# 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:** 48
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/941 "2017-01-24T03:52:17Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > [Trump’s Cabinet So Far Is More White and Male Than Any First Cabinet Since Reagan’s](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/13/us/politics/trump-cabinet-women-minorities.html) Not to mention quite old, relatively speaking. I counted far more guys over 60 than were in Obama’s Cabinets, AFAICT. > [@Blank Slate](#): > > The racist, sexist cunt chose a cabinet that reflects the fact that he’s a racist, sexist cunt. I’m inclined to think it’s more about the narcissism. Attractive younger women or “the Mexicans”, etc., are okay for lower-level “front of house” positions in communications and so on. But when it comes to people whom he’s actually supposed to work with as leaders in their own right, he’s more comfortable having a large number of old white men because **he’s** an old white man. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/942 "2017-01-24T03:52:23Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > [post snipped] > > Sounds like an evaluation for the voters to make, again … in 4 years. Certainly, now that the government’s been returned to the white people. ---
**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:** [January 25, 2017, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/943 "2017-01-25T00:35:15Z")
This is the first I have heard about zapping the NEA. Its at the bottom of [this article](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-budget-nominee-mulvaney-confirmation-hearing-20170124-story.html). ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/944 "2017-01-25T00:39:56Z")
First, moose and squirrel. Big yellow bird, next. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/945 "2017-01-25T00:56:58Z")
NEA has been a bit of a punching bag for conservatives for decades, so I’m not surprised it’s on the chopping block. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/946 "2017-01-25T01:17:12Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > You left out “qualified”, which she’s not. I saw her on one of the networks tonight. She was asked about Trump’s claim of 3 - 5 million illegals votes cast. She said the media should stop talking about it. When the host said that Trump was the one talking about it, she stated that yes, that’s what the president believes, but we should just move on now. She’s been studying Kellyann. I guess that makes her qualified. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/947 "2017-01-25T01:20:32Z")
> [@aurora\_maire](#): > > I saw her on one of the networks tonight. She was asked about Trump’s claim of 3 - 5 million illegals votes cast. She said the media should stop talking about it. When the host said that Trump was the one talking about it, she stated that yes, that’s what the president believes, but we should just move on now. She’s been studying Kellyann. I guess that makes her qualified. I’ll ask you the same question I asked ChefGuy and never saw an answer for: What qualifications would one normally expect for a person in this position? ---
**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 25, 2017, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/948 "2017-01-25T01:24:06Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I’ll ask you the same question I asked ChefGuy and never saw an answer for: What qualifications would one normally expect for a person in this position? Mindless, puppy dog-like devotion. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/949 "2017-01-25T02:00:53Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I’ll ask you the same question I asked ChefGuy and never saw an answer for: What qualifications would one normally expect for a person in this position? Normally expect? We are talking about Trump here. He’s putting a lot of folks in positions where the qualifications one would normally expect don’t seem to enter the picture. For anyone in communications, his expectations are apparently someone being able to obfuscate, deflect and spout alternative facts with a smile. She qualifies! ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/950 "2017-01-25T02:03:27Z")
> [@aurora\_maire](#): > > Normally expect? We are talking about Trump here. He’s putting a lot of folks in positions where the qualifications one would normally expect don’t seem to enter the picture. For anyone in communications, his expectations are apparently someone being able to obfuscate, deflect and spout alternative facts with a smile. She qualifies! Would you agree that her Ph.D. in communications might be a relevant qualification? ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/951 "2017-01-25T03:02:08Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Would you agree that her Ph.D. in communications might be a relevant qualification? What you would normally expect in a real world job? Sure. For Trump? I’d be surprised if that crossed his mind. She’s been his very vocal (hey, that’s communication!) sycophant for years. From what we’ve seen of how he picks his inner circle (I give you Ben Carson), I don’t think it was her resume that sealed the deal. But, ok, maybe Trump sat down with a pile of blind resumes and thoroughly went through each one and pulled hers out and knew this person was uniquely qualified to bob and weave on TV. Anything can be true these days. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/952 "2017-01-25T03:59:05Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Would you agree that her Ph.D. in communications might be a relevant qualification? AFAICT Manigault doesn’t actually have a completed PhD degree, though that’s widely reported: her own [teaching bio](http://www.nationalactionnetwork.net/convention/speakers/professor-omarosa-manigault/) includes in her qualifications “Masters Degree and Doctorate Studies”, suggesting that she entered a doctoral program but didn’t finish it. Certainly even non-degree-level doctoral studies count as a relevant qualification, as does her Clinton White House experience as a low-level logistics staffer in her early 20s (although she apparently wasn’t very successful at working well with people and left under something of a cloud). But I think both are substantially diminished by her long history as a professional tiffster and fussmagnet on entertainment media. For the past decade or so, Manigault’s profession has been staging drama and picking fights on reality TV and talk shows. Calling CNN host Don Lemon a “queen”, pouring a glass of champagne on Piers Morgan’s head and telling him his children hate him, appearing on a “psychic’s” TV show to try to contact the spirit of her late fiance for the audience, all that stuff. It may make good TV, but ISTM it’s not an appropriate lead-up to the White House Office of Public Liaison. It’s becoming habitual for Trump apologists to gloss over this sort of stuff in his administration, picking out morsels of respectability to focus on instead of the sleaze and cronyism. _“Public Liaison director who called fellow reality-TV celebrity Claudia Jordan a ‘stupid bitch’ on the red carpet at the BET Awards? Um, do you know she has an advanced degree in communications?”