I Told You He Meant It
By
Leonard Zwelling
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/13/us/politics/gaetz-gabbard-hegseth-trump-appointees.html
On election night, when it became clear that Donald Trump would be returning to the White House, many people, me included, thought, well, maybe this won’t be so bad. We survived his first term. We can survive this. After all, as an MD Anderson faculty member, I had survived a few presidents who did not like me at all and I was strengthened by the conflict with them. Unbridled ego is dangerous. I enjoyed challenging it. The challenge makes you stronger.
Maybe America will be better for a Trump shake-up, I thought. After all, it seems to be what America voted for.
I seem to have been a little premature with my optimism.
Mr. Trump is filling his administration with people who will do exactly what he wants them to do and a lot of those actions may not turn out well for America or the American people.
Surely, Marco Rubio is a mainstream Republican in 2024 and could actually be a more successful Secretary of State than Antony Blinken. That would not take a lot of effort to do.
But Matt Gaetz as Attorney General? I guess that is only because Jeffrey Epstein died.
Tulsi Gabbard to lead intelligence? Does she know anything about this? Was Inspector Clouseau unavailable?
Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon? He’s a TV personality? Mark Harmon would be better. He’s been on the air longer.
A South Dakota governor to lead our efforts at the southern border? What does she know about that? She might have been okay at Agriculture, but Homeland Security?
And my new favorite, Dr. Oz at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. No Tin Man?
It is likely that the list will go on and not in a good way.
But you have to give Mr. Trump credit. He is doing exactly what he said he would do and this blog has been repeatedly saying that he must be believed.
So now you have to wonder two things.
First, will the Senate really approve all of these unqualified people for major jobs in the executive branch? My bet is that even as we speak, the Democratic National Committee has private investigators fanning out across the country looking for dirt on the Trump nominees. That dirt will be easy to find on Gaetz and Gabbard. Their foibles have been in the news for a while. The hearings on Gaetz and Gabbard will be bloody, boisterous, and not bi-partisan, that is unless they become recess appointments and have no vetting at all. This is probably not good for the country and really unnecessary as there are more than enough reputable conservatives ready to serve in a second Trump Administration.
Second, what is to prevent the wheels of government from grinding to a halt under these inept leaders or worse having the wheels fall off the car entirely. That cannot happen at the Pentagon without serious danger to the nation.
I am not going to argue that this is what the American people voted for. I don’t think it was. The people want a better economy, a more secure border, and safer streets. At this rate, they will get none of that not because these are all bad people, but because most of them have no idea what they are getting into or what they are doing.
We deserve better even under a Trump Administration.
Dr. Oz?
8 thoughts on “I Told You He Meant It”
Anybody that Trump appoints will be better than: Harris. Blinken. Yellen. Garland. Becerra. Buttigieg. Granholm. Cardona. Mayorkas
To be determined
“Totalitarianism invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.” — Hannah Arendt
Hi Leonard, I think anyone who didn’t see this coming was fooling themselves. Weighing who’s better on the economy, the border, taxes, etc., was a complete waste of time. And unnecessary. All anyone had to know was this: One candidate was a career politician with all the baggage and ineptitude that comes with that, and the other was a lunatic. For anyone out there reading this who doesn’t know who is who in the above sentence — you’re part of the problem. It all boils down to one thing and one thing only. One of the candidates previously sat in the Oval Office and refused to leave when the American people said it was time to go. Then he tried to “Charles Manson” the capitol on January 6th, 2021. He shouldn’t even have been allowed to run again, but since he was, our duty as citizens was to see to it that he didn’t get back in the White House. We failed at that. Well, I didn’t, but I’m only one vote.
In most of your blog posts, you compare whatever topic your discussing with your time at MD Anderson. So, in the spirit of that I’ll do the same with me on the movie set. When I’m directing and/or producing, I surround myself with competent people. I don’t care if I know them, or if I like them after I get to know them, or if they like me. They just need to be able to do their jobs competently. When Trump was in office last time, he was surrounded by mostly competent people (career politicians and seasoned military leaders) and they did a fairly decent job preventing him from destroying the country. Now he wants all those people gone and replaced by those loyal to him. That’s their only required qualification, and we all knew this was coming. At least we all should have. I did. The only guardrail left is the soon-to-be Republican-controlled Senate. Now if only they’re not too afraid to do their jobs for the American people, we should be able to get through this. Bloodied and bruised probably, but hopefully alive. We have much to be concerned with. And shame on those people who chose this mess because they were upset over the price of eggs.
I think that egg thing mattered
Batman was fed up with Alfred’s unusually sloppy cleaning of the Batcave, so he decided to replace him. The only other candidate for the job? None other than The Joker. What could possibly go wrong?
Exactly
You are a Zionist. Trump is a Zionist. You should be very happy.
I’ll be happy when Israel gets new leadership.