I gave Trump credit — maybe prematurely — when he announced that Raytheon whore Nikki Haley and war pig Mike Pompeo would not be welcome in his administration.
The rapidly unfolding appointment scene is much more convoluted than a one-off assessment could accurately describe.
Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The good
Matt Gaetz — a solid anti-establishment Congressman relentlessly investigated for non-existent crimes in the same way as Trump — is up for Attorney General.
Via Fox News (emphasis added):
“President-elect Trump on Wednesday announced Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., as his pick for attorney general — an unexpected pick that took many, including fellow House Republicans, by surprise.
If confirmed, Gaetz will head up the Justice Department after Trump is sworn in for his second term in January.
Trump first announced his nomination in a post on Truth Social, saying Gaetz "has distinguished himself in Congress through his focus on achieving desperately needed reform at the Department of Justice."
Gaetz confirmed the nomination on the social media site X, adding, "It will be an honor to serve as President Trump’s Attorney General!"
In his statement on Truth Social, Trump praised Gaetz for his experience on the House Judiciary Committee, where he said Gaetz "played a key role" in "defeating the Russia, Russia Hoax," and exposing what Trump described as "alarming and systemic Government Corruption and Weaponization."
"He is a Champion for the Constitution and the Rule of Law," he added.”
Tulsi Gabbard is headed for a spot as Director of National Intelligence where she could really do some damage to the spooks’ infrastructure, which as we all know has been weaponized and aimed at the American people for at least eight years.
Sometimes a guy is seemingly handcrafted by God for a specific purpose, and such is the case with Tom Homan, future Border Czar.
Future Trump Border Czar vs. AOC
Via The New Republic (emphasis added):
“Donald Trump’s pick for his administration’s “border czar” suggested that immigrants should “self-deport” ahead of the president-elect’s massive deportation scheme.
During an interview Monday with Tom Homan, Trump’s former director of Immigration Customs and Enforcement, Fox News’s Sean Hannity pitched the idea of a two- or three-month “grace period” for undocumented immigrants to self-deport.
“If you don’t self-report-deport, then you will never be given an opportunity at citizenship and when you leave, you will never be invited back, you will never be able to apply to come into the country,” said Hannity. “Sound like a good idea or no?”
“Criminals and gang members get no grace period,” Homan, the incoming border chief, said. “But, while we’re out prioritizing the public safety threats, and national security threats, if you want to self-deport, you should self-deport. Because, again, we know who you are, and we’re gonna come and find you.””
The bad
For some obtuse reason, Trump apparently believes that hiring Marco-Bot 3000 — a total neocon shithead and empty suit with the DSLs, ready and willing to suck whoever’s dick he needs to service to get ahead in life, who gallivants across the globe with his boyfriend Lindsey Graham promoting endless war — for Secretary of State is not going to end up with his professed foreign policy objectives being subverted or a knife in his back.
We’ll see about that.
Via Associated Press (emphasis added):
“Rubio rode the tea party wave in 2010 to rise to national prominence. He campaigned by saying then-President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress threatened the nation’s economy by supporting disastrous domestic spending, tax and health care policies.
As vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations, Rubio now often discusses foreign military and economic threats, particularly China. He warns that China, Iran, North Korea and Russia are increasingly partnering against the United States.
“They all share one goal, and that is, they want to weaken America, weaken our alliances, weaken our standing and our capability and our will,” he said in a speech last March.”
Career lobbyist Susan Wiles as Trump’s chief of staff — arguably the most powerful position in the administration next to the president himself: also not great.
The ugly
After Kristi Noem executed her puppy named Cricket in a gravel pit like a 20th-century war atrocity because she annoyed her and then bragged about it in her ghost-written book, I assumed her career was over.
Alas, Trump’s resurrected it with her appointment as Homeland Security secretary — a position that shouldn’t exist because the whole Homeland Security apparatus is a post-9/11 scam to systematically violate Americans’ civil liberties in the name of fighting terror. If Trump were half the populist he markets himself as, he’d be dismantling the whole goddamn thing instead of appointing anyone to run it.
Ben Bartee is an independent Bangkok-based American journalist with opposable thumbs.