_ Yeah, but that’s not really a big part of the overall picture. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/953 "2017-01-25T04:13:08Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > AFAICT Manigault doesn’t actually have a completed PhD degree, though that’s widely reported: her own [teaching bio](http://www.nationalactionnetwork.net/convention/speakers/professor-omarosa-manigault/) includes in her qualifications “Masters Degree and Doctorate Studies”, suggesting that she entered a doctoral program but didn’t finish it. Certainly even non-degree-level doctoral studies count as a relevant qualification, as does her Clinton White House experience as a low-level logistics staffer in her early 20s (although she apparently wasn’t very successful at working well with people and left under something of a cloud). > > But I think both are substantially diminished by her long history as a professional tiffster and fussmagnet on entertainment media. For the past decade or so, Manigault’s profession has been staging drama and picking fights on reality TV and talk shows. Calling CNN host Don Lemon a “queen”, pouring a glass of champagne on Piers Morgan’s head and telling him his children hate him, appearing on a “psychic’s” TV show to try to contact the spirit of her late fiance for the audience, all that stuff. It may make good TV, but ISTM it’s not an appropriate lead-up to the White House Office of Public Liaison. > > It’s becoming habitual for Trump apologists to gloss over this sort of stuff in his administration, picking out morsels of respectability to focus on instead of the sleaze and cronyism. _“Public Liaison director who called fellow reality-TV celebrity Claudia Jordan a ‘stupid bitch’ on the red carpet at the BET Awards? Um, do you know she has an advanced degree in communications?”_ Yeah, but that’s not really a big part of the overall picture. I wasn’t really trying to gloss over “this sort of stuff” so much as find out if this post from ChefGuy was correct or not: > [@Chefguy](#): > > You left out “qualified”, which she’s not. It seems to me that it’s not, but there may be other excellent reasons to object to her besides ‘she’s not qualified’. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/954 "2017-01-25T04:49:19Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I wasn’t really trying to gloss over “this sort of stuff” Sorry. Once again, didn’t mean you personally. Just this sudden media trend of deference to Manigault’s educational background when she’s spent the most recent half of her adult life feuding for the cameras with other C-listers on reality TV. ---
**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 26, 2017, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/955 "2017-01-26T18:04:56Z")
[The State Department’s entire senior management team just resigned](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2017/01/26/the-state-departments-entire-senior-management-team-just-resigned/?utm_term=.f1d5f4783230) > [@](#): > > Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s job running the State Department just got considerably more difficult. The entire senior level of management officials resigned Wednesday, part of an ongoing mass exodus of senior foreign service officers who don’t want to stick around for the Trump era. > > Then suddenly on Wednesday afternoon, Kennedy and three of his top officials resigned unexpectedly, four State Department officials confirmed. Assistant Secretary of State for Administration Joyce Anne Barr, Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Michele Bond and Ambassador Gentry O. Smith, director of the Office of Foreign Missions, followed him out the door. All are career foreign service officers who have served under both Republican and Democratic administrations. > > In addition, Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security Gregory Starr retired Jan. 20, and the director of the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations, Lydia Muniz, departed the same day. That amounts to a near-complete housecleaning of all the senior officials that deal with managing the State Department, its overseas posts and its people. Sucks to be Tillerson. 😃 ---
**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:** [January 26, 2017, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/956 "2017-01-26T18:27:46Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > [The State Department’s entire senior management team just resigned](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2017/01/26/the-state-departments-entire-senior-management-team-just-resigned/?utm_term=.f1d5f4783230) > > Sucks to be Tillerson. 😃 I’m not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, I’m sure they wanted to get off the Crazy Train as soon as possible. Their continued presence would legitimize the administration. On the other hand, their abrupt departure opens an easy path for Trump and Tillerson to stack the department with more crazies right away. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. ---
**Author:** ![arfurvirus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@arfurvirus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arfurvirus)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/957 "2017-01-26T18:33:12Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > I’m not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, I’m sure they wanted to get off the Crazy Train as soon as possible. Their continued presence would legitimize the administration. On the other hand, their abrupt departure opens an easy path for Trump and Tillerson to stack the department with more crazies right away. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. _flush_ The swamp just drained itself. 😃 I’m still not tired of winning! ---
**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 26, 2017, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/958 "2017-01-26T18:36:16Z")
> [@arfurvirus](#): > > _flush_ The swamp just drained itself. 😃 > > I’m still not tired of winning! That just leaves a swamp-shaped hole to fill with new swamp. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/959 "2017-01-26T18:50:33Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > That just leaves a swamp-shaped hole to fill with new swamp. This is probably correct but the Obama foreign policy was no success. Its for the best that they leave and give someone else a chance. If Trumps people fail, get rid of them too. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/960 "2017-01-26T18:51:53Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > That just leaves a swamp-shaped hole to fill with new swamp. Yup. They’ll fill the positions with people who believe stuff, rather than those who look at factual analysis. Analysis is for nerds, right? Better to just believe in alternative facts that agree with your pre-conceived notions. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367.md?page=47) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367.md?page=49)