Two things: 1) The EPA already has a safe, secure, soundproof room. Pruitt wants his own, private room. 2) Pruitt flies home to Oklahoma every weekend on the taxpayers' dime.
36
Hey Gail, there are drugs in Colorado, so maybe Price had to fly out there.
You didn't mention Ben Carson, but maybe it's not because you forgot about him; there's nothing to mention.
It is quite a group of characters. So what kind of people did Trump hire for his company? Oh, right, it was all family.
To turn your question around, I'd be interested (well, okay, I really *wouldn't* be interested) in knowing who Trump supporters think is the *best* cabinet member. They have so much for them to pick from.
16
Gail, this is an issue that appears to be scaring off the tea party trolls. I scanned/read all 700 comments (recommending dozens) and i counted only 4 pro-Trump/anti-liberals. 4/700 has got to be a ratio record. Congratulations.
41
The Secretaries of this and that do bang up jobs ... literally.
7
As Trump started to name his Domestic Cabinet all I could think was how could he nominate such unethical corporate elitists and still maintain he is a populist. Apparently his core supporters remain steadfast and loyal to him even though all the evidence points to the fact that they have been bamboozled. It is very likely that Price made the same calculation, that he could lie, distort, and double talk everything he did and core Republican voters would be none the wiser. The press however, has sunk their teeth into this story, it is juicy. Trump in a show of fake outrage will fire him and the average Trump voter will applaud Trump, for draining the swamp.
19
No reason for private planes...
Y'all need to see this! The new rates will take effect Oct. 1. More details are available at the GSA website.
http://www.govexec.com/management/2017/07/gsa-secures-discounted-airfare...
4
Nice job negotiating GSA! Maybe Congress will let them negotiate Medicare prescription drug prices. With those savings we can start paying down the federal deficit, put more money into K-12 education or repair highways and bridges.
10
"But Administrator Pruitt, don't you think this discussion calls for the Cone of Silence?"
"What?"
16
Rats!! You beat me to it.
7
Gail, could we please have a contest for the Least Worst??? I really can't bring myself to write Trump and Best in the same sentence. YOU understand, girlfriend.
16
Shovel ready health care? As in shovel to grave health care? Who cares? Not Tom Price. Those who can't afford health care aren't real to him.
17
Speaking of rating cabinet members, is the good Dr. Ben Carson still alive? Well, at least he's not involved in a scandal or anything else, for that matter
speaking of
11
The Trump cabinet is the most disgusting rogues' gallery I have ever seen. They are thieves, charlatans and know-nothings. But of course Trump doesn't care, because he is the main show. If they don't make too many waves, the is fine. If they do, or if they upstage him: You're fired!
18
The selections of DeVos, Pruitt, Price, Carson, Mnuchin, Perry and others are clearly designed to destroy the history and mission of the departments they lead. That's not so surprising, considering what President Trump is doing to the office he holds. We are thankful that most of the evil they do will not live after them.
17
How about EPA Chief Scott Pruitt and his $25K phone booth? He gets my vote.
10
Of course. Trump doesn't need a private phone booth. He calls from a public restaurant.
9
I have come to realize that the bar for Obama cabinet members was too high. Remember Bill Richardson and Tom Daschle removing their names from consideration for much lesser offences? Trump's cabinet has such qualms - a sign of the deplorable state of government under Trump.
14
No matter how deep he dug, I don't think he could have come up with a more deplorable group of people to fill his cabinet. America is suffering because of them.
19
How much did we have to pay for the Cone of Ignorance installed in Pruitt's office? Whatever it was, the cost will increase vastly in coming years.
6
In terms of Betsy DeVose, I am no fan of for profit colleges, but I am less a fan of organized labor systematically destroying public education. Exhibit A of hwo dumbed down we've become as a society, much of which lays at the door of our public schools: Donald J Trump. The truth hurts doesn't it.
1
It's uncanny how sincerely I agree with Gail Collins. She is articulate at a time when some of us (ie Me) are reduced to sputtering incoherence at the happening in Trump's Washington.
25
My head hurts trying to pick THE worst Cabinet member; in their own ways, they are all best in show.
But here's what riles me beyond belief. There's Steven Mnuchin, millionaire-plus, money shooting out every orifice, asking to use a govt. jet for his honeymoon. I'm gobsmacked he doesn't already have a fleet of jets. He along with this administration and the GOP as a whole whine the live-long day about poor people getting some sort of assistance and it's "Stop the presses! Gov't spending is out if control" and the whole racist machine continues on, labeling Head Start or Meals on Wheels a socialist plot. Entitlements, they scream.
All we heard during Pres. Obama's administration was about the national debt. How it was unsustainable. How our economy would collapse. Now, not even a year later, they are doing everything they can do to pass this so-called tax reform, which is another money grab for the wealthy with a different name. Not a word about the national debt.
Be very suspicious of anyone who complains about spending but has his/her material needs more than amply met.
21
Who are these people? Oh right, these are Trumps' last picks because anyone with a brain and conscience turned down the jobs. This bunch of millionaires are hell bent on ruining our children's lives as well as the water and air that we all breathe.
23
I'm for anyway, anything that can get Price fired. He claims to be an Evangelical, so he shd believe in an "after-life" --- he shd be scared "to death!" It's very obvious, he does not have a "pure" heart like Jesus spoke of in the Sermon on the Mount. He also, to the best of my knowledge, has NEVER PUBLICLY demonstrated humility. Instead, he is all about self-righteousness.
16
As much as I detest Price for what he is doing to enact policies that kill people now or create more people who will die later because they were born into poverty, I have to say that Pruitt is the worst. His anti-climate change and environmental policies will definitely kill off more Americans and, likely, more people around the world. If he is really effective, he will wipe out mankind.
31
These people are so utterly despicable, and this government so utterly corrupt, the strains of "We want our rights and we want them now.....we want a revolution.....now", keep coming to mind. It will take generations to fix the damage done.
24
Candidate Trump wowed to drain the swamp in Washington. He's done that. A middling size swamp could not have accommodated the creatures Trump's brought with him. Each one of his cabinet members, albeit, with a few honorable exceptions, need a decent size marsh of their own. Especially Price and Pruit, Mnuchin and Zinke, not to speak of a notable members of his own family. Watch out the everglades of Florida or the marshlands of Brazil, here come the marshy fields of Trumpistan.
14
Price took a private plane for the opioid crisis - why, was he administering the Narcan injection?
28
The Trump collective is making me a little nostalgic for the old swamp.
14
Cleaning the swamp means putting more alligators in the sewers. Most corrupt administration ever in the U.S. This group makes the Nixon bunch look like saints.
24
Missed Ryan Zinke's planned giveaways.
6
Do you want to know who saw all this coming? Ben Carson. The hieroglyphics in the pyramid foretell the whole sordid mess.
13
Absolute shame that DJT hasn't sent his private plane to Puerto Rico and/or USVI w supplies
10
Thank you for including links in the column.
7
These are the 1% They believe they deserve a tax cut and the right to pass all their inherited wealth on to the next generation of useless hypocrites without taxes. It's all you can steal for the 1%, and to heck with the rest of us.
20
We're the modern day serfs.
12
Wasn't there a major conservative cable news network that highlighted every tax-payer funded vacation that the Obamas had taken during their presidency, calling it outrageous and a threat to our nation's integrity?
They kept a running tally, promoting it as much as possible about how it represented major ethical issues?
I am certain they're giving the same level of coverage on the same subject for the current president.
25
Alas, but we need his Cabinet, or at least a majority, to invoke the 25th Amendment.
7
This game is pretty fun. For my money it's Pruitt, with DeVos a close runner up. Everyone else's evil can in theory be repaired or rectified by a couple of good administrations in a row (unless they get us into World War III, but I actually have enough respect for Mattis that I don't think that's likely). Pruitt's damage at the EPA is forever. The environment no longer has any buffer; any damage we do now can never be fixed. DeVos's damage at public schools isn't forever, probably, but for a generation at least. These are the most dangerous.
23
Where is he going in such a rush? Is he piloting a load of fuel to keep emergency generators for hospitals in Puerto Rico,or bringing medicines and public health doctors to help where needed? Perhaps a plane load of pipe fitters,and electricians to help restore clean water and energy to thousands of our brothers and sisters. Whatever happened to the concept of a "trusted servant" who was committed to the people for whom he works?
10
But wait! Now Tom Price says he will pay for the plane rides. How richie rich is he anyway? Why can't we have any big shots who know the value of a dollar in government these days? (Or the value of a human life?)
8
Pruitt also must not want his physician to use (or "throw around") evidence-based medical science when treating him. Best of luck with that!
13
Simply insist that expensive travelers re-imburse the Government.
5
What a coincidence! I feel the same about Trump that he feels about Price. And I feel the same way about Price that Trump feels about Price. This can become confusing.
10
They already had a soundproof phone booth in his dept - on another floor. We think he's having it moved to his office to monitor which staff are using it.
11
Price needs to cut the budget for NIH. It's expensive to be available for everything on short notice. Of course for him everything is shrinking because he's cutting the budget. If he cuts things enough he'll be overseeing only his work and the work of his few underlings. As for Pruitt, he sounds like he's caught a bad case of paranoia from Trump. The EPA is not a secret organization and doesn't have any secrets unless there are some very very ncompetent scientists working there who agree wholeheartedly with what Pruitt is trying to do with the EPA.
I'd like this cabinet a lot more if they were competent. So far Trump and Pence have shown very little interest or competence in their respective positions when it comes to governing. If being incompetent was a major subject in college they would have graduated magna cum laude. So would McConnell, Ryan, Gingrich, Cruz, and few others. And DeVos as Secretary of Education is still a joke. But so far it seems like she's not using our money to travel first class which is something.
Who knew government jobs demanded more of a person than just showing up in the morning, in the right office, appropriately attired, and with an IQ higher than a good golf score? Not the GOP.
14
Mother Nature has already expressed her rage at the United States and especially at Trump voters by sending two large hurricanes to ultra polluting red states - Texas and Florida. Houston after Humphrey is awash in death dealing flood water, with hundreds of times the "maximum allowable" levels of bacteria (from human waste, rotting corpses, over-flowing sewage treatment, and fallout for petrochemical and other unknown explosives. Two persons have died of flesh-eating bacteria from exposed cuts in the heavily polluted flood waters in their own homes! Houston is famous for its sins against nature: fracking, no zoning controls to forbid construction on flood plains, no controls over dangerous businesses such as manufacturing deadly chemicals, no hazardous materials protections to prevent oil and chemical leaks into the environment, weak engineering criteria for dams and waste removal piping. Even where there are a few regulations, the city government fails to enforce them and is proud of it. Even the building inspectors allow sub-code construction of houses and offices! The Florida hurricane exposed a terrible electrical grid, not designed for high rain and wind, cheap construction, and decrepit infrastructure - not designed to survive in the weather which Florida regularly experiences! Now the dumb (and proud of it!) idiots who elected Trump want to foist anti-government on the rest of us. This will be the downfall of the United States unless we stop it.
23
As long as we're in the age of failure in public service- we may have a golden opportunity to educate our sporting citizens about the consequences of putting foxes in charge of the henhouses. I have a creative suggestion to get the word out on what these trumpians are doing to our country: How about Fantasy Politics (Fandual): participants form a team by drafting government officials-- one cabinet member, one senator, 2 congressmen and a fox news host-- compare weekly stats of : outright lies, tax dollars spent on self, number of people suffering as a result of their work-- the most points puts you at the bottom of the swamp for victory ! --
13
Well, gee whiz, if Donald said to Tom "I'm not happy about it" shouldn't that be enough? Should we want something even more punitive than this stinging rebuke? Surely Tom feels the pain, and the lesson he's learned will reverberate throughout the administration, don't you think?
9
I don't watch TV news anymore or listen to other than NPR on the radio. I've had it with our child king. American government has been absurd since the primaries and only republicans would allow this to occur. The analogy of Trump for me is when a high school student body elects a totally incompetent person to run the student government as a big joke. That's what Trump's followers did - they voted for him as a joke now Kim Jong-un is having the last laugh at our expense.
19
Agreed. NPR is one of the few adults left in the room. (Please remember to participate in your local NPR station's fund drives. And no, I don't work for NPR.)
6
"Tutor King's bed or shaped like a heart?", asked Briar Mnuchin as he began stacking ingots. Feigning cabin fever, his Louisey sighed "Tis folderol" and started looking for the treasure bath.
Ms Collins should know that when the waning light from the eclipse reflects off the Treasury Secretary's golden staircase, the number of years of spectacular economic growth is revealed on the Party of Doom's Tax Plan, duh. Luxury accommodations for two and a private plane approved!
6
If anyone needs a reason to support birth control, imagine what a better world it would be if Fred and Maryann Macleod Trump had practiced it.
28
Remember when Trump wanted to "drain the swamp?" He's restocked the swamp...It was the only thing I thought sounded like a good idea... what
happened?
12
I think we can all assume Price will get his hand spanked, the tax payers will pay his private plane bills, he will not be asked to pay us back and he will take less trips unless he can finagle a way to do it privately.
The corruption and profiteering begins at the top. Trump is leading the way; even today Gorsuch (who said he was independent of the President during confirmation hearings ) is adding as we speak to Trump's money pile at the Washington Hotel.
And Congress? We can assume the vast majority of the GOP no longer hides their enslavement to their donors. Profiteering? Oversight? I see, hear, say nothing.
16
Against public schools, against science, against environmental protection, against safe food and drugs, pro-fraud, pro-profits and working hard to avoid even having to see or rub-elbows with "real Americans."
No wonder they call this administration "populist."
16
It's all just so utterly depressing. This once so fabulous country being sold off to billionaires who will leach it dry until there's nothing left for anyone to live on. I never thought it would happen here.
27
Pruitt and Price get my vote, for being the most blatantly and evilly corrupt of the bunch--and that's really saying something given the competition, although they all deserve dishonorable mentions, especially DeVos for making up stories about grizzly bear attacks, and Mnuchin for both giving us "Lego Batman" thereby tainting both Lego and Batman and for his spoiled mail order bride who picks fights with American citizens who dare to point out her astoundingly clueless displays of conspicuous consumption.
27
Gail,
I disagree. If we can afford to spend $23 Million (and counting) for the President to fly to Mar-A-Lago on the weekend and golf (at record rates) then we afford the occasional boondoggle for Mnuchin and Price.
I also think you are conflating issues here. The fact that these guys are really bad at their jobs and wther they should get private charters on jets are separate issues.
I mean sure they are bad at their jobs but are we going to apply that test to each member of the cabinet and say they can't use private charters? It would paralyze the administration.
You have to realize as well that Price is going to make a fortune as a lobbysit when he leaves the administration so he is giving up a lot to serve the public. I for one appreciate his sacrifice and so as a taxpayer, I don't mind throwing him a jet to take care fo personal and or government business. That's what you little people don't get - we are the lucky ones. Guys like this are looking out for the forgotten people of this country. You shoudln't concern yourself about how they go about making America Great Again! Just watch and learn.
5
I think overall that Gail is using the fact that these airplane flights concern Trump more than the crazy bad things they are doing to the departments the run.
1
Even though repeal and replace keeps failing HHS spends money why ACA is not working. And as you mentioned the administration apparently wants more teens pregnant
4
Being a competent cabinet member is not brain surgery; it's actually harder, so let's not forget Ben Carson as the worst, least qualified (although he has steep competition).
16
Oh, I don't know, Gail. I think the worst is yet to come - and I'm an optimist!
20
Tom Price is the worst.
Supposedly he took an oath to do no harm. Say, what?
Encouragement of the potential for millions of people to go without healthcare, promoted by a doctor, has got to be the lowest.
In my 50 years of a healthcare I'vs seen a lot. But this man is a monster with a lot of power.
33
For a "public official" Pruitt really covets HIS privacy, as reported in the link concerning the $25K of taxpayer money spent for a SCIF in his office!
Seems to be the M.O. of red state officials trying to leave "no trace" as revealed a-la Christie's/B-R-I-D-G-E-G-A-T-E.
You know, if there isn't any record, meetings didn't happen, policies were "never discussed," nor any bargaining took place, and directives never were given.
The curious might just ask: just WHO were the traveling companions that fly with our dear EPA chief?
By. The. Way. Are there not any requirements of "government officials" document and report to the public when meeting took place, and who attended those meetings...?
Wouldn't TSA, or maybe FAA require a manifest of who is logged on a flight with public officials as a rule? And wouldn't the registered aircraft chartered have at least some specifications, such as we have for "Carfax" but for registered aircraft...?
So many secret squirrels, squirreling away whatever resources and data they may have access to that taxpayers may not have any idea existed in our governmental dealings.
Like the NRA doesn't like data gathering on GUNS because that means with data you can compile tables, charts, graphs. And you might even begin to interpolate and extrapolate past and future trends.
Truths then cannot be proven and lies would need not to be denied...!
11
This awful cabinet was clearly a key component of Steve Bannon's mission to destroy the "deep state". In almost every case, the nominee was selected specifically for their established opposition to the positive contributions of that department. From destroying the State Department infrastructure from the inside out, to decommissioning the EPA, Bannon's strategy has been an unqualified success. This would never have been possible, however, without a compliant accomplice, President Donald Trump.
28
How can you forget Interior Secretary ZINKE?
He carries out Trump's policy with zest & vigor: exploit and ruin our public lands & treasures for the greed of a few and rob generations of their heritage.
I guess there's no way to wring even ironic humor out of that.
18
It's just nauseating the whole bunch, Munchkin, Price is Right, and DeVos the fox guarding the chickens.
11
Jajajaja! I'm with you, Frank! You made me laugh and that ain't easy in this environment!
4
Not a cabinet member, but consider Lt General H. R. McMaster, the president's national security adviser, the one who, by force of intellect and combat experience, was supposed to keep Trump on an even keel in security matters. Seems that we keep getting in deeper. How on earth did Venezuela become our enemy? How does knocking a chip off Kim Jong Un's shoulder multiple times with twitter bullets make us safer? And planning to renege on the Iran nuclear deal doesn't seem to the best way make friends keep proliferation down.
Of course McMaster, being an active duty officer, does have his career to think about. If he can just hang in there and comfort his boss, that fourth star is his. Otherwise, he could end up in charge of a post exchange loading dock in Afghanistan.
11
Trump is hoping to pass a tax plan that will greatly benefit himself and his family at the expense of the majority of taxpayers. As long as they don't take his cut, why should he really care if his minions are also mooching?
11
Trump isn't mad that Price flew on private jets at the taxpayer's expense. He is only mad that Price got caught doing it in broad daylight.
33
Must have got his hands on the White House code book. "Because I'm Entitled, That's Why."
7
This left out Jeff Sessions. While he doesn't seem to abuse private planes, he does have a thing about the voices in his head that tell him that when it comes to climate science and weather understanding, science is an "offense against the prerogatives of the Creator".
When it comes to Jim Crow, he's all for the School to Prison Pipeline, Private for-profit Prisons, harsh sentencing for minor offenses (if proven, but he doesn't even insist on that), police uparming and shooting "those people" on sight. He's even cancelled the reviews already done that prove obvious racism across the land.
He's the point person for young people who grew up here, wanting to send them back "where they came from" (which happens to be here in the US). Their contribution to our society doesn't count - they're not empire builders for Eurowhites and wealth.
His near-stuttering reactionary insistence that those hypocritical voices in his head are god's in despite of the Gospels shows a man who has long since closed his mind to the good of his country in favor of the good of his inner circle who share his self-worshipping beliefs. I wish I believed in god, as there should be a special place in Hell for the greedy pastors who confirm his ugly blindness.
23
I'm sure Trump's unhappiness w/ Price stems more from his inability to get Trump Care through, than the plane stuff. At a minimum Price and Mnuchin should be required to reimburse the taxpayers.
12
Trump's real unhappiness is they got caught and failed to shove through his horrible bill. Trump by far is the biggest abuser of taxpayers money and he openly insults further by bragging about the fact that for decades he has foisted the cost of roads, schools and safety on the rest of us. I swear he could roast and eat a baby on stage and his followers would just applaud his low carb lifestyle. So ingrained is the ignorance and gullibility with Trump supporters.
17
Gosh, Ms. Collins, this game of "Who's the Worst Trump Cabinet Secretary?" is so much fun, I hope we can keep playing it right up to the impeachment! As difficult as it is to choose, I still think my vote has to go to Secretary Tillerson. By dismantling the State Department he's insuring that all diplomatic initiatives of this administration will be conducted in private meetings with agents and lobbyists of foreign governments, rather than between trained, experienced diplomats. What could possibly go wrong? I'm sure Jared Kushner's extensive experience in a family-owned real estate business gives him all the tools he needs to be our point man with, well, whom, exactly? Of course most of this administration's foreign policy is going to be the bailiwick of the Defense Department, anyway. The POTUS has made that very clear.
15
Beyond being expense and horrible optics, taking a jet for a 100 mile flight between DC to Philly, would take approx 20 minutes and thus has got to be one of the dumbest things I have ever heard of. What next 10 minute jet flights to feel a sense of importance?
10
They're all horrible, but if I have to choose one cabinet member, Scott Pruitt gets my vote.
He's turned the Environmental Protection Agency into the Environmental Pollution Agency. His dogged determination to destroy the environment and reward the oil and gas industries is reprehensible.
Why would the head of the EPA need security detail and a soundproof phone chamber? Because he's corrupt and he knows it.
30
When are we all just going to acknowledge that the Russian mafia has taken over the government of the United States.
Nothing good will come of this.
14
I suspect that the reason Trump isn't happy is because this makes him look bad. It's all about him.
10
Inept is not the word I would use to describe members of Trump's cabinet. Cynical, ignorant, mendacious, warped, exploitive, maladaptive, malignant--and many more negative adjectives are more appropriate. These are appointees who were put into place for one reason only--how they could enhance Trump's well-being.
