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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWe should not be surprised about Trump's nominations, but angry
I've seen a few posts expressing surprise and concern over how unqualified Betsy DeVos is for Dept. of Education, or about the conflict of interests regarding Sec. of State nominee Rex Tillerson.
Just to be clear: This is not a bug, this is a feature of these nominees. It is exactly what the GOP intended. They have very few explicit goals for their time in office, and they come down to two different categories:
#1: Nominees like DeVos. These are people who are massively unqualified for the role that they have been nominated for. They are dogma driven, uninformed, and incapable of managing a complex portfolio. Again, this is intended. These nominees are selected in order to cause the department they are heading to buckle and crumble so that the small gov't Tea Partiers and GOP hard line can point at it and say, "Yup, see? Gov't can't do this, let's privatize it and leave it to free enterprise. Business can do this better than government." We're going to see attacks on many departments such as the department of Education, EPA, Housing and Urban Development, NEA, etc... All of those departments that the right loves to hate, many of which just happen to assist poor and at-risk segments of society.
#2: Nominees like Tillerson. These are the foxes guarding the henhouse. Their main job is to loot the larders and make way for big business. They will be super-efficient at their jobs, and they will plow through regulations like a hot knife through butter. We will see taxes fall for corporations in the name of "job creation." They will remove environmental protections and any regulations that may get in the way of businesses doing exactly what they'd like, and we'll see, again, that mostly it is at-risk communities that will be put in further risk so that the profit motive goes unhindered.
This really should surprise no one, it's been the stated goal of the Tea Party since its inception. Don't be surprised, be angry. Call your representative and let them know you wish for them to stand up against corporate control of major gov't departments. Take the fight to Trump and his new band of deplorable nominees.
Did Trump drain the swamp? He had to, he brought his own swamp with him, and it's bigger and better than the swamp that was there before. The best swamp. Believe it.
Saviolo
(3,282 posts)Today it was reported that Trump's looking to slash the NEA:
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/314991-trump-team-prepares-dramatic-cuts
UTUSN
(70,695 posts)Concern and dismay over a plagiarist quitting here or Goodhair not even knowing what the Energy department is about there - are misplaced. They all *BELONG* with DRUMPF in his Junta. There ought to be no expectations of competence and knowledge for anybody that DRUMPF would name. It will all collapse under its own weight, Fate have mercy on us.