Trump's Appointments May Not Be What Some Fear

[vt]

He may upset the neocons as one result:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-1...t-do-they-mean

[Milton Kuo]

Re: Trump's Appointments May Not Be What Some Fear

He may upset the neocons as one result:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-1...t-do-they-mean

I have thought some of the same thoughts presented by Roberts. Namely, is it possible for a president to appoint only outsiders, no Wall Street insiders and no Washington D.C. insiders, and still have an effective presidency? I have a terrible feeling that it is impossible and Trump will have to appoint the most capable people (who aren't the most honest, altruistic people) he can find and shepherd/bully them into doing the right thing for the country rather.

Trump (or at least his appointees) would probably get no heat if he appoints the people that HRC would have appointed but I don't believe that would serve the country well. HRC and the Democrats were soundly rejected this election for good reasons. If Trump appointed only outsiders, I suspect there would be an outcry that inexperienced people were being put in positions of power and that they would unknowingly push the planet's self destruct button wiping us all out. And of course we know what is going on right now with what I presume are Trump's preferred appointments.

I can't say that Trump has appointed anyone that makes me happy. However, I do not think Mattis should be appointed Secretary of Defense due his being on the board of Theranos. At the very least, it shows a terrible lack of good judgment on his part to stay with the company for as long as he has considering how long allegations of fraud have dogged the company.

As for Mnuchin, the knives are already out. There was a news story from AP about how a woman in California who voted for Trump lost all faith in government after he appointed Mnuchin, the man who headed up the bank who foreclosed on her house. The article stated that she bought her Los Angeles home in 1998. I felt rather sickened by the fact she lost her home due to the the financial crisis until, later in the article, it stated that she levered up (borrowing against her home) during the housing bubble to buy more houses (pursuing the dream of a rentier's easy life) and the got foreclosed when the housing bubble finally popped. The final debt she owed on her home was roughly double the price she originally paid in 1998.

[photon555]

Re: Trump's Appointments May Not Be What Some Fear

It will be impossible for Trump to fulfill his promises without the continued support and pressure of the base that elected him. The news story illustrates once again that the MSM are the spiritual descendants of Bernays. They will continue to enthusiastically deceive, and be deceived in turn. There is no truth in them. The DC crony machine will not give up. They will not abandon their privileged positions because of one electoral defeat. They are the children of Mammon and are psychologically bound to his worship. Only continued vigilance and public exposure will force the financial vampire squid back into it's hiding place. It can never be destroyed, only defeated by each generation.

[Chris Coles]

Re: Trump's Appointments May Not Be What Some Fear

He may upset the neocons as one result:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-1...t-do-they-mean

I can only respond from my personal experience inside the US which tells me that, outside of DC there are many that hold the spirit of public service in the highest regard. The wider problem is one we face in any administration, in any nation, here in the UK being a very good example; the ethos of the underlying thinking of the "group" that hold the highest levels within. That changing the ethos, the guiding principles of the entire operation, is surely the true aiming point for Trump. Thus his appointees are facing the greatest challenge, to adjust the ethos of those deeply embedded within their appointed departments. If I were Trump, my challenge will be to create a supporting PR debate that challenges that underlying ethos; that seemingly has taken the US so far off course from the founding principles laid down by the Founding Fathers of the nation.

[shiny!]

Re: Trump's Appointments May Not Be What Some Fear

Trump's new administration is becoming a club for Goldman Sachs: Steven Mnuchin for Treasury Secretary, Steve Bannon for Senior Advisor and now he's offered Goldman Sachs President and COO Gary Cohn the post of National Economic Council Director. With a population of 324,720,797 people to choose from, this is who he picks? My disgust runneth over.

[bpr]

Re: Trump's Appointments May Not Be What Some Fear

Trump's new administration is becoming a club for Goldman Sachs: Steven Mnuchin for Treasury Secretary, Steve Bannon for Senior Advisor and now he's offered Goldman Sachs President and COO Gary Cohn the post of National Economic Council Director. With a population of 324,720,797 people to choose from, this is who he picks? My disgust runneth over.

Right, but Hillary gave some paid speeches there.

[dcarrigg]

Re: Trump's Appointments May Not Be What Some Fear

Trump's new administration is becoming a club for Goldman Sachs: Steven Mnuchin for Treasury Secretary, Steve Bannon for Senior Advisor and now he's offered Goldman Sachs President and COO Gary Cohn the post of National Economic Council Director. With a population of 324,720,797 people to choose from, this is who he picks? My disgust runneth over.

The Boss is a billionaire and a New Yorker. Probably more than half of all the people he knows personally are Wall Street guys. And the Goldman pack are generally thought of as the meanest wolves on the block. Ivanka married an investment banker / hedge fund guy. Just like Chelsea.