Not one of them cares about the American people--they are all in it to either benefit themselves in some way, or to give voice to their hateful positions on many important issues.
27
This situation with the cabinet would be funny if it weren't deadly serious. Each cabinet member has had their day in the sun without sunscreen, but some merit special mention... Hard-working Steve Mnuchin and his trophy wife's junket to Fort Knox is a clear winner... Maybe it's just me, but Wilbur Ross gives me the creeps... Tom Price gets a nod just by being himself... But, for my money, Scott Pruitt takes the cake because he goes out of his way to make our country and the world unsafe for all carbon-based inhabitants. Add to this the new EPA Cone of Silence and we have a clear winner... And a clear and present danger.
23
The question remains, how did Trump, who neither knows nor cares about anything outside his narrow purview of real estate, pick these particular people? Who was whispering in his ear and why did he listen? This was somebody's master plan but surely not il Dunce's.
15
Pardon Bernie Madoff, Sec of Treasury material for sure.
10
It's definitely a race to the bottom of incompetence and hateful behavior with this group. The cabinet is merely a reflection of Trump. Since he believes he is king/dictator, these folks believe they are as entitled as the king. So it's okay to make drastic cutbacks for we the people while using taxpayer funds to treat yourself royally.
But what value has any of them added? None that I can tell with Price being the worst. This hypocrite who is some kind of doctor would rather slash healthcare, wreck the ACA, prevent women from having their bodies as their own domain, and totally diss the poor but when it comes to traveling around cannot suffer the experience of using public transport. No, he is way too privileged for that. I guess when you make a lot of money buying and trading stocks from companies you have oversight of, it does tend to make you feel privileged.
The only consistency I see is that Pruitt, Mnunchin, DeVoss and the rest will never be accused of excelling in their posts but they will distinguish themselves as leeches I am sure.
16
The pretender in the white house has chosen all of his velcro for one reason only. They want the money as much as he does. The munchkin, Mnuchin, seems to think the is the president. Someone needs to define his job description to him. The rest are trash. The great pretender has surrounded himself with birds of a feather. They all stink.
19
Scott Pruitt is the worse closely followed by horse-riding Ron Zinke, who masquerades as a conservationist. They should be railed out of office.
15
The only good thing about Trump's cabinet's love for private planes is that they crash more often than the huge commercial airliners...
9
We can complain plenty about this administration. It truly is the worst but that is by design. Remember that Putin put a very heavy hand on the scales of our election and all of the anti-science, anti-education, anti-environment cabinet members are thanks to him and his legions of trolls. Putin & company much prefer to have the US citizenry drowning in ignorance and a poisoned environment. That suits him just fine.
9
I wonder if the Trump voters are happy with Trump draining the swamp now that he filled it back up with crocodiles who don't even hide their stealth action to steal from the American taxpayers.
12
They still love him & think he's the best thing since "white bread".
I've had people tell me (I'm retired in FL) "thank goodness we have Trump in office. He knows how to deal with NK and others tell me how every Canadian they met in Canada (they were on vacation) thinks the Iran Deal is terrible. These people all voted for him. I really believe they would say, after annilating NK & themselves left on a radioactive slag heap, "Wow! I guess we showed that Kim! Trump - he da man."
5
I doubt they are aware of any of his cabinets misdeeds unless it came over on their Facebook feed. These people don't delve.
4
two words - Scott Pruit
6
The swamp overfloweth.
12
A discussion of Trump's worst cabinet picks should not leave out Rex Tillerson. Although he has shown some signs of common sense and indepence, and undoubtedly is a capable and intelligent person, he is manifestly unqualified to be secretary of state in a time when an experienced, expert diplomat is needed more than at any time in a generation. His disastrous efforts to "reorganize" the State Department while in reality gutting it have been well documented by the New York Times and the current Atlantic Monthly, among other publications. The Senate's virtual rubber stamping of Tillerson's nomination should go down as one of its greatest derelictions of duty of all time.
8
When the Pruitt sound proof phone booth story broke all I could imagine was the cone of silence on "Get Smart". I wish this administration was half as competent as Max and his cohorts. God help us all because apparently we cannot help ourselves.
10
Trump's cabinet is taking us Back to the Future at a lot faster than the 88 miles per hour Doc Brown and Marty McFly were driving. We will be sharecropping soon, family planning will require wire coat hangers, and snake oil will be our most common elixir.
7
So bottom rung tax bracket($0-$9325) are taxed 1/5 more to fly Mnuchin and his RHODC wife to Fort Knox? Seems totally fair.......
8
The Donald is so done with Price. No 'Repeal & Replace', Price, is no longer needed, wanted, or will be tolerated.
Irony is that Price should be sacked. Of course he - like so many in The Donald's cabinet - shouldn't have ever been that seat in the first place.
6
I vaguely remember a U.S. history textbook with a Nast cartoon of Boss Tweed and his minions, stripping the New York capitol and stuffing money in their pockets. We need Nast in Washington these days.
7
The irony of Trump being 'not happy' about travel expenses when every weekend he's zipping out of Washington to one of his off-site White Houses is a little unbelievable.
It's all on my (and your) dime. Can we feel or pockets being emptied? You bet.
214
DeVos still wins, in my view. Federal policy toward public education took a serious turn South with George Bush's "No Child Left Behind", a terrible, corporate incursion into the curricula Then came Obama's "Race to the Top", yet another attempt to force narrow test taking skills. DeVos has yet to name her scheme, but it's looking so far like break-the-unions, fleece the taxpayers, reward the corporate charter schools. Maybe it should be called (and this would apply to this administration in general), "Run for the Doors"!
5
A cabinet is nothing more than a reflection of the mind that creates it. It's like the man in the mirror that embodies identical values, morals, expectations, personal growth, levels of tolerance/acceptance/awareness, honesty and principles.
5
This is surreal.
4
"Policy-wise, Mnuchin is an awful Treasury secretary, unless you’d been hoping the post would go to someone whose strong point is a keen understanding of all the hopes and needs of the hedge fund industry."
Well if the GOP , Trump & Mnuchin get their tax cuts through Congress you can bet the 1% will do great, as in huge increases to THEIR income. How did the USA get so crazy stupid. Sixty million adults voted to have their noses cut off instead of hauling out the guillotines & chopping GOP heads.
There are many Never-Vote-Democrats in the mix but even they did not have to vote for either presidential candidate. They could have just slit their throats & voted for the GOP ticket but NOT voted for either presidential candidate. Sad & discouraging.
3
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was not as sinister as Trump's cabinet is.
7
It nauseates me to see this villainous cast of malevalent stooges destroying agencies that have protected us from devolving into a 3rd world pest hole.
I wish ill on every one of them. They are evil.
9
"Price" a fitting name, for this guy.
5
There is no way Trump will fire Price! I'm sure he knew all about his plane rides on the taxpayer dime and could care less. Remember Trump is making money on the Presidency. He and his entire team are disgraceful and I only hope we can survive as a democracy.
4
Trump won't fire Price. He will treat this situation as nothing more than an episode of a reality television show and the media will be right there with him.. Meanwhile his administration will continue to gut ethical, environmental, judicial, financial and social standards with barely a mention about it.
I'll say this for the con man in chief, he has the press and the medias number when it comes to playing them for fools.
5
Price is a small time cheater . Trump has at least 1.5 million in airplane expenses flying to his golf clubs on the weekends. The boss has shown the ay to use other peoples money,. He is using his donors money to pay for his legal costs and charging the Secret Service to use his hotels . He is the best at this. Price and the others are just learning.
9
Only the small time cheaters go to jail...
3
Let's see. There are so many candidates: Tom Price who disingenuously and sanctamoniously wants to eviscerate healthcare and tells baldfaced lies about it. Jeff Sessions, the AG who was too racist to be a judge in Alabama, that bastion of civil rights, who is trying to limit voting rights and increase incarceration rates of minorities, and so much more to bring the US back to the good old days of Jim Crow. Or Steve Mnuchin who imagines that being a cabinet member is equivalent to being on "The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" with his oblivious trophy wife. Or others like Scott Pruitt, Betsy De Vos and Rick Perry, who are not only unequipped to lead their departments but hold opinions diametrically opposed to the briefs of those departments. It is such an embarrassment of riches. One would think that in a country like the US that there would be a long list of people who would be improvements on these individuals but perhaps the problem is that they would never work in a Trump administration and do not value dismantling the government of the US while spending fortunes of public money on themselves. Optics, folks, optics. A cardinal rule of politics is not to be caught in outrageous hypocrisy. But then the man in the Oval Office is a master of that. He just calls the truth fake news.
5
This is a very close contest for worst cabinet member. Pruitt stands out for me because he is rolling back environmental protections faster than we can follow, while he finds science beneath the use of an agency whose mission is based on science. Then there is that soundproofed room on another floor, too far for him to travel--maybe he needs to borrow an indoor plane from Price to get there?
DeVos has little if any understanding of the needs of average children, especially in poor states and then there's her stand on campus sexual assault--rolling back protections for women under Title IX.
Mnuchin was so uninterested in the eclipse that he chose that time to visit Fort Knox, gee, what a surprise.
Price is spending money on private planes like water like water while trashing the budget for important programs like teen pregnancy prevention.
Technically Trump is not a member of his Cabinet, but we can't omit him, given that he has his own travel boondoggle, already spending millions more than Obama did in eight years.
I say, dump the whole lot of them!
7
I still think Jeff Sessions is the worst choice because of his racism, but look how much better he is than Trump - He understood that he HAD to recuse himself - Trump does't.
But I have to say I love Scott Pruitt and this 'Cone of Silence'. This is definitely a "Get Smart" cabinet. Where is 99 when you need her?
3
"E.P.A. to Spend Nearly $25,000 on a Soundproof Booth for Pruitt"...
... why is it that the first thing that comes to mind is the Cone of Silence?
6
I can't believe cabinet members like Price, Pruitt, and Mnuchin think nothing of dipping into the public till with impunity! Talk about entitlements?! Jeez, I wonder where they get such ideas?!
5
What an enlightening article! I'd thought that Perdue was Secretary for Extermination of Marsupials, and now you tell me he's in charge of defunding the cross-breeding of Iowa potatoes to produce American Taro roots.
I think there's a wizened chunk of Trump Steak in the freezer (put there after uncle Fred upchucked the first half in the petunia garden). Perhaps that should be sent to Perdue aboard a Gulfstream IV, assuming there's room for an ice chest between all the Trumpkins.
2
Scott Pruitt. Consider the damage done by Harvey and Irma: 2% of the US GDP, that doesn't even include Maria's impact on Puerto Rico.
The new EPA chief is favoring the narrowest of interests of a few oligarchs that happen to pay a lot of political campaigns, but at a gigantic cost to all US citizens by accelerating climate change.
4
Trying to pick the worst Trump cabinet members is like trying to select the most loathsome disease you'd prefer to die in agony from, but here goes: Pruitt, Price, Munchkin (sorry I couldn't help myself).
4
Let me sum it up! It is a cesspool of ignorance and the GOP and Trump supporters maintain the cesspool.
3
Price must reimburse taxpayers just as Grunts in the federal workforce do.
4
I love your articles, which have helped keep my sanity during this insane presidential experience, However, I think it is time to figure out how to avoid this situation in the future.
My suggestions are to enact the compact of states, or eliminate the electoral college before it eliminates everything good and compassionate that America stands for. I know this seems daunting. However, it is clear that the electoral college, which was supposed to represent us, is now ruling us.
4
Just when I thought that maybe, just maybe, I could get through the day without yelling about something.
2
Ah, Gail! I will reiterate my vote again for Pruitt, for whom I voted in your last request. Deplorable. However, these months have shown to us (who are paying attention) that this cabinet's ARROGANCE is the real over-the-top issue -- just what those finicky Trump supporters have accused us "elites" of possessing. Tsk, Tsk.
8
The mind boggles at the thought of who Trump would nominate to replace Price. I'm thinking Trump's ideal candidate would be a doctor who lost his license for operating an opioid prescription mill. Bonus points will be awarded if the former doctor is now a billionaire hedge fund manager and once firebombed an abortion clinic.
9
Gail, thank you for helping us laugh when all we want to do is CRY with Trump's daily disasters that are destroying our country.
12
All this because Trump has all the "best people". One must wonder what "best" means to the BLOTUS. Evidently it means excessive greed, prioritizing the acquisition of wealth and privilege for oneself, regardless of ethics, morality, law, the Constitution, and the welfare of the nation and its citizens.
10
I wonder what would happen if they vented the buildings backup generator into the fancy new office?
1
Trump only gets mad at his cabinet members when their greed and stupidity results in news coverage. After all, any coverage focused on one of them is coverage not focused on Trump. Their primary purpose is to sit around a table and praise Trump; not draw attention to themselves. That's why Palin didn't make the cut.
9
Price's sin is not flying in chartered planes. It is simply that he has by this become more famous than The Don. Only DJT can have those job perks. Down, dog! Remember your master.
8
Thank you, Gail. Your column has become my source on what the electoral college president and his cabinet are doing. I can't stand to read about them, when I can't at least chuckle once in a while.
9
Tom Price is currently the subject of Trey Gowdy's committee. It shouldn't take more than half an hour to examine the record, but the media is salivating over the prospect of having two of the men in the government with the shiniest faces in the same camera frame. That's not a standard filter.
4
What we need is a "mark felt" in each department. A deep throat that will inform us as to how much damage these individuals are doing to our country. We can then mobilize like we did over healthcare and get them out.
5
Honest Abe surrounded himself with a team of rivals-- a cabinet that did not necessarily agree with him and could be counted on to challenge decisions through critical thinking. You'd have to give the man high marks for keeping an open mind. What about #45? Team of rivals? How about fraud squad? stoop group? band of bandits? den of thieves? deplorables deputies? Not a one of them inspires anything from this voter but revulsion.
7
Being one of the "best and brightest" was obviously not a qualification for appointment to Trump's cabinet, Gail. Do you think Trump would want someone smarter than himself as a cabinet member? That likely explain why he opposed Roy Moore, the Republican candidate to replace Jeff Sessions as the senator from Alabama.
1
Hope everyone saw Stephen Colbert's opening several nights ago, about this very issue. If you didn't here it is. It's great!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3iPSoUqBXY
2
All these execrable cabinet members caring for no one's interests but their own simply mirror Trump. And the voters saw trump and enough of them in the right places voted for him. You get what you vote for.
2
Trump won't get rid of Price, or anybody else because he can't replace him. He has been unable to find a new Secretary of Homeland Security. Anyone with an ounce of integrity won't work for Trump. That's why there are so many unfilled positions in every area of government. I suspect that many Trump alumni such as Sean Spicer will find themselves permanently unemployable.
3
Honor, love of country, service to the people...the true measures of a real presidential are foreign to Donald Trump. Trump has said he could shoot someone on 5th Ave and his adoring fans would continue to support him. He proves this statement in his own every day that he denies science, rejects solid information, insults the rule of law, defies the Constitution and the separation of powers. Trump has made it clear that he prefers to wallow in the praise coming from neo-Nazis and White Supremacists more than serving the nation as a real president would.
Trump's lifetime of ignorance, racism and greed is plain for all to see. Tom Price is just one of many of Trump's arrogant greedy and power hungry sycophants. Just look at those he has surrounded himself like Paul Manafort, Wilbur Ross (Bank of Cyprus), Mike Flynn, Bannon, Betsy DeVos, Arpaio, Sessions, Stephen Miller.. and you know who he is. He is a champion of ignorance and will do anything to get a few cheers from his fan club. That is what drives Trump - the money grasping extreme narcissist, the face of the Republican Party.
4
Could we not put the entire cabinet into Pruitt's soundproof booth.... and lock the door?
3
As is said, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Presidential historian Robert Dallek calls this the most corrupt administration in U.S. history. You'd think Republicans would be monitoring this ship.
Had this been Hillary, the House Oversight Committee's Trey Gowdy would have been on his 9th investigation.
Barely a peep from Republicans now:
Trump hides his tax returns. Very wealthy cabinet members fly around for fun on the taxpayer dime. One guy went to his home state over forty times.
One is obviously trying to impress his new wife with his power and success.
Trump takes off every weekend and it costs the taxpayers plenty. He also bars the press pool. So what's he hiding beyond financial disclosures?
https://thegolfnewsnet.com/golfnewsnetteam/2017/09/24/how-many-times-pre...
3
But hey, Trump hasn't driven around with a dog on the roof of his car, so he's got that going for him, right?
1
How many people saw an image of the Get Smart cone of silence after hearing about Pruitt's soundproof phone booth?
4
"Is there anybody in this cabinet who you can like? "
No, but then I wouldn't like Saint Theresa if she was a cabinet member. i don't like Blue or Red swamp critters. The are all voracious consumers of OPM (re: sounds like opium, is equally addicting, stands for Other People's Money--forcibly extorted. Drain the Swamp! Trump won't do it. Only you can. Resist paying federal taxes!
Why would Price, Mruchen, and Pruitt want to ride with the peons on a plane, be touched and questioned by nobodies? Their boss has traveled to his ownership places using up the Secret Service personnel and pay beyond what any president has ever done before. They have a right, don't they, to travel as well as he does, even if it isn't on Air Force 1.
Remember Bolton's Law: First-class people hire first-class people. Second-class people hire third-class people. (Dr. Charles (Chuck) Bolton)
1
They all win the prize for worst and we lose in every way. Cynical, self-absorbed, evil sycophants doing more harm to the US than an actual invasion by their masters in Moscow.
At first I wondered what the opposite of team of rivals was and then I realized it is a race to the bottom, where Trump, despite this recent competition, maintains a comfortable lead.
4
It's just so difficult to try and decide who is the worst Trump cabinet member, Ms. Collins.
The soundproof phone booth for Scott Pruitt seems absurd and wasteful, but turns out Pruitt also used private jets for government business:
http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/27/politics/scott-pruitt-plane/index.html
Scott Pruitt gets my vote for worst cabinet secretary because of all this, but also because he is so duplicitous in how he is dismantling the EPA, ruining our water and our air:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/11/us/politics/scott-pruitt-epa.html?mcu...
But, let's not lose sight of the fact that even though all these cabinet secretaries are having a race to the bottom, in this case the fish really rots from the head.
Literally.
16
Thank you for your "race to the bottom" line--made my day.
Come now, Gail! We New Yorkers care about more than just jaywalking and hedge funds. Cramming ourselves onto subway cars is a well-known pastime in which we engage with frequency and spirit. That, and avoiding Times Square like it's our job. One develops an infinite capacity to adapt to a wide range of scenarios when one spends one's days scurrying hither and yon through the den of liberal elitism in which the naysayers of this nation think New Yorkers reside.
But on to your question: who is the worst Trump cabinet member? Alas, it's a tough question to ponder. So many are deserving of this title that it's hard to pick just one. At one time I would have said Steve Bannon, but he's now causing trouble elsewhere, although Betsy DeVos continues to smile as she eviscerates American educational standards. Could it be Steve Mnuchin after all? It's difficult to support someone who is so blatantly smug and unfit and of course, as you mentioned, "there's a plane thing".
And that brings us to the EPA thing and Scott Pruitt. It's true, this guy is supremely awful. If we're going to talk about things that shouldn't be thrown around Washington, D.C., I'd wager that Scott Pruitt's statements about science are among them. I'd also hypothesize that the scientists don't appreciate Pruitt trying to dictate policy when he has stripped them from the EPA, and it is their work that forms the basis for sound policies in the first place. Indeed Gail, we live in interesting times.
11
These people are so "stupid" that they laugh all the way to the bank.
3
Thieves also laugh their way to the bank -- until they are caught.
1
Americans should honor their flag, but they have a right not to because freedom of speech is clearly provided by the first amendment to the Constitution.
Not standing while the National Anthem is played is a non-violent expression of protest. Punishing those who do so is grounds for impeachment.
5
Trump has drained the swamp, into a cesspool.
6
Each one is " the worst " in Trump's cabinet.Time to introduce a new superlative for 'worst'. Worstest? Sounds good. But everyone in this administration would be the "worstest". The English language has never been this challenged. Maybe, Stephen Colbert can help us.
2
Phenomenon should have been phenomena, I'm sure Betsy DeVos would have wanted you to know.
2
I wonder how President Harding would react today?
1
It's hard to choose. They are all the scrapings from the bottom.
6
In an interesting development in Baltimore, following the appointment of Julian Schmoke Jr., a former official in a for-profit college, by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to lead a department ant-fraud unit at the Department of Education, his cousin, Kurt Schmoke, University of Baltimore (UB) President, invited Secretary Devos to speak at the UB fall commencement. UB's faculty and students are in an uproar over this invitation.
4
I would disagree with your headline, Ms. Collins: there is never a possibility, nor will there ever be, that we have seen or experienced "Trump's Worst". Our Feeble Failure in the White House will ALWAYS be capable of something WORSE.....just watch and wait.
12
It is not a Cabinet of the people or for the people, and they are a nice fit for an old expression, 'they are a disgrace to the human race'. They are the Wealthy Chosen Ones under the rule of the Grand Poo-bah himself, Trump. Every one of them is totally heedless of average Americans and their needs mainly because they do not care, and that was the commonality each brought to the table in order to be appointed. They are a Cabinet of the wealthy, for the wealthy.
This administration is no longer even pretending that we live in a democracy because we don't.
We need to remember that the enormously wealthy do not get that way by spending their own money. They spend the money of others -always. Not only will their proposed tax reform legislation benefit them greatly, especially the not sharing the wealth part for general consumption and equitable distribution, but meanwhile they are using our taxpayer money to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.
This includes Trump and Clan Trump bankrupting the Secret Service budget partly due to Melania Trump remaining in New York for the first 6 months of the Trump 'presidency', as well as the use of government planes for private or personal business travel for Trump, Clan Trump, and appointees. Trump has been to his private golf resort in NJ at least 18 times in just 9 months.
America cannot afford to keep any of them. They are working to bankrupt us morally as well as monetarily.
