Dem
47
GOP
53
For those who don't speak Spanish, and don't want to head over to Google Translate, "No Me Queda Mas" means "There's Nothing Left for Me." Donald Trump is populating the important positions in his administration very quickly, which means that there are some folks that are learning this week that there's not going to be a patronage position for them.
Indeed, one of the biggest stories yesterday was about two people who will not be getting an appointment. We know because Trump, classy fellow that he is, took to his dubious social media platform to rub their noses in it:
I will not be inviting former Ambassador Nikki Haley, or former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to join the Trump Administration, which is currently in formation. I very much enjoyed and appreciated working with them previously, and would like to thank them for their service to our Country. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
Haley, for her part, responded by telling reporters: "I had no interest in being in his Cabinet. He knew that... I have made it clear to everyone that I was not interested in the administration." Uh, huh. Does anyone believe, for one second, that if Trump had offered Haley, say, the State Department, she would not have jumped at the opportunity?
In addition to the non-appointment gloating, Trump also announced some actual appointments yesterday, over and above the selection of RFK Jr. to HHS. First, the President-elect picked Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND) to head up the Department of the Interior. This was a pretty predictable pick, since Burgum has toted a Great Lake's worth of water for Trump during this cycle, and Interior usually goes to someone from the Western states. Assuming the confirmations go through, this also means that both Dakotas will lose their governors to Trump's Cabinet. We wonder if Kristi Noem and Burgum will sit next to each other. If so, he better not make her angry. We know how she tends to solve that particular problem.
Meanwhile, for Veterans Affairs, Trump has chosen former representative Doug Collins. Collins is qualified in that he is a military veteran, having served as a chaplain in the Air Force during the Iraq War. He is not qualified in that he has nothing in his background that prepares him to oversee a department with more than 400,000 employees. All of this said, the real reasons he was chosen are: (1) He is a Trump sycophant, (2) He is a Fox personality, and (3) He's a religious fundamentalist who will be tasked with rolling back VA support for abortion and birth control.
Trump also announced his selection for Solicitor General. This is an important job, but one that is relatively unknown. For any reader who is not familiar, the job of the Solicitor General is to represent the government in cases before the Supreme Court (when the government is a party, of course). Dean John Sauer is the choice; he's a Trump loyalist who argued the presidential immunity case before the Court. That certainly makes him well qualified for his new post.
And finally, there was one person yesterday who said "no." That would be Alina Habba, who was in line to be White House Press Secretary. She explained: "Although I love screaming from a podium I will be better served in other capacities." She provided no further detail, so we're left to guess why she wasn't interested. Maybe she kind of realizes she's not a good public speaker, and in particular that she tends to put her foot in her mouth, which means that she probably wouldn't last long as WHPS. Maybe she's worried she might have to say things that could put her law license in jeopardy. Maybe she makes a lot more as a lawyer than she would as WHPS ($180,000), and she did not want to stop the gravy train. Again, these are just guesses.
Let us conclude by noting one thing. There was much concern that, with much more experience under his belt, and much more time to plan, Trump would stack the government with much more competent people who would be much better at carrying out his plans. Thus far, broadly speaking, that's not really happening. He's picking people who are very loyal, who are Academy-Award-level performers of political theater, who know very little of how the federal bureaucracy actually works, and who generally have little patience for the painstaking work of governance, consensus-building, etc. That suggests a Trump administration v2.0 that will generate a LOT of headlines, and make a LOT of people angry, and produce a WHOLE LOT of lawsuits, but that will struggle to get things done. (Z)