"Trump basically wants them (Senate) to crawl through the Capitol in their underwear and eat dog food out of a can for him, like in some fraternity hazing ritual. This is a humiliation exercise, meant to either break the system or allow him to rule unfettered." - Chris Hayes on ALL In last night.
"We know people are tired, and want to back out of the news. But we cannot lose our sense of outrage or to call things what they are. We have to say what's real and true even if we can't stop them. If you want to act call your representatives - at 202- 224-3121, and demand they block the confirmations of these four. And also - if Republicans- they not allow any recess appointments." Legal expert Sherrilyn Ifill on All In last night.
"These picks are an attempt to make the American Government dysfunctional, to do the opposite of what their agencies are designed to do under the Constitution. In that regard, their purpose is to sow chaos and break the system. Break the government." - Prof. Timothy Snyder, Yale University historian
“It is in the security, defence and law enforcement fields, however, that Trump’s choices sound the loudest alarms. Step one in the strongman leader’s playbook is to ensure control over the spies, generals and prosecutors.”- Donald Trump’s Alarming Picks For Government, Financial Times editorial
In our Government class at Monsignor Edward Pace High (1964), one theme Brother Stephen repeatedly emphasized was "advise and consent". Broken down it means the power of the U.S. Senate to be consulted on whenever appointments are made by a president to public positions. Especially critical (cabinet) positions, such as Attorney General and Secretary of Defense - given the expansive inherent powers of these. Bro. Stephen made it clear that if at any future time that Senate power was weakened or dissolved, i.e. so a power-hungry president could have his way, it would be a "torpedo at the heart of our democracy." Because it threatened the very exercise of power and specifically the separation of powers embodied in the Constitution by the Founders.
Carrying this metaphor forward, if anyone needed further proof Donald Trump has launched four such torpedoes, we have Exhibit A: His decision to name four absolutely unqualified, dangerous and incompetent nutcases to his cabinet. We have in turn:
Matt Gaetz: Attorney General Pick
Which Trump choice MSNBC Legal expert Sherrilyn Ifill described thusly:
"This pick is a perversion of the Justice Department. The person who sits at the head of this agency composed of thousands, is intended to be eminently qualified as a lawyer, in his competence and in his character. Matt Gaetz is none of those things and he's not even practiced law in 20 years."
Gaetz alone has alienated numerous members of his own party and was facing release of a House Ethics Probe Report before he backed out, resigned from the House. That report covered allegations of sexual trafficking teen girls, illegal drug use and accepting improper gifts. And we're to believe this shitfaced asswipe is fit to lead DOJ?
As for DOJ responses to the pick, as reported by NBC, one was "OMG!" But the one I liked best was: "This is fucking insane!" Sen. Chris Murphy, appearing on ALL In Wednesday night, declared what we already know (those of us with more than air between the ears) that the Gaetz pick was a direct frontal assault on our democracy and the justice system by a known reprobate. A character who isn't fit to clean porto-potties fare less adjudicate or rule on any cases.
Tulsi Gabbard: Director of National Intelligence pick.
Here we have a dangerous, clueless flake and member of a known cult (SIF) whose own aunt has warned of her instability - being wafted away to la-la land in Hawaii under some ritualistic humbug. In any case, she has no business occupying this critical post (Director of National Intelligence) which gives her power to make decisions over the CIA, FBI and NSA (National Security Agency).
The National Intelligence director basically supervises all U.S. intelligence agencies' collection, analysis, and mission efforts and the production and dissemination of the U.S. government's most sensitive intelligence reporting and analysis.
This includes knowledge of spies buried deep inside foreign governments and terrorist organizations. The fact that Trump nominated Gabbard makes it clear that he is putting his distrust of the intelligence community before the critical interests of national security and the welfare of the American people. In effect he has already violated his oath of office before even taking it.
If Gabbard is approved, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin will have an ideological sympathizer holding the keys to the U.S. intelligence community crown jewels. This is not an exaggeration, see e.g.
Opinion | Tulsi Gabbard is not fit to be the director of national intelligence - The Washington Post
Pete Hegseth: Secretary Of Defense pick.
Another certified screwball and former FOX News propagandist. Sherrilyn Ifill on All In described this mutt as "a white supremacist and extremist. Brags of himself as a former veteran which is insufficient to be qualified for such a key position"
Chris Hayes seconded that, adding (about the DoD):
"Take ideology aside. It is the most complex, powerful and lethal bureaucracy in history or human civilization on the planet. Which is an accurate description of the entity for which Hegseth has been nominated."
Thankfully, Sen. Tammy Duckworth disposed of this extremist former FOX kook and any reasons to confirm him in a recent interview (see last link)
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: Health and Human Services Secretary
We know this fruitcake (and blight on the Kennedy name) still has dead worms occupying space in his brain, and he wants to make sure you have live ones in yours, from Tapeworm cysts:
after he dismantles agencies like the CDC and FDA and Tapeworms spread to all the meats.
Further, given the first critical human case of Bird flu has now been confirmed, e.g.
Federal health officials confirm H5N1 avian flu case in B.C.
Do people really want this fuckwit in charge of their health? Check this link out then answer:
How
RFK Jr. could cause an earthquake for American public health - POLITICO
In sum, it is bloody clear why these 4 deranged picks were made by a traitor and 34- times convicted felon with five screws loose and a fever dream for retribution. He basically wants to show he can piss down the mouths of his GOP cohort and they will take it. Or, as Chris Hayes put it (see top quote) "crawl on their knees through the Capitol in underwear and eat canned dog food" to do his bidding. So infernally committed is this traitor to getting his "retribution". So desperate that he's toying with skirting any confirmation hearings at all by enabling recess appointments for all four derelicts.
