Yesterday Trump chose former MTV "Real World" host and current Fox host Sean Duffy to be his Transportation Secretary. Today it's this:
Not counting himself, this makes three TV hosts in Trump's cabinet (Hegseth, Duffy, Oz) plus a bevy of other folks with proven chops on Fox. At least Trump is consistent about what he wants.
Stop it! Can we just pull the plug right now? This isn't funny anymore.
(How many days does he have left? Are we there yet?)
Ha, ha, ha! OK, I thought Oz would be Surgeon General.
Nah. He can do even more harm wrecking Medicare and Medicaid.
No
that will 100% be Ladapo
the kook from Floriduh
Seriously, that wouldn't surprise me in the least. We are through the kooking glass.
At least he's not my senator. Looks like Pennsylvania got a guy from Connecticut
At long last Republicans, have you no shame? You allow your nation to be made a fool. And you sit idly. Complicity, capitulation, cravenness.
No, they don't. I'm sure this is a rhetorical question, because any sentient being will have noticed by now.
"Shamelessness is their superpower."
There are different flavors of course, but the ones at the top are the sociopathic variety, and sadly none of what you mention has the slightest effect on them.
And his boss will be RFK Jr. What couldn't go wrong?
RFK Jr. will not be confirmed.
If put up for a vote, he'd likely not be confirmed. The question is, will it come to a vote, or will Trump's end-run be successful? I give it 50-50.
Agreed
I think the idea that the Senate will get to vote on appointments is still in doubt.
Your prophecy is noted.
I think you’re mistaken. If there’s one thing that has become clear over the years, it’s that Republican office holders will not stand up to Donald Trump. If you accept what’s reported in the recent biography of Mitt Romney, the reasons are fear for their safety and for their families safety. Plus, a desire to keep their cushy jobs as senators. Realistically, anyone with even a tiny amount of patriotism has already fled the Republican Party.
I lean to this view. If it comes to a Senate vote, Republicans will fall in line. Maybe RFK, Jr. would be voted down, not because he’s a nutjob, but because he’s on record favoring abortion up to viability.
I think you’re mistaken. If there’s one thing that has become clear over the years, it’s that Republican office holders will not stand up to Donald Trump. If you accept what’s reported in the recent biography of Mitt Romney, the reasons are fear for their safety and for their families safety. Plus, a desire to keep their cushy jobs as senators.
Realistically, anyone with even a tiny amount of patriotism has already fled the Republican Party.
They're both "unconventional" picks, per the New York Times. Reassured now?
"unconventional"
JFC
The gray lady is gonna work hard to normalize all of this it seems
They have already had headlines about how Trump's picks are a "show of strength" and other articles about how while his picks have "Washington insiders in a panic" they are popular with Trump voters.
It's rather sick how much the NYtimes is covering all this as if the only people concerned about a pack of goofy incompetents, dangerous ideologues, and unqualified weirdos being handed the reins of the federal government are nebbish politicos, and that this all demonstrates Trump's strength and popularity.
I mean, why exactly isn't Musk being given some bullshit "department of efficiency" title being covered as egregious graft--the world's richest man, who makes huges sums through government contracts pumping colossal sums into Trump's campaign (and maybe investigate how much of that money went to political orgs and firms with close ties to Trump family members) and then being awarded some sort of oversight over the federal government? How come despite Trump to this day having an underwater approval rating, and having always been a historically disliked political figure, the NYtimes never covers things as "Trump desparate to appeal to supporters and boost flagging approval numbers"?
Musk doesn't get paid (much) at SpaceX. He gets paid when people invest in the companies. Which is kindof round-about, I know, but SpaceX, for instance, has the cheapest per ton to space and the only company (of several given the same money) to successfully get Astronauts to and from the ISS.
So it isn't graft. It is, however, a massive conflict of interest if he was to have final say over programs. It's not, however, unusual to have someone from the industry to give consulting about competing bids.
Lastly... He's not actually good at any of this, he may have known how to code thirty years ago and knows the ins and outs of his spacecraft - this is way outside his actual expertise. And luck is no replacement for actual experience.
Of course, Trump will do whatever he can to remove any restrictions, but present ethics rules would force Musk to divest assets that might be directly affected by his actions.
"So it isn't graft."
