For many the old adage that “politics make strange bedfellows,” is an ongoing maxim, but if the selection of the Trump cabinet is any indication, then there are no strangers here, only those like minded men and women, designed to both keep and preserve the Republican playbook. In a seeming reversal of his campaign rhetoric that was soundly against Wall Street and its denizens, read Hillary Clinton, Trump has not drained the swamp, instead he has refilled it with those he once reviled -- career politicians and those seasoned veterans of official Washington.
Just as much of the country was reeling -- or applauding - Steve Bannon as White House counsel, and his association with white supremacists, and wanting women in their most traditional of roles, then came others: Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina as United Nations ambassador with near zero foreign policy experience, who during the campaign was Trump's most ardent critic. But, now she has said: "When the President believes you have a major contribution to make to the welfare of our nation, and to our nation's standing in the world, that is a calling that is important to heed," Haley said. "The second is a satisfaction with all that we have achieved in our state in the last six years and the knowledge that we are on a very strong footing."
If some were scratching their heads in confusion and saying, “What the heck,” then welcome to the wide, and wonderful, word of national politics where nearly anything goes. But, some are questing even that slice of conventional wisdom, and wonder if there is a method to his madness. Is Trump reigning in his critics to keep them away from damaging his nascent excursion into federal politics, now that he has captured reality television, or is he shooting fish in a barrell?
Those who believe that Vice-President elect Mike Pence is his Richelieu, might be startled that the neophyte politician, just might have a battle plan. Little is known of the inner recesses of Trump’s cerebral cortex, but conventional wisdom says that the Haley appointment and maybe even, in an even madder world, that Mitt Romney agrees to be secretary of state, might have something to do with keeping your enemies close.
In the not too distant past this was not unheard of --- recall Hillary Clinton safely out of the Senate (where she could have been an ardent critic) and as Barack Obama’s secretary of state, where she had to report into the Oval office. The youthful Haley, a possibility for an Elizabeth Dole style presidential candidate, in the future, might be better in the safety net of the U.N. ambassadorship, than a loose cannon, and critic from the South. This proves that Trump, unlike like Rhett Butler, might just give a damn.
What is certain are the targets in the shooting gallery of the Clinton-Obama legacy, are in the crosshairs, much like Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan took apart, whenever they could, most of the Kennedy-Johnson legacy. First to go, of course is the Affordable Care Act, the so-called Obamacare, that has got more Republicans in a lather than the Burma man. Tuesday’s announcement that Rep.Tom Price of Georgia, also a physician, is Trump’s appointment for Health and Human Services secretary, puts the final nail in the ACA, as we know it. He is also feared to have a devastating effect on women’s health, should he be confirmed.
A bit of demagoguery doesn’t hurt, so says Price when he said: “There is a vile liberal agenda that is threatening everything that we hold dear as Americans.” Suddenly, it does not feel like Kansas anymore, nor does it feel like the days when Ted Kennedy and Bob Byrd sat down for a bourbon in the Senate cloakroom.
There may be a little “tit-for-tat” diplomacy here, since “many Republicans, including House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.), wavered in their attitudes toward Trump during his campaign, Price was a devoted foot soldier. In May, he organized a joint statement by nine GOP House committee chairs, pledging loyalty to Trump and calling on “all Americans to support him”, noted the Washington Post.
While Price is no lightweight, (and a longtime donor) ,despite his hidebound conservatism, Haley and Bannon seem to be there to counter any criticism of lacking gender diversity. Bringing up that flank is the ultimate Washington insider, so much so, that we hear a portion of the beltway might be named for her, is Elaine Chao, wife of the Republican majority leader, Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and former labor secretary, under George Bush, who made her cabinet debut as an Asian American woman, netting Bush some diversity cred.
