Trump builds cabinet from swamp up
Hours before handpicking yet another veteran of Goldman Sachs to join his Cabinet, bringing the total to three from the New York investment bank, President-elect Donald Trump mocked people worrying about the makeup of his inner circle.
“I believe we’re in the process of putting together one of the great cabinets that has ever been assembled in the history of our nation,” he said in Iowa. Really?
Voters gave Trump a majority of the electoral votes. But we’ve watched as the incoming president has nominated tycoons, generals, campaign donors, and some inexperienced but smart people. The Republican-controlled Senate is charged to advise and consent on all cabinet nominees. Senators should put the country ahead of party loyalty and, if appropriate, be prepared to reject any nominee whose dealings are suspect.
Start with Exxon Mobil chief executive Rex Tillerson, who would be secretary of state. He has never served in government, but he is clearly intelligent and experienced at running a large entity – Exxon has 70,000 employees and revenue surpassing many small nations. But he’s close with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Tillerson’s holdings also could create complications. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Exxon’s board of directors is considering whether to grant him $175 million in stock compensation as he retires. The better the stock does, the richer Tillerson gets.
For labor secretary, Trump nominated Andrew Puzder, who doesn’t want to expand eligibility for overtime pay and is against raising the minimum wage. To run the Treasury Department, Trump selected Steven Mnuchin, a former hedge fund executive at Goldman Sachs and with George Soros who profited by foreclosing subprime mortgages his company sold.
Gary Cohn, who would lead Trump’s National Economic Council, touted the benefits of moving jobs from U.S. financial centers to cheaper areas such as Singapore when he worked for Goldman Sachs.
Linda McMahon, a co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment nominated to run the Small Business Administration, spent $7.5 million to elect Trump. Qualifications?
The Washington Post reports Trump’s Cabinet nominees and appointments donated $11.6 million to his presidential bid, and to related super PACs and the Republican National Committee. So much for draining the swamp. And so much for Hillary Clinton being the one in Wall Street’s pocket.
It doesn’t stop there. Tom Price, nominated for health and human services secretary, wants to replace Obamacare with something market-driven, no doubt yanking health insurance from millions poor of Americans. Meanwhile, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, who would lead the Environmental Protection Agency, doesn’t believe in human-caused climate change and wants to roll back regulations protecting people from carbon emissions. Once they’ve lost their health insurance, how will poor people deal with that?
Betsy DeVos, another megadonor and charter school advocate, will lead the Department of Education, but has never worked in a public school, didn’t attend them or send her children to them.
We had hoped Trump would surround himself with qualified people who could help him govern ethically and effectively.
With so many CEOs in charge, the potential for double-dealing the American public is rife. And without an unlikely intervention from the Senate, many voters who supported Trump, hoping their lives would improve with new jobs and better pay, will be the ones likely to suffer the most.
This story was originally published December 18, 2016 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Trump builds cabinet from swamp up."