Trump's cabinet

[zoogs]

Thread:

 

 

...one of my colleagues on the Iran Desk was a career official who had a very different perspective. He'd spent a year in Iraq where Americans were being killed by Iranian weaponary. His view was that the Iranian leadership was "a$$hole$ - not misunderstood people". 

We had to write joint memos and make recommendations to senior leadership, which often led to extreme disagreements. But we found a way & the leadership of DOD benefited from this diversity of opinion.

From my colleague they got institutional memory and a sceptical voice. From me a view more in line with the President's agenda & willingness to test further in that direction.

& over time we also agreed on a lot and both of our positions evolved.  We were both right & we were both wrong.

Imagine that. The full thread is worth reading. I selected a few of the more salient tweets here.

[commando]

1 hour ago, zoogs said:

Thread:

 

 

 

 

Imagine that. The full thread is worth reading. I selected a few of the more salient tweets here.

trump doesn't want to work with them.  he wants to continue to blame someone else for his own problems.

[mrandyk]

2 hours ago, commando said:

trump doesn't want to work with them.  he wants to continue to blame someone else for his own problems.

It seems his only goal is to tear down the Obama years. I know there's nothing I'd like more than to reset the clock to January 2009 when everything was just peachy.

[BigRedBuster]

Hmmmm......those nasty leakers.

 

 

[sho]

Quote

Sam Clovis, Donald Trump's pick to be chief scientist for the Department of Agriculture, has argued that homosexuality is a choice and that the sanctioning of same-sex marriage could lead to the legalization of pedophilia,

 

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/21/politics/kfile-sam-clovis-lgbt-comments/index.html

 

wow...

[Danny Bateman]

WHAT A HEADLINE

 

Steve Bannon reportedly wants Priebus to testify to Mueller that Jared Kushner was behind Comey's firing

[zoogs]

A reminder: Jared and Ivanka are the forces of moderation. If they weren't, would they be so beautiful?

 

 

[Danny Bateman]

Sec Zinke under OIG investigation.

 

 

[zoogs]

Trump science envoy and Berkeley professor Dan Kammen resigns: 

 

 

 

The first letter of each paragraph combine to spell "IMPEACH".

[Danny Bateman]

ProPubica does a deep dive into Ben Carson's dismantling of HUD into a conservative paradise. Their investigative reporting is absolutely terrific. 

 

 

A few bits really stood out. In particular, Carson's heavy reliance on his wife and his son with day to day operations in running the department. I can't help but feel if the shoe were on the other foot the GOP would be absolutely losing their mind and calling this nepotism at its worst. But instead we're treated to quotes like these:

 

Quote

Ben Carson Jr. resurfaced at the second day’s other open event, a visit to a health fair in East Baltimore. I watched with some amazement as the younger Carson, clad in tinted aviator shades, circulated among those seeking his father’s attention. At one point, Carson Jr. was approached by two entrepreneurs he knew who were hoping to pitch HUD on a proposal to use public housing as the site to pilot their for-profit venture replacing cash bail with the relinquishing of guns. Carson Jr. heard them out and then said, “Have you talked to Dad?” He then led them over to a clutch of Carson’s HUD aides to make introductions.

 

A moment later, I asked Carson Jr. why he was taking such an active role on the Baltimore trip. “With anything where we can be helpful, if Dad asks us to come along and help out, we’ll always do that. We’re here to offer support, whatever we can do,” he said. I asked about all the time he was spending at HUD headquarters. “If you’re a concerned citizen and you’re not spending time in D.C. trying to actually make sure the right things are happening, then you probably could do more,” he said. “You should have access to your public officials, and if that’s not allowed, then there’s a big problem with how the representatives are handling their relationship with citizens.” (Never mind that in this case, the “public official” was his own father.)

 

Later, I asked Ben Carson for a comment on his son’s role. “Ben Carson Jr. has visited me, but he has no role at the department,” he said through a spokesman. It was hard to know what to make of it all. On the one hand, it bore obvious similarities to the proliferation of Trumps and Kushners inside the White House, with all their attendant business conflicts.

 

But it was also possible that Ben Jr., and his mom, were so often at his father’s side for just the reason Ben Jr. claimed, to provide support. Because it was not hard to see why Carson would feel insecurity. He had been chosen for a job he had few qualifications for by a man who had few obvious qualifications for his own job, and he was now being left to his own devices to defend the dismantling of the department he was supposed to run, with an underpopulated corps of deputies at his side. (Even by mid-August, the Office of Public and Indian Housing, which spends tens of billions per year, did not have any senior political leadership whatsoever.) It was as if the White House were ensuring that whatever mere starvation failed to accomplish at HUD, indifference and mismanagement would finish.

 

Oh, and there's a litany of quotes that drive home just how terribly unqualified Carson is for his post, for anyone who was still wondering.

 

[zoogs]

Ben Carson is a bit busy violating the Hatch Act to be at home in HUD all the time.

[Red Five]

The only reason Carson is HUD secretary is that in Trump's mind urban = inner city = blacks

[BigRedBuster]

22 minutes ago, Red Five said:

The only reason Carson is HUD secretary is that in Trump's mind urban = inner city = blacks

That is the only logical explanation as to where he is in the administration.  Surgeon General???  no.  Health and Human services???? no.

 

Hey....let's put him in charge of those neighborhoods that black people live in.

[TGHusker]

Another one bites the dust:

http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/playbook/2017/08/24/scoop-andy-hemming-out-at-wh-trumps-heated-calls-with-senators-the-juice-perry-bringing-family-and-friends-on-trip-abroad-risa-heller-drops-kushner-cos-as-a-client-jay-solomons-new-job-222038

 

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: W.H. RAPID RESPONSE DIRECTOR IS OUT -- ANDY HEMMING left his job on Monday as the White House director of rapid response, according to multiple sources. A source familiar with the move told us it was a “mutually agreed upon” separation, and Hemming now plans to take a vacation (in which golf may play a big part) and then explore future opportunities. Right before his departure, he was profiled by Annie Karni (http://politi.co/2g79s6m) as the staffer the White House pays “$89,000 a year to spot and distribute positive stories from the mainstream media.”

HEMMING WAS SENIOR ADVISER for research at the RNC in the 2016 cycle and director of research on the Trump campaign. At the White House, he worked from 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. every weekday and was a regular in reporters’ inboxes, blasting out stories favorable to the administration. Hemming declined to comment. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told us that it was a “[m]utual decision that he could best help promote the president’s agenda on the outside. Andy is smart and very talented and we wish him all the best.”

[BigRedBuster]

4 minutes ago, TGHusker said:

Right before his departure, he was profiled by Annie Karni (http://politi.co/2g79s6m) as the staffer the White House pays “$89,000 a year to spot and distribute positive stories from the mainstream media.”

 

 

We actually do this?

 

Wow.