# 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:** 44
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/861 "2017-01-19T00:49:28Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Fortunately, he doesn’t fantasize about randomly killing bystanders. Not sure if you’re joking or not. “Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet” is perhaps his most-quoted Mattisism. ---
**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:** [January 19, 2017, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/862 "2017-01-19T00:57:05Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Not sure if you’re joking or not. > > “Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet” is perhaps his most-quoted Mattisism. Obviously you have no idea what Mattis meant. And no, I wasn’t joking. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/863 "2017-01-19T01:13:47Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Obviously you have no idea what Mattis meant. > > And no, I wasn’t joking. I’ve actually got an excellent understanding of what Mattis meant, and who his target audience for that statement were, and what circumstances they were under. Didn’t you and I go through this way back on page 4 when you didn’t understand what “Patron Saint of Chaos” meant? ---
**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:** [January 19, 2017, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/864 "2017-01-19T02:04:25Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I’ve actually got an excellent understanding of what Mattis meant, and who his target audience for that statement were, and what circumstances they were under. Didn’t you and I go through this way back on page 4 when you didn’t understand what “Patron Saint of Chaos” meant? Don’t you ever get tired of being wrong? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/865 "2017-01-19T04:37:52Z")
Former Governor of Georgia Sonny Perdue for Agriculture secretary: > [@](#): > > As governor of Georgia, he also took conservative stances on immigration and voting rights and **drew national headlines for holding a public vigil to pray for rain in 2007 amidst a crippling drought.** [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-picks-sonny-perdue-for-agriculture-secretary/2017/01/18/a26abbc0-ddec-11e6-ad42-f3375f271c9c\_story.html](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-picks-sonny-perdue-for-agriculture-secretary/2017/01/18/a26abbc0-ddec-11e6-ad42-f3375f271c9c_story.html) ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/866 "2017-01-19T05:12:59Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Not sure if you’re joking or not. > > “Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet” is perhaps his most-quoted Mattisism. Wait, isn’t that a line from Team Fortress 2’s “Meet the sniper”? 😃 In any case, I think Mattis is a pretty uncontroversial choice. In a cabinet full of unqualified, corrupt numpties, he’s actually qualified and knows what the fuck he’s doing. So… score one for Trump, I guess? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/867 "2017-01-19T14:15:38Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > Wait, isn’t that a line from Team Fortress 2’s “Meet the sniper”? 😃 > > In any case, I think Mattis is a pretty uncontroversial choice. In a cabinet full of unqualified, corrupt numpties, he’s actually qualified and knows what the fuck he’s doing. So… score one for Trump, I guess? 😕 So, the most qualified person is nicknamed “Mad Dog”. That makes me nervous. The cabinet hearings give me some hope that that GOP has dropped being the party of science denier with regard to the environment. All of a sudden it seems that it is acceptable for a Republican to acknowledge the role of humans in affecting the environment, and multiple nominees have made statements to this effect. They are all couching it by saying that humans are part of the equation, but it still feels like outright denial (other than it being a Chinese hoax) is not en vogue anymore. ---
**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:** [January 19, 2017, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/868 "2017-01-19T14:34:47Z")
Rick Perry nominated to head the Energy Department, a agency he swore he would eliminate. [He regrets that.](http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/rick-perry-energy-cabinet-233821) > [@](#): > > Rick Perry will repudiate his call to eliminate the Energy Department President-elect Donald Trump has tapped him to run when he appears at his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday morning. > > The former Texas governor infamously forgot DOE’s name when he called for its elimination in a 2011 Republican presidential primary debate, a position he disavows in prepared remarks released ahead of the hearing. > > “My past statements made over five years ago about abolishing the Department of Energy do not reflect my current thinking,” Perry plans to say.\*\* “In fact, after being briefed on so many of the vital functions of the Department of Energy, I regret recommending its elimination.”\*\* One of those vital functions? > [@](#): > > Perry’s confirmation hearing on Thursday could offer the best insight yet about the Trump administration plans for the \*\*Energy Department’s mission to foster basic science and safeguard the nation’s nuclear weapons complex \*\*given the president-elect’s narrow focus on boosting production of oil, natural gas and coal. There aren’t enough rolleyes for this moron. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/869 "2017-01-19T19:03:44Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > There aren’t enough rolleyes for this moron. _"“My past statements made over five years ago about abolishing the Department of Energy do not reflect my current thinking,” Perry said. “In fact, after being briefed on so many of the vital functions of the Department of Energy, I regret recommending its elimination.”_ - Perry If one is going to run for president and recommend eliminating a department, wouldn’t one have already have done this research in order to come to that conclusion? So, you recommended eliminating a department without knowing what that department does. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/870 "2017-01-19T19:23:51Z")
[Trump said today that his cabinet has the highest IQ of any cabinet ever assembled.](http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-cabinet-highest-iq-233853?cmpid=sf) I was initially going to go with a [sound bite](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XWOlmPFg2k) from the movie Napoleon Dynamite to respond to such horse feathers. But upon further reflection, I’ve decided to dip into the archives of The Cosby Show and leave it to [Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw6ndZNLYUA) to respond to this insane poppycock. ---
