Four weeks have now passed since the election of Donald J. Trump. In these 28 days, the president-elect has been hard at work nominating the highly-qualified members that will run the administration. Although Democrats are expectedly nervous about these appointments, Republicans seem to finally be realizing that Trump may not carry through on his promise of “draining the swamp.”
Below, I will discuss my take on a few major selections Trump has made.
Treasury Secretary- Steven Mnuchin
Mnuchin is a former Goldman Sachs banker who profited off the housing meltdown and served as the finance chairman on Trump’s campaign. This choice is a huge slap to the face of fervent Trump supporters calling for a change in Washington by cleaning out corrupt politicians. Although Mnuchin lacks public policy experience and didn’t prove to be an accomplished economist, he has shown success as a Hollywood producer. That’s right, folks. The most success the man on route to oversee America’s financial market is from his production of The Lego Movie. He has no experience with international financial dealings but don’t worry: he knows how to ensure that “everything is awesome.”
Secretary of State- Rudolph W. Giuliani
Giuliani seems to be in the running with Trump for who can give the most panic-riddled speeches. At the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Giuliani, former New York City mayor, said, “There’s no next election. This is it! There’s no more time left to revive our great country!” Along with his apocalyptic rhetoric, Giuliani has taken a page out of Trump’s book by race-baiting and taking on a law-and-order gimmick.
The Trump administration will have the task of creating a series of new policies regarding the Middle East conflicts and assessing current alliances. A secretary of state must have effective negotiating skills and a clear sense of Washington’s limits and powers. Giuliani lacks international experience and, as with his appearance at the RNC, may appear unhinged during diplomatic negotiations.
Attorney General- Jeff Sessions
Although Sessions was rejected from being a federal judge due to testimony of former colleagues sharing concerns of his racism, he claims he cannot be racist because his children went to integrated schools and he has shared a hotel room with African American attorneys. Additionally, the man deemed too racist to be a judge in the 80’s labeled the Voting Rights Act as “an intrusive piece of legislation.” Allowing minorities access to voting rights is not intrusive, Mr. Sessions; it’s equality. A man embodying this kind of racist sentiment, who supports a ban on Muslim immigrants, who has been praised by white supremacists should not be the safeguard for justice.
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development- Ben Carson
“Dr. Carson feels he has no government experience. He’s never run a federal agency,” Armstrong Williams, Carson’s adviser, said. “The last thing he would want to do was take a position that could cripple the presidency.”
This is the same man that decided that even though he was inexperienced regarding matters of the government, he was qualified enough to run for president. In response, Trevor Noah, host of The Daily Show, said “Ben Carson doesn’t think he’s qualified enough to run an agency? He wanted to run all the agencies!”
Carson’s case is a humorous one seeing that if he himself believes he cannot run a federal department, then what qualifications does Trump think he has to run the secretary of HUD? This question also leads to assumptions stating that Trump’s selection of Carson, a person of color, was purely made to counterbalance all the other white men that he has nominated.
Chief Strategist- Stephen K. Bannon
Bannon, former executive of Breitbart News, has been a selection conflicting with both the Republicans and Democrats. Being labeled a white supremacist, Bannon has been accused of harboring a racist, sexist, homophobic, and xenophobic sentiment. He has referred to women with derogatory terms and his criticisms of Israel can be seen as synonymous with anti-Semitism. Even if Bannon truly does not embody those thoughts, allowing Breitbart news to publish stories with that kind of rhetoric is just as bad.
Americans are standing by as men who degrade people of color, LQBTQ+ folk, and immigrants are placed in positions of power. Trump’s selections should be worrying to all, not just because they are unrepresentative, but because they threaten the progress this country has made socially. With these wealthy men representing American democracy, the country should strap in for an unpredictable four years.
Featured image credits to White House Wallpapers