9
I think it is telling that DeVos is on the bottom. She is a woman. She stinks as bad as all the other women haters in government. She will just let rapists off but the rest of them will be hurting millions of American women and their families with health care policy, tax cuts for the rich, warmongering and natural disasters caused by climate change. But interesting that being female puts you at the bottom in popularity. Same thing Hillary faced. She is nowhere near as bad as these clowns.
4
How about just calling it for what it is, "The Let Them Eat Cake Cabinet". Heads may roll, but not before they plunder and destroy everything in sight. Hello to the Marie Antoinette Presidency...beware the angry peasants.
6
Get smart: Pruitt isn't building a sound-proof telephone, he's finally getting The Cone of Silence he's always wanted.
3
I have finally stopped saying "just when you thought it couldn't get worst", because it seems that it can always get worst. There is no bottom; there is no bar so low. Tammany Hall and the Tea Dome scandal, our previous all time winners of government shame & scandal, are going to be left in the dust by this administration.
6
The only thing louder than the smacking of their lips was the rubbing together of their hands as the Cabinet of Deplaorables contemplated the personal gain to be gotten from their Trump appointed and GOP approved positions. There is no ranking the worst as there is no bottom to measure by.
8
Our government is so corrupt and they don't even try to hide it. Johnson and Nixon hid their lies during the Vietnam war. These people don't care. I can't help the think that the people who are still with Trump including congress and the senate are really stupid.
We the people, if only the public would take a civic class and realize the politicians work for us. They are our employees.
169
Those who are 'still with Trump' - especially the Republican Party/Congress are not stupid. I believe the GOP supported Trump, secretly/publicly they remained somewhat neutral during the infamous campaign, believing they could control him. Their mistake, he's uncontrollable. Politicians work for their own benefit, nothing new there, except that it is now out of control, as is Capitalism. God help us all.
Civics is not longer taught in most schools. It wasn't a core competency required by No Child Left Behind - but it should be!
It's difficult to choose the worst Trump cabinet member; there are so many cabinet appointees who are either manifestly unqualified (DeVos, Carson), or inimically opposed to the mission of their respective agencies (Sessions, Pruitt, Price), and most show not even the slightest notion of adherence to norms of conflicts of interest or public service. That toxic combination of incompetence in or hostility to their duties, coupled with their disregard for the obligations of public service, has led to the predictable spectacle of repeated public transgressions in their positions. So it's not proper to ask who is the worst; most are tainted beyond redemption, albeit in different ways. All one can ask is: who has behaved worst this week? This week's loser is Tom Price, but any number of the reprobates could push him out of public view next week with yet another act of misfeasance or malfeasance.
5
At least we are talking about President Trump's cabinet and discussing who they are. I do not remember the cabinet members under President Obama which shows how memorable they were.
I would rather have President Trump's cabinet holding office than Hillary Clinton's. That would be a disaster. The Americans who voted for Mr. Trump feel that way too.
President Obama's cabinet weren't moochers, taking advantage of their positions to steal from our treasury.
Since a minority of Americans voted for trump, the majority of Americans do not approve of him and his cabinet mis-using our tax dollars .
6
I think it would be more like Al Capone going to jail for failing to file his taxes on time.
Waste breeds waste, no surprises here, move on.
My vote: all of the above.
3
Pruitt !
Don't be distracted by the lesser evils of the other evil-doers. Pruitt is working to doom the future of our human civilization and species.
6
Musing about the high profile goofballs (Pruitt, DeVos, Price, etc.) is fun, but the question on my mind is the one I've had ever since Trump was gushing so enthusiastically about torture and its many benefits:
WHERE IS MIKE POMPEO AND WHAT IS HE DOING IN OUR NAME? This question is not a joke and it's not rhetorical. For all intents and purposes the last comment of substance from Mike Pompeo was his steadfast commitment to "enhanced interrogation" and then he was off the nation's radar. We know that given the chance, overzealous "patriots" will do unspeakable things; things so heinous they are too afraid to even reveal their actions years after the fact.
And if ever a president has given the green light, it's Trump who has previously expressed his belief that torture is desirable EVEN IF IT DOESN'T WORK. This leads me to believe that Pompeo is most likely operating virtually unchecked. So I ask again... where is Pompeo and what is he doing in our name? I understand that the nature of his position gives him legitimate cover for concealing his actions, but I hope some reporter somewhere is keeping tabs on that sadist.
9
Pompeo is as dangerous as the rest, especially with the Russian scandal.
1
The one habit of highly-successful politicians I have adopted this year is a fondness for nicknames. "Cheeto Jesus" will inevitably follow Trump to his glorious best-tomb-ever and beyond. I'm hoping Tom "Posh Spice" Price sticks as well.
2
How can you forget Secy ZINKE?
Selling off of public lands to be mined for oil and gas; attacking monuments based on false report; killing of wild mustangs, our magnificent American icons.
In a prosperous time, he leads the exploitation of our land and national treasures that conservation has protected for at least a hundred years.
He carries out Trump's policy with zest & vigor: exploit and ruin our public lands & treasures for the greed of a few and rob generations of their heritage.
8
These seem to be not only completely unqualified for the jobs they hold, but in many cases just awful people. Of course, that could appear on Trump's family crest.
4
Gail, when choosing the worst cabinet member, it must be remembered that each of them demonstrates uniquely bad characteristics… just like all the rest of them.
3
what about Jeff Sessions ? after trumpie made him cry he's been coming on like gangbusters.
3
Can't wait for Doris Kearns Goodwin's next book, after writing "Team of Rivals". I believe the title will be "Team of Incompetents".
6
"“I am not happy about it. I’m going to look at it. I am not happy about it, and I let him know it,” Trump told reporters Wednesday."
His off-the-cuff vocabulary has shrunk to the point that he has to repeat himself to fill out a sound bite.
He's not well. He's deteriorating, rapidly. And he absolutely should not be traveling, to Puerto Rico or anywhere else. Let this poor sick old man rest.
3
Scott Pruitt's soundproof phone booth immediately brought to mind the "Cone of Silence" from Get Smart. If this administration wasn't so scary in its appointments, it would be downright funny in its choices and actions.
8
It doesn't seem to be mentioned and it is a hunch on my part, but Betsy de Vos brother owns Blackwater, the private military force that fought in Iraq.
Wonder, if in his endless war plans, if this has any influence on his decision-making? (Trump's)
4
As heinous as Price, DeVos, Tillerson and Carson are, each in there own special ways, my vote goes for Pruitt because the damage caused his gutting of environmental regulations will outlast any of us.
6
I will repeat until the end. "This is what you get when you think Government should be run like a business". How many of you who have been in the workforce over the last two or three decades have experienced the march of the 'bean counters' into your office and seen the destruction to creativity, team cooperation and productivity. Government is about policies that affect people and their lives. We are not a product to get the last best price out of.
10
Amen!! I've said, repeatedly, that once a profession (think medicine, law, education) starts to be run strictly by the bottom line, that profession begins to loose internal integrity. Let's hope the trump administration will obliterate calls for running the government like a business...
1
My vote is for DeVos, whose purview is literally the future of this country. This woman has control over how our children will be educated, for which standards they must reach.
If anyone is still wondering how we got here look no further than American public schools, where standards have been so eroded with the goal of making a passing grade easier to achieve for all, with those who still can't achieve passed anyway to spare their feelings and allow them to continue along unprepared with the rest of their class.
If we truly want to once again become the world leader in innovation, standard of living, trade, culture and everything else hegemony allows - if we want lifelong learners, as a column here earlier this week claimed we need, ratcheting up standards for education is the only way to go.
3
DJT believes his cabinet appointments are those for whom the nation yearned. Likewise he believes the nation elected him to abolish ACA. In fact the *nation* voted for HRC by 3M votes. Since then abolishing ACA, now that we've all seen it, is grossing out even his most ardent supporters. At first glance his Tax Reform proposal will prove to be even more unpopular. If anything, DJT is 200 times more tone deaf to the American people than even GWB was and that's saying alot.
3
Trump should tell Price: From now on any trip you take will be on Bolt Bus. If it's not a Bolt Bus destination, you're not going.
4
Don't forget that as a member of Congress he used his position to enrich himself with stock purchases of companies coming before his committee. He and Pruitt would be my top choices with the rest a close second.
4
Why isn't he being prosecuted for this? If someone had done that under Obama the House would be holding around the clock investigations and Fox News would be interrupting football games with special update reports. Why is it that Republicans can break the law with impunity? No one cares? Where is Kenneth Starr? Probably still trying to dig up something on Whitewater.
2
It looks like the entire GOP has been weaponized to bring down democracy in the United States and install a Russian oligarchy-friendly government. Where does Mueller draw the line at "obstruction of justice"? Is there anyone in the GOP that is not obstructing justice? Anyone?
6
Is anybody else feeling too sad to laugh? I love you, Gail, but I just can't do humor anymore from this dystopian administration.
4
Grover Norquist, Sheldon Adelson, the Koch brothers and all the others who created, enabled and paid for the Tea Party that has systematically sought to destroy all that made america great in search of their own profit/greed driven agenda should be the names we hear about . I blame them and then the funders or Gary Johnson's campaign ( where did he go ? ),Jill Stein (anyone hear from her lately ?) and all those who chose not to vote or to vote for an "alternative". We get the government we deserve. If no one pushes back against the obscenity that is being played out every day in Congress and in every cabinet post we will truly never reverse the damage already done to our nation and it's institutions. We cannot expect Mueller to do it for us. We should be louder ,more aware, more informed and above all else, more active in our condemnation of this behavior . Pruitt needs to repay every dime ,as do all the others that use our hard earned tax dollars for their own comfort and benefit. Our bridges are crumbling, our roads, rail and infrastructure are embarrassingly decrepit and we have our money spent on this ? I want to see evidence of repayment don't you ?
4
Not just repayment, but punitive fines too. What good is it to get a simple reimbursement of what was fairly owed? They'll just try again immediately. We won't catch it all so they'll make a profit. Punishment for wrong doing should include jail time or loss of the job. Like in the NFL, deliberately cause an injury and you get a penalty and maybe a fine the next week, but the players look on that as a cost of getting on Sports Center. Hit them with a suspension of playing time, and their teams with hold their pay or think of dumping them, then you get their attention.
1
I am shocked to read that our ex-governor, Rick Perry, has been mentioned to be considered as one of the worst cabinet members in these comments. Who among the cabinet members is able to do the paso doble not to mention doing it in front of a tv studio audience, not to mention also the ability to do it with a melodramatic straight face? True, he didn't know what the DOE does, at first. Most Texans consider the DOE a female deer and whether or not they have a license to shoot them. So you must understand the difficulty here. Please realize that when you run a circus you have to have clowns. I think a little appreciation is due here. Let' just look at it as a kind of fin de siecle kind of thing that's a head of its time.
7
I couldn't disagree with you more, but I admire your style. Well written!
1
Poor Tom Price. He knew that Trump was the Chosen One who could "stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody" and not "lose any voters" so he assumed that as Trump's fellow Chosen One he would get the same privileges.
What he didn't know was that Trump's real Chosen Ones are all fellow Trumps. Price is just another minnow who grabbed the bait in Trump's personal swamp, and now he'll get thrown back.
3
If there were a national fire department, Trump would look for a convicted arsonist to run it.
8
They're all terrible but that's precisely why they were appointed. Trump doesn't want a government that will serve the people. He wants a government that will benefit his family and friends.
4
And like Republicans in general, he wants a government that doesn't work so he can campaign on government not working. On that Trump is doing a great job. His base firmly believes government doesn't work, can't accomplish anything. They have the evidence right in front of them, and that's how Trump wants it.
1
My head has exempted itself from anymore thinking when asked about the POTUS, his cabinet staff, or any attached family member. And I’ve no idea of what ‘a god’ of any understanding was thinking when this apparent play of hand was initially considered!, I mean... what could possibly go wrong...
2
I think the answer to the proverbial question--What is government for?--would be answered by Trump and many of his cabinet appointees as: ME!!!!! Perhaps the entire GOP too. Very sad--for us and our country.
3
“Science is not something that should be just thrown about to try to dictate policy in Washington D.C.”
My god, he actually said that?
3
Hands down Pruitt is the worst. You cant compare denigrating science and destroying the planet with mere venality verging on corruption and taking away healthcare from 22+ million (Price), or putting America in jail (Sessions), or destroying public education in the name of religion and profits (de Vos), or tiny government while the rich make out as bandits (Mnuchin and Mulvaney).
Trump is actually worse than Pruitt because he chose them and a second tier of worse-than-mediocre cabinet secretaries. But he can plead believable ignorance and poor upbringing. Also Pruitt just doesn't get his just deserts because EPA is small and getting much smaller and without science it's hard to benchmark. Add to that the fact that Americans are myopic and will always vote for more money for the rich and plastic bottles --immediate self gratification-- over future planetary destruction.
The garbage can historical archive will be their final resting place--all of them. The only question is how many will survive to forget them.
1
A true leader surrounds her/himself with people that are smarter than s/he is. An insecure narcissist surrounds himself with those who are not only less intelligent, but are also sycophants so the he may feel "superior" to those around himself. Don the Con has carried this philosophy to the ultimate end.
2
Dear Gail, mistress of welcomed satire, do you sometimes find tears welling up at yet another revelation of the inhumanity of us humans?
2
Our only hope is that in the execution of all these wacko ideas and display of such personal venality, that so many angry Americans (some of my friends Included) have been spouting off about for years, will injure and damage so many people, ruin so many lives, degrade our nation so much that it will finally convince all those on that right wing soap box, all the Limbaugh listeners, the infowar devotees, the Fox news zombies, that finally they should return to sanity and turn against all these Trumpsters and their fellow travelers. But no, Steve Bannon says the problem is Trump is not crazy enough, so as Ed McMahon used to say. Heeeeerrrrs Judge Roy Moore.
4
It only makes sense that the worst candidate possible to have become president would choose the worst people possible to head his cabinet. It's just depressing.
2
Trump has not “drained the swamp”. He actually created the largest swamp there ever was in DC and filled it with all the low-life organisms he could find.
3
Secretary of Defense James Mattis is by far the worst aka most dangerous to life, limb and Constitution, member of the Trump Cabinet.
Mattis uniformed military mythical status as a combination monk and Spartan warrior gives cover to the ignorant, immature, incompetent, inexperienced, intemperate and insecure idiotic inane tweets and muttering slurs of Trump. America annually spends as much on it's military as the next eight nations combined including 15x Russia and 3x China.
Before serving in a Senate confirmed Cabinet position any uniformed military officer must have been retired for seven years unless there is a Congressional waiver. The principle of civilian control of the military is the paramount rationale for this restriction.
Mattis was six years short of this requirement yet he received a waiver. He was only the second person to receive such. The first was George C. Marshall. The third was John Kelly as Secretary of Homeland Security. H.R. McMaster is still in the military but his White House staff position as National Security Adviser was not subject to Senate confirmation. Nor was Kelly's move to White House Chief of Staff. Neither Mattis nor any of the other military men are anywhere near Marshall. A man who both won a major war and sustained a major peace.
Tom Price is merely a sacrificial lamb distraction for Trump's own corruption and perfidy turning his occupation of the Oval Office of our White House to his personal and family profit.
3
Trump went out and foundminds just like his to populate his cabinet.
Are we surprised they are thieves, immoral, profiteers,without conscience,
And ready to bring pain and suffering to any citizen to further their power
And sense of superiority.They really believe we'll just lie down and let them
Take away Democracy.Tom Price, trying to end birth control? Better we end
Tom price.They look ok dress like the well dressed business man ,but their brains are missing.Some of Trumps Swamp must have backed up and made a real mess.
1
Since Trump is the virtual "Anti-President", it only makes sense that virtually every member of his cabinet is appointed to do exactly the opposite of what their agency was created to address. Put anti-science in charge of science; but anti-welfare in charge of urban development; put anti education in charge of education.... you get the idea Oh, and it only follows that you put the foxes in charge of the hen house. Golf, anyone?
225
I haven't heard 'Anti-President' before. Thanks, a perfect description!
This is spot on - each appointee is the moral opposite of the type of person who should be in that role, and this is by design.
Private planes are just the tip of the iceberg of corruption. Price, Pruitt, et. al. are reversing regulations and sabotaging existing law with such zeal that there must be more in it for them. Companies benefitting from deregulation already have a lot of money and do not need this "relief". More than likely there are big kick backs. Get digging Media and find those Deep Throats. Even a sound proof booth can disguise it all!
199
There is one person in those cabinet meetings each time it meets who out-trumps all the others collectively: Donald J Trump himself. I suppose we could say its just his ego that drives the horror that comes out of those meetings where the cast of spineless characters is required to spew the nonsense regarding the wonderful leadership of their mentor, the only president who would EVER assemble a group that is dripping with the most foul swamp liquid we have ever seen but I have to submit the name of the leader in his entirety as the worst of the lot.
If forced to choose just one of the unqualified underlings I would choose Betsy DeVos because she is tasked with destroying our public schools, turning our children into thoughtless drones and religious acolytes for the Trumpian cause and destroying any hope that our country will ever arise to its former place of leadership on the world stage once it sheds the stink of the current administration.
166
Jerry, the dumbing down of America's children and populace is not by accident. The Republican plan has been in effect for many, many years now and is now bearing the rotten fruit with which they can now pick from.
2
Birds of the same feather flock together....
2
Ben Carson should be the first to go. He's like every other ignorant person who credits his success to his efforts alone. Let's allow HUD to be stewarded by someone who realizes poverty is systemic and not a state of mind.
5
Thanks, third party "voters".
I hope all your dreams are coming true.
9
trump surrounded himself with people of same color ( skin and morality) except the sleepy, dreamy Ben Carson. what do we expect ?
Although picked by Trump, his White House cabinet stands as the only barrier to chaotic, insane acts by the president. The country owes a tremendous debt of gratitude to John Kelly, Rex Tillerson, and James "Mad Dog" Mattis. Granted, they can't stop all of Trump's insane acts, but I hate to think about what kind of mess we'd be in if they weren't there.
1
Trump's cabinet is a clown car, full of men and women in fright wigs, wearing red foam rubber noses, stomping around in big floppy shoes, honking big brass squeeze horns, spraying the audience with seltzer bottles, hitting them in the face with whipped cream pies.
And standing to the side, hands behind his back, that flat-line smirk that looks so much more like a grimace than a smile, is the ringmaster. Maybe he'll fire Price from the circus, but he has a long list of replacement clowns.
Make America The Greatest Show On Earth.
3
"Science? We don't need no stinkin' sciences!"
1
Gail, I don't expect much from a president that makes a profit on charging his Secret Service for the golf carts at Margo-Largo.
Isn't that a direct violation of the Emoluments Clause?
7
The cashier was admissions director.
1
Gail, please, please do not tell us that the former official in a for-profit college DeVos picked to lead a department anti-fraud unit is the former Admissions Director of Trump University.
2
But which recent Cabinet in memory has given us all such comic relief?
You know things are bad when Ben Carson doesn't even get a mention.
1
Attacks on Trump's cabinet come easy to a liberal. This column probably took 10 minutes to write. There is no analysis here, just rote criticism. It's good stuff for a left wing attack journal. It panders to the left. And it includes the mandatory reference to pregnancy policy even though it hasn't made news for 3 months. Let's pander to our female readers.
What would have been of value is a comparison to the Obama cabinet, which was hardly held in high esteem. As the centrist publication, the Hill. observed, while attacking Trump's cabinet, Obama's cabinet was made up of "aloof academics and career government cronies," who spent most of their time "dreaming up unworkable Democratic utopias."
Maybe Ms. Collins agrees with the Hill, maybe not. She wrote half the account given by the Hill -- the easy half. Analytical editorials are what you expect from quality newspapers. Hit pieces are a dime a dozen. ' '
The leader must be judged by the caliber of the men around him - Machiavelli
3
In what is too consistent to be anything other than sharp-stick-in-the-eye perverseness, the organizing principle of stocking this cabinet seems to have been: Fox, Meet Henhouse. A truly venal murderers' row of destructive, don't-know, don't-care robber barons. Ugh.
1
Although DeVos is a close second for her "make America even more stupid goals", my vote still goes to Pruitt. He is so malevolent the costs of his security alone may increase our taxes, at least for those of us without trump-size wealth. Just how much money from destroyers of the environment is Pruitt socking away for his own retirement? Trump-level plundering I'm sure.
3
They are all pale reflections of the guy who chose them.
3
Thank you, Gail, for yet another hysterical evisceration of the genuine "basket of deplorables". What can we expect when the Appointer-in-Chief is the greatest one of them all. Has the Honorable Rick Perry completed that accelerated night high school physics course he's been secretly taking, so that he can at least comprehend some of the words when the nuclear scientists at D.O.E. speak to him? We all know that he would rather just tango the night away. Sigh. MAGA!
Gail, Trump's cabinet if awful, a bunch of self-entitled ignoramuses intent in subvert reason and decency for their narrow views of other people's lives...if only their huge social distance would allow empathy. Trump. a crook and a liar of superb finesse, has installed a swampy pluto-kleptocracy that seems very comfortable living at our expense, and contributing with zero ideas to help its fellow citizens. Of course, the latest assault on our wallets by Trump's despicable so-called"tax reform" would be a windfall of tax cuts to benefit the 'rich and powerful'. He is brazenly lying about it helping the poor and middle class. Further, he is a shameless liar when he says the annulment of estate taxes won't affect him. As Joe Biden would say, its all a bunch of malarkey. But I digress; Price and Pruitt are, in my opinion (although Mnuchin and DeVos come close), are the worst offenders of the truth, not a surprise having Trump, a master liar, their role model.
1
So many choices, a veritable smorgasbord of self-centered egotistical greed.
5
What! Is Pruitt is a fan of Dr Who? His own soundproof phone booth. Does it protect against bad air quality, radio active fallout from the PacRim, damaging chemicals in D.C. water, invasive disease carrying insects?
