# Trump's Cabinet of Curiosities **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 10, 2016, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367 "2016-11-10T16:28:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 33
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/641 "2016-12-16T22:21:34Z")
$77,888? Is this “coffee” in the Eddie Izzard sense? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/642 "2016-12-16T22:37:37Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > $77,888? Is this “coffee” in the Eddie Izzard sense? We secretly replaced Ivanka’s Special Blend with Folgers Instant Crystals. Let’s see if the suckers notice. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/643 "2016-12-17T04:38:15Z")
Posted in the wrong place. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/644 "2016-12-17T04:54:05Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > The bidding for “Coffee with Ivanka” has mysteriously been taken down. > [‘Coffee With Ivanka’ Fundraising Page Mysteriously Taken Down After Scrutiny - TPM – Talking Points Memo](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ivanka-trump-coffee-fundraiser-disappears) Christ. 10 bucks sez she’s infested with Herpes, Syphilis, Gonorrhea, Chlamydia and Genital Warts. And that’s just her mouth. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/645 "2016-12-17T05:24:30Z")
> [@crucible](#): > > We are rather far off the road that was focusing on getting to a discussion of the Cabinet Choices, a matter that is more and more disturbing as each day passes. > > This is as close to ‘through the looking glass’ as I can imagine. There are no appointments or nominations to those positions advising Trump or running a government department who are not very questionable as to either their fitness for the position in terms of experience, or their fitness in terms of philosophy (generally wanting to emasculate their new department) or their unquestioned patriotism. > … > This bunch is designed and chosen to destroy the United States of America as we know it. These people, if confirmed, will destabilize every interaction Americans have with each other and with Government. Chaos. I’m serious. > > … Trump … knows how unfit he is for such a demanding job and he doesn’t hide it. He wants to be stopped. He wants to have someone step in and say “Thanks for showing us how stupid the electorate can be, now just go away”. I agree with your sentiments … but we’ve heard from one GOP Doper ( **adaher**?), who didn’t vote for Trump but _is now delighted with the Cabinet selections._ Have we heard from **Bricker**? For many Republicans a problem with Trump was that he was a moderate, but they’re filled with joy now — his Cabinet is looking like a Right-Wing Dream Team. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The hijack — _Should/could Obama have left several brigades in Iraq and what would that alternate universe look like?_ — is an interesting topic. Is there a GD thread on the topic? ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ > [@elucidator](#): > > So, then, _Infowars_ is the voice of the moderate centrist, and Hillary is a bomb-making Trotskyist. Finally! Rip Van Elucidator, the flower power boy dozing from too much mushrooms, wakes up and appreciates the 21st century. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/646 "2016-12-17T15:12:43Z")
More fun times ahead. [Trump Picks Mick Mulvaney, South Carolina Congressman, as Budget Director](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/16/us/politics/mick-mulvaney-office-management-budget-trump.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0) My bold. > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump has selected Representative Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, a conservative Republican member of the House and a fierce advocate of deep spending cuts, to be his budget director. > > “He’s a tremendous talent, especially when it comes to numbers and budgets,” Mr. Trump said in a statement. > > Mr. Mulvaney, 49, helped found the House Freedom Caucus, the group of conservative lawmakers who pushed for Speaker John A. Boehner to resign. As budget director, Mr. Mulvaney would help guide the president-elect’s promise of a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, a tax overhaul and a huge investment in the nation’s infrastructure. > > An early backer of Mr. Trump’s during the campaign, Mr. Mulvaney has taken a hard line on spending during President Obama’s term, vowing not to raise the nation’s debt limit and embracing the term “Shutdown Caucus” because of his willingness to shut the government down instead… > > Mr. Mulvaney has repeatedly **opposed some of his own party’s budget proposals,** and quickly established himself as one of the most outspoken members of that 2010 class of Republicans. By 2013, at the outset of his second term, he declined to support Mr. Boehner’s re-election as speaker, abstaining from the vote in protest. > > Strongly anti-establishment, Mr. Mulvaney, who has a degree in international economics from Georgetown and a law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, **chafed as much at the Republican leadership in the House as he did at Mr. Obama’s direction from the White House** … I guess Mitch McConnell will be doing a happy dance when he hears about this, eh? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/647 "2016-12-18T01:50:28Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > More fun times ahead. > > [Trump Picks Mick Mulvaney, South Carolina Congressman, as Budget Director](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/16/us/politics/mick-mulvaney-office-management-budget-trump.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0) > > My bold. > > I guess Mitch McConnell will be doing a happy dance when he hears about this, eh? :rolleyes: And Mulvaney has no experience assembling a government spending plan. The future is looking brighter by the day. . . ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/648 "2016-12-18T02:00:37Z")
That’s just because we’re hurling towards the Sun at breakneck speed. Estimated time of arrival is January 20. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/649 "2016-12-18T02:01:33Z")
According to the [New York Times](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/17/us/politics/donald-trump-cabinet-picks.html?partner=rss&emc=rss): > [@](#): > > Some of those chosen — 17 picks so far for federal agencies and five for the White House — are among the most radical selections in recent history. Other presidents’ nominees, even when controversial, were often veterans of the Washington bureaucracy and generally believed in it. But a number of Mr. Trump’s most important selections have no experience in federal government and a great drive to undo it. > … > As Mr. Trump finishes announcing his choices for cabinet and senior White House aides, a picture is emerging of an administration with little ideological cohesion and no single animating purpose. They are neither all hard-right conservatives, nor all mainstream conservatives. They are not all insiders or outsiders. Some have known Mr. Trump for years. Others met him in the weeks since he was elected. > > Instead, Mr. Trump has recruited people to lead his government who can be roughly grouped into categories that appeal to the different parts of his psyche. In addition to the disrupters, there are the dealmakers, the loyalists, the establishment and the generals… I keep struggling to make sense of this. But I can’t. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/650 "2016-12-18T02:19:39Z")