Ok, sure, maybe not *yet.* But SpaceX being good at something isn't an inoculation against Musk parlaying his ~$200 million in pro-Trump election spending into a couple billion more in contracts. Very good ROI, after all. And SpaceX getting more contracts from the US government, as you note, leads to his stake in the company being more valuable.
Further: I have zero desire to pull punches with the world's richest man when he decides to start acting like an oligarch and using his wealth to influence power (to accumulate more wealth and power). It's bad enough that we have hyperrich people like this; it's insane that we even accept the narrative that hyperrich people like this have any business being close advisors of the president (esp. one as gullible and susceptible to flattery as Trump).
Don't underestimate Musk's technical chops. People I know at SpaceX say he's got unusual instincts beyond swooping in at the right time to buy. Twitter may not be what it was but everyone predicted it would collapse for technical reasons within a week; servers this, codebase that, programmers quitting something else.
Yes, he's bought himself a president and will influence a lot of policy especially in technical areas. There's a lot of precedent for batguano crazy billionaires doing that. Howard Hughes, for example. The satellite industry especially in SoCal was heavily influenced by and through him.
When reality finally catches up with them (as it seemingly will for things related to the health care system), it'll catch up hard.
No, it won't catch up with "them." It'll hit the people who voted for the First Felon, and for the rest of us. When you're at the top, you just float above it all and fail upwards.
If the situations were reversed and somehow Vice President Harris had prevailed, all the stories would be about the Republican Party in crisis, the Republican Party Rebuilds, New Directions for the GOP?, the Republican Party on the Couch, etc.
However, that isn't how it works for Democrats. When they're in power, the focus must be, as noted, on the recovery efforts of their defeated foes. When Democrats are out of power, the focus has to be on the New Republican Administration.
Heads, they win; tails we lose. Aren't we getting tired of this? Won't we fight back?
Fight back how exactly?
FWIW, this has been making the rounds. It's not a bad place to start IMO.
https://convergencemag.com/articles/10-ways-to-be-prepared-and-grounded-now-that-trump-has-won/
We're taking advice from someone promoting bigotry in the prior thread?
Wow. Once you get on that horse, you ride it into the ground.
The objectives are to get liberals angry while destroying the government. He's doing well on both axes.
These cabinet guys are gonna fizzle, I'm told.
LOL! Told by whom?
Pollyanna Kevin!
Does this mean that Medicaid and Medicare will cover quack weight loss supplements, going forward?
Robert Reich called it, Trump is casting a reality show.
The Cabinet. 24/7 streaming on every news outlet.
I work at a state Medicaid agency and I promise you I will have to convince some people not to quit or retire over this.
Honestly, I think that's part of the strategy here. Get a bunch of people off the payroll without firing a shot. Same with deportation, make a big show out of it and half will leave of their own accord.
I did 21 years in a blue state Medicaid agency running LTSS. What are you guys hearing? I imagine they'll force all states into managed care and require grandma to get a job
I’m in a red ‘swing’ state and yeah managed care, work requirements, and less money. A trifecta of bad ideas. About a third of my agency is retirement eligible and I’m expecting a lot of them will take it.
Wait for it. Under Oz, anyone on traditional Medicare will be automatically switched to Medicare Advantage.
I don't know if they will start with Medicare but I do foresee Rs forcing MA plans and move away from Medicare Prime
Medicare Advantage was promoted as showing how private-sector efficiency would beat a government-run program. Initially, Medicare Advantage plans were reimbursed at a higher rate than traditional Medicare, you know startup costs. But then those reimbursement rates never came back down. So the Medicare Advantage plans cost Medicare more than keeping people on traditional Medicare, while also siphoning off the lower-cost Medicare patients. Forcing even more people onto Medicare Advantage, with their very limited coverage for expensive specialist care, would be bad for those people, and bad for Medicare. Lowering Medicare Advantage reimbursement rates to be the same as traditional Medicare would be better. But the MA providers won't stand for that.
Here's something I've been wondering: If these picks do go to the Senate for confirmation (not a sure thing), what happens when one is rejected? Does it make it more likely or less likely that the Senate will reject other nominees? I can make a good argument for both possibilities.
Was Dr. Phil unavailable? Or perhaps Dr. Bombay?
Or Dr. Demento.
He'd fit right in, as he's spewed racist epithets to black people in his audience.
How about for the NEA and/or NEH? DD is after all a Libertarian.