1
It is extremely difficult to pick Donald Trump’s worst cabinet appointee, and much of the blame for that rests with Trump himself.
Trump is to blame not only for the obvious reason that he selected such a group of miscreants and losers.
The difficulty in selecting the worst among a very bad lot is made even harder by the fact that Donald Trump is such a breathtakingly awful person that he makes his appointees look much better than they actually are.
Even if we narrow the criteria from "worst" to "most annoying," the looming ignorance, dishonesty, vanity and nastiness of Donald Trump clouds our vision.
These men are "without chests"! They have no feeling for the electorate.
You've forgot to mention our merry little elf Attorney General sessions who charmed th3e Georgetown U crowd with his defense of the first amendment. there was a beautiful photo of some faculty and students kneeling on the steps of the University to greet him. He went on to scold the college kids for being too pampered. Translated that means they are learning things like science and we know how dangerous that can be. Great Universities also produce anti-bigots who are aware of the latest science who are anathema to southern Alabama white men of his generation.
10
When every place on the merry-go-round is occupied by grotesque gargoyles you have to look at the one they're circling around. They're all bad, but Trumpis the worst for selecting this bunch.
10
Marie Antoinette had nothing on these awful, entitled, lying, dumb, morally compromised people brought to Washington by the country's most morally compromised president in its history.
8
President Trump's cabinet is nothing more than a reflection of the president himself: profane, self-indulgent, corrupt, spineless and totally disinterested and anything to do with the public trust.
They are just awful, awful people. the whole sorry lot, in turn, is a reflection of the voters who put them in office in the first place. That would be nearly three million short of the voters who made the alternative choice.
11
All illustrate the judgement and management skills of Donald Trump and his Republican enablers. And don't forget Scaramucci. Trump is clearly the worst member of his cabinet of toadies.
4
DeVos discovered that what Americans REALLY wanted in education was to make sure whites get into college first and foremost and that suspected rapists get a better deal. Watch test scores soar now! Probably right that she is the worst in the cabinet but how do you grade and sort rotten produce?
5
For sheer mendacity, Price takes the award hands-down.
In fact, given Trump's dislike of individuals who outdo him, Price's head might be on the block for proving to be the far bigger liar and con man.
6
I don't think any of them should be fired until they repay to the US Treasury for their abuse of their positions; they used the money American taxpayers put in the Treasury to support this government for their greedy selves!!! Then, fire at will--get rid of the whole greedy bunch!! Unfortunately, President Trump has been the role model on how to abuse the use of taxpayer money for himself-too bad we can't get rid of him just by saying "You're fired!!"
5
Pruitt is getting The Cone of Silence?
11
Ben Carson has gone missing.
4
Scott Pruitt? Didn't he say, “Science is something that should be just thrown out to dictate policy in Washington D.C.”
1
The scary cabinet minister is tge one we aren’t hearing about. Like Rick Perry. What’s he up to with the nukes and all.
4
I think we need to broaden the net to include tech support. Somewhere some guy or gal looks after the president's twittering. Presumably it is highly secure, given that it is the instrument of American policy, so it must have a minder. So, for worst member of Trump's staff, I nominate the idiot who forgot to add volume control and an off-switch to the twitter machine.
Two questions though. One, if the Russians hack his twitter account, could they start a war? Two, if a twit grows to 280 chars will life be twice as bad or will he run out of words?
1
I fear Trump's cabinet is the real "basket of deplorables."
5
They are ALL bad.
5
The malignancy of the President Turnip administration is a case where the whole is much greater than the sum of the parts.
2
They are all evil,greedy liers. Why is a woman always the most criticized and placed behind men ? How could Cruella Devos be any worse than the man destroying the environment?
5
I hope that when January 2018 comes around that the Times will provide us with a detailed report of all the damage and self-interested skullduggery these crooks have inflicted on the Republic over Trump's first year Hope you are stockpiling all -the newsprint you'll need for that.
2
Even you can't make this funny. For long term damage that can't easily be turned around I think Pruitt is tied with de Vos as the worst in a bad bunch. But Mnuchin take it for cluelessness. Let's face it 45 picked a venal bunch that are the swamp.
5
A Trump's Worst update and you didn't even need to mention Ben Carson? The swamp is the opposite of drained. The Swampiest? The Psychopathiest? Lesson learned (again): when you bring to the government people with no government experience, they make it worse almost every time.
4
In their own special way, each cabinet member represents the worst of America. They deserve a group prize.
BTW rumor has it that Ben Carson (secretary of HUD, right?), accidentally got deleted along with all of donnie boy's tweets supporting Strange.
3
Pruitt, Price Mnuchin, Trump: the governement is my toy and I can break it if I wanna.
2
TRUMP'S Cabinet of Horrors must be let loose to rove the hallways of the capitol in their full hideous regalia, playing trick or treat with lobbyists and each other. They truly are like a collection of circus side show freaks with their bizarre beliefs and distortions of reality. Roy Moore, just voted in as Senator of Alabama to replace Ms. Sissy Jeffy Sessions, was removed by his fellow justices on the state supreme court due to his opposition to enforcing the marriage equality act. Though not a member of the Cabinet, he shows the sort of monsters that Trump believes to be best able to serve the US. Meaning to carve us up and serves up to the highest bidder.
3
It is so hard.
Scott Pruitt is simultaneously undoing every piece of EPA regulation he can get his hands on and un-staffing his department. Tom Price wants me dead, and has made the hormone pills that control my daughter's probable endometriosis to be her problem. Betsey DeVos wants to make student loans more expensive, and wants to give them out to colleges that are probably in her investment funds. Then there is Ben Carson. There is Ben Carson, right? He is alive and kicking? Bet he is right on top of policy that will help our hurricaned citizens.
And of course, Steve and Marie Antoinette Mnuchin. (You can imagine Mrs. M tweeting: OMG? these people are soooo lame! That bag has to be VINYL! and those shoes...!)
Unlikable, inexpert and sometimes just cruel. For all the folks that voted for change they got it. They just have to remember that change does not have to be for the better.
3
Purdue-As Governor of GA he signed into law one of the god awfullest anti-immigrant bills that caused thousands of farm workers to run for the hills. Farmers imploded. No workers. Crops failed. And the best part, Perdue lived smack dab in the middle of farming country. And he got a "sort of wow" in the poll!
DeVos would be the one you might envision in a Norman Rockwell classic. Sitting on a stool with a dunces cone hat because she couldn't spell "education".
Price our illustrious HHS is known here in GA as the anti-christ of anything to do with publicly supported healthcare. He's been battling against Medicare for years, encouraging doctors to drop patients who are covered by it.
Perry, Secretary of "I can't remember the third one" is just another winner in this cabinet of "deplorables".
And the list goes on..... ad-nauseam.
1
As much as I don't want to, I do have to give DeVos credit for paying for her private planes. But not a lot.
Because she should. As should Price, Pruitt, Mnuchin and the rest of them.
Most employees (that's what they are, folks - employees of the Federal government) get a travel allowance and a per diem. When their expenses go over that amount, they have to pay the difference out of their own pocket.
Or travel in less expensive ways and stay in less expensive hotels.
I doubt this will change - we have the entire Trump family milking the taxpayer to cover their jetset lifestyle and worldwide business travel. It's enough to make one wonder who paid for their travel, lodging and security before Trump became president. The Trump Foundation charity?
Trump turned campaigning and POTUS into a money making venture where he can pocket money from every action. Even on those rare occasions it's not a Trump property he's using, he still makes out by saving the money dragging his kids along costs. And why does most of his cabinet need to travel with him? Are they just the entourage for the royal scam Trump is running on America? We have seen them all kissing Trump's butt in those televised meetings. If Trump needs a cheering section everywhere he goes - let him pay for it.
My tax dollars should be helping Puerto Rico and all the other areas of America hurting right now, not paying for Trump, his family and cabinet to maintain their lifestyle.
1
Be concerned for Puerto Rico... Trump and His cabinet of carpetbaggers see this disaster zone as money in their banks... Hey, just what are the kids up to these days?? Surely not helping out in a food line. Figuring out how to buy however much land they can buy in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico .. maybe.
3
“Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was at the bottom, presumably because a who lot of people believe that she is trying to reorganize public education into a private venture.”
DeVos doesn’t just want to “privatize” public education, she wants to ”religify” it in her oft quoted quest to “extend the kingdom of Jesus Christ” anywhere she can.
Actually Tom Price and Betsey DeVos can work in tandem for this administration- he’ll stunt the bodies through denial of decent healthcare and she’ll stunt the minds as she sets up worthless Christian madrassas for educating (brainwashing) America’s youth. Trump may be inept at many things, but he has certainly excelled at assembling a “dream team” for destroying anything good and decent about this country.
4
The swamp just keeps getting more polluted and the sewage starts at the top. It is too hard to pick just one. I'll have to say if that man has done nothing else he's made a lot more of the public aware of our government and how it is currently working, which is at the moment, quite badly and mostly not working at all. It will probably take decades to undo the damage that this administration is creating... to the environment, education, healthcare and to the people of this country.
3
Sadly this not funny at all, not one little bit,
Our country is heading for disaster, not one of these people is qualified to run a Department of anything.
All we can do right now is work to quash this idiotic tax scam. And a good part of that is pressuring the press to right factually and forcefully about what it will mean for the average American on the front page Baquet, op-ed is op-ed, use the front page to present informational reporting. And not that weal tea Kaplan posted this morning. Sheesh!
3
The irony of this cabinet is none of the cabinet members, in the businesses they run, would surround themselves with such incompetence---just look at Rex Tillerson's face at cabinet meetings, that says it all.
1
Trump and his cronies boondoggled their way into the United States Government by promising to drain the swamp in Washington DC so they said; instead they are filling it with sewerage.
2
A billion dollar cabinet built on the Washington swamp. No wonder this administration is sinking of its own weight. It's like water sewage seeking its own level. This presidency looks as damaged as parts of Puerto Rico after the disaster of Hurricane Maria. Tom Price and Steve Mnuchin are already filthy rich so why fly on the public dime? Like the president, they are birds of a flying feather. Secretary Price and disgraced former White House Chief of Staff John Sununu are big on frequent flyer miles.
2
It is important to continue to catalog the damage done by the most atrociously self-serving and unqualified cabinet in history. From science deniers, to statistical liars and spinners, to those who are breathtakingly ignorant of their specified field, these people are deliberately dismantling our government so that it won't be able to stop them and their friends from looting the national treasure at will and swindling the pathetic dupes who voted for their leader. They are liars, thieves, fascist sympathizers and arrogant plutocrats, and their party is displaying a level of incompetence not seen in my long lifetime. The only thing Trump has done for the GOP is make W no longer the most incompetent President in history, nor the one who lost the popular vote by most and still "won". The question on every functioning mind is: "How do we get these people out and start reversing the damage?" Well, we can start by facing what objective experts are starting to admit: Russia probably installed Trump. What a triumph for them. What could do more damage to America than putting it in the hands of a malignant imbecile on whom you have kompromat?
2
Trump has put a bunch of wolves in charge of the henhouses. Picking the worst or best wolf kind of misses the point.
www.newyorkgritty.net
2
Ms. Collins seems to have a gift to belittle and snidely write about her hatred. Eh, I'm no Trump fan, I just get tired of reading basically the same story with different names.
However, we can't expect more of people with limited gifts.
Trumps cabinet is like an old Mickey Rooney movie about putting on a show in the barn and it's helped by the fact that one of the Sectretarys, Rick Perry can dance.
1
Its no longer the Swamp folks- now its Mordor.
1
Isn't it about time that you investigated the serious precident-shattering fact that there is no presidential dog?
1
NO! He's never had a pet of any kind, as far as we know and let's keep it that way...no innocent animal deserves that fate.
1
No First Dog! Excellent off-subject tanget!
May I add another? Does anyone know just which church Mr. & Mrs. Trump attend every Sunday? He scammed the Evangelicals by throwing out a few verses from Corinthians, but does he put his tithing where his mouth is?
Has anybody really considered the probable, that the current Administration and its appointees are truly mad? First, destroy the environment, we can drink oil or maybe it's a modest proposal, a way to kill off all those who won't be able to afford the cost of clean air and water, forget medical aid. Maybe Puerto Rico is a test run. Then TRUMP can turn the island into another resort, hire the "natives" at reduced pay rate and turn it into another Batista style Cuba.
Then there is the constant inconsistency in domestic and international relations. The tax plan will begger the richer states that support, with their tax dollars, those in states less fortunate making everyone poor. (see above)
I've seen idiots in government before but not a collection of blatant liars, fools and psyco-infants as we currently have, and given the control to the ship of state. And people love them? What's in the water. (see above)
2
the shameless depravity of this administration is astounding.
1
They are all appalling, but what did we expect from someone who expressed determination to upend the government. What is much worse is the rubber stamp of the Republican senators who gave each of these horrid choices their blessings. Trump can fire a cabinet appointee who makes him look bad (I guess we will be replacing most), but the American people need to replace the sycophants who allowed these morons a place in our lives and our childrens' futures.
3
Sleepy hound Ben Carson, aka Droopy, at HUD gets my vote for worst trump cabinet stiff. Is he out of the broken elevator yet...actually keep him in there...pleease!
2
But Betsy DeVos gets a lot of expensive security, right ?
2
Where is Guy Fawkes when you need him?
1
Good question.
May we please begin with the conservative Christians? All those folk who've decided that people with lots of money have been blessed by God, and those with little have been cursed?
Mike Pence. Loves guns, aspires to straighten out all homosexuals.
Ben Carson. In his house is a big big portrait of Ben with Jesus standing right behind him, his holy hand resting on Mr. Carson's shoulder. This is the Ben who wants to insure public housing isn't too comfortable because that would make the residents lazy.
Jeff Sessions. Has opposed the division between church and state, and, apparently, believes Jesus supported the Confederacy.
Betsy DeVos, now director of public education in the US though she never attended a public school or let her children be soiled by one. Money money ... that makes her shine ... and Jesus no doubt approves. She says.
Tom Price has faith young women should JUST SAY NO to sex, though young men are free to press them (that's natural). Price, like Pence, is convinced his mother never had sex, or if she did, she didn't like it.
Scott Pruitt trusts that Christ loves oil wells and considers public land a waste of space. He advocates "religious freedom".
And the meek shall inherit the earth? Not in this administration.
2
Actually, having lived in Georgia when he was Governor, I know Sonny Perdue to be so incompetent that he could commit a major crime and not know it. However Gail, while there are many New Yorkers (native or not) in the Cabinet Georgia is No.1 in incompetence.
1
Rules, laws and ethics are for the little people who can't afford to get around them, eh Price and Mnuchin?. The reason they can't afford getting around the rules is because they just don't have what it takes.
3
Let's face it! You could match this entire cabinet by letting a couple of monkeys throw darts at the Detroit phone book and then just assign the lucky winner the next cabinet position waiting to be filled. On the positive side, the country might just save a bunch of money on government plane costs! Phew!
1
I'm very disappointed in Ms Collins. How do you write a column about the worst cabinet secretary without using the words "Jeffrey" and "Beauregard?" Lamestream media, indeed!
2
A corrupt, billionaire fish rots from the head down.
That is one smelly, entitled cabinet.
All of them deserve a seat in coach, in the last row, next to the bathroom.
2
You must know you have a problem with the quality of your cabinet when Scott Pruitt merits a mere two short paragraphs, and Rick Perry isn't even mentioned.
1
And we are barely past the eight month mark of the Trump Administration. These cabinet members were not picked for their knowledge of the departments they are in charge of, but rather their opposition to the same.
An HHS pick who despises federal funding of health care programs, an Interior Secretary who favors gas and oil development of the public lands rather than preservation of the lands for future generations, an Energy Secretary who didn't know the department was responsible for our nuclear arsenal, an EPA chief who sued the the agency when he was the Oklahoma AG, an Education Secretary who prefers private schools over public schools but wants public money to support them, and a Secretary of the Treasury Department whose former bank foreclosed on over 30,000 homes during the 2008 recession.
Not exactly the type of people the general public can depend upon to do the right thing.
32
Mnuchin may have little interest in eclipses but it appears he's okay with participating in the eclipse of American civilization.
67
And why nobody mentions Rick Perry is just beyond me! He has a good head of hair, glasses that make him look smart, and he comes from a long line of governors of Texas who have done so very much to MAGA. And didn't he hold a prayer vigil in Texas to pray for rain during a past drought season? Evidently, his fervent prayers were answered a bit later. That's the kind of scientist I want running the Department of Energy.
75
Rick Perry did not even know that the DOE was responsible for the safety of the nuclear weapons arsenal until someone informed of this AFTER he was nominated...oops.
1
I think Tom Price should have been booted over his attempts to manipulate the stock market to favor his portfolio. However, I have to say that Mr. Price may have gotten the impression from his boss, the alleged President of the United States, that charging personal items to the public dole was quite acceptable. Think, for instance, how much we are all paying for the Donald to hit a few golf balls at Mar-a-Lago when he gets the urge. Which is apparently quite often. Once you have done that, you can reflect on the vitriol that current POTUS used to levy against former POTUS every time he took a vacation or was out on the links during the work week. Looking for consistency? Don't bother.
59
We the People are held hostage to this insanity. Is there not one decent lawyer who, pro bono on behalf of all humanity, will do something to stop the descent?
33
More so we sane Americans are held hostage by a tiny minority in this country (Midwestern, mostly white folks) who are determined to burn 200 years of progress into the ground.
It is almost impossible to pick out one person as the Worst Cabinet Member among those in the den of thieves. Certainly, Price and Mnuchin who pride themselves on using taxpayer money for their own follies, are deserving of at least ," dishonorable mention ". DeVos ,the billionaire, who is fighting her hardest to rid us of public schools, is certainly worthy of consideration ,as well. But Pruitt, the fox, who is in the midst of forming his own protective militia to guard him while he raids the hen house,formerly known as the environment , on behalf of the coal,oil and gas companies gets my vote. If left unchecked he will turn the EPA into the KBA( Koch Brothers Auxiliary ), as he appears to be trying to do on a daily basis.
67
He scraped the bottom of the barrel when he came up with this bunch but I fear that he could go to subterranean depths for replacements. So let's hold on to these known losers, I fear it could be worse. Although looking at Betsy DeVos that seems like an impossibility.
22
Discussions surrounding this administration more resemble celebrity wannabes on 'Inside Edition' than people trying to run a country -- or pretending in this instance, since they have not one iota of experience unrelated to how it might affect them personally.
12
Who could have predicted that a bunch of entitled, spoiled millionaires would not have the commoners' best interests at heart?
29
Nobody knew... it was so complicated.
1
Nobody talks about how bad Ben Carson is because he is quiet and boring and manages to stay below the radar. This doesn't mean he isn't as unqualified and doing less damage, he's just more insidious than the rest of them and manages to avoid much media coverage.
31
Look for Carson to be Pence's choice to fill the vice presidency once Trump's gone. Not a laughing matter.
Sad.
No. What's "Sad" is Pence thinking that if he chooses Carson, he's going to get the Black vote.
Its all part of what they call "draining the swamp".
6
I suppose that as the rest of us are submerging while they step on our shoulders and heads telling themselves they deserve what they have because they work so hard, it begins to look distinctly less 'swamp-like'.
Makes you think of the old Monty Python sketch where a guy walks into a doctor's office and says "I have a headache", and the doctor pulls out a hammer, whacks him on the foot and says "How's that headache now?"
There once was a fellow named Price
Who thought flying private was nice.
Used a government jet
For a personal fête
Now Don's put his head in a vice.
29
Pardon my typo; Senator Joe Biden "rode" a commuter train, not "road"...my point being the same.
I am not advocating that officials ride coach in planes; but they could fly cheaper than those private jets. They could have Secret Service or aides or police accompany them to shield from public intrusions.
4
Why not ride coach in planes? Let them rub elbows with the rest of us.
Gail, I came to your column for some humorous relief. I leave it in tears. How long must this go on?
23
Try reading Alexandria Petri. She is a blessing on a down day with her wit and humor.
So afraid of "socialism" we've turned this country into a kleptocracy.
38
Betsy DeVos IS working very hard to dismantle public education, and siphon our taxpayer dollars to hedge fund managers, the Walton family, and other billionaires who run unregulated charter schools. It's not an opinion. It's based on a preponderance of evidence.
24
I'm waiting for the swimsuit competition until I make my choice for absolute worst cabinet choice, because my choice changes depending on the day of the week and news cycle. Do we go with Pruitt who is doing everything in his power to destroy environmental regulations that will leave us gasping for air and afraid to drink the water? Betsy DeVos whose aim is the destruction of public education, which will have lasting effects for years to come? Tom Price? Forget about the plane rides, he has his sites set on taking away a woman's right to choose even birth control. Let's take a vote at the end of Trump's first year in office. Maybe one will stand out as truly the most awful choice for a cabinet member ever.
However, my choice for worst president ever elected was ever so easy - it is Trump - tiny hands down. Truly there has never been a more stellar candidate for the most divisive, most obnoxious, most embarrassing, most ill-informed, most vulgar, and most dangerous president ever elected in the history of this country.
49
Of all the pain Trump inflicts on this nation, his cabinet choices are paramount.
Steve Bannon stated the cabinet was chosen as a means to undercut government expertise and credibility. If so, they've succeeded--big time.
27
The quality of the cabinet reflects the quality of the 'President' so this is not at all surprising. It will just remain for us to watch in horror to see how low they can go. Thanks to the astounding 'intelligence and judgement' of the Trump/GOP voter, the United States is in steep decline and may not survive. Many voters wanted destruction: they got it.
23
And no mention of the Senate Members who affirmed Trump's choices. Shame on them.
25
"Is there anybody in this cabinet who you can like?" Great question, Gail! And the answer is a resounding NO - can't say I like any of them. Probably that is why Trump chose them - with the help of Bannon the Destroyer - they both love chaos and conflict!