**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:** [January 19, 2017, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/871 "2017-01-19T19:25:08Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > _"“My past statements made over five years ago about abolishing the Department of Energy do not reflect my current thinking,” Perry said. “In fact, after being briefed on so many of the vital functions of the Department of Energy, I regret recommending its elimination.”_ - Perry > > If one is going to run for president and recommend eliminating a department,\*\* wouldn’t one have already have done this research in order to come to that conclusion?\*\* So, you recommended eliminating a department without knowing what that department does. You’d think but this _is_ a Texan Republican. I’ll bet he thought it was only for “leftist” energy like solar or wind. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/872 "2017-01-19T19:37:53Z")
Rick Perry was a strong wind power supporter as Texas governor. > [@](#): > > But Texas is also the nation’s leading generator of wind power, a renewable technology that he promoted heavily during his 14 years in office. “He created an environment conducive to economic investment through robust infrastructure and competitive power markets that allowed new technologies to enter. The Texas model under Gov. Perry’s leadership enabled the growth of low-cost wind energy that made the grid more diverse and reliable while saving consumers money,” notes Tom Kiernan, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association in Washington, D.C., which lobbies for the wind industry. [http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/12/reaction-rick-perry-leading-department-energy-it-s-complicated](http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/12/reaction-rick-perry-leading-department-energy-it-s-complicated) ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/873 "2017-01-19T19:57:58Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Rick Perry nominated to head the Energy Department, a agency he swore he would eliminate. > [He regrets that.](http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/rick-perry-energy-cabinet-233821) > > One of those vital functions? > > There aren’t enough rolleyes for this moron. [‘Learning Curve’ as Rick Perry Pursues a Job He Initially Misunderstood](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/us/politics/rick-perry-energy-secretary-donald-trump.html) > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON — When President-elect Donald J. Trump offered Rick Perry the job of energy secretary five weeks ago, Mr. Perry gladly accepted, believing he was taking on a role as a global ambassador for the American oil and gas industry that he had long championed in his home state. > > In the days after, Mr. Perry, the former Texas governor, discovered that he would be no such thing — that in fact, if confirmed by the Senate, he would become the steward of a vast national security complex he knew almost nothing about, caring for the most fearsome weapons on the planet, the United States’ nuclear arsenal. Calling him a moron is an insult to morons (or, is it moran?). ---
**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:** [January 19, 2017, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/874 "2017-01-19T20:13:50Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Rick Perry was a strong wind power supporter as Texas governor. > > [http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/12/reaction-rick-perry-leading-department-energy-it-s-complicated](http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/12/reaction-rick-perry-leading-department-energy-it-s-complicated) > [@](#): > > DOE’s renewable energy program is frequently a target of Republicans from oil and gas states. But Perry’s support for the technology may not actually represent a clash of political ideologies. “I found him to be interested in scientific research and technical innovation and to be willing to support investment in them,” says Larry Faulkner, a professor of chemistry and president emeritus of the University of Texas in Austin, whose term overlapped with Perry’s tenure as governor. **“His interest was usually driven by the possibilities for economic opportunity for the state, which is not surprising for a governor.”** Wonder how much support he would have if there wasn’t money in it. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/875 "2017-01-19T20:59:14Z")
[Six astonishing things Betsy DeVos said — and refused to say — at her confirmation hearing](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/01/18/six-astonishing-things-betsy-devos-said-and-refused-to-say-at-her-confirmation-hearing/?utm_term=.9f013ff526fa&wpisrc=nl_most-draw10&wpmm=1) > [@](#): > > DeVos refused to agree with a Democrat that schools are no place for guns, citing one school that needs one to protect against grizzly bears. (She really said this.) > > DeVos seemed to have no understanding of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, known as IDEA, which requires public schools to provide free and appropriate education to all students with disabilities. > > DeVos refused to agree with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) that all schools that receive public federal funds — traditional public, public charter or private schools that receive voucher money — should be held to the same standards of accountability. > > DeVos said she would review gainful employment regulations without committing to enforce them. > > DeVos appeared to have no idea what Franken was talking about when he referred to the accountability debate about whether to use test scores to measure student proficiency or student growth. > > DeVos did not answer Sen. Michael F. Bennet (D-Colo.) when he asked her what she had learned about the failures of the Detroit traditional public and public charter schools that would inform her decision-making as the secretary of education. Didn’t Trump say something about how he hires only the best and something about Hillary engaging in pay-for-play? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/876 "2017-01-19T21:56:34Z")
[Trump picks new ambassador to UK](https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/president-elect-donald-trump-picks-jets-owner-woody-johnson-as-uk-ambassador-194951598.html)-New York Jets owner Woody Johnson. His qualifications? He has hosted fundraisers for Trump. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/877 "2017-01-19T22:04:37Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > [Trump picks new ambassador to UK](https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/president-elect-donald-trump-picks-jets-owner-woody-johnson-as-uk-ambassador-194951598.html)-New York Jets owner Woody Johnson. His qualifications? > He has hosted fundraisers for Trump. That’s the normal qualification for ambassadors. ---
**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:** [January 19, 2017, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/878 "2017-01-19T22:12:55Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > That’s the normal qualification for ambassadors. Maybe for the more minor postings. He could have nominated a soccer team owner for the UK position. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/879 "2017-01-19T22:22:53Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Maybe for the more minor postings. He could have nominated a soccer team owner for the UK position. The previous ambassador was Matthew Barzun, an Obama fundraiser. The ambassador before him was Louis Susman, a St. Louis Cardinals executive and Democratic Party fundraiser. The ambassador before him was Robert H. Tuttle, a George W. Bush fundraiser … ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/880 "2017-01-19T22:29:06Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Maybe for the more minor postings. As hard it may be to believe these fundraisers (who only are thinking of how they can best serve their fellow man) for some strange reason don’t want to serve at these more minor postings in places such as AIDS infested sub-Saharan Africa, etc.–and career diplomats are posted there instead. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367.md?page=43) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367.md?page=45)