# Trump's new cabinet **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [November 6, 2024, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799 "2024-11-06T16:52:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 21
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/401 "2024-11-20T18:15:11Z")
> [@knavette57](#): > > We have not had a crackdown by the govt on the press. Umm Trump is not in charge yet. > [@knavette57](#): > > I know Mika and Joe are disappointing many people right now I don’t think they are trying to curry favors, but trying to find out just how far this shit show will go. > [@knavette57](#): > > I lean left, so I go to alt journalism media. Maybe that biases me, but…hell, I am biased then It’s not biased to be a decent person. We know what Trump is. ---
**Author:** ![DeadTreasSecretaries](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deadtreassecretaries/32/4817_2.png) [@DeadTreasSecretaries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadTreasSecretaries)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/402 "2024-11-20T18:16:15Z")
The electoral college is literally a liberal antipopulist institution whose purpose was undermined immediately after its creation. The whole point is fascists aren’t stymied by institutions created to have arbiters prtect us from them because they don’t need to bother learning the rules of institutions they never had interest in in the first place. And in this case it only took relatively commonplace partisanship to render it useless. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/403 "2024-11-20T18:27:18Z")
Yes? If I was to say, “Let’s fix the car - and I don’t mean like a small fix, I mean like a total overhaul to really make the thing work the way that it always should have. I know you want to walk, but we are in the middle of a desert, don’t have water, and there’s no shelter or anything if we keep going the way that we’re going. Whereas, there is a machine shop just a mile hike back the opposite way and we’re not short on time nor money. And clearly, we’ll just end up in the same or a worse situation if we just try to keep on with the car like it is.” Then, I’m not sure that a complaint about all the things currently wrong with the car is a meaningful response to the recommendation. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/404 "2024-11-20T19:10:52Z")
RE Linda McMahon, here’s the lawsuit about WWE and the McMahon’s cover up of one of their worker’s sexual activities with young boys: > **[Date-Stamped-Does-1-5-v.-WWE-et-al.-Complaint-10.23.2024.pdf](https://dicellolevitt.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Date-Stamped-Does-1-5-v.-WWE-et-al.-Complaint-10.23.2024.pdf)** > > 4.12 MB ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/405 "2024-11-20T19:30:37Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > > [@Smapti](#): > > > > On the plus side, no child will graduate high school without learning how to sell a Tombstone Piledriver. > > That’s a point. I’m a college graduate, and until I just googled it, I had no idea what a Tombstone Piledriver is myself. > > Does the wrestling executive have any qualifications for the job, other than being allowed within 1,500 feet of a school? Maybe she picked up some pointers from “Dean Douglas” (Shane Douglas) and “The Genius” (Lanny Poffo, brother of Randy “Macho Man” Savage). Seriously, I think Trump just wants her there as a caretaker until he can get it abolished - he still wants to give education authority back to the states. “No child will graduate high school without learning how to sell a Tombstone Piledriver” - except for that Boella kid; he won’t sell anything. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/406 "2024-11-20T19:34:30Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > Seriously, I think Trump just wants her there as a caretaker until he can get it abolished - he still wants to give education authority back to the states. He’s said several contradictory things about education - he wants to give it back to the states, but at the same time he wants to dictate what they teach about gender and American history and other things. I doubt he’ll get much of anything done. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/407 "2024-11-20T19:42:48Z")
When there’s a conflict between being good federalists and imposing their social positions on everyone, Republicans will always default to the later. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/408 "2024-11-20T19:48:53Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > That’s too clever and involved for a 78-year-old dementia patient to pull off. What about a tech innovator who makes rockets and electric cars? ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/409 "2024-11-20T20:21:31Z")
> [@flurb](#): > > He’s making an absolute circus of these Cabinet-level appointments because he wants them to suck up all of the oxygen in the room. … > > Meanwhile, he will stack the next tier down at these agencies with faceless, competent, Heritage Society-vetted lobbyists, lawyers and compliant bureaucrats who know these agencies and who will take up the real work… > [@Horatius](#): > > They won’t be competent at the job **we** want them to do. They’ll be competent at the job the Project 2025 people want them to do, > [@flurb](#): > > But if what I fear comes to pass, then we could be looking at a federal government fundamentally remade and deeply entrenched. These reflect what I fear (with minimal insight gained from 38 years of federal employ.) I really don’t think Trump is all that interested in any policy - other than his personal protection and enrichment. But he loves a big loud circus. And is happy to give the real decision-making authority to the ideologues who have long supported him - and who support his angriest bleating. ---
**Author:** ![split\_p\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@split\_p\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/split_p_j)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/410 "2024-11-20T21:27:31Z")
[Sean Duffy](https://www.npr.org/2024/11/18/nx-s1-5188388/dot-transportation-secretary-sean-duffy-trump) for Transportation Secretary, you can say goodby to rail. Well, goodby to passenger rail like Amtrak and commuter rail. I’m sure he will bend over and give the Class 1 freight railroads everything they want. My railroad union went 60% for Trump. Great job assholes. ---