12
How can you discuss bad cabinet officers and mention Scott Pruitt and not mention "the cone of silence?" I mean, he has to have his office secured from prying ears, beyond closing the door? What is he trying to hide? He travels on private jet at least as much as Price, he is clearly corrupt and in the pocket of those who would profit from his decisions, he travels in town with armed escort (who does he think is coming after him? and why?)
Add it all up plus the lasting, global, negative impact he can have and it is no contest.
13
Is this the same guy whose wife walked off the public-paid-for-private jet bragging about her shopping spree? Oh wait, I think that was another Trump-appointed guy.
9
No, that was Mnuchin's brand new wife. Who also then argued with a woman on Twitter that because she paid more in taxes, she therefore had sacrificed more for the country than the woman had, thus she (Mrs. Mnuchin) deserved to be able to travel that way.
1
They lie, they steal, but look who they work under....should we be surprised...no!
21
I think Price got emboldened by the trump pardon of "Sheriff Joe" What are a few flights on the taxpayer dime in comparison to running a prisoner-of-war camp in Arizona?
4
Trump's cabinet needs a travel ban.
25
Build the wall!...around Trump and his cabinet to keep them from getting out.
Lest we forget, Tom Price, who looks like the saintly grandfather we all wish we had, did over $300,000 in stock trades while a GA representative involving healthcare companies that “stood to benefit from legislation he voted for, or sponsored.” (NY Times - Jan. 18, 2017) Of course to get picked to play on Trump’s team, nothing is more important than your ability to flaunt ethics rules and still be able to stay in office. That is the skill Trump admires most, in himself and in others. Tom Price, like the rest of those inhabiting the snake pit commonly called the Whitehouse, puts himself and his greed ahead of everything else.
19
Is there anyone in the administration anybody likes, starting at the top (Trump).
2
Pruitt is the worst, in my opinion. As to Al Capone's being convicted on the basis of tax evasion -- well, it still put him in Alcatraz for the rest of his life.
That was plenty good enough, and it could work again here.
7
What no mention of Rick Perry? I am flabbergasted!
"Energy Secretary Rick Perry has news for those who don't like the Trump administration's climate policies: fossil fuels save lives."
http://fortune.com/2017/09/26/rick-perry-climate-change-fossil-fuels-sav...
Nonsense like this should, at least, get him a dishonorable mention Ms Collins.
5
"Is there anybody in this cabinet who you can like?" No.
4
Apparently, when Trump said drain the swamp he meant so he could build luxury condos for his millionaire cronies - all at taxpayers' expense.
2
Government is like Kindergarten for Trump and company, except without any teachers.
1
Best? I think John Kelly. He at least showed embarrassment at Trumps UN speech. Acknowledging the problem is the first step.
3
Ii's a toss-up between Price and DeVos. Since I know a lot of Orthopods I have to go with my first impression and take Price. Orthopods know about joint replacements, high fees, and colluding with instrument makers, but if they happen across someone who is ill, they call a doctor. Can you imagine a combo
Orthopod/Politician coming to your aid if there was anything of significance requiring treatment? Good heavens!!
4
Every morning as I read The NY Times, I hope that what I am reading is fake news. Nothing could be that bad or scary and be real. But alas, after a cup of coffee I realize I am in a time warp and will remain there at best till Nov 2018 and hopefully at least till Nov 2020. If the Trump administration and all of his poor selections does not convince all sane people to vote, and vote wisely, then our country is doomed. Never one to invoke an almighty being....God help us all!
3
once we get detailed information about russian facebook and twitter activity some enterprising reporter needs to match up their topics with what trump was spewing via twitter and at rallies. it weirdly seems that the only logical explanation for trump's incursion into n. f. l. protests is to racially divide the country. would it be surprising to find that russia is also wedging u.s. citizens apart on that issue at the same time? since i can't see any advantage to trump for the chaos and consternation he sows, it really seems the only agenda he's advancing is russia's and that in some way their activities are coordinated for maximum impact.
4
If you care about America, if you care about the environment and climate change, if you care about infrastructure, if you care about the economy and the economic health of our country, if you care about economic equality and social justice, if you care about healthcare, if you care about science, if you care about education of your children and grandchildren:
Protest in resist every day in every way!
11
My great hope will be that just like Gail Collins' reference to Al Capone going to jail for tax evasion, Trump will go down at the very least for obstruction of justice, and sooner rather than later! As for his cabinet, a Conspiracy of Dunces to quote the title of a fine book!
5
It is "A Confederancy of Dunces".
For evidence of how unfit trump is to be president, just look to his cabinet. Qualification number 1 for the position is to be 180 degrees opposed to what the secretary should be for. It's the bizzaro world from the superman comics.
7
Pruitt is a disaster, and he is willing to turn our environment into long term disasters.
5
Hello Gail, I still vote for Pruitt for top of the world class heap of awful Secretaries. HHS Sec. Price is on the hot seat now but I'll bet the man-child doesn't get rid of him. He'll make him pay back some money and Trump will forget about him. Trump has the focus capacity of a gnat. In fact, he's probably already dropped the Price issue because he doesn't remember what he said. It's the sneaky underhanded things these Secretaries do to undermine changes made for the good. Many from the President Obama administration. Mr. Hedge-fund Mnuchin will probably be able to buy Ft. Knox after he's done. I'm not sure of Gen. Mattis. Yes, he has a good rep from his past but I can't help but feel with his alliance with Trump he's sold his soul. The champion of for-profit colleges DeVos is a disaster. She wants to relax the 'rules' for identifying and prosecuting college sexual assault cases. Now there's a real swamp dweller.
8
When my phone beeps at 2am and wakes me from my slumber, my first thought is always 'Has something happened to Mae, Sean or Hannah?', my three treasures.
Lately, my thoughts are 'Did we nuke North Korea?'. A huge threat to the future of my children. How did we get here only 9 months in? It seems like years which at my age makes time moving slowly a positive thing.
Let us not forget Mr. Price is very fond of insider trading. In the past he used his knowledge and position to pass legislation and based his stock trades accordingly. I would bet that there is a lot of that going on right now in this administration. What's to stop them? Jason Chaffetz ran, ran from his seat in the House because he knew he would be asked to investigate a fellow Republican as chair of the ethics committee and he just could not do that.
The most corrupt administration ever that stinks from the orange head on down.
They need funny phone booths and secret back channels just in case they might get overheard. Why they worry is beyond me, the GOP Congress is cheering them on!
7
Can't the federal government send Price a bill for his travel?
1
With Tom, the price is not right. Reports say he's cost the taxpayers over $300,000 just since May. At that rate he'll average over a million $ per calendar year.
He is a medical expert though, and is probably calculating that public flights can be hazardous to your health. We wouldn't want our health czar to be out sick.
Still, if Betsy truly pays her own way, they should try to hook up if they're going anywhere near the same direction.
With this swamp draining Trump administration, it seems the only sure direction the country is headed is for that flesh-eating disease so common to Washington flood waters.
Pruitt gets the prize. Even more than DeVos, and as an educator, I detest every word the woman says including "and" and "the." But Pruitt gets the gilded garbage can, because his wrecking of the environment will kill us all.
6
Mattis has his own air force, so he's unlikely to need or want a private charter plane.
What have we wrought upon ourselves? It will take decades to right the ship after Trump leaves.
4
"What have we wrought upon ourselves?"
Are you just asking that question NOW?????
1
Sadly, Tom Price will remain. He need only remind the President that his repeal of Obamacare failed, and it's now up to Tom to cut every leg imaginable out from under the program.
Sabotaging the ACA will require someone with a straight face to sell the public on the notion that it was "bound to fail anyway" after they scare insurers out of the pools, threaten to disrupt federal payments, and refuse to say a peep during the sign up period.
And who can sell stuff with a straight face like Tom Price? We all marveled at him in his confirmation hearing, claiming his trustee just happened to pick the same companies' stocks for whom he was shepherding legislation through the Senate.
He can show Trump the video if he didn't remember.
Stephen King called this cabinet "the Plunder-Monkeys," and it remains the fairest assessment of their capabilities.
2
Let's just hand the reigns of government over to the Fortune 500 or the Most Fortunate 100 and cut out the middle men. A fox for every chicken coop, I say!
4
I have but one suggestion in regard to Mr. Price---LOCK HIM UP. Please slap him down, metaphorically of course, put him in the hoosegow. The suggestion was made in regard to HRC, what is good for the goose is good for the gander. Would seem he is like tRump, more of a "don" than anything else. This administration is making the Mafia look better and better by comparison.
Gail, you seem to have forgotten Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. According to a story in the Washington Post yesterday, he said, in reference to his staff, "I got 30 percent of the crew that’s not loyal to the flag,” and by "the flag", he meant Dear Leader.
Also, don't swoon too hard over Rick Perry, Secretary of Energy. According to the same article, he told The National Petroleum Council he was “proud” to be “part of the energy industry.” He is clearly still a Swamp Thing.
4
The worst cabinet members are the ones who are allegedly sane and responsible. Mattis, Tillerson, Chao, and few others are not performing their most important task, making a case for removal of Trump via the 25th Amendment. Sitting quietly while the mentally deranged Trump endangers our safety is not acceptable behavior. History will condem them even more than the obviously corrupt Price and Mnuchin if they let this fiasco continue.
2
I still say Pruitt is the worst Cabinet member because he is damaging our environment and our health. Price is second worst simply because he is stiffing the taxpayer with private jet travels, not quite as bad as the insider trading he did with medical equipment stocks when he was in Congress. Betsy DeVos is third worst because she is damaging our already flawed education system. Mnuchin fourth worst because he epitomizes the "let them eat cake" approach of the tone-deaf rich -- and because he has very bad judgment in choice of wives.
3
Thank you, Ms. Collins. The more media FACT we can throw at trumpist FAKE, the closer we inch forward to impeachment.
1
One hears very little about Dr. Ben Carson in HUD. I am sure that if there was something to complain about the NYT, editorials and op-eds, would be saying it.
See his statement in the link.
http://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/351597-ben-carson-were-changing-h...
3
Let's not forget Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who this week has badmouthed career employees for not showing enough loyalty to President Trump, a man who deserveth not the loyalty of a toad. Meanwhile, Zinke is doing zilch about the aging infrastructure of our National Parks or the damage caused to these hallowed lands by overcrowding and -- yes there it is -- global warming.
4
While they are all - without exception (and I do include his enabling generals) - completely awful, if someone put a gun (with a silencer, of course!) to my head ... I'd have to go with Scott Pruitt. We only have one planet.
5
You forgot my pick-- Ryan Zinke-- who is trying to de-monument the National Monuments.
3
Yes, this administration is so full of fruitloops that it is difficult to select "Worst in Class". And no, I don't like any of them, pretty much a straight line across the board. But the important thing is not that I, or any other citizen, like them - it is important that they be competent enough, ethical enough, and responsible enough that I, and all - or at least most - citizens, can respect them. There is nothing to respect about any of these clowns, as they fail on all three criteria I mentioned. Sad.
3
The entire cabinet and administration offers hope to a slew of incarcerated thugs, cheaters, sexual predators, et al: The only job requirement--veneration of the great leader.
I can't vote on least best. I don't understand the sound-proof phone booth. Do we have pictures? Does Pruitt get naked when he goes inside? Do other cabinet members have odd phones?
2
Price may be for the chop, but not because of jets--they're a handy excuse. Much worse than Price is Pruitt who has turned loose all the global warming deniers. BTW, Pruitt is spending $25K of our money on a sound-proof phone booth for himself.
5
While I feel that Pruitt is doing the most damage and is the most reprehensible, we seem to be forgetting someone. I'm talking about you Rex. Mr. Tillerson seems to be doing all he can to make State as ineffective as possible.
3
Of course Trump's cabinet is riddled with self indulgence, self-dealing, blatant lying and open corruption. They're only following the boss's example.
3
Tom Price is locked in a race to the bottom with Steve Mnuchin for sleaziest of the Trump Cabinet. These two guys have a smug, arrogant look that tells you all you need to know about their character. Betsy DeVos wins the irony award as the dumbest education secretary in American history but she can't compete in the sleaziest competition. I give it to Price on the technical fact that his work threatened the lives and health of 20-30 million Americans and he had the nerve to charge us $400,000 in illegal charter jet rides for no good reason. Just look at Mnuchin and Price...you'll see in a minute there's something wrong with them both. The best we can say about Price is that he's so incompetent, he failed repeatedly to get the President's bogus health bill through a Republican Congress. Let's put him on a one-way charter jet to unemployment!
5
What irony! Our flawed candidate probably fell from one utterance I'd bet she wishes she could take back: "A basketful of deplorables." Guess what? There is no more apt a phrase to describe the current Cabinet. So deplorable, in fact, that we hear the appraisal of Rex Tillerson as one of the few who might be a cut above the rest of them. Please stop with him! He's an oil magnate who knows nothing about the intricacies of geopolitical diplomacy, except how to receive a Friendship medal from a thug. His mission (it wouldn't surprise me if we find out Putin directed his appointment) is to ease the sanctions so that his beloved ExxonMobil can resume drilling for oil in the Russian Arctic. So the high bar for this Cabinet is him, and a Sec. of Defense nicknamed "Mad Dog?"
5
That must be a drag for Mnuchin and wife to have seen (probably a great view of) the eclipse and now because of the publicity they can't brag about it.
The him "being a New Yorker" thing sounds like something he heard from his wife.
Let them eat cake!
5
I wholeheartedly agree with this column and feel sure some names are missing. Pruitt is still crazy after all these years in Oklahoma being very destructive to everything he touched. The problem is the guy at the top is so godawful that these men look like choirboys.
3
Does anyone else have a hard time wrapping their minds around the fact that this same Mnuchin is also producer of the recently released Wonder Woman film?
7
Yes Jean. I was amazed when I say his name as producer. I turned to my friend and said "Mmuchin was the producer?!"
A sound proof box! Oh I hope it's like the "Get Smart" cone of silence!
6
It is simply not possible to pick a single worst Trump cabinet member, there's just too many to choose from. It's like picking your one favorite Beatles song, a fool's errand.
5
This freeloading price needs to be fired on the spot, I don't know what Trump is waiting for
1
Perhaps Trump is waiting for his own sense of fairness and propriety to kick in. It'll be a long wait.
It says it all that Rick Perry, who now heads the department he wanted to eliminate, but couldn't remember the name of , didn't even make the list.
6
Call your senator and house member and request that this guy be fired.
1
"Tom Price, Dr. Personal Enrichment," was the title of a column by your colleague David Leonhardt, Gail.
"Foreclosing on a 90-Year-Old Woman over 27 Cents and Other Heartwarming Tales from Steven Mnuchin’s Days at OneWest" was the headline of a story about Mnuchin on Vanity Fair.
If you leave aside Devos, it is essentially a coin flip between Price and Mnuchin. But the sheer damage to the environment (you know, the air we all have to breathe and the water we drink) that Scott Pruitt can cause as head of the EPA, should make him a strong contender for the worst of the lot as well.
So many picks, so little time!
2
In the Tom Price versus Mnuchin 'who gets the private jet' contest, Price doesn't have a chance. In Trump's world, a trophy blonde, even a nasty one, elevates a man's status beyond just wanting to fly fancy. It's his right.
2
Spot on cynicism about a joke of a cabinet. Another indication that elections are more than American Idol contests. I suppose those who a) hated Hillary and voted for Trump, b) hated Hillary and voted for what's his name and what's her name, c) loved Bernie and stayed home on election day, d) were too stoned to realize it was election day are happy with the Supreme Court and the cabinet. Are Blacks who stayed home happy with Sessions as AG. Maybe the media has to share some of the blame here, as they act as the emcee of the American Idol election.
2
Collectively, Trump's cabinet are the biggest collection of grifters, crooks, imposters, bigots, publicity seekers, racists and corporate flunkies you could assemble (with the exception of the generals). They merit a collective descriptor (like the Kitchen Cabinet) by which they will go down in history. But I struggle to come up with one. The Keystone Cops metaphor comes to mind, but, while that appellation is suggestive of the incompetence and disfunction they bring to government, it is not sinister enough to convey the danger they pose to us all. The Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight? Too flighty. The Fear and Loathing Brigade? Not broad enough. The Doomsday Cabinet? Too ponderous. The Ringling Bros. Circus Cabinet? Somebody help me here...
1
Gail mentioned the four horsemen of Trump's Cabinet Apocalypse.Scott Pruitt would like to preside over the " death" of the EPA. Betsy Devos symbolizes intellectual "famine". Tom Davis represents the the Trump administration's "war" against ethics in government and Steve Mnuchin whose "conquest" of cluelessness was evidenced by his trip to Ft.Knox with his wife.
1
Trump and cronies took over the United States government in order to drain swamp so they say; but all they are doing is filling it with sewerage.
1
The Washington swamp Trump promised to drain is now so clogged with the remains of his Cabinet members the swamp is filling up again.
Well, Mnuchin feels he is a genius because his past successful career but he should not have switched jobs to one out of his comfort zone. Wait, he is in his comfort zone enjoying stardom but he is not competent at it. I guess he feels very strongly he has nothing more to prove, I think he does.
The rest of them I do not think they have the right IQ to start with.
1
Mnunchin and his gauche, tacky wife need private planes to feel special.
Price is complicit in insider trading and abuse of taxpayer dollars.
Pruitt is spending taxpayer dollars to satiate his paranoid impulses while making the lives of ordinary citizens less safe.
Wanna be oligarchs. They should all be fired. And Mr Trump should be forced to release his taxes.
3
The Trump cabinet is possibly the most inept team since the 1962 N.Y. Mets. But that Mets team was known as "Lovable Losers". Nothing lovable about Trump's bunch. Perhaps they can be known as "Loathsome Looters".
1
Look for Rick Pitino as the head of the new Office on Ethics.
5
Government of the oligarchs, by the oligarchs, for the oligarchs. What can you expect, really?
64
Having been directly exposed to Tom Price's toxic rays when I was forcibly inserted into the 6th district in Atlanta, he's my choice for worst. The others are mostly biz and financial people trying to get richer - unsavory but par for the course in our society. Price however took an oath to help people as a physician and violates it by his actions as head of HHS. If he actually did help with compassion, for my money, he would deserve a gold-plated aircraft of his own. Instead, as someone else said, whatever gets this smarmy excuse for a caring doctor out of office and out of sight is fine with me.
92
He makes me physically ill.
Oath required of Trump cabinet appointees:
Do you solemnly swear that you will protect the richest among us, that you will strive to cut every dime from your agency’s budget that goes to programs that do not benefit the rich? Do you promise to spend no money on the poor (those with a net worth below $100 million), and to only serve the interests of the billionaire class?
And do you confirm that Donald Trump is handsome, amazing, sexy, brilliant, and that his tiny hands do not mean what they imply?
94
When my wife worked for Gov. Jay Hammond of Alaska, she noted he flew commercial, and he did not go First Class; he flew Coach.
Vice President Joe Biden, I understand, road the commuter train from his home to Congress when he was in the Senate.
Give us more officials like these!
106
Seriously, what were we all expecting from Donald Trump?
Liberal Dems (I am one of them) need to stop being shocked, SHOCKED by the hypocritical behavior of both Trump and his appointees (with a couple of exceptions).
His base doesn't give a hoot. Instead, Democrats need to look at the sector of the electorate that held their noses and voted for Trump anyway because they were fed up.
For me, I have long ago reached the saturation point of being shocked by things Donald. Instead, I am looking to the 2018 mid-terms. That's where I think Dems should be expending their political energy (and money). Taking back either the House or the Senate (or both) would tilt the balance in D.C. immensely.
71
We're not shocked, we're just snarking. Money and time are going to 2018, I assure you.
It is not shock, it is anger and fury. And yes, look forward to 2018 but, without a campaign to promote VOTE, not much will change. And with conservative efforts to restrict or making it more difficult to vote, Republicans might end up winning by larger percentages. If they want to put a stop to this nightmare, people need to VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, and I don' see many people, from any side, pushing for that.
Len - The idea that Trump voters "were fed up" seems too broad to be a meaningful explanation. The country had been making social and economic progress that most Americans welcomed. And the economic upturn is getting us out of a historical crater that was made by fast-money types playing self-aggrandizing games with the real estate market, i.e. a group that dovetails with the Trump brand. So voting for Trump was not a way to make conditions better; in fact it seems to have been done despite the clear likelihood that it would make things worse. That's not the kind of behavior one would expect from people who are fed up.
There have been some pretty dismal cabinet appointments in the past but unquestionably the present one wins top billing as the first uniformly dismal. There is at best one (Mattis) where replacing them by the janitor that cleans their office would not be an improvement. The only thing preventing complete collapse of the executive branch is the institutional memory of permanent civil servants.
52
Trying to pick the worst cabinet member is like asking a 5year old to choose the best candy in the candy store.
I have been able to get down to three, DeVoss, Sessions , or pruit. But ask me tomorrow and I'm sure the choices would be different.
37
Once we rid ourselves of this criminal gang, the entire trump administration, we need to go back to our rules and regulations as they were before the con man took over. Everything should be reversed. If not, we are doomed for sure and we will be dooming our children to future run by criminals for their own benefit.
64
Like in Russia. What a surprise.
The level of contempt for the American people pervasive in this administration and cabinet is utterly without precedent. Certainly the nation has experienced arrogance and detachment in previous presidents, but not nearly this flagrant, or this arrogant. These people, almost to a person, seem to delight in flaunting their power and position. In my view, it comes down to character, seriously, fatally flawed character. And yet, close to half the electorate cheers them on, and that's just the ones willing to speak publicly. Who knows how many silently take pleasure in this "disruption"? November 2018 is increasingly looking like a litmus test for the durability of our democracy, and our nation. Preliminary signs are mildly positive, but we still have a lot to endure. And it's gotten to the point where one is compelled to ask just how awful things can get, although I shudder when I do so. We're not even a year in, and it feels like an eternity. God, this is bad.
