As Trump reveals his Cabinet and other high-level positions in his administration, one thing is clear, primary qualifications include 1) loyalty to Trump and in most cases, 2) election denialism. As expected, Trump will surround himself with proven sycophants who will rarely, if ever, challenge Trump. The guard rails have come off.
If I were a betting man, I would bet Susie Wiles will not last a year as Chief of Staff, once Trump is fully unleashed and the expected internecine warfare and Machiavellian intrigue takes hold in the Trump White House as it surely will if previous history is any indication.
It is apparent that Trump’s pick to head the EPA, Lee Zeldin, a former Congressman from New York, will believe his job is to completely dismantle environmental regulations primarily in favor of the fossil fuel industry. Perhaps the agency should be renamed the Energy Production Agency because, like during the last Trump administration, prohibitions for drilling and exploration on Federal lands will be reduced. It is also a given that the Trump administration will once again withdraw from the Paris Climate Accords. Climate change is a hoax anyway – right? And the earth is also flat!!
The whole ‘mass deportation’ exercise will be interesting to watch given who Trump picked to be his immigration czar, Tom Homan, the former head of ICE. He is definitely an immigration hardliner. And he will be assisted, if you will, by Trump’s pick for Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, Steven Miller. Miller’s elevation is a victory for the country’s White Nationalist Movement. He was the primary author of Trump’s previous ‘anti-Muslim’ ban during Trump’s first administration. There is no way this will go smoothly and will ultimately turn into a huge, expensive embarrassment in front of the entire world. We will never again be able to chide the rest of the world about human rights. There is no doubt, this will get really ugly.
I think the choice of Senator Marco Rubio for Secretary of State is interesting, particularly when you reflect on all the insults Trump leveled against Rubio during the primary. Remember ‘Little Marco’? Rubio is just one of the myriads of spineless Republicans who once said that Trump is not fit for office but turned tail and is now sucking up to him. Rubio will be nothing more than Trump’s lap dog on the world stage. He might not be wearing a collar but he sure as hell will be on a short leash.
Trump’s authoritarian tendencies are already surfacing. He is trying to get the Senate to allow him to make some appointments while bypassing the normal Senate confirmation process. He is even trying to get the Democrats, who still control the Senate, to not confirm any more judges so he can make the appointments.
Three of the most consequential picks will be who Trump picks to head the CIA, who he picks as Secretary of Defense and who he picks as Attorney General. That will tell a great deal about how Trump intends to use the military and the Department of Justice, although we pretty much know the answer to that question.
It certainly seems like Trump views the United States of America as simply a larger version of the Trump Organization. The DOJ will be his attorneys. The military will be his security force. Everything will operate to the benefit of the Trump Organization and not to the benefit of the population as a whole. We should all keep in mind, however, that Trump’s record as a successful businessman running his own empire has been fraught with bankruptcies, lawsuits, unpaid contractors, and many failed business ventures. Stay tuned. The worst is yet to come.