It's Dr. Mumbai these days. Why they changed it I can't say...
Dr. Vinnie Boombatz?
People just liked it better that way.
Appropriate. Saw lots of "Take [Me] Back" signs in my neighborhood.
@KenSchulz
"People just liked it better that way."
This makes me ask -- Are you the commenter who, in a years-ago discussion here of something about Kansas City, said "They got some crazy little women there"? I've been laughing about that ever since.
I’m not that commenter, but thanks for the laugh!
My assumption is that Dr. Phil will get a position in the government. Maybe Surgeon General. Or perhaps something unrelated to medicine.
That's bad but I've been hearing that even worse pics are in the offing. For example, Professor Roy Hinkley to head up the nation's high energy physics program. Pretty obvious why Trump might pick him. He looks the part.
Dead for over a decade, even if he ever did make it off that island.
That's no reason to disqualify the guy.
True. Better capacity for decisionmaking than Gaetz, that's for sure!
Not much to decide in that area, anyway. CERN is the center of high energy physics (danged furriners). The whole field is in a funk, anyway.
It was never about sports:
https://digbysblog.net/2024/11/19/they-said-it-was-all-about-girls-athletics/
It was always about punishing trans people.
Money spent on campaign ads against trans athletes far exceeds the value of scholarships supposedly withheld from girls.
This is my hypothesis, but quick estimation shows this must be true.
Let's face it, t-Rumpster only knows faux tv folks and low life. He has no friends. He has to pick from what he knows from his tee tee marathons. They get the prime places. Pathetic. It is said, it can be told who you are by the friends that you pick.
I'm waiting for Trump to choose George Santos to his cabinet. That would make it a royal flush.
Caligula supposedly appointed a horse to office. Santos is halfway there.
👍👍👍👍👍
To the Roman Senate.
And there are some vacancies coming up.
lol!
I don't think we have ever before had a cabinet made entirely of shouting heads. If we don't end up in a war with China, it will be a miracle.
Team of Ravers
I really do not know the guy that much, don't know where he stands on anything, but he is a real doctor, or at least he used to be one. From wikipedia, in 2001, Oz became a professor of surgery at Columbia University, and later retired to professor emeritus in 2018. Now, he may still have crazy bad ideas. But was a real doctor.
So is Stella Immanuel. I don’t necessarily see that as a qualification:
“ She has said endometriosis, infertility, miscarriage, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are caused by spirit spouses, and has also endorsed a number of conspiracy theories that include the involvement of space aliens and the Illuminati in manipulating society and government.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stella_Immanuel
As for Oz:
Dr. Oz has championed “energy medicine,” for which he received the James Randi Foundation’s “Pigasus Award” that recognizes achievements in pseudoscience. He has hyped diet pills devoid of any evidence, has given credence to talking to the dead, and hit bottom with marketing “Dr. Oz’s homeopathic starter kit.” Homeopathy, based on non-existent molecules treating existing disease, is the most absurd of all the “alternative” therapies.”
https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/pseudoscience/dr-ozs-sad-trip-down-rabbit-hole
Did you hear about the homeopathic bomb? One drop of liquid explosive in a liter of distilled water, mix thoroughly, dilute one drop in another liter of distilled water, and so on …. Incredibly destructive!
Doctors--especially surgeons--are very prone to the mental disease that afflicts many narrow subject matter experts: presuming that becaus you are good at A, you must also be good at B, C, D . . . Z, and that anybody telling you different must be wrong because they aren't any good at A!
Oz gets a double-affliction, because he has made a lot of money and become famous by play-acting at being an expert at all sorts of things.
It would be nice if doctors were treated more like very, very specialized kinds of mechanics. Being good at surgery has really very little to do with potentially being good at health, well-being, and healthcare policy generally, let alone administration.
Germans have a word: Fachidiot — ‘expert idiot’. ‘Fach’ applies to something compartmented, e.g. a subject matter. Fachwerk is half-timbered construction, which leaves lots of little niches to be filled in.
He's a doctor! So were Ben Carson and Dr Mengele.
I used to enjoy watching Looney Tunes as a kid. I'm not so keen on this sequel.
In Trump world you having watched Looney Tunes is qualification to be an animation director.
I want to take a minute to say a few words about what I think is actually happening and why I think that, from Trump’s perspective, these crazy appointments have all been logical and intelligent. And why most, perhaps all of them will ultimately be confirmed.