101
And to think that the latest poll shows just 51% of us believe Trump is unfit to serve as POTUS. So 49% think he is just wonderful! " What a fine mess this is, Ollie !"
2
Surely Scott Pruitt should be rated lowest by a vast margin. There shouldn't be a No. 2. He wants the astoundingly expensive private phone because he's devoted to secrecy. He doesn't want anyone to know what he's up to. I gather that his floor is blocked, so he's as hard to see as the president. And for what purpose? We know he's a front for the older energy industries and that he treats environmental science as the Enemy. So who do you think he invites to his very private office and intends to talk to on his very secure phone? He's worse than the others because global warming and the environment in general are issues which will determine the well-being of our grandchildren. As a recent grandfather, I hope Pruitt is somehow removed.
134
I understand he has an armed private bodyguard. I wonder why he thinks he needs that, and the soundproof phone booth, if he is doing the people's business?
That soundproof phone booth thing makes me think of the cone of silence on the old Get Smart show. :-)
2
Ironically, it's married (white) people with children who are the backbone of the Republican Party. I sometimes wonder if they secretly hate their kids because they seem bound and determined to doom them to living in a world in which they will be downwardly mobile and have to suffer the effects of climate change.
1
A soundproof telephone booth in his office. Surely he needs a psychological evaluation?
2
Don't forget Mr. Dancing with the Stars! Remember, for a long while, he didn't know exactly what the Dept of Energy did.
57
And couldn't remember all the branches of the government.
Having a cabinet secretary fly coach while Trump flies Air Force One is unfair. These guys are making major sacrifices to serve our country. They simply can't be scrunched into a seat with no leg room and pesky neighbors wanting to know why they're at risk of losing health insurance while subsidizing a Make the Rich Richer Again tax plan. Plus they face the risk of verbal if not physical attack as many of us tend to viscerally hate these guys for destroying the social safety net we need but they don't.
64
As long as there is some viable excuse for their corruption, this administration and its picks will get away with it. FOX, the main news source for many supporters, will emphasize the excuse and disregard the facts. So many people who don't dream of earning the required $6MI for the tax to kick in will be thrilled when they hear the death tax is gone.
24
Please don't you call it the death tax, too. It's bad enough the term is out there at all.
Unfortunately, all of this is hardly surprising. The cabinet members who are feeding at the public trough had exploited others to enrich themselves before becoming cabinet members. Betsy DeVos may not fly on taxpayer-funded charter planes, but she has invested in private education companies and could personally benefit from the policies she is promoting. We'll see if these scofflaws pay any price for their greed and misuse of taxpayer money.
49
Gail, as I read your column this morning (about Trump's cabinet), it seemed to "lack humor." I think your message is that "some things are just not funny." And I agree.
Here's a twist: If Trump is perceived by a majority of his cabinet members to be "crazy" (because he may fire them), and if they can get Pence to go along with them, I believe this is the quorum needed to invoke the 25th Amendment. Pence could promise not to fire anyone, and then he becomes the next president. I say go for it. [But he'd probably have to pick Rick Perry as his VP, oops!]
6
Maybe many Trump supporters are unaware of where all the DeVos money came from, but many may have been caught up in the Amway scheme. And then threes the maker of movies, Steve Mnuchin. Did you catch the one about a group of old geezers (I'm one) who found their pension funds being mishandled (a euphemism) by a bank and decide to get revenge? Spoiler alert: they set up the perfect robbery and then parcel out the takings to their elderly friends. I guess that is Mnuchin's prescription for the elderly if they manage to take away Social Security and Medicare which may seem unlikely but is definitely Ryan's goal.
20
Every one of these selections were made to be the foxes in the chicken coop. This administration looked at the mission of the agency and then specifically looked for someone who was against it ( or in the case of Carson, clueless).
That these sycophants would look to the american public as their personal cash register is no surprise.
More disturbing, but less reported on, is what is happening to the federal judiciary. Gorsuch sitting in a stolen seat was just the beginning and he is paying off better than a slot machine). There are hundreds of open seats because McConnell and the Republicans blocked Obama's appointments to the point he stopped nominating people, All these seats are being filled with young, right wing lawyers, some who have blogged about not following laws, or demeaning Obama and the American people. These people are there for life.
The judiciary is the first place where things can change. The legislative branch is slow to follow, or never will. Would there have been a civil rights act without Brown v. Board of Education? There was and is no groundswell for legislation to support gay or transgendered people. It was the courts. Watch who is being appointed there right now. Most will do what they can to turn back the clock. One even quoted the Dred Scott case in a supporting brief.
115
The best comment. All of these appointments have become confirmed under the radar with virtually no press commentary, yet these appointments are the biggest threat to our country. What DeVose, Price and even Pruitt do can be remedied over in many cases by the stroke of a pen. I suspect Pruitt's plan to turn national parks over to Robber Barons can be stalled until 2018.
These judicial appointments (recommended I am sure by the super conservative Federalist Society) are for life. To put it in plain terms, they can't be voted out or fired. They can be impeached for misconduct. Very few federal judges have been impeached.
Singling out Mr. Carson like that seems unfair to me. A case can be made for Mr. Perry's inclusion in the clueless category.
Maybe the Koch et al will leave us alone if the estate tax is repealed. They will have gotten what historically rankled them most. This is, of course, just wishful thinking- people never give up power once it is attained.
22
Let's hope the repeal of the Estate Tax never takes place. If we think things are imperious now, just wait if they are successful. Desperate people now fully armed will take matters in their own hands.
7
Kochs (whoa! way too many opportunities there) have a fall-back plan. They're looking to Dr.Tom to make a first priority to provide a medical solution for life eternal. Sort of eliminates the problem of estate taxes. Religion based life eternal in something like heaven doesn't work because there is no way to transmit the wealth to heaven and, in any event, heaven will not be providing shopping and real estate opportunities.Then too, I trust, there will not be any serfs or slaves in heaven. On the other hand, there will be no taxes.
C.A. Simpson,
Really? The Fox News watchers worship the Rich even as the Rich spit on them and sneer. Repealing the "Death Tax" will cause the right wing masses to go into conniption fits of joy. It will never occur to them that they will never be rich enough for their families to benefit from no inheritance tax.
The output of Trump's campaign declaration "I'll have the best people..." were the crazy, wonderful, wacky likes of Tom, Steve, Scott, Betsy etc. a veritable "Little Rascals" Secretarial pool which somehow got mixed up with his Washington cess pool. In light of so many much larger administration transgressions, that Trump and Price are paying attention to the airplane "scandal" is ironic.
46
Private email = bad, unless private plane. Private profit = now you're talking! I think it has something to do with chicken.
29
Private email = bad, unless talking about Hillary Clinton.
It's a tie, Gail. They're all equally worse than all the rest.
On a related note: Who even knew Ben Carson was still alive? He hasn't been heard of or from since the inauguration, and then he pops up, backing the opponent of Trump's choice for Alabama Senator. Probably the most exciting thing he's done since he last popped the top on a patient in the OR. He's probably not going to survive this bit of Trump reason. He and Price may get their marching orders simultaneously.
Drain the Swamp! Drain the Swamp!
51
Sorry, "treason" not reason.
A topic for a future column might be Betsy De Vos, immense wealth, Amway, and how pyramid schemes and ponzi schemes are different.
66
Oh, yes, I vote for a piece on that!
1
That's like comparing oranges and oranges Joe. Following the old saying 'there is a sucker born every minute".
What a surprise! Tom Price is getting the Worst Cabinet Member prize, and here I thought it was going to go to Steve Mnuchin and his fashion-loving spouse, for making us all feel like tax-paying Neanderthals who are only there to sponsor their trips.
Honestly, it's so hard to tell who's the worst one these days.
But given how often Donald Trump changes his mind (just look at Jeff Sessions--he's still around), you never know how long Price will be able to claim that honor.
Personally, I gave Sessions my vote in that reader's poll a few months back, even though it was hard to give a pass to Scott Pruitt, who is going to poison us all.
Think it's time for another poll.
71
BTW: Tillerson doesn't appear here at all. The value of diplomacy escapes him. He seems like a lost soul in all the daily distractions Trump and his minions hoist upon us. No news on him? Where is he? Any pronouncements he makes are normally the opposite of what his boss is saying. Impotent?
37
Tillerson is on his way to Beijing. The autumn here this year is wonderful. Blue skies, fluffy white clouds, cool temperatures...no Trump et al to foul the air.
Who is Rex Tillerson? Just joking. Where is Waldo? Remember that one. That's Tillerson and Carson. Ben Carson is still transitioning from neurosurgeon and presidential candidate. Tillerson is wandering the Earth trying to find Russia and Putin.
It is difficult to pick the worst. It is like constantly rearranging who should be kept off the lifeboats on the Titanic.
I have decided Scott Pruitt of the EPA seems to always top my list. When you are head of an agency with protection as a mandate, yet your ultimate goal is to destroy that agency, I think of you as the worst and most destructive.
The majority of the others just seem to be selfish elites who are continually adding tax payer funded water to their personal swamps. They're morally corrupt, horrible people and it is hard to see them all together, working as a group to bilk citizens.
Pruitt's damage may take longer to manifest itself but the consequences of his actions could set our environment on a course that can't be reversed.
We can't get another Earth. Four years ,or God forbid, eight years from now, we're going to realize that all the gold at Fort Knox, and in the world, can't undo the damage Pruitt will have afflicted upon the planet.
73
I thought the icebergs were gone?
Does he also get medical insurance at tax payers' expense?
25
This low quality cabinetry is what you get when the presidential timber is cheap particle board, off gassing formaldehyde , coming apart at the seams, and making the rest of the country ill.
Time to renovate with some clear solid timber, like the kind that used to be abundant.
45
Price is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, but, like Trump, part of how he got/stays rich is by...only spending OTHER people's money!
41
For what it's worth, his reported net worth is $13.6 million, making him a relative pauper in the Trump cabinet.
Most people who read the NYT realized the abominations Trump was putting into his cabinet and what they were about long ago. Much more frightening, though unsurprising in the least, is the depiction of Trump supporters as outlined in Thomas Edsel's article today in the Upshot.
Trump and his cabinet are but the visible symptom of America's current state of insanity. The underlying cause resides in the malignant psyches of the citizens who reside in the usually suspect states of the midwest and especially south.
Those are the rabidly racist, authoritarian masses who thrive on Trump's inanity and insanity because he is truly a representative expression of themselves. They have no shame and are proud of it.
We need only view the map in Edsall's article to realize the magnitude and extent of the social malignancy, which, until Trump, had been somewhat suppressed by social mores. With his permission and encouragement American whites have found a new freedom in expressing their racism without concern.
Perhaps it's better that their cards are on the table.
So the Divided States of America will continue stumbling, but let's not put all the blame on Trump. His followers deserve most of it.
53
Honestly, I am having trouble getting past the $25,000 Pruitt spent on a soundproof phone booth in his office...what in god's name is so super secret that he can't step outside or maybe shut the door after asking everyone to step outside?
Just another example of people who have little regard for how it effects the rest of us...Most folks in my state would be happy to have $25,000 a year for food and shelter...you know, the necessities of life.
Everyday brings a new "oh my god" moment and the "are you kidding me how do they get away with doing that..." I am still waiting for someone in the republican party to step up, obviously not holding my breath.
53
Pruitt's "cone of silence" phone booth is exhibit A demonstrating the age old adage that, "A thief trusts no one".
Geithner was not much better than Munchkin and a symbolically disastrous choice by Obama out of the gate in 2008.
If children are our future, why would Trump select the grim reaper of education? And, Republicans confirm her?
The common thread of all the cabinet choices is that money is their god of choice. They are the A-team of the Washington Swamp!
26
Tom Price won't be fired. After all, Jeff Sessions wasn't.
18
How refreshing that at last we have people like Secretary Pruitt who are not afraid to repeal Nature’s laws. The Church showed that it could be done when they persuaded Galileo to recant. Sadly science has slipped into its bad old ways since then, but only because dogmatists lost their spine. No more. A new day has dawned, and it promises to be a hot one.
21
Let's see, if we removed the man who picked these turkeys, wouldn't they all have to go? Is there any way to do this before Thanksgiving? There seems to be a tradition of pardoning the White House Thanksgiving turkey. Maybe Trump could pardon all these turkeys as his last presidential action as they exited the premises.
12
Jonathan
You know the photo opt of the president standing there with the turkey? The photo opt for Thanksgiving should be all his cabinet members standing there instead of the turkey.
1
When I recently check in with friends in Jerusalem, life-long partners, we agree that we will not mention 'Mr. T'. It is astonishing how much news there is to exchange here, there and everywhere without falling into the Sewer. Latin America, once from Miami, wrote 'the man is unhinged' two years ago. Soar high, is my motto, but then I am not a journalist, let alone one of our finest satirists in contemporary times.
Mr. Badger who is responsible for unpacking Mrs. Molesworth here, now at an elderly age, an ardent supporter of Glenn Beck and Trump, a loyalist of the latter (give the man a chance!) and the New York Times is a 'commie newspaper'. What about attitude, I ask, why the constant gripe and resistance.
This is the most united Administration this American has seen in a long life, united in barricading itself from The People who support it. Astonishing news is learning that a politician in this political climate, Mr. Strange, was defeated.
We are experiencing one long 'Eclipse' at a turning-point in our History, but why the Republican Party decided to crash is still an untapped source of mystery.
For those in want of pennies, there are many Americans waiting for a reversal of fortune, it is time to start collecting Trump baseball caps. I bet my elderly brother of inherited wealth, an absent-minded professor, frugal, hard-working and 'a penny saved is a penny earned' is having a fit over the matter of taxes.
Withering Heights in America these days.
5
Isn’t this just amazing? Cabinet members that can’t be trusted? What’s that they say about Apples falling not too far from the tree?
18
People who have no idea about what makes sense to the American people in terms of frugality, want us to believe that their idea of tax reform will benefit us? They give pork to their friends, enjoy caviar and champagne lifestyle at our expense and give us the worst of the wurst.
19
"I know, things are getting tough when you can't get the top off the bottom of the barrel."Op Ivy
At least she has morality in one aspect of her life. But I digress. These are bad people. Without exception they are bottom of the barrel. As far as I can tell none of whom achieved much more in their pitiful lives than the average bum sparing enough change for another bottle of wine. At least the bum is honest, he needs the fix. The only thing worse than this crew is what the next bunch will look like in 2020. (assuming Trump wins, which he will and these 14 hit the revolving door back to money time in the private sector) Where do you find people below the bottom of the barrel?
5
This would be funny if it wasn't true.
9
"DeVos is so godawful rich, she rides in private planes she pays for herself."
DeVos also rides in yachts. A huge one docked at Milwaukee's harbor a few weeks ago was eventually traced to her, although she managed to board and disembark without anyone seeing her.
These cabinet members don't seem to spend a lot of time socializing with ordinary Americans.
31
As an ordinary American, this is one gift for which I'm grateful... what decent person would want to socialize with these people?
2
The cabinet members and Trump are too busy scamming the American people to mingle with us.
An Amtrak Ticket from DC to Philadelphia costs about $100. He owes us $24,900. Lock him up (until he coughs up).
34
We have rats in the chicken coop and it is only when reporters scream that the Ratmaster promises action. The worst is the team that orchestrated these appointments.
16
Let's ask why Scott Pruitt needs a sound proof phone box? To contact the Russians? To discuss cuts to environmental controls with chemical companies? And the security details? Sounds like a bunch of wannabes - those black Suburbans are a status symbol. Waste not want not! And Rex Tillerson who sees his job as eliminating head count - and we know what thats done for companies! Lack of innovation, loss of revenue - but he did get drilling in the Arctic. And the generals - hopefully better than the Admirals who don't train their sailors or force 100 hour work weeks! Let's not forget Kushner who can't fill out forms and uses private email. Voters wanted businessmen - well just look at corporate America - they are not innovative so are using tariffs to undercut the competition. And tax reform will also benefit the Cabinet. Corporate America does not care about workers-the Cabinet is writing it's own meal ticket.
443
If these are the epitome of American business, capitalism is in trouble.
maybe he is doing insider trading on all his deregulation and wants to profit bigtime and no i do not understand the need for this and what are these jackals doing to lower the deficit they are contributing to it very high opinion of themselves
The Guardian reported today that Jared K. registered to vote as a woman. Does that mean he is a.) trans or b.) unable to read?
I am no fan of Tantrum Trump, but I must admire him for his ability to find cabinet heads and other people who think exactly as he does: you could boil it down to that old observation - "let them eat cake." And Price is a perfect example of this: why fly like the "little people" when you can go by charter day in and day out. At taxpayer expense. I cannot even think like they do.......
22
Can't wait for Trump's tax returns. Somebody, anybody -- the IRS, FBI, Wikileaks -- should force Trump's hand in the public interest, as all the evidence of sleaze could turn rapidly from circumstantial to verified and end this nightmare of a (mis-)Administration.
19
Pin our hopes on Mueller - he's the one with the A-team, to ferret out the misdeeds on t-rump and his posse. Patience, patience...
2
Wikileaks isn't going to be leaking any Trump tax returns. Julian ASSange is Putin's marionette and only uses wikileaks to serve Putin's kleptocracy.
1
Trump's displeasure with Price has everything to do with the inability to repeal the ACA and nothing to do with private jets. If he cared about travel, Mnuchin and others would be under fire as well.
23
Price was a known insider trader before he was appointed. He used information he got as a legislator to profit on stock transactions. When you make a known criminal a cabinet member, funny things will happen.
26
The idea that the aristocracy possesses some compassion for the working class in the form of noblesse oblige, but the nouveau riche has no such virtue--and lacks a sense of social obligation-- seems to apply to the Trump administration, where Mr. Trump, who resides in realized dreamscapes of gilded nouveau style, is the mercenary-in-chief and, among his cadre, the idea of social service is strange. Sort of makes you wish Jeb had prevailed, no?
7
After listening to the NYT’s New Washington podcast on lobbying, it appears that the trump administration was so unprepared to govern they simply hired industry lobbyists for government positions. Hey, they’re lobbyists so they must know their stuff, right? The idea that perhaps they’d be biased in favor of the industries they used to work for must have been considered a plus —if trump thought about it at all (which I doubt).
8
The major positive I see in all of this is that many Americans are exploring governmenty things we took for granted. Who knew healthcare could be so complicated? Mr. Energy, Rick Perry, decided it might be wise to keep a department that manages our nuclear challenges. And who had ever heard the word emoluments let alone knew its meaning BT - Before Trump? What a wonderful civics lesson, if we can survive it.
8
Hmmm, a secure telephone booth? Secretary of Defense? No. National Security Council? What business does Tom Price have requiring such security? Who does he think it is secure from, foreign interests? The FBI? He needs to arrange insider trading on stocks he could manipulate?
Trump's Cabinet is more like a wrecking crew than Department Chairs, cheering the long-term hobbling of the agencies that protect our protect our health, environment, children, financial system.
15
From 2008 to 2016 the GOP claimed they were better than Obama and the Dems. The GOP claimed it was for balanced budgets, upstanding morals, probity and God. The performance of Trump, Price, Mark Sanford, and the other GOP sleazeballs shows their hypocracy. Trump is most honest of these people--he flaunts his faults instead of trying to hide them. Price merely wants to fly in compfort at public expense, while favoring cuts to medical help for the less fortunate.
16
Trump is leading by example. So far this term, the president spends one night in four at a golf course. The room rates at Mar A Lago start at $1,000 a night and go up from there. That's not counting membership fees. Assuming Trump isn't staying in a basic suite, let's call it $5,000 a night. Trump alone is somewhere north of $300,000 in unnecessary hotel room costs. That's not including staff and security. Is the hotel providing this service gratis? I don't think so. That's like Price owning the airline he charged the government to fly on by taking frivolous trips. Perspective is important.
9
There are so many better words to use than "thief" and "theft" but not as direct or correct.
When does the voting start? My favorite for worst cabinet member changes daily so I would have to think carefully about who should be the winner!!
2
A cabinet full of people who want to tell us what to do, who believe like Scalia did, that the government is free to make sure that certain people can wave guns and bibles in your face and you can't do anything about it. They would love to repeal the Bill of Rights and they think mean spirited leaders are better than - than leaders who inspire people. They ignore the fact that the rich are holding on to their money, not investing it in businesses, and that government "deficits" are merely cash flow numbers that as a percentage of the economy are not out of control. And they have no mandate, we saw how Trump lost the popular vote. But Trump is right about one thing, the media are not doing a good job, I could turn on the TV or radio or go to the web all day and not see any reports of the cabinet crazies. And Trump's "base" of folks who are locked out of the job market and getting the majority of public assistance are hoping the crazies are tearing down the unresponsive government they hate, unaware that they still won't have jobs at the end of the tunnel.
8
We can complain about Trump's Cabinet of Oligarchs all we want, but they were all voted on and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. If you're as appalled as I am, just ask yourself if your senator voted for these new Robber Barons. Their view is that the government is there to serve them and increase their wealth and well-being. They do not see themselves as public servants, but as privileged predators who view the public purse as open to being looted. After all, isn't that exactly what health care "reform" and now tax "reform" are all about?
20
Don't forget that the majority of people in congress are extremely wealthy. Why should they care if the American people are being robbed? They are cheating the voters too. There are very few honest people in politics. If they start out honest they quickly learn how to cheat and make money off the backs of taxpayers.
1
Gail, great column, but don't forget Betsey DeVos's security detail is costing the taxpayer a pretty penny. If I remember correctly she is having the department of education repaying for the cost of her round the clock marshals. But doesn't that mean we are still on the hook for a cool mill. These are just cases that we know. Mr. Zinke is no cheap guy either. Deplorable I say, deplorable.
18
The price of Price is simply too high.
5
With his very own "Cone of Silence" Pruitt is finally living the dream of his childhood fantasy of being Smart (Agent 86, that is). The difference is he's working for KAOS, not CONTROL.