Like I said before, now that the theater for us plebeians is over, Ivanka and Chelsea are sipping $200 afternoon cocktails together at some swanky penthouse lounge in Manhattan that would never let you or I through door.

http://www.eonline.com/videos/embed/254297

No matter what happened in the election, the upper class was winning. The working class better do their stretches and practice grabbing their ankles. Because some of these cabinet picks are literally the greediest people in the world--the kind of people who just take what they want and have no regard whatsoever for who gets hurt along the way.

[shiny!]

Re: Trump's Appointments May Not Be What Some Fear

Trump just selected Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State, with neocon John Bolton as Deputy Secretary of State to run day-to-day management of the department.

[Mega]

Re: Trump's Appointments May Not Be What Some Fear

hmmm..........................EJ going into the Bomb shelter bussniess?

[Lasher]

Re: Trump's Appointments May Not Be What Some Fear

Trump just selected Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State, with neocon John Bolton as Deputy Secretary of State to run day-to-day management of the department.

This looks like 2008 all over again. The Republican version of Hope & Change.

[jk]

Re: Trump's Appointments May Not Be What Some Fear

Ivanka married an investment banker / hedge fund guy. Just like Chelsea.

no, iirc kushner is the billionaire scion of a real estate family, just like his father-in-law. he took over the business very early when his dad was sent to prison by then u.s. atty chris christie.

[santafe2]

Re: Trump's Appointments May Not Be What Some Fear

Trump just selected Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State, with neocon John Bolton as Deputy Secretary of State to run day-to-day management of the department.

Did you expect anything less than two of the best fascists the US could produce? What did you think you were voting for when you opposed HRC? And it's not just these two, the entire cabinet are fascists and racists of the first order. The South has risen again. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III will be our next Attorney General. This is a man who called his opposing council a "disgrace to his race".

You made a choice against neoliberalism-light and for fascism and racism, live with it. It wasn't a great choice but it was the choice we had. Stop acting surprised. This is the change you wanted. This is the change you voted for. Own it.

[Thailandnotes]

Re: Trump's Appointments May Not Be What Some Fear

Nader's rundown (try not to shoot the messenger)

Even for a failed gambling czar, Donald Trump has been surprisingly quick to show his hand as he sets the course of his forthcoming presidency. With a reactionary fervor, he is bursting backwards into the future. He has accomplished this feat through the first wave of nominations to his Cabinet and White House staff.

Only if there is a superlative to the word “nightmare” can the dictionary provide a description of his bizarre selection of men and women marinated either in corporatism or militarism, with strains of racism, class cruelty and ideological rigidity. Many of Mr. Trump’s nominees lack an appreciation of the awesome responsibilities of public office.

Let’s run through Trump’s “picks”:

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/12/...is-real-plans/

And then there's Hedges....yeehaw!

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/...chief_20161211

[shiny!]

Re: Trump's Appointments May Not Be What Some Fear

Did you expect anything less than two of the best fascists the US could produce? What did you think you were voting for when you opposed HRC? And it's not just these two, the entire cabinet are fascists and racists of the first order. The South has risen again. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III will be our next Attorney General. This is a man who called his opposing council a "disgrace to his race".

You made a choice against neoliberalism-light and for fascism and racism, live with it. It wasn't a great choice but it was the choice we had. Stop acting surprised. This is the change you wanted. This is the change you voted for. Own it.

Enough of the hypocrital racism obsession coming from someone who doesn't consider sexism worth bothering about. Government control of the economy while leaving businesses in private hands, e.g. Obamacare and bank bailouts, is the very definition of fascism, and HRC is all for it. That you ignore the crony-capitalist fascism of the Left while crying about crony-capitalist fascism of the Right is unfortunately typical of you.

While I'm disgusted with many of Trump's appointments and am concerned about what they might do, HRC would have appointed equally repugnant neocons and ilk from Goldman, the only difference being that she wouldn't have taken so long to do it. As for Trump's appointees developing a trade-friendly relationship with Russia, rather than antagonizing them into war as HRC and the neocons are trying to do, I'm all for it. As for the new administration being favorable towards the development of U.S. carbon-based energy, I'm all for it. As for the new administration pressuring corporations to bring good-paying jobs back to this country, I'm all for that as well.

It's not that we disagree on politics that has made me lose all respect for you. It's the race-baiting, bile, venom and general rudeness you dish out to anyone who disagrees with you that has lost you my respect. You can have the last word. I'm putting you on Ignore now.

[vt]

Re: Trump's Appointments May Not Be What Some Fear

You said it well Shiny.

Hey Shiny, here's one for the guy that keeps yelling "fascists":

The Democrats have just proven that Trump is not Hitler!

The Democrats now claim the Russians helped Trump win the election and that Putin and Trump are best buddies. Putin is a former KGB officer and definitely a Communist. The Communists and Fascists are mortal enemies. Since Trump is best buddies with Putin the Communist there is proof that Trump is not Hitler.