[ProPublica: “Trump’s Pick for Commerce Secretary May Have the Biggest Conflicts of Them All”](https://www.propublica.org/article/trumps-pick-for-commerce-secretary-may-have-biggest-conflicts-of-them-all). Stranger ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/651 "2016-12-18T02:37:21Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > [ProPublica: “Trump’s Pick for Commerce Secretary May Have the Biggest Conflicts of Them All”](https://www.propublica.org/article/trumps-pick-for-commerce-secretary-may-have-biggest-conflicts-of-them-all). > > Stranger I didn’t realize it was a competition. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/652 "2016-12-18T03:29:10Z")
It was a race to rock bottom, but we’ve drilled through the bedrock faster than a Texas oilman on speed and are now rapidly boring through magma faster than Aaron Eckhart and Hilary Swank is a bad scifi movie. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/653 "2016-12-18T21:59:30Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > [ProPublica: “Trump’s Pick for Commerce Secretary May Have the Biggest Conflicts of Them All”](https://www.propublica.org/article/trumps-pick-for-commerce-secretary-may-have-biggest-conflicts-of-them-all). > > Stranger > [@running\_coach](#): > > I didn’t realize it was a competition. The candidate for Secretary of State begins to sing: [“Everything you can do I can do better!”](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/18/leak-rex-tillerson-director-bahamas-based-us-russian-oil-company?CMP=share_btn_tw) > [@](#): > > Leak reveals Rex Tillerson is director of Bahamas-based US-Russian oil company > > Tillerson – the chief executive of ExxonMobil – has been a director of the oil company’s Russian subsidiary, Exxon Neftegas, since 1998. His name – RW Tillerson – appears next to other officers who are based at Houston, Texas; Moscow; and Sakhalin, in Russia’s far east. > > The leaked 2001 document comes from the corporate registry in the Bahamas. It was one of 1.3m files given to the Germany newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung by an anonymous source. The registry is public but details of individual directors are typically incomplete or missing entirely. > > Though there is nothing untoward about this directorship, it has not been reported before and is likely to raise fresh questions over Tillerson’s relationship with Russia ahead of a potentially stormy confirmation hearing by the US senate foreign relations committee. > > ExxonMobil’s use of offshore regimes – while legal – may also jar with Trump’s avowal to put “America first”. > > Tillerson’s critics say he is too close to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and that his appointment could raise potential conflicts of interest. Well, better for the interests of Russia, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2016, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/654 "2016-12-19T15:41:06Z")
Vincent Viola is a billionaire. He made his fortune as an investor and founder of the high-speed electronic trading firm Virtu Financial, where he is still executive chairman. He now owns the Florida Panthers NHL team. He graduated from West Point in 1977 and later donated millions to the academy. He served as an infantry officer in active duty and in the reserves, although it’s not clear to me how long he served in either role or what his duties were. Seems like an OK guy as far as I can tell. Not sure I’d want him for Secretary of the Army, though. But, then, I’m not as smart as Donald Trump. I would not have recognized that “Viola’s business experience makes him well positioned to help guide a Fortune 10-sized company, the U.S. Army,” as Trump’s transition team states it. That’s good people management right there. That’s why Trump is the boss. Surrounds himself with the most qualified people, he does. > **[Trump Nominates Billionaire Florida Panthers Owner As Army Secretary](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-nominates-vincent-viola-army-secretary)** > > President-elect Donald Trump announced Monday that he would nominate billionaire Vincent Viola to be Secretary of the Army. Viola, the owner of the Florida Panthers hockey team, made his fortune as an… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2016, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/655 "2016-12-19T17:52:18Z")
**Bayard** , did I read that right. You wrote, “But, then, I’m not as smart as Donald Trump.” You did write that, yes? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2016, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/656 "2016-12-19T17:54:44Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#): > > **Bayard** , did I read that right. You wrote, “But, then, I’m not as smart as Donald Trump.” You did write that, yes? Your Sarcasometer is broken. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2016, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/657 "2016-12-19T18:13:01Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Your Sarcasometer is broken. Whew! I was worried there for a moment. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2016, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/658 "2016-12-19T18:14:39Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#): > > **Bayard** , did I read that right. You wrote, “But, then, I’m not as smart as Donald Trump.” You did write that, yes? I did write that. A better question would be, “Did he mean it?” And the answer to that question is, “No, of course not.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2016, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/659 "2016-12-19T19:39:48Z")
Well, OK. Just for a comparison, what did he ever say that he \*did \*mean? ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2016, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/660 "2016-12-19T20:58:38Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Well, OK. Just for a comparison, what did he ever say that he \*did \*mean? “He” meant “me”. Or maybe I should have said “you”, taking **Little\_Pig’s** POV. I don’t know. Grammar is hard. I’m a computer guy. As far as what Trump ever said that he _did_ mean… I think the terrifying thing is he means everything he says, when he says it. Then a few minutes or seconds later, he means the exact opposite when he says that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367.md?page=32) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367.md?page=34)