There is also no surprise these Wack job picks stunned Senators with any grain of sentience or sense. As well as and some of his own advisers, theoretically setting up multiple uphill confirmation battles that will test the incoming president’s political clout in the Senate, where his party is expected to hold 53 seats. (That is assuming Dotard doesn't further demand "recess appointments" for all four- thereby skirting confirmation hearings - but proving those who allow it not only suck Trump's balls but everything else.
Marc Short, a former adviser to Trump’s first-term vice president, Mike Pence best summed up Trump's senseless picks this way:
“They think they’re owning the libs, but a lot of their nominees’ dirty laundry will get aired this way. It hurts their own credibility, and I felt like it was off to a good start.”
Former Republican Rep.
Charlie Dent has suggested Matt Gaetz's
appointment as attorney general by President-elect Donald Trump may
"have to be withdrawn" and that the nomination was
"gobsmackingly bad."
Trump announced he would be nominating Gaetz to head
the Department of Justice on Wednesday. The Florida
lawmaker resigned from office following the announcement, just two days before
the House Ethics Committee was to vote on releasing a reportedly "highly
damaging" probe into him, Punchbowl News reported, citing sources familiar
with the investigation.
Gaetz had been under investigation over allegations that he
was part of a scheme that led to the sex trafficking of a 17-year-old girl. The
committee said in June it was investigating whether Gaetz engaged in sexual
misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, and sought to
obstruct government investigations of his conduct. Gaetz has denied all
wrongdoing.
Dent replied after a question from Anderson Cooper on whether the Gaetz nomination merits withdrawal.:
"This is a gobsmackingly bad nomination. I'd be less
surprised, in the words of Chevy Chase, if my face was stapled to the floor.
This is really a bad nomination."
In these dark times, it's more important than ever to nurse tendrils of joy. So it is a great pleasure to watch all the Republican leaders who repeatedly intervened to protect Donald Trump from himself now reap their reward: a big ol' contempt loogie in their eyes. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. and his allies turned their nose up at the chance to bar Trump from ever running for office again after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. In turn, Trump has worked to humiliate them by nominating the worst possible people for high-level federal appointments.
Trump's loyalty tests of congressional Republicans have escalated quickly from "walk naked through the streets" levels to "eat puke" levels. First, it was the nomination of Fox News host Pete Hegseth for Defense Secretary, even though he admitted the Army "spit me out" after "members of my own unit in leadership deemed that I was an extremist or a white nationalist because of a tattoo." (He's referring to multiple tattoos that are understood this way by Christian and white nationalists themselves.) Then Trump escalated to nominating substitute Fox News host Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence, despite her affection for dictators like Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which then-Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill. deemed "traitorous." Then the topper: Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., to be the attorney general.
— from Robert Reich's Substack
Trump has nominated Rep. Matt Gaetz to serve as America’s next attorney general.
This would be laughable were it not so utterly dangerous.
Gaetz as attorney general would all but guarantee that Trump weaponizes the Justice Department against his enemies — past, present, and future.
Ever since Trump was first indicted, Gaetz has been defending him — alleging that the prosecutions of Trump were politically motivated, that Joe Biden was behind them, charging the Biden administration with vindictiveness toward Trump, and asserting that Trump would have every right to engage in similar vengeance toward Trump’s political enemies.
When considering the reasons why Donald Trump picked a Fox News blowhard to run the near-trillion-dollar U.S. military, it's important to remember that our TV-addicted president-elect favors a strong jawline over concerns like skills or experience. Pete Hegseth may be "the least qualified nominee for SecDef in American history," as the founder of Independent Veterans of America said on Twitter. He may not "have any background whatsoever" in defense policy, as Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, told Politico. But Hegseth, with his heavily gelled hair and impressive bone structure, looks a lot like a movie star of Trump's 1950s childhood. CNN reporter Alayna Tree confirmed that those cheekbones were a major factor in this pick: “Trump also thinks he has the look,” one source told her.
Well, President-elect Donald Trump certainly is off to a roaring start, isn't he? Ensconced at his Mar-a-Lago beach club with the richest man in the world glued to his side every moment, he's busy getting a whole new band together for his second term. Aside from his choice of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for Secretary of State, this time there's nary an establishment figure anywhere to be seen as he chooses his new Cabinet and White House staff. Trump is going directly to the lifeblood of MAGA and picking the most controversial, lib-triggering extremists he can find.
I mentioned his first group of nominees earlier this week, none of whom have anything to particularly qualify them for these jobs but who at least have some government experience behind them. The choice of Fox News celebrity Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense was the first inkling that this was about to go seriously off the rails.
Dear American Assholes,
I hope you will believe me when I say I wouldn’t address you in such a rude way but for the fact that you seem to relish that nomenclature. You revel in being loutish, ignorant, and arrogant. Normal people, loosely defined, find those characteristics to the essence of what makes people assholes. But there are more things that seem to be at the essence of being assholes. Your manners are atrocious, and the people you choose to hang out with run the gamut from sexual predators to grifters, con men. and thieves.
If further explanation is needed for addressing you with such a word, that need itself might explain your reverence for and adoration of Donald Trump, the Avatar of Assholes. People will judge you by the people you admire. Though, like Trump, you are generally not known for reading very much, some of you have even been offered historically notorious assholes to admire, people like Adolph Hitler and his crew, for instance. They set the standard for assholes in Germany in the 30s and 40s in a stupendous display of asshole behavior that resulted in millions of dead Jews, gay men, and other people they didn’t like and wished to expunge. With the help of legions upon legions of malleable assholes, they were quite successful for quite a while. Ordinary people can be quite patient with assholes for far too long because assholes are scary. Just stay away from them and tend to your knitting. One must be very careful about speaking openly about them. You could very well end up in a cattle car with other undesirables.
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