One thing we know about Trump is that he’s a world class bully who understands that obtaining the groveling submission of his victims is paramount both for his enjoyment but also as an assurance of future obedience. These are not simply nominees who are unqualified. Rather they are laughable and, in certain cases, dangers to the country very survival.
The importance of confirming as many of these people as possible (and, ideally, all of them) cannot be overstated. Any senator who votes to confirm any of these freaks is basically handing over his or her soul for all time. And that goes a long way to achieving Trump’s goal of making himself a king who can rule by decree.
And that’s why I think Trump has nominated a bunch of risibly unqualified and dangerous candidates.
Yes, absolutely.
It’s forcing people to humiliate themselves.
Another is getting them to say something in public that they know is untrue. “The 2020 election was stolen. Trump actually beat Biden”. How many Rs had to do that to keep their positions?
It’s a dominance game and trump is a master at it. Once you’ve shown someone that you have the power to make them lie in public, they can never stand up to you.
Part of the game is the fun of watching Democrats squeal, but the other part is smoking out wobbly Rs who might not sufficiently loyal.
It's absolutely a power play to show his dominance over the Republican party and the Senate. And like the bunch of spineless, feckless choads that they are, they'll comply.
When this chapter of American history is written down the road, Trump's madness will be duly noted, but the shameful cowardice of so many politicians who watched him trash the place and did nothing, or helped him along, will be the lede.
For most of the nominations, I agree it is just power play.
But some of them will also be tasked with clearing their department of people with integrity in preparation for using the administartion to harass opponents. In particular, currently Trump would find it difficult to harass Democratic politicians (as opposed to Republican) and judges, and he will try to get in a position to do that.
I'm with you on this take.
My only reservation is I don't care to predict just how far the Senate will allow this to go. Because, you know, they know that this is what is going on.
And, contrary to Trump's wishes, they voted in favor of the Ukraine aid package last summer, after a lot of hemming and hawing.
I'm not making a prediction - I'm just saying that I really don't know how John Thune (who was NOT the MAGA pick for Senate Majority Leader, and somehow isn't shown on the plane with Trump and his cronies, unlike Speaker Johnson.) is going to handle this. He probably doesn't know yet.
And by the way, anodyne generic statements about Trump's picks don't count for anything. Once he knows he has the votes, he could discover problems.
This is where the country is: Morons vote. Morons worship celebrities, not law-school types. They need a candidate who "will tell us who she is" - never mind how repulsive or mendacious the account given.
Democrats can learn this or go extinct: It's time to run Kardashians, Gary Busey, Heidi Montag, Charlie Sheen, Brad Pitt, J. Lo, Alex Rodriguez - anyone who's been in the tabloids.
Real reeking trash: Give them scripted reality shows and portray them as powerful, visionary entrepreneurs, and then launch them toward the Senate, the presidency and the Supreme Court - this last just cries out for reality-show treatment.
Reagan's handlers showed the way, and gave us an presidency that was produced, not real. Follow the example.
This whole phenomenon is laid out in Neal Gabler's brilliant book Life the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality. Worth a read if you want to understand how we got here.
Also Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death.
And now...professional wrestling comes to the Cabinet. How is Roller Derby not represented?
I'm waiting to see which Kardashian gets a cabinet nod.
The Republicans are the total clown party. Our choice is clear, put on the red nose and the giant shoes, or report to the re-education camps. Thanks, Repubulicans!
Presumably they'll enter office, sit down at the desk without the first clue on what to do.
Those clues will be provided by avid young aides from Heritage. Despite their aspirations to world-eternal mastery, they've never managed anything larger than their bosses' lunch order.
Faced by a wall of bureaucracy and reality, they'll all get tired after a year of nothing happening aside from felatious public cabinet meetings, retire, and then have a book ghosted for them with the remainder stickers already applied.
Caligula appointed his horse to the Roman Senate. It wasn't because he expected great legislation from Incitatus. The purpose was to show the Senate that they don't matter, the emperor could do anything he wanted, and only loyalty to the emperor mattered.
Trump is doing the same thing when he appoints manifestly unqualified people to senior positions. He's telling the people who work in those agencies that they don't matter, that he can do anything he wants. Forget about the law, forget about the Constitution, loyalty to me is the only thing that matters.
And you know? He told us he was going to do that.