The Donald Trump cabinet picks list is starting to be revealed, and the protesters objecting to Trump’s election haven’t seen anything yet. More than simply rolling back Obamacare and every other policy decision President Obama has made over the last eight years, the cabinet Trump seems to be choosing will likely gut or entirely eliminate fundamental environmental, social and human rights protections.
BREAKING Update:
Secretary of the Interior Sarah Palin?! “I’m being told the Grand Canyon committed suicide. It jumped into itself.”
— The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) November 11, 2016
Sarah Palin As Secretary of the Interior
That’s right, Sarah Palin is reported by the Independent Journal Review to be the frontrunner among the Trump cabinet picks to become Secretary of the Interior . Sarah Palin, whose favorite catchphrase was “Drill, baby, drill.” It would be difficult to imagine someone less qualified than former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to protect wildlife and National Parks across the United States.
Palin over the years has made quite clear her total disdain for restrictions on hunting and would undoubtedly take steps permitting virtually unlimited use of the National Park system for hunting or any other activity that is currently banned. The wolves making a comeback in Yellowstone are almost certainly goners.
Climate change denier heading EPA transition team. Talk of Sarah Palin as Interior Secy. Watch whom he brings to his inner circle. Vigilance
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) November 10, 2016
Moreover, the ranchers who previously occupied Bureau of Land Management facilities out West will probably now be given carte blanche to do as they please with public lands. The Alaskan soccer mom isn’t likely to stop them. Unfortunately, Trump’s principal alternatives to Palin as Secretary of the Interior seem to be former oil company executives.
Chris Christie As Attorney General
Apparently – as a result of groveling obeisance and ring kissing – New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is at the top of the Trump cabinet pick list for Attorney General of the United States. Given that the job of the Attorney General involves following the laws of the United States and ensuring they are fairly enforced across the land, Christie would be an ironic choice.
Why neither #Christie nor #Giuliani should be the next attorney general: https://t.co/V3f2ZOSXWk #Bridgegate
— LeftOfTheDial (@EricShapiro3) November 11, 2016
Governor Christie is currently under investigation for misusing his powers as governor of New Jersey to take revenge on his political opponents. The entire Bridgegate scandal – in which a number of Christie aides have already been enmeshed – would under normal circumstances preclude him as a potential cabinet pick, but not in the Trump administration. Not at all.
Stephen Bannon As Chief Of Staff
One of the most astounding and controversial choices of the Trump cabinet picks is Stephen Bannon of Breitbart fame. As chairman of Breitbart News , Bannon has been one of the shrillest and most unrelenting voices of the Tea Party and alt-right crowd. Yet he is being considered as Donald Trump’s Chief of Staff largely as a reward for heading Trump’s campaign.
Certainly, the most disturbing aspect of Stephen Bannon being on the Trump cabinet picks list is his clear and undisguised racism. Breitbart has advocated almost every conspiracy theory and racist position imaginable, from birtherism to branding all blacks and Hispanics as criminals. As reported by FreakOutNation , Bannon is also prone to anti-Semitism .
The Chief of Staff in any presidential administration is highly influential when it comes to that administration’s policies and positions, but given the clear indications that Donald Trump will – like George W. Bush before him – largely leave the details of governance to others, Stephen Bannon as Chief of Staff could essentially be a surrogate president, giving free rein to his extremist agenda.
Other Astounding Trump Cabinet Picks
How about Ben Carson as Secretary of Education? It seems highly likely that the always sleepy seeming gentlemen of the Republican debates who thought the pyramids stored grain, that the Big Bang didn’t happen and that creationism is a scientific theory will be in charge of United States educational policy.
Or consider Steven Mnuchin as Secretary of the Treasury. According to the Webster Journal , Mnuchin was instrumental in the disaster at Goldman Sachs that helped bring about the 2008 economic collapse. More than this he followed this up at IndyMac Bank by foreclosing on homeowners across the country, tossing the poor, disabled, and elderly onto the street. But he’s still potentially one of the Trump cabinet picks.
“If tapped for the job, Mnuchin would become third Goldman Sachs executive in last 20 years to head US Treasury” https://t.co/bwR0ioszWK
— Pedro da Costa (@pdacosta) November 10, 2016
While other presidential administrations have sometimes seemed to scrape the bottom of the barrel when choosing cabinet members, the Donald Trump cabinet picks list suggests that Trump and his minions are scraping the bottom of the barrel lying underneath the other barrel.
[Featured Image by John Moore/Getty Images]