Kyrie eleison

If Trump can attend the Mass of consecration of the altar of Notre-Dame de Paris without the flesh melting from his bones, perhaps there really is no hope.

Vox Veritatis is on extended leave.

 

-- Diogenes, 12/10/24

Bring in the Clowns, Part 2b

My friends, I thank you for your good wishes and for your forbearance concerning the lapse of days between posts. Life just will intrude on the important stuff.

Now onward to the second half of the Clown Cabinet. We left off with Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the Clown-in-Chief's pick for secretary of Labor. Next:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Health and Human Services. I have found it very difficult to retain even a semblance of objectivity regarding this nomination. Part of the days-long delay of this part has been due to my waffling on it, and particularly trying to decide to go long or go short.

This is short:

Kennedy has a solid record as an environmental attorney who has won several cases against large corporations for polluting, endangering marine life, and for using destructive mining practices. He opposes coal-fired power plants, but conversely is also opposed to alternative forms of energy generation, having successfully fought against hydroelectric dams and wind farms, and brought about the closure of a nuclear power generation station in New York. One might wonder why he wasn't tapped for Interior or Agriculture.

The reason is because he's a wing nut when it comes to human health. He did all the environmental stuff as a Democrat.

During the COVID crisis Kennedy promoted the use of the quack drug Ivermectin and published a number of articles containing disinformation about vaccine safety.

And he has besmirched his family's legacy by cuddling up to Trump. CQ 95%

Scott Turner, HUD: Turner is a former NFL player turned politician. He worked in Trump's first term as executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council. HUD is no stranger to massive budget cuts, and it is a target in Trump's spending-reduction drive. At a time when the cost of even modest homes is beyond the reach of nearly half of Americans,¹ HUD's role of helping Americans get into and stay in their homes is exceptionally important.

Turner is an associate pastor in his church, and religion plays a large role in his life. Caught between American homeowners' need for support and his boss' desire to slash and burn departmental budgets Turner may need to lean hard into his faith. CQ 25%

Sean Duffy, Transportation: Former Fox News presenter. Automatic CQ 100%.

Chris Wright, Energy: Now here's a change. Wright has degrees from MIT and some study at UC Berkeley. He is CEO of Liberty Energy, a large fracking company. He has been labeled a climate change denier, but an article in Forbes² notes that he has publicly stated his belief that carbon dioxide, which scientists consider to be the primary greenhouse gas emitted through human activities, is in fact a greenhouse gas. (The Trump camp maintains that humans bear no responsibility for climate change.)

Wright has been clear in his promotion of nuclear energy, and he is invested in plants that build reactors. He is an intelligent candidate with well founded positions. But we have to wonder what will happen to his ideas once he moves into government. His opinions have changed in the past, but he does not seem to be tied slavishly to Trump ideas. CQ 45%.

Linda McMahon, Education: Given the Clown-in-Chief's antipathy to the Department of Education, it's surprising he even bothered to nominate anyone--and that anyone would accept the nomination. But such is the lust for power in Clown City.

In his announcement of McMahon's nomination, Trump shouted out his all-caps education mantra, "bring education back to the states." Just to soothe my fellow grammarians, I know the verb in that sentence should be "send" rather than "bring," but it's moot anyway. Public education is already administered by the states. 

McMahon's work history barely touches directly on education. She spent a year on the Connecticut State Board of Education and is a major donor to Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut. She also supports a number of charitable organizations.

The largest chunk of McMahon's history and ongoing work belongs to her position as co-founder (with her husband Vince) and CEO of Titan Sports Inc., the parent of the World Wrestling Foundation and World Wrestling Entertainment. She is likely a DEI hire to entertain all those Manly MAGA Men.

It has been suggested that Trump and McMahon will focus on bringing about changed to American higher education.  That's hardly surprising, given the C-i-C's dislike of higher ed. It's an open question whether Trump actually owns a post-secondary degree, and there are all those people out there who have something he doesn't and can't get. But I digress . . .

McMahon is an unknown at this point, as is her plan for education. CQ 50%.

Doug Collins, Veterans' Affairs: Collins is genuinely a mixed bag: lawyer, minister, politician, business owner, hazardous materials safety products salesman, Air Force Reserve chaplain. 

As a Republican member of the Georgia House from 2007 to 2013 and the U. S. House from 2013 to 2021 he has hardly followed a Christian path. He is against abortion but for capital punishment; received high marks from the NRA and a failing grade from NORML; he is against all aspects of LGBTQ; is opposed to the Affordable Care Act; is a climate change denier; signed the Republican amicus brief supporting a case brought by Texas trying to get the Supreme Court to set aside the 2020 election.

Isn't that enough? CQ 95%.

Kristi Noem, Homeland Security: Really? She is the governor of South Dakota and the bozo who approved having hundreds of thousands of anti-masking bikers invade Sturgeon in the midst of the COVID plague, ultimately leading to hundreds of cases and an unknown number of deaths.³ And she's going to lead a department that numbers about a quarter the population of her entire state? That includes armed services?

Noem's action so alarmed the indigenous nations of South Dakota that several of them banned her from their lands during the rally and blocked roads that rally-goers might use to cross their lands. As of this date all South Dakota's indigenous nations have declared Noem persona non grata.

South Dakota's original inhabitants don't want her, and neither do we. CQ 95%.

Rather than extend this after so long a delay in getting it out, I'm going to stop here and do all the follow-up in the next part.

--Diogenes, 12/4/24

 

¹ National Association of Home Builders: "Nearly Half of U.S. Households Can’t Afford a $250,000 Home," 5/17/24. https://www.nahb.org/blog/2024/05/housing-affordability-pyramid

² "Fracker Chris Wright, Trump’s Energy Pick, Isn’t A Climate Denier–He’s A Pragmatist," Forbes, 11/19/24.  https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2024/11/19/fracker-chris-wright-trumps-energy-pick-isnt-a-climate-denierhes-a-pragmatist/

³ "South Dakota Covid cases quintuple after Sturgis motorcycle rally," NBC, 8/25/2021. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/south-dakota-covid-cases-quintuple-after-sturgis-motorcycle-rally-n1277567