# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2024, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/41 "2024-11-08T08:45:34Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Do you seriously believe that even under the most regressive imaginable Trump administration that the federal government would somehow prohibit water fluoridation? I seriously believe that under any administration that the federal government could prohibit water fluoridation because I’m aware of how poorly these idiots understand science. ---
**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 8, 2024, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/42 "2024-11-08T08:50:24Z")
I’m pretty sure the 10th amendment leaves that power up to the states. ---
**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:** [November 8, 2024, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/43 "2024-11-08T09:00:38Z")
It was reported in several outlets that Aileen Cannon is supposed to be on his shortlist for Attorney General. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2024, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/44 "2024-11-08T09:02:30Z")
My understanding is that it does (referencing @Smapti 's most recent post), but the Tenth Amendment only means something to Trump when it’s an issue he doesn’t want to get involved with (abortion being returned to the states, for example). Otherwise, it seems to me that he believes that he’s in charge of everything. ---
**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 8, 2024, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/45 "2024-11-08T14:57:51Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > > [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > > > Secretary of Education - nobody. Trump wants to get rid of the Department of Education, remember? > > He also made a lot of promises about how he’d run the schools that are gonna be impossible to implement if he destroys the agency responsible for federal oversight of education. Something has to give. Pardon me for asking, but _ **what** _ “federal oversight of education”? It seems to me that the last two attempts (No Child Left Behind, and Race to the Top) crashed and burned. I thought Trump was in the “give everyone vouchers” camp (and never mind that this is a states’ decision). ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2024, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/46 "2024-11-08T16:01:09Z")
I’m thinking I’m glad I never bought a Tesla car because I expect that Musk may quash any serious investigation by NHTSA or other government agencies into flaws in its cars. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2024, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/47 "2024-11-08T16:43:51Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > JFK Jr is completely off his rocker, but of course virtually all of Trump’s acolytes are equally nuts. JFK Jr’s particular problem is that his nuttery doesn’t align with any significant Project 2025 political strategies. The Trump administration will be populated by neo-Nazis, not street-corner lunatics. JFK Jr is dead, actually. Trump is largely surrounded by opportunistic assholes, not lunatics. Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, JD Vance and the like - or background actors like Peter Thiel - aren’t crazy at