**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:** [November 20, 2024, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/411 "2024-11-20T23:01:31Z")
> [@flurb](#): > > The more this has gone on, the more it’s clear to me that these appointments are a deliberate strategy of Trump’s (or at least of his inner circle). He’s making an absolute circus of these Cabinet-level appointments because he wants them to suck up all of the oxygen in the room. He wants the drama of their nomination and confirmation to dominate the attention of Washington and the public at large. I agree. Trump wants to get away with some very extreme actions–partly for his own enrichment, and partly to fulfill his obsession with getting revenge. The deliberate chaos created by the Kakisto Cabinet will serve to obscure what’s happening to end the services that have long been provided in the Cabinet Departments, true. But it will also serve to obscure Trump’s other plans. For example, almost no one is talking about Trump’s statement that he will be declaring a state of national emergency (to deploy the US military inside our borders against undocumented US residents, and likely some documented ones, too). [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Vk5DFpxm_2k/maxresdefault.jpg "US to declare state of emergency: Trump confirms the use of military to deport migrants") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk5DFpxm_2k0) ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2024, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/412 "2024-11-20T23:10:25Z")
In a way, I think there’s an analogy, here, between his current nominations and appointments and January 6th. I have always maintained that the J6 insurrectionists were merely a human flash-bang grenade, designed to serve as a huge distraction while Trump hoped that Pence would refuse to certify. I’m not even sure Trump and his cabal expected any actual pressure _from_ the teeming horde. It may very well _be_ that the nominees and appointees are just the shiny objects – many of whom are quite mass media savvy – to hold our attention while more insidious goals are accomplished. And Linda McMahon? She and her husband and their company all but invented [**kayfabe**](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kayfabe). Every accusation is actually a confession. Remember this part of the MAGA hysterics about the January 6th hearings? > **[A former TV news executive is producing the Jan. 6 hearings](https://www.npr.org/2022/06/08/1103785079/a-former-tv-news-executive-is-producing-the-jan-6-hearings)** > > The Congressional hearings on the Jan. 6 insurrection are being staged for TV consumption very differently than in the past — and most networks are taking them live. Fox News is the exception. “Politics is show business for ugly people.” --Paul Begala [And that’s ignoring for the moment the painfully obvious reality TV experience of Dear Leader-Elect] I wondered aloud on another (?) thread how involved **[Mark Burnett](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Burnett)** might be in casting this thing. I wouldn’t be the least bit shocked. ---
**Author:** ![TeroSunbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terosunbear/32/14748_2.png) [@TeroSunbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeroSunbear)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2024, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/413 "2024-11-21T02:57:23Z")
I can see a president can dismantle the state, the internal matters. But isn’t there some legal way of stopping all this traitor activity? Short of impeachment. Appointing Tulsi Gabbard etc. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2024, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/414 "2024-11-21T03:01:39Z")
> [@TeroSunbear](#): > > But isn’t there some legal way of stopping all this traitor activity? Short of impeachment. Sure. The Senate can refuse to confirm his nominees. That said, the GOP will have a majority, and it seems questionable as to whether they will be willing to actually stand up to Trump on any of these. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2024, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/415 "2024-11-21T03:04:51Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > Ever hear of the **[Free Concert at Altamont](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altamont_Free_Concert)** (1969)? The organizers decided to contract security to the Hell’s Angels motorcycle club for about $500 worth of beer. > > Violence was the result. Scores were injured. At least one died. Property damage was ginormous. It was a disaster. At least we got the movie “Gimme Shelter” out of the debacle. Which is more than we’ll get from this cabinet circus. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2024, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/416 "2024-11-21T09:56:37Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > What about a tech innovator who makes rockets and electric cars? Great, show me one and I’ll listen, as opposed to someone who just buys companies. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2024, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/417 "2024-11-21T13:26:41Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > At least we got the movie “Gimme Shelter” “Gimme” shelter? Sounds kind of like socialism to me! Not to mention poor diction. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2024, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/418 "2024-11-21T14:36:26Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > as opposed to someone who just buys companies. Musk didn’t _buy_ SpaceX or Tesla. He created them. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2024, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/419 "2024-11-21T14:39:14Z")
> Tesla was founded in July 2003 by [Martin Eberhard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Eberhard) and [Marc Tarpenning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Tarpenning) as **Tesla Motors**. [Cite.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla,_Inc.) ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2024, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/420 "2024-11-21T15:04:33Z")
Thank you for alerting me to my mistake. He did found SpaceX. He invested in Tesla during development before initial release. How much did he contribute to running the company? How big an impact wad be to Tesla getting to market in 2008? But this is all a distraction. My attempt to be coy has no bearing on whether Musk is… A. …smart enough to plot to use Cabinet picks as a distraction while planning the real takeover in controlling the next level down managers; B. … mean enough to think it’s a good idea; C. … disrespectful enough of democracy to not care about the impacts of those efforts at undermining the whole system; and D. … capable of orchestrating the execution of that plan. D is the only one of those with any doubt. He has the access. He has the backing of the soon-to-be president, and he has access to think tanks and political groups prepared to provide information or assist in execution of a plan. The bottom line is that I would feel a whole lot better if the only opponent was a “78-year-old dementia patient”. Trump by himself would be a lot less scary. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799.md?page=20) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799.md?page=22)