Illustration by Micheal DiMilo
By Geoff Carter
Watching the confirmation hearings for some of Donald Trump’s new cabinet appointees has run the gamut from unbelievable to harrowing to downright frightening, like a giant runaway locomotive barreling down the track towards a school bus stuck on the tracks. Some of his nominees seem to have no business operating heavy machinery, much less manning the helm of major government offices. Yet because of the nepotistic and good-old-boy quid pro quo mentality of the incoming administration, nominees are chosen for blind loyalty and championship ass-kissing more than they are for actual job qualifications.
Robert Kennedy, Jr. is President Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Social Services, to be the chief of health for the entire nation. Yet he has no medical training, and he has never served in public office. He is an avowed anti-vaxxer and has advanced crackpot conspiracy theories his entire life. Who can believe him when he says stuff like Lyme Disease is a bioweapon engineered by the Army, said the Covid was designed to target Caucasian and Black people , demonstrated his ignorance of how Medicare and Medicaid work? I do believe his claim that a worm ate part of his brain and then died.
Peter Hegseth, a former Fox News anchor, has already been confirmed as Secretary of Defense, despite his glaring lack of experience. Besides being a pontificator on Fox, he’s never run anything larger than a small non-profit, and according to an article in The New Yorker, he resigned from the Concerned Veterans of America amidst allegations of chronic alcohol abuse, womanizing, and misuse of CVA funds like a private expense account. Testimony at the Senate hearing detailed reports of Hegseth being so drunk he had to be carried out of a strip club, that he passed out at various functions, and chanting “Kill all Muslims” while at a bar in Ohio.
And now he has been confirmed by the Republican majority in the Senate. They should be congratulated for their ability to somehow stand upright without spines, for bowing to President Trump’s wishes by confirming these absurdly underqualified sniveling lapdogs. And there’s more to come.
Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel, the nominees for Secretary of Intelligence and head of the FBI respectively, have demonstrated alarming tendencies to value their relationships with the president more than their loyalty to the country.
Ms. Gabbard, whose proposed post would entail managing the eighteen divisions of America’s intelligence community, including the FBI and the CIA, refused to name Eric Snowden, who had released troves of classified material to the public, as a traitor. Members of the Senate committee also showed concern about her 2017 meeting with Syrian leader al-Assad, whose atrocities during the Syrian civil war had caused the US government to demand his resignation. She denounced the takeover of his repressive regime as an act of extremism. Members also voiced concern about hersympathetic views toward Vladimir Putin and his stance on Ukraine.
During his confirmation hearings, Kash Patel tried to downplay his former support of far-right conspiracy theories, his promises of retribution for those DOJ officials who had prosecuted Trump, and his praise of January 6thinsurrectionists. He did, however, disagree with Trump’s decision to pardon the most violent of the rioters—perhaps an attempt to throw a bone to his critics. He has attempted to backtrack from most of his more extreme positions, but his previous support for January 6th conspirators came back to haunt him when Senator Adam Schiff asked him “to stand up and apologize to the US Capitol Police officers guarding you today.”
The question of whether Kennedy, Gabbard, or Patel will be confirmed seems to be already determined. The invertebrates that now populate the Republican majority in Congress are seemingly ready, willing, and able to disregard the welfare of the country and their constituents in order to curry favor with President Trump—not that he puts much stock in their input. By appointing Elon Musk as head of the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE, he has not only bypassed any sort of congressional or judicial oversight, he has installed a billionaire buddy into a position that could very possibly control the national checkbook.
In his mission to eviscerate the national budget, Elon Musk has now gained access to the Treasury Department payment system, the mechanism that controls disbursements of everything from social security payments, Medicare and Medicaid, and tax refunds. The payment system also contains sensitive personal information, so this Trump operative now has the ability to cut off funding to any governmental department he deems monetarily wasteful.
He has already cut funding to programs already on Trump’s executive order chopping block: funding for DEI programs, the CDC, education, and research programs—never mind that cutting programs funded through congressional legislation is illegal. Trump’s EOs firing Inspector Generals and other federal employees have already been challenged in court. But how can a mere law stand in the way of the will of these rulers?
Musk would probably have few qualms about cutting Medicare or Social Security to our most vulnerable populations. He—and the entire administration—seem hellbent on lowering the federal budget to (drum roll) extend major tax cuts for the one percent—and their related corporations because, after all, they are chosen ones, God’s golden (orangish gold) elite.
President Trump’s second term is going to be a major train wreck, and, unfortunately, the tracks run straight through the heart of our democracy. The president has already demonstrated a contemptuous disregard for the law, attempting to revoke the 14th Amendment to the Constitution through executive order. Since his fellow Republicans are unwilling (they would be able to if they had the guts), this runaway train may very well destroy our freedoms, as well as countless lives and families.
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