Her task, should she accept it, is to help rebuild the nation's infrastructure of bridges and roads, something that even Rome could not do in a day. But, many experts agree that there is work to be done, “The need for infrastructure investments is "undeniable," says Metropolitan Planning Council president MarySue Barrett. "The U.S. has underinvested in infrastructure for decades, and new sources of public funding need to be identified," reported the Chicago Reader
The problem occurs if a genuine bipartisan effort is taken with Trump, how much collusion will there be with the purported devil that wants to deport immigrants, (seemingly mostly Mexicans), and ban Muslim immigration, among other things..
With funding an issue for any president, some say that it might be easier for this one, but then the money needed,and at that level, may prove to be difficult Recently, “former Regional Transportation Authority chief Steve Schlickman notes that congressional deficit hawks are unlikely to approve a significant amount of new federal grant money for infrastructure.”
Not too many of us are unaware that education has become a political football,and perhaps no where has this been seen as with the Common Core, PARCC and No Child Left Behind, in reverse order. The move to school vouchers, and charter schools has been on the horizon for some time. But, they will take a permanent hit, with the expected confirmation of Elizabeth DeVos, who has been a long time advocate of school vouchers, a move widely criticized by educators as killing off the public school system.
A social conservative, the Michigan born DeVos is married to billionaire businessman Dick DeVos, son of the founder of Amway, and as one wag put it “they have buckets of money,” and have used it support Republican causes, and their contributions rival that of the Koch brothers. They are also strongly anti-union. She learned her conservative nature, from family, DeVos is the daughter of Elaine Prince Broekhuizen, who gave $450,000 in 2001 to try and ban same sex marriage.
Wednesday’s news that former Goldman Sachs executive Steve Mnuchin is the choice for Treasury set tongues wagging more than ever, since this scion of the corporate world and Hollywood financier has promised to carry the economic water for Trump. The move is also widely seen as rewarding him for his loyalty to the president-elect.
Promising to dash trade pact agreements, in favor of bilateral agreements, Mnuchin has also promised that he will revise the corporate tax code and increase tariffs on Mexican and Chinese imports. So, goodbye to the TPP and hello to a muscular policy that has at its core an economic nativism.
His main plan, he states is a middle income tax deduction within the first 90 days, yet the bipartisan Tax Foundation says while this can be done, Mnuchin and Trump’s other plans to slash the corporate rate to 15 percent, from the current 35 percent, plus reducing taxes for the country's wealthiest would result in a $2 trillion increase in the federal debt; and over a decade, and $3.9 billion after allowing the future incentive growth. The whole package of cuts would favor the top one percent, and corporations, not the middle and working class that Trump vowed to fight for on the trail.
If this all seems disingenuous, them welcome to Washington Mr. Smith.And, it looks like Mnuchin's Hollywood roots might be not far afield, as when he took over a failed bank in the Great Recession, and evicted families on the approaching Thanksgiving holiday, and locked one woman out of her home, by changing the locks during a blizzard.
Wednesday’s was also a joint announcement, with Wilbur Ross being introduced as Trump’s selection as Commerce Secretary, and as his deputy, Todd Ricketts co owner of the Chicago Cubs. Together their combined skills are to be used keep the Trump campaign promise.
While, the 79 year old venture capitalist, defines the stereotype of the “old white guy” he was also a savior for Trump when he saved the eponymous Casinos from bankruptcy, making this selection a reward for saving his financial empire from ruin. Like the president-elect he is also thrice married, and has publicly declared that he wants a “radical, and new approach to government.”.
No stranger to controversy he refused to stop production at the Sago Mine, despite known structural problems, when it was under his jurisdiction. The neglect led to the death of 12 miners at the West Virginia site.
In the past, he has received mixed reviews on his success rate, but since this is largely a debt repaid, it’s hard to see what an alternate agenda may be, other than what he has stated. Yet his appointment rounds out Trump’s designs, with the pending marquee position of secretary of state, and says much about his much vaunted appeal to lower income, non-college educated people, who voted for a change in national leadership. Well, they won’t see it with this crew who are largely more of the same: political veterans, former Goldman Sachs employees, mostly male and richer than Midas.
No comments:
Post a Comment