that will make for an unstable foreign policy ship. Mr. Trump has, perhaps by design, chosen people who do not know one another, and appear to disagree in personality and worldview....
Strong disagreement seems baked into the team. James N. Mattis, the retired Marine general whom Mr. Trump has chosen as secretary of defense, has voiced support for the Obama administration’s nuclear agreement with Iran, while [national security advisor-designate General Mike] Flynn, Mike Pompeo at the C.I.A. and Mr. Trump himself have attacked it. Mr. Pompeo has been a hawk on Russia, in contrast to several of his colleagues.
Given some of Mr. Trump’s conciliatory statements about Russia, as well as ties between the Kremlin and Mr. Trump and [secretary of state-designate Rex] Tillerson, it seems likely that the White House will seek improved relations with the country, though they have given no clue as to what shape and strategic goals that relationship will take on."They have given no clue as to what shape and strategic goals that relationship will take on"? Let me repeat myself:
KA-CHING!
I do think that Tocqueville had the number of the incoming administration and its enablers:
ReplyDelete"As one digs deeper into the national character of the Americans, one sees that they have sought the value of everything in this world only in the answer to this single question: how much money will it bring in?”
Alexis de Tocqueville
Letter to Ernest de Chabrol, June 9, 1831
Poor punditocracy, so desperately trying to cram the incoming disaster into the usual safe templates rather than face the unnerving truth of what's barrelling toward us all.
ReplyDeleteBesides "KACHING!", in times of dispute/conflict/confusion, their guiding principle will be WPOTLTM - Whatever Pisses-Off Liberals The Most!
ReplyDeleteThe Constitution requires of the President that "he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed."
ReplyDeleteAppointing people who are committed to doing the exact opposite is a violation of the President's Constitutional duty, and provides the clearest possible reason to remove him from office.
Of course, Ronald Reagan did the same thing, and no one in power dared say one word about this; impeachment is reserved for Democrats that get blow jobs. So, of course, nothing will happen about this. At least, however, it provides one more sign of how much the Conservatives that constantly preach about the founders and their intent, really care about the Constitution, when it gets in their way.
"Let's forget all the ideological crap and concentrate on making money" would actually be a far more benign approach to policy than the one pursued by recent administrations. But unfortunately Trump's addiction to aggression-as-strategy is likely to overcome his avarice, especially when countries like Iran and China start to exploit his chronic insecurity.
ReplyDeleteAnd needless to say the first terrorist attack on an offshore Trump property, striking at both his private and his public interests, will trigger a response that will be blackly humorous but also potentially disastrous.