6
Betsy DeVos may well come in at the bottom of the Political poll, but she should get extra points for Miss Congeniality. Who but Betsy would of go out of her way to reverse Obama's guidelines for handling campus sexual assault cases, victimizing the victims even more. Betsy will not rest until she has inflicted serious damage on the public school system and the students.
428
Betsy DeVos appears to be a woman so it's really super strange that she is so anti-women & girls in her attitudes about protection combined with her efforts to destroy public education and profit from that...why would any female behave in this manner? I would really like to know because I can't wrap my mind around it.
This is some alternate universe.
There are something like 2 out of 1000 taxpayers who are subject to the current estate tax , which in 2017 has exempts up to $5.5 million per person. Per something just heard, 13 of those folks who will gain from repeal of that tax serve in the Trump administration. Kind of says all you need to know about where their heads are.
53
It's definitely time to bring back the Superman Bizzaro World meme!
I'm always pulling for Rick Perry. We haven't heard much from or about the Guv, and in this administration, no news is good news.
8
Tom Price learned a lot during his term in Congress - how to get money from donors, how to avoid constituents, how to avoid answering questions about issues, how to baffle with the Gish Gallop.
Unfortunately he has forgotten what it means to be a doctor.
42
No Rita, good ole Dr Price is doing exactly what he did when he was a practicing MD and became exceedingly rich doing it. I don't begrudge him his money, a legion of his colleagues do it also. Isn't that the real problem with American Medicine?
1
We now know that at least three members of the trump cabinet have done this, Price, Mnuchin, and Pruitt. It's going to be hard to fire just one.
And then there's HUD Secretary Carson bucking trump and endorsing Roy Moore for senate.
Maybe we can see them all out the door and start from scratch.
36
I'm fairly sure that Carson endorsing Moore was a Hatch Act violation. I'm totally sure that Carson appearing on stage with Trump during his Phoenix 'campaign' rally back in August was. But since there is no truly functioning Ethics Office overseeing the Executive anymore no one takes notice. For those who've never worked in DC, the Hatch Act spells out how and how not federal employees may involve themselves in electoral politics. Elected officials are exempt but Cabinet officers are definitely not. I recall HUD Secretary Castro getting himself into a little trouble in this regard in the last administration, but then he was a Democrat, so all sins are mortal ones.
8
With Trump's Cabinet, you can count on free rides but no free lunches for the poor (such as school lunches and Meals on Wheels both of which would be cut in his budget). Price was under active investigation for his corrupt stock deals by Bharara when Trump fired Bharara, and Perdue was found guilty of multiple ethics violations including funneling business and money to his own or his family's enterprises.
Price and Mnuchin have the Trump family's actions to look at such as gouging the Secret Service for Trump rent, golf carts, etc. when the agency is trying to protect the expensive high-flying clan.
There is a massive political purge going on in the various government departments that the Cabinet members control from the State Department to Justice to the EPA. When Trump says that professional athletes should be fired for silent and respectful protests, that pales compared to the enormous number of public servants now being terminated because they don't pass Trump era loyalty tests. This is classic fascism or McCarthyism.
Price is just the tip of a melting iceberg. The caldera of Mueller is waiting, and financial crimes evidently commingle with Russian ones.
55
So many of Trump's appointees to the cabinet (and elsewhere) continue to display previously unnoticed villainies and incompetencies that it's hard to
choose. I still go with the evil-hearted DeVos, whom I as sure will not be deterred over the long haul.
37
WORKING FOR PUTIN
The only explanation that makes sense of the sabotage to which Trump and his cabinet are subjecting American society is that they are working to destroy it in the interest of Russia and Putin.
40
If I were in bed with the fossil fuel industry, I'd want a soundproof space too, not to mention the heavy security detail.
38
Definitely Pruitt. The damage he's doing to the natural environment -- the only one we have -- is not only a threat to all of us, it's in many cases irreversible. How can he be stopped?
67
Such a tough call, but Scott Pruitt has a lot going for him:
The $25,000 sound-proof (echo) chamber.
The round the clock guard protection, also at taxpayer cost. Is this to protect him from crazed enviros, his own staff at EPA, or climate change-related impacts?
His appointment of industry-paid "scientists" to the EPA science advisory board? Because apparently no one knows whether a chemical is safe better than a guy who makes money from it.
His mandatory anti-leak training for all EPA staff. (I think he got the template for the slides from Steve Bannon.)
While not in the league of (Dr.) Tom Price, Pruitt has taken his own private charters at taxpayer cost. After all, at 40,000 feet you don't even need a $25,000 sound proof chamber! So long as the pilot and flight attendant have already taken their anti-leak training.
47
To answer the tittle question that is easy start at the head if you can not get the head who ever you can and then go down the list. Just about all the first cabinet picks were terrible.
10
That is because, although Crooked Donnie "knows all the best people", they will NOT work for him.
Charter a luxury flight to San Juan, give these high rollers and their spouses choice seats and to make everything appealing, let them know everything is complimentary, and give them the wonderful opportunity to help relieve the suffering of our island citizens. When water, food, and essentials are ready to be distributed (why does it take so long to help them?), they can start the soul-cleansing that comes from doing good for strangers in need. Doc Price, a good country doctor if there ever was one, is ready to do his part in healing not only hurricane victims but himself.
16
In Trump's reality show presidency, he is a master of one very important biggly thing - distraction. The media, and a too large percentage of the electorate, salivate over his latest Tweet. They chase it like a dog running after a spinning bicycle or car wheel. Both cannot get enough. And while this fawning is going on, most of Trump's cabinet picks are very busy dismantling and destroying this country. Whether it is education or health or the environment or ..., harm is being done to America with little or no coverage.
Yes, distraction is a wonderful cover for those who are enacting policies that may harm the USofA forever.
45
It's almost unbearable to read or watch this mess. Around this house a mere quiet gasp or huff while reading will net you a Labrador (legal, of course) parading by, all wiggles and love, toy in mouth. The words would be "Dad, it's OK, we're all going to get through this in one piece". I try not to exclaim much, she'd be too busy trying to fix it all. It's not fair for a dog to take on that much responsibility.
43
No surprise. The people Trump hired is a reflection of the boss.
28
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree or should I say "trump".
Thank you Ms. Collins for spotlighting some of the really dirty work going on behind the scenes - while the intrepid journalists at CNN and MSNBC focus solely on the more "exciting" story - the Russia investigation.
12
To pick a worst one would be extremely difficult. How do you determine who is abhorrent? Use the President as the bar? It really is like the worst example of a leader having a rolling cage of wild dogs following him around. NONE of them are productive in their positions, and it is almost like they considered their jobs to be to tear down the effectiveness of the agencies they represent. Nixon had his Plumbers and their operators...Trump has his demolition experts. I would put money on the supposition that those millions of people who voted for Trump don't pay attention to what is happening to our nation because of their voting choice. Instead they continue to be caught up in mom-mentality and the diversionary tweets of their president. I always go back to that old saw....Nero played while Rome burned. Seems we've learned nothing in thousands of years.
17
Trump voters, like their leader himself, are busily looking for someone to blame instead of facing reality.
Too much to hope, I expect, but I wonder if those millions up and down the Appalachian Chain who voted for Donald Trump wonder how $300,000 would fit into their family budgets.
15
The members of the cabinet are almost universally terrible. It makes me wonder whether President Trump knows what he is doing.
6
We have all heard the bromide, What goes around comes around. It is rare when we get to see it come around for someone who really deserves it.
4
Science shouldn't dictate government policy.
That pretty much sums up Trumpism, doesn't it?
21
Its much more worse than that. Trumpism believes facts should dictate government policy. And that is exactly how they are operating. The GOP is complicit and even advocating for the same.
Mnuchin is correct. Native New Yorker Trump looked at the eclipse without shades. What do those scientist know about the effects of staring at the sun?
7
Sack the lot. In most cases, the damage done would probably decrease in the absence of a secretary.
9
Don't forget that Price reportedly engaged in insider trading of some $300,000 on stock of health companies while he was in Congress.
21
Secretary Price is a joke. He railed against everything he's now doing. He is frankly an hypocrite. Scott Pruitt removing scientists from the EPA. The same guy who sued the EPA numerous before being confirmed to lead the agency and having been caught cutting and pasting fossil fuel industry material to be eventually used as language in EPA policy. Jeff Sessions, the U.S. Attorney General that lied under oath about Russian connections during a congressional confirmation hearing. DeVos who never set foot in a public school and worries about Grizzly Bears. Steve Mnuchin who's clueless about income inequality. The list is endless.
As has been demonstrated with the removal of Flynn, Bannon, Priebus and Spicer those in Trump's immediate orbit will go and be replaced by even worse people if that's possible.
Trump's policies are that of destruction for his benefit. If his supporters can't yet see that, they never will. In the end everyone, including them will pay for this, the worst mistake in American Presidential history.
721
Unfortunately the only I see working on finding any accountability is Mueller. Not enough. Where the heck is everyone else? Appalled Republicans? I'm sure there is ONE besides McCain. Hello Democrats? Are we going to follow the media and this cast of evil crazies to our doom because so one has the guts to lead us out of it? Not in 2018, NOW. Are football players and individuals that risk their lives daily just to get to where they have to go alive the only ones to take a stand? And the media-YOU have the power to turn this, if you can take your eyes off the clicks and big money for one microsecond. You helped bring this disaster upon us-YOU need to help us get out of it.
1
reply to Robert Westwind, FL
If you tell the Don that he'll go down in history (as the worst mistake), he'll assume that's a compliment and boast about it for the year or two.
Pruitt and DeVos get my vote because the awful things they are doing will effect us for generations. Also I believe that the deliberate destruction of the environment for corporate profit is a crime against humanity, because I find it hard to live without water and air.
1010
Crimes against humanity are mostly committed by one country against another. The USA has recused itself from such accusations when it did not agree to the doctrine pertaining to such in the International Court, located I believe in Brussels. Though I fully agree with the fact that these Cabinet members should face their inhumane (air and water) actions, accusing them of this crime just won't fly - not under Trump or unfortunately not under any other President. God bless us all.
1
I understand the issue and the precedent, but call it what you will killing people for corporate or personal political advantage must be criminal in some appropriate jurisdiction or by some appropriate definition. We allow some flexibility among politicians to justify their poor proposals and action, but killing people seems a bit extreme. Nonetheless you are right about "crimes against humanity."
Frankly they all make my head hurt for varying reasons. Says a lot about the state of patriotism in this country when this type of behavior is perfectly acceptable to these people. They have no concept of serving their country for the greater good or personal sacrifice. But then again our Congress confirmed them knowing that most were unfit for the job they were being expected to do. Perhaps SNL can explain what complicit means to our political leaders.
12
Looks like enablers of corruption get up pretty early to comment on Gail's column. 1st Class should be fine for these guys. I'm sure the airlines would be happy to bump paying customers to accommodate them. Still cheaper than government planes. And I'm not getting the Go-With-the-Devil-You-Know defense of not making any changes to this cast of characterless snakes. That's like saying "Pence is worse than Trump." However bad Pence is, I doubt he's going to Twitter taunt his enemies into WWIII among other things, and at least he generally keeps his mouth shut. Appeasement didn't work in WWII, and it ain't gonna work now. This group has GOT TO GO.
16
Sorry I was up at five and saw the first few comments.....
Not only are the Democrats upset about Tom Price's jet setting around the country the Republicans are also angry. They are putting forth an investigation that will delve into this matter. What Mr. Price needs to do is repay the $3000,000 cost and a penalty for his reckless behavior. He should not be terminated but given a severe reprimand and warning.
The cabinet member that I admire is John Kelly, the White House Chief of Staff and former marine. He is a four-star general and has served his country admirably. He lost his son also a marine in the Afghanistan war.
Mr. Kelly is very honest and a man of high integrity. He was an excellent choice and is a credit to America. He is a cabinet member in which the US can be proud. He is no nonsense kind of leader which is representative of those who have served in the marines. He is truly a hero and this was a wise pick by President Trump.
1
Is Chief of Staff a cabinet level position? Don't think so, but agree that Kelly is a good man.
Never has a Presidential Cabinet been so universally committed to destroying the agencies they lead. This deplorable group supports austerity budgets and headcount cuts while flying around the country on private jets pretending they are part of the kings court versus an elected republic. Being in service used to mean something. They all disgust me.
30
Aw those Grand Old Pirates. The Hypocrisy never stops. Dressed up as fiscal hawks when out of power: draped in profligate spending when in control. Lots of conservative noise at all times but concerned with only wealth and power and totally without principle or morals.
After all Reagan showed that deficits don't matter.
Lets have a war and throw a tax cut at the same time.
Never mind the 20 to 30 million people thrown off healthcare lets give another tax break to the rich.
And now an 'outline' of a tax cut for the rich all dressed up as tax reform. Never mind the details. You don't need to know.
The party and presidency of lairs, cheaters, and thieves just keeps rolling along: Snake Oil for Sale. Snake Oil for Sale. Pretty new bottles and labels but the same ol Snake Oil for Sale.
18
Many years ago when I was a young department manager my much older boss gave me some advice on how to be a good boss myself. Simple, just hire good people. Good people will help you succeed. You can tell how capable a manager is by looking carefully at the people he hires. Now lets take a careful look at Trump's cabinet.....
30
I'm often skeptical of too-simple advice, but your old boss was spot on. Any good leader knows to surround himself or herself with other smart capable people, even people who may be even smarter or more capable than oneself.
Dwight Eisenhower, for instance, welcomed the counsel and leadership of brilliant military commanders in WWII, even when their personalities clashed or their advice was contradictory.
On a more partisan note, I might say that Barak Obama was not afraid to have Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton at his side, both with more experience than himself.
Trump is a second rate (or worse) leader whose fragile ego will not allow him to be challenged by people of deep experience, competency and wisdom. (Perhaps Mattis and Kelley are exceptions). Hence, we get this clown car cabinet.
Someone should have given that advice to Trump. But knowing Trump he would have disregarded it.
The extreme minority of the electorate, depsite all the obvious-to-a-toddler evidence that this is exactly what we'd get if Trump was elected, voted for all this. No one of IQ above about 73 expected any different. They wanted chaos and disfunction, to kick over the game board because they weren't winning.
Trump promised they'd be sick of winning, and they are indeed sick and getting sicker but they're still not winning and won't. I think they know that. They maintain a veneer of comraderie among themselves (never The Other) but internally they live in an angry, disfunctional, futile dream.
They sent us Trump, a malignant narcissist, as their revenge for their losses, real and imagined -- they are therefore malignant nihilists, eager to resentfully destroy what they cannot, despite their Divine Right to Dominate, have.
17
Let's not forget the unprecedented security protection now being provided to Cabinet members, also at taxpayers' expense.
Trump, his cohorts and family have lived a life of luxury and have brought that sense of entitlement with them to their current positions. They have no sense of public service and doing good for the benefit of the whole of the Nation. They are interested in one thing, themselves.
13
The key to understanding the quality of Trump's cabinet lies in the questions "who would work for the guy?" and "who would work with people who would work for the guy?" That is the talent pool from which he draws.
8
We have some very dedicated career people working for these deplorable men and women(cabinet members). Their hands, the career public workers, hands are tied. That is why so many of government workers are leaving. It goes against what they believe in. I know lots of those dedicated workers and they are disgusted with the cabinet members.
This is what it looks like to run a government like a business. Put a bunch of self entitled useless ceo's in cabinet positions, and they expect the same perks. They don't know what being a public servant means, and they certainly can't do anything, because they got where they were in business by taking credit for the work of others.
11
We must remember the Democrats who voted to confirm the swamp. They are a part of the problem. They may have not had the votes to stop the nomination but their refusal to vote no when each came up for confirmation speaks volumes about their spineless approach to governing. elections have consequences. The Democrats in congress must remember that they need a backbone and a coherent vision to take over the congress.
11
Amusing how these antics continue in various departments until they get caught and the deeds are made public.This one , Price ,in particular, doesn't surprise since he engaged in a pharmaceutical stock deal, the equivalent of insider trading , not long before his appointment as Secretary.
To be fair, this administration isn't unique in having a few unethical members but it does seem somewhat galling that there isn't a corner of the Cabinet, the East or West Wings without some scandal.
The sales pitch about draining the swamp is a joke.At this point , even the Army Corps of Engineers couldn't drain the sewage accumulated since January 20th.
11
Meanwhile in Trump fantasy land: "Everyone is saying what a great cabinet I have. I will tell you, we have accomplished more by this point than any administration in history. It has been a tremendous success."
6
And don't forget about Price's insider healthcare stock deal with Chris Collins. Leopards don't change their spots. Gail can cite all the egregious examples of these people taking advantage of their positions, behavior Trump supporters allegedly voted against. But the bottom line for me is this: These folks are poking a finger in the eye of the voters that bought them to power. The voters don't say "I'm angry. That hurt. You said you wouldn't do that". Instead they say. "That's OK. I have another eye. Whatever explanation you give for doing what you did, I will accept. No matter what." So, don't worry. This will go on. They just need to throw in diversions like Trump does. And all will be forgiven.
7
We are all waiting for the justice department to sink the jaw dropping maleficence of the Trumpian ship. But of everything I've ever heard wrong in government Scott Pruitt's sound proof bubble is at the very top of the list. A sound proof bubble used to conduct public business?
I have no words...
12
My my vote goes to Pruitt. He's so important that plane rides are the least of his issues. He also has 24/7 security, taken from environmental investigators who should be doing real law enforcement. He now has a $25,000 "SCIF" to conduct business with polluters in secrecy. He is a climate change denier who sides with the coal companies in mountaintop mining. The list goes on.
Short of nuclear war, the other problems brought about by the other cabinet members can be remedied in less that a generation. Destruction of our environment takes a little longer.
15
It is not fair to generalize by claiming that Trump's entire Cabinet is populated with greedy, callous, self-centered toadies. Instead, each Cabinet member should be judged by their own individual greed and callousness. There is plenty to go around.
7
Perhaps some of us wondered whether the corruption, fraud, and deceit shown so frequently and callously by the bankruptster-in-chief will "trickle down" to his cabinet and staff? It does.
One wonders what other egregious effects it will have on the conduct of our nation's business, and on society at large. Organized crime operations can have terrifying, deleterious effects on the communities around them (see, e.g., Italy in the 1970s and areas of Mexico in recent decades). The Trump cartel is no exception, for the U.S.
8
The U.S. are roughly taxing corporate income at one fourth of the slice of GDP that Norway does.
Norway's corporations are doing fine. It's great to be one. The U S. could raise its corporate tax revenue a perfectly digestible 8% of GDP and its corporations could be healthy and be very happy. There'd be no need for Ryan Zinke to object: "They want us to die!"
Corporate tax reform alone could raise yearly total tax revenue by almost a fourth: just close the loopholes, the tax evasion constructions and havens, raise the rates to Norway's, and there you are. Raise the rates on insane personal income, and you add more. Now see what that revenue can do for the needy, as relief from poor healthcare, poor education, to eliminate student debt, gov debt, for crumbling bridges, massive middle class tax relief, stimulating corporate gains, and for a swift transformation toward renewables to save the climate from future even worse hurricanes and floods, need I go on?
Alas, the politically tolerated and orchestrated corporate tax evasion craze ruining everything don't get the headlines or TV rants.
Trillions withheld from the many in favor of the yachting few.
But the attentive voter knows where to look: at some dumb oligarchy-paid tele-nonsense.
He got the major problems, apart from his own job, taxes, in clear sight: economic refugees, the welfare hammock, extremist Islam and the left 'enabling' those. Exactly where the kleptocrats want him to focus.
The worst is the deflection.
14
This is an excellent post. President Trump is the gold standard of deflection.
Trump's Cabinet, apart from being the richest ever assembled, are the singularly most unqualified.
When a person who wants to destroy a government department, is appointed as its leader, it will not end well.
Republicans are excellent at negativity when in opposition. They have not transitioned to government where they need to actually govern for the majority.
That Trump's supporters seem happy as Trump says he is draining the swamp, but instead he is making the swamp much worse.
The billionaires in Trump's cabinet will do very well if his tax reform is passed. They will be many millions better off each year, while the majority of Trump's supporters will be lucky to get a few extra dollars per week in tax cuts.
How can Trump's supporters remain loyal, when Trump's primary goal as President, is further enriching himself and his family?
417
"How can Trump's supporters remain loyal, when Trump's primary goal as President, is further enriching himself and his family?" It is called a cult. Cult leaders are able, through their personality, to control the thoughts of the followers. And they create the aura of defending against "outsiders". By making everyone that doesn't agree with him an enemy, he is able to stir the cult to follow. Mr. Mueller, please get on with your work so this disaster can end.
2
Because he cloaks it in the guise of sticking it to The Man.
1
Simple answer. They don't understand. The majority, I believe, do not have either the initiative or the ability, or both, to undertake some critical thinking to understand the situation and to realize that they are totally voting against their own interests. Blindly following their leader right off the cliff.
1
Generally speaking, within the billionaires club that Trump calls his cabinet, I would argue that each in their own way are equally as inept when it comes to do anything to better the country or serve its citizens.
Having said that, if you had to pick one based on the long-term damage his or her ineptness could create for the country and the world, it would have to be Scott Pruitt. Bad economic policies or even backward policies with regard to family planning can be damaging in the short term, but easily be turned around when a more enlightened administration comes to town.
However, Pruitt is covertly dismantling protections that have been put in place for successive administrations to curb dangerous and health-threatening pollution. At the same time Pruitt is summarily dismissing from the EPA experts and scientists who would argue the need for such protections. The long-term consequences for the environment may not be easy to remediate in any short period of time.
