# 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:** 60
**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:** [February 22, 2017, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/1181 "2017-02-22T20:48:24Z")
> [@DrumBum](#): > > Ms. Kellyanne Conway is reportedly sidelined for being ["off message.](http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/22/media/kellyanne-conway-sidelined-from-tv/) > > It is frequently difficult for me to distinguish “on topic” and “off topic” with these people when I watch them on TV. 😕 She accidentally told the truth. ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2017, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/1182 "2017-02-22T21:07:55Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > She accidentally told the truth. She never did! You take that back! Had she told the truth, Donald would have fired her outright. Most likely, she skirted too close to the truth, once. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/1183 "2017-02-24T03:43:04Z")
Bannon & Reince Priebus [appeared together](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/top-wh-strategist-vows-a-daily-fight-for-deconstruction-of-the-administrative-state/2017/02/23/03f6b8da-f9ea-11e6-bf01-d47f8cf9b643_story.html?utm_term=.6cbb33f09607)at the Conservative Political Action Conference. > [@](#): > > The reclusive mastermind behind President Trump’s nationalist ideology and combative tactics made his public debut Thursday, delivering a fiery rebuke of the media and declaring that the new administration is in an unending battle for “deconstruction of the administrative state.” > > Stephen K. Bannon, the White House chief strategist and intellectual force behind Trump’s agenda, used his first speaking appearance since Trump took office to vow that the president would honor all of the hard-line pledges of his campaign… > > Bannon and Priebus were interviewed jointly on stage by Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, which hosts CPAC. Priebus celebrated Trump’s administration as “the best Cabinet in the history of Cabinets,” and Bannon said that many nominees “were selected for a reason, and that is deconstruction.” I realized that Trump would pick cabinet members with political philosophies unlike mine–I’m not a Republican! But I & others have been shocked that so many of his choices have been utterly opposed to the goals of the departments they will head. Or have just been flagrantly incompetent & unqualified. Or a combination of the above. Now we know why. ---
**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:** [February 24, 2017, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/1184 "2017-02-24T04:22:35Z")
Bannon is calling the cabinet the wrecking crew, but not as the cabinet think it means, not for deconstruction to make something new. IMHO Bannon sees their incompetency as an asset, to aid in the collapse of the system and to hopefully (in his mind) help cause the end of times. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/1185 "2017-02-24T05:43:07Z")
Earlier today in another butt-dumb memo Jeffrey Sessions reiterated his lust for [private prisons](http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/02/23/516916688/private-prisons-back-in-mix-for-federal-inmates-as-sessions-rescinds-order). Roger Goodell-ish Sean Spicer went off today about that [evil recreational pot use.](http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/2/23/14717638/sean-spicer-trump-marijuana-legalization) > [@](#): > > There’s a big difference between [medical] and recreational marijuana. And I think that when you see something like the opioid addiction crisis blossoming in so many states around this country, the last thing we should be doing is encouraging people. I beg your pardon? Equating pot with opiates, you fucking Kotter flunkie? Oh, right - the gateway thing.:rolleyes: > [@](#): > > Spicer said, “I do believe that you’ll see greater enforcement of it.” Yeah whatever - take note it’s 2017 first. In the WH’s continuing surge forward in a unified vision, Trump, meanwhile, thinks it should be a state-to-state thing \< (is that one of the more saner things that popped into his mind?) ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/1186 "2017-02-24T05:58:19Z")
> [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > I beg your pardon? Equating pot with opiates, you fucking Kotter flunkie? > Oh, right - the gateway thing.:rolleyes: I don’t know what “Kotter flunkie” means in this context, but it does not appear to be a term of endearment. I reserve the right to append this note if I actually figure out this term is a pejorative. For now it is simply a note to avoid appearing to insult other posters. [/moderating] ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/1187 "2017-02-24T06:09:44Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > I don’t know what “Kotter flunkie” means in this context, but it does not appear to be a term of endearment. I reserve the right to append this note if I actually figure out this term is a pejorative. For now it is simply a note to avoid appearing to insult other posters. > > [/moderating] Sean Spicer just made it very clear that he is NOT a Doper. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/1188 "2017-02-24T06:12:21Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Yes, and we don’t know how many people they may have ‘felt out’ without having submitted their names to the media. Poor choice of words when you’re talking about the Pussygrabber-in-Chief. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/1189 "2017-02-24T06:14:53Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > I don’t know what “Kotter flunkie” means in this context… You know, Vinnie, Horschak, Boom Boom, Epstein… all the Sweathogs. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/1190 "2017-02-24T06:16:39Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > For now it is simply a note to avoid appearing to insult other posters. > > [/moderating] You’re aware it was Spicer, and not a poster, I dissed, right? ETA - yeah I should’ve mentioned, inside that quote, that it was a Spicer quote - which I’m normally on top of that thing. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/1191 "2017-02-24T06:29:31Z")