610
The problem is not entirely Pruitt's, as regulations can easily be reversed by enlightened future administrations, although the damage may linger for years. The problem is that regulations as presently used are largely not enshrined by law and are thus at the whim of administrations, the worst case being the present one. With prospects of a congress unable to compromise for years to come, or worse, one unable to override a presidential veto, meaningful and effective environmental policies will remain on the wish list of enlightened Americans, a damnation attributable to the almost universal belief among congressional Republicans that human-caused global warming is a hoax and that the environment is self-healing after being raped by the energy and natural resources industries.
2
Which is the Worst Trump Cabinet Member? The obvious answer to that question is: ALL of them. Seriously, has there ever been a collection of people under any president who are not only incompetent , but actually hostile to the departments they are supposed to lead? Rick Perry as Secretary of Energy, the department he proposed eliminating. Betsy DeVos in charge of public education. Jeff Sessions as the head of the Department of (In)Justice... all incredibly bad.
But as far as their potential for doing harm goes, I would put Scott Pruitt and Price at the top of the list. Pruitt has the power--and apparently intention--to do incredible harm to the environment and to our planet. Once he opens up all those national monuments and reserves to oil and gas exploration, they will be ruined. Even if a more sensible secretary comes into office at some point, it may be very difficult to undo the damage he is wreaking, both to the environment and the EPA itself.
As to Tom Price: It is gobsmacking to see the head of "Health and Human Services" cheering on Republican plans to take away health insurance from 20+ million people, regardless of how much suffering and how many premature deaths that would cause. And he's a doctor too! Doesn't he remember the Hippocratic Oath at all?
957
You have Pruitt mixed up with Zinke, Expat Annie. It is Interior Secy Ryan Zinke who is "opening up national monuments to oil and gas."
2
He must have taken the Hypocritical Oat, not the other one. Sorry for the joke, but it-s come to a point where I just find it hard to keep on taking all this in, without an armor of cynicism.
2
Mr. Price was an orthopedic surgeon, some of them are known for deficient knowledge of medicine in general, but have good surgical skills. I don't know much about Price's surgical skills, but family planning, preventative care and research are as foreign to our current secretary of HHS as they are to the Current Occupant of the White House.
2
Tom Price could travel from his house to the local convenience store in a tax-payer funded, diamond-encrusted helicopter a dozen times a day, and the damage would still be insignificant in comparison to HHS' sabotaging of Obamacare under Price's "leadership." While it's easy - and undeniably fun - to focus on the cartoonish individual excesses of Trump's illustrious cabinet members, I fear that it feeds the endemic tendency of the public to evaluate this administration by the standards of reality tv, rather than by the standards typically applied to - um, I don't know - a government?
1263
Nixon's Agriculture Secretary, Earl "Tight Shoes" Butz. was forced out of office for being overheard telling a trite, tasteless racial joke. Most of us thought he already deserved firing for telling farmers "Plant fencerow to fencerow," "Get big or get out," for promoting the "Combine of the Month" Club and for bringing on the largest wave of farm bankruptcies since the Silver Collapse of 1893.
3
Actually, David, I think Gail is saying the same thing. She's saying that Price will go down, if he does, not because of his destruction of HHS, but because of his use of private planes. She says that Mnuchin is "awful Treasury Secretary," but will go down for absurd rationalizations. Betsy DeVos is safe because she pays for her luxurious travels. But you can't expect the others to care even about the appearance of things when the president, whom they can't fire, does not. His strategy is to deflect attention away from his blunders. Still, it's true that Gail often draws our attention to the absurd. It's her gift to us, so we don't go stark raving mad.
2
many medical groups including the ama are not in favor of this guy and he did insider trading while he was in congress
2
Of course, this is the most absurd collection of would be administrators that any one could devise. It took an equally unqualified person to gather them and assign to them functions that they despise and cannot do. The only good point is that from now on every cabinet will look better, and no future president will ever have to worry about being considered the worst president in history.
40
Let's take a deeper dive into Tom Price and the Misogynist-In-Chief who ran very successfully on his grabbing women by the pudendum platform.
The Trump administration has quietly axed $213 million in teen pregnancy prevention programs and research.
Tom Price and other top Trump appointees are outspoken opponents of federal funding for birth control, advocating abstinence rather than contraceptives to control teen pregnancies.
More than a quarter of US girls become pregnant by 20....and the Trump Administration pervertedly wants to Make More Teenage Girls Pregnant Again.
The decision to eliminate funding came from the office of the assistant secretary for health, where the new Trump-Price new chief of staff is Valerie Huber, who favors 'abstinence' and previously was the president of Ascend, formerly known as the National Abstinence Education Association.
In a 2014 paper on sex education, Huber wrote:
“Pro-sex organizations use every opportunity to attack abstinence education. … The current Obama administration has used its fiscal scalpel to eliminate the growth of abstinence education within America’s school systems.”
“Bring me one woman who has been left behind. Bring me one. There’s not one,” Pastor Tom Price told a reporter when asked about subsidized contraception in 2012. “The fact of the matter is this is a trampling on religious freedom and religious liberty in this country.”
Christian Crusaders For Forced Pregnancies.
Welcome to the Dark Ages: Trump 2017
612
Mr. Socrates
You should be writing for the NY Times. You are brilliant and always on the mark.
4
Before you criticize Trump cabinet members, one must remember that this is the best group ever assembled since George Washington was president. As individuals they are uniquely qualified to understand the plight of the common "man." We the taxpayers must support them in any way possible. This means funding more convenient and comfortable transportation, Maxwell Smart type phone booths in their offices, and tax cuts so that they are their friends can hire more Americans with better salaries.
77
Trump's cabinet is unique in its incapacity to understand common people and its complete disregard for them except to exploit their fears and prejudices. It is full of scoundrels, but none worse than Trump himself.
9
Good observations. Note that each member of this administration and each member of congress have already installed their own Cone of Silence.
4
Let's not forget Ben Carson, the former surgeon now HUD Secretary because, you know, black and urban go together.
At least Trump can recognize Carson, as opposed to Reagan, who once mistook his black HUD Secretary---Samuel Pierce---for a White House waiter.
362
Regarding Samuel Pierce, from his New York Times' obituary, November 3, 2000: "He did not develop a close relationship with President Reagan, who mistook Mr. Pierce for a mayor at a White House reception in June 1981. (''Hello, Mr. Mayor,'' the president said.) The widely reported anecdote clearly embarrassed Mr. Pierce and dogged him for the rest of his cabinet tenure."
We've tried everything else, so let's try this:
kakistocracy noun ˌkakə̇ˈstäkrəsē \
:government by the worst people
They are energetically answering Trump's campaign challenge, ''What have you got to lose?''
With any luck, the damage they are doing can be controlled (court stays; you're fired; lock 'em up) and we can begin repairs soon after the people wrest control of the Congress from Republicans in the 2018 mid-terms.
Meanwhile, too many suffer, are in fear, or are having their anger stoked by the divisive Trump kakistocracy. Truly, the worst.
132
This whole cabinet just reeks, except for 'the generals' djt likes to surround himself with - we'd guess that anyone who gets fired will be replaced with another general, since djt's Strong Man tendencies fit the mold of wanting to be sure the military is on his side.
Choosing between Price and Mnuchin (a mnumbskull per Paul Krugman) is too hard; can't we just have a double-elimination episode and vote them both off the island ?
These 2 guys have just continued their pre-Cabient ways, with Price's actions taking him ever further from the Hippocratic Oath he swore as a physician, and Mnuchin's self-enrichment after the financial crisis as the Foreclosure King, with special emphasis on throwing elderly widows out of properties where he held their reverse mortgages:
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-treasury-pick-excelled-at-kicki...
And if it's a double-elimination episode, has anyone told djt how high the ratings would be if he gathered all his Cabinet members together, and had Linda McMahon referee wrestling matches between each Cabinet member and djt to see which 2 get kicked down the White House driveway ?
Can Pence be included ?
It would be a beautiful thing - yuuuuuge ratings; really big, and we're sure "It may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS" Les Moonves would be eager to pony up for exclusive interview rights.
Plus, djt needs something to distract from the mishandling of Puerto Rico's crisis :(
164
R.Law- "mnumbskull" !! Good one. I missed that one in Krugman's column. I guess we gotta get the humor were we can or we'd all end up killing ourselves! I'm just hanging on to 2018 hoping America will have an awakening and vote the dangerous clowns out of office (I know too late for the damage the cabinet is doing) but at least we can hopefully contain the damage. After seeing the election results in AL, who just chose the most certifiably crazy candidate for the GOP senatorial ticket, I have my doubts that anything will change. Secession is looking better all the time. I read that California is at 33% supporting Cal-Exit. What will the numbers be after 2018 if even more crazies are sent to Washington? I really don't see any reconciling the opposing parties anymore. The crazies have taken control of not only the White House but a large portion of the electorate as well. There is no middle, no reaching across the aisle, the chasm is just too wide to cross.
9
It would be nice to have the entire NW together with CA just walk away from this union.
Ah, Linda McMahon...Do we think she has pondered the ratings that could be generated by a Trump-Kim steel crib death match between the world's two most prominent manbabies?
4
1. They took the positions in Trump's cabinet & actually believe he's a good president.
2. They sat around a table as a bunch of sycophants telling him how wonderful he is in order to feed his narcissism.
What more do we need to know the quality of this cabinet, no matter how rich and/or educated they may be?
745
They may have attended notable colleges, but they are not educated in any meaningful sense. It’s bad enough that this paradox exists, but to elevate these schooled ignoramuses to national prominence is simply insane.
7
I'd love to see that clip again, especially Preibus blustering about what a blessing it is to serve the President! Sure, they're all blessing and personally enriching themselves.
2
That meeting, with Reince Preibus's mewling statement the capper, was the single most disgusting thing I've seen In 50+ years of watching American politics.
5
Let's not forget Rex Tillerson, a man who appears to have no idea how to do his job as Secretary of State and very little interest in learning. His main ambition seems to be de-funding the department he runs, partly by leaving key positions unfilled, and not giving press conferences. This would be par for the course for this administration, except some of those positions require deep knowledge of Asia. That means that the White House is the key driver of policy on North Korea and its nukes. The White House. If that doesn't make you wake up in a cold sweat at 2 in the morning, nothing will.
774
Partly true, but apparently, Tillerson has nominated candidates for State posts but they are waiting for approval from "above". What a mess.
2
Tillerson is also unqualified for any position whatever in the government for having paid "scientists" to lie about global warming.
2
And where did Rex Tillerson come from? Trump didn't know him before he appointed him which unusual for Trump and his loyalty fetish. Is it perhaps because he is a huge friend of Putin and has the same goal of getting Exxon further into a Russian partnership for oil? and why such radio silence on him? What is he really up to. Wish someone would say.
2
Had no idea there was such strong competition for the title of Worst Cabinet Official Makes me feel like getting some popcorn and watching the battle more closely!
75
Garlic Toast, while the World continues to spin, our Nation is undergoing a long intermission at the Political and Governing Theater in Washington, D.C. where some of us are shaking hands at the soda soap bud fountain, others are paying a lot for popcorn with rich melted down butter.
The Movers among us have left. They are walking out for fresh air and a glimpse of the sun. The Watchers in our midst serve a purpose in remaining behind, and witnesses to our State of Affairs, know a dud when they see one.
Thanking Ms. Collins for her latest and glad that Mr. Kristof is taking a day off. Your turn next, Ms. Collins!
4
Apparently, living in Kansas, you somehow escaped from the economic battle that Republicans lost for all its citizens there. I understand that Republican economics, which they want to incorporate now in the federal system, just about bankrupted your state. Did you enjoy the popcorn during that debacle too?
1
Trump appointees' guile, mendacity, and hubris -- seems off the charts. Morality and integrity lack meaning for these people. Each day there's a new revelation.I don't understand how they're free to subvert, trash, and overthrow decades of regulations, policies, and practices of the very government bodies they are mean to serve?
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/27/us/politics/scott-pruitt-epa-justice-...®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
195
Ann,
"I don't understand how they're free to subvert, trash, and overthrow decades of regulations, policies, and practices of the very government bodies they are mean to serve? "
Because the Congressional committees that are supposed to keep the cabinet directed toward enforcing and implementing the policies enacted by the Congress either disagree with the laws passed by their predecessors; are patsies for a Republican President; or don't really understand they have the role of watchdog. Whatever, it ain't happening.
8
Who says the president is anti-science? The man has created a new element! He’s the nucleus around which all these miscreants in cabinet positions orbit. It was created in a dangerous experiment in American democracy, although the Russians did play a role. It’s massive, unstable and highly toxic, and if things continue to go the way they’re going in North Korea, it may wind up being radioactive. It doesn’t have a name yet, but I think we should call it Ignominium.
It’s what happens when you let an ignoramus into government. He surrounds himself with like-minded cronies, sycophants, lickspittles and fools. Who can pick a favorite? It’s like a box of toxic chocolates. They’re all bad in their own way.
Take Ben Carson. In a power outage, he’s a guy who could get stuck on an escalator, and yet he’s not even in the top five.
Betsy DeVos is a personal favorite. She comes from money scammed from AmWay dupes, and now she’s in charge of educating the young. This ensures that there will be an endless supply of future dupes, so she gets points for thinking ahead. Her slogan, “Working for a more clueless America,” is also catchy, almost like Ebola for the mind.
Tom Price has a similar strategy. He wants to keep women barefoot and pregnant, which makes Health and Human Services even more important in the future.
I’m holding out hope that Alabama passes on Roy Moore, and that the president needs a Secretary of National Insanity. We’re talking shoo-in.
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In all fairness, Gemli, but David Brooks did remind us that a President comes with a surrounding and this one is beyond mediocrity. Shallow to the extreme, and fantastically dangerous. Earlier I indulged in a moment of nostalgia watching 'Barefoot in the Park'. More important you are not allowed to go insane.
By the way, this 'beautiful' massive overhaul of taxes may impact on what is left of the Middle-Class, and the Poor, impacting on Our Children because involuntary poverty is often the cause of a rise in domestic abuse. Let us not wait. 'May the Force be With You', and keep on writing to keep us in the loop.
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Gemli- "Take Ben Carson. In a power outage, he’s a guy who could get stuck on an escalator, and yet he’s not even in the top five."
a true gem!
Your scathing humor is priceless. You truly are "gem"ly indeed. I'm so proud that you're one of Massachusetts's own!
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It's Stunning that Rick Perry isn't even in the conversation.
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So many members, so little time. If forced to pick, I'd say, Tom Price. His name alone just sort of symbolizes the cost of healthcare, that he's ostensibly running.
And by the way, what IS he doing for the opioid crisis? Or the hurricanes, for that matter? I assume that if Price was flying off to his many jaunts, maybe he wanted the luxury of commanding the pilot to avoid the hurricanes rather than cancel a scheduled flight path?
So yes, I hope the Prez fires him even if it's for the wrong reason, namely, getting more media attention than Trump in any given week.
A big shout out to Chris Hayes who really pushed this story on his show until it hit the national radar. And possibly a huge "don't let the door hit you on your way out" to Dr. Tom Price, who has done such a brilliant job of running HHS the way an insurance bean-counter would.
Except for the cost of his planes.
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When Price was the GA-06 district's Representative in the House of Representatives, he regularly used the Congressional franking privilege - sending free mail - to send post card push polls featuring conservative issues and anti-Obamacare messages to his constituents. There is a legislative action to reimburse the post office for mail sent by the franking privilege, so eventually tax payers fund this privilege. So Price was basically using tax money for campaign literature. Every time I received one of these post cards from Price, I would write a note protesting his use of free postage for partisan purposes, attach it to the post card, and mail the card back to him in an envelope with a real live stamp. It strikes me that Price has been annoyingly consistent in thinking tax payer funded perks were for his personal benefit whenever he faced any discomfort such as having to purchase a postage stamp or boarding a commercial flight along with the rest of us.
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@Rosemary: thanks for the extra tidbit about the free stamps, just another example of the noblesse oblige aspect of this "kingdom" Trump and his cabinet think they're part of.
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I agree that Price has met his end, not for terrible service or even use of private planes, but because he "out-pointed" Trump this week in terms of publicity, the kiss of death in Trump-land!
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Trump-watchers extoll his “loyalty”, but the truth is that he’s quite capable of disengaging from any dependent factotum and casting him or her adrift if it suits him. He seems to see them as interchangeable and easily-replaceable cogs in an engine. With this crew, he may be right. There isn’t a Kissinger or a McNamara among them – even Bannon didn’t come close to that depth and relevance. One can argue that Rex Tillerson represents a next-level sort of presence, as does James Mattis, but both are merely the civilian and military versions of supremely competent “suits”: neither man is a game-changer.
I tend to discount the private jet antics, as I’d be surprised if every administration didn’t sport its share of people who unthinkingly seek to duplicate the favors that private life used to provide them, but whose thoughtless and casual rent seeking is noteworthy only now in efforts to find fault with EVERY aspect of THIS administration. The real take-away is that Trump isn’t the wise father-figure and integrator of profound talents who chose you for some unique capacity that makes counseling worthwhile. If you become even a minor irritation to him, you could well find yourself under the bus, and he’ll just find someone else equally mediocre.
One sees this quality, this tendency to regularly snap dependencies, in single-minded and relatively small-minded moguls, but not in builders of big things, whether they be great companies or nations.
Let’s just get on with it, folks.
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I’d like to see another JFK in the Oval Office, too. But JFK came into power in a very stable and functional political framework, and Trump didn’t. He has value for the present as a catalyst in forcing Congress to grow up and start working together again, even in simple self-defense; and in demonstrating to voters what happens when we let our governance slip away from us. But he represents a discontinuity within which we seek to re-establish the conditions that make a JFK possible again; and not the desired article himself.
Don’t expect him to change in this, or even to get much better at it, and don’t expect Kissingers or McNamaras for a while. WE’RE the ones who must change.
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2 out of 3 ain't bad...Meat Loaf...
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I'm sorry, Richard, but your messaging about trump degenerates ever more daily into wordy gobbledygook. There's some truth in the idea that our political framework was already unstable (thanks to your party) but that needed, at the minimum, a steady hand at the helm - the very opposite of what we have now. Of course having a majority party in Congress that believed in governing and was capable of doing so would be a great help.
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High-level businessmen rarely fly on commercial flights, even in first class. Trump's cabinet members are just acting like their equals instead of accepting their much lower status as high-level government officials. Even heads of major charities make millions, and if they did not they would lack the gravitas and income to hang out with their biggest donors.
Government officials are expected to live on comparative peanuts and yet be respected by private sector leaders and stand up to them, but without being so different that they would be accused of being unsympathetic to the private sector or not understanding their needs and priorities.
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Given that officials in the Obama administration and prior administrations felt no need to bilk taxpayers for frequent private jets and charters, I seriously question your thesis. Joe Biden regularly used Amtrak for his entire career.
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This is taxpayer money. No cabinet official should be flouting ethics laws to try to look as wealthy as top businessmen. They made the choice to join the government, and this cabinet is the wealthiest in US history. If they want to fly by private jet, they are easily able to afford it themselves. There are people in America literally going hungry and facing disasters now without power, food or water.
Let them eat cake?
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I don't understand the logic that rich people can only respect people who are rich like them. Martin Luther King was not rich. Abraham Lincoln was not rich. There are many heroes in our history who were not rich. Why do you think only rich people are respected and listened to now?
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I disagree with the "get them out any way you can" approach. That might be gratifying, but it has no strategic value. In an administration that's constantly asking the question "how much corruption will they tolerate?" I'd rather they not keep finding out how much running room 40% of the country will give them, even if they put Bernie Madoff in charge of the SEC and Charles Manson in charge of the DoJ. It seems to me like liberals imagine someone getting taken out on one of these simple personal wrong-doings as a way to check back or punish the administration. But in reality, it shows that the main damage they were doing was fine and they could get away with until their personal corruption comes to light. So the more turnover we have, the deeper down the rabbit hole they'll feel emboldened to go, and every new henchmen gets almost a year of perks and profit from exploiting the system, a line on their résumé, and the president's signature on a letter requesting their resignation with no further consequences. Given the lack of actual deterrence, my view is the less turnover the better.
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Theories of governing have faded to be replaced by ideologies. In the new ideologies, personal beliefs substitute for objective values. Policy abandons benefits or efficacy. The balance sheet is a political weapon. Across the country, it scatters statistics of death and hunger, illness and pain. Its veil of division and misunderstanding fuels hate and its comforts.
Comfort appeals to the people. Comfort with bias, anger, blame, comfort with the social breakdown of institutions and civility; comfort with double standards, false equivalencies, and lies--comfort in the rich and powerful being set ideologically above the toiling masses--comfort with the new place and face of government--the comfort of a blind mule with a heroin habit.
The new "white only" signs are staked around the comfort of power. The new ideology attacks the contradictions implicit in progress. Our honored ideals must also know when they have failed to measure lived reality; kneeling is a prayerful reflection of the growing contradictions between liberty and policing, freedom and voting suppression, authority and its abuse. But the blind mules braying is the bully's bravery--the demand we obey the rising authority of injustice and fund its excess.
The ideology of comfort and excess no longer taxes tea. It is taking lives! Its corrupt excess is creating waste! (Flint! Trayvon!) And demands we agree!
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Sadly true.
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Walter,
"comfort with the new place and face of government--the comfort of a blind mule with a heroin habit."
There is no "New" here! The "Mule" has had the "habit" for generations! That is the reason our deficit is now more than $20 Trillion and climbing. That is why the counties around D.C. are among the richest in the nation. That is why the one time toll to drive across New Jersey is more than $30! That is why bridges and dams are in disrepair! That is why so many people are so angry!
The "Mule" doesn't just have a "problem" here. Look to Europe and discover that having had that "habit" longer the European Social Welfare States are even deeper in Debt and Disrepair than are we!
We may disagree about how the "Mule got hooked" but we can't (and don't) disagree that the "Mule is hooked"! Expecting "justice" from a "junky Mule" searching for their next "fix" is as unrealistic as expecting the "Mule" to cure itself!
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You are SO correct. Kudos to intelligent discussion!
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