> [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > You’re aware it was Spicer, and not a poster, I dissed, right? > > ETA - yeah I should’ve mentioned, inside that quote, that it was a Spicer quote - which I’m normally on top of that thing. No, I didn’t - thanks for clarifying. I was reading two threads at the same time and misinterpreted. Feel free to disregard my previous comment. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/1192 "2017-02-24T06:40:10Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > No, I didn’t - thanks for clarifying. I was reading two threads at the same time and misinterpreted. Feel free to disregard my previous comment. Hat-brim tipped. And it’s not just Spicer who’s on this weird, antediluvian anti-pot kick - Sessions is known for quotes like “good people don’t smoke marijuana”, and his infamous “OK until I found out they smoked pot” ‘joke’ about the KKK. Let’s hope the states prevail on this. ---
**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:** [February 24, 2017, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/1193 "2017-02-24T06:53:30Z")
Funny how transgender rights have to be at the state level but marijuana rights are the federal level. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/1194 "2017-02-24T06:56:10Z")
> [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > Hat-brim tipped. > > And it’s not just Spicer who’s on this weird, antediluvian anti-pot kick - Sessions is known for quotes like “good people don’t smoke marijuana”, and his infamous “OK until I found out they smoked pot” ‘joke’ about the KKK. Let’s hope the states prevail on this. Let’s not. The more things Trump and his pals do to make voters pissed at them, the better. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/1195 "2017-02-24T12:28:52Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > Let’s not. The more things Trump and his pals do to make voters pissed at them, the better. Those three extra electoral votes are gonna be pretty sweet for the Dems once Alaskans decide they like pot more than guns. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/1196 "2017-02-24T19:43:04Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > Poor choice of words when you’re talking about the Pussygrabber-in-Chief. It’s not as though they’d have even considered offering any _girls_ the job. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/1197 "2017-02-25T04:57:31Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Or he just happens to be the best choice. I agree. He’s fascinating and I’d be turned toward him for the job. In the light of day, though… ---
**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:** [February 27, 2017, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/1198 "2017-02-27T01:43:59Z")
Another one-- [SUNK](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/navy-secretary-nominee-withdraws_us_58b36fa7e4b0a8a9b7833b52?whi9ajh5kuj6ob6gvi). > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of the Navy withdrew from consideration on Sunday, the second time a Trump nominee to lead one of the armed services bowed out because of government conflict-of-interest rules. > > Trump last month nominated Philip Bilden, a private equity executive and former military intelligence officer, to lead the Navy, which the president has pledged he will expand. > > In a statement on Sunday, Bilden said that “after an extensive review process, I have determined that I will not be able to satisfy the Office of Government Ethics requirements without undue disruption and materially adverse divestment of my family’s private financial interests.” > > The development leaves Trump and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis without nominees to head both the Navy and Army… ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/1199 "2017-02-27T08:41:06Z")
Well, really, why should they? They have to give up their business ties to be worthy of our trust, but their boss doesn’t? ---
**Author:** ![crucible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@crucible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crucible)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2017, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367/1200 "2017-03-02T11:22:27Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I’m not saying he isn’t the best choice. I’m saying that he has to look the part (and having a great name is included) AND be the best choice. If he were the best choice, eminently qualified, but looked like ZZ Top, he wouldn’t have a prayer. Didn’t Trump disqualify someone waaaaay back at the beginning of his presidency (say, three weeks ago) who WAS qualified but looked like a dork? What is Bannon doing within a hundred miles of the WH? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367.md?page=59) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-cabinet-of-curiosities/771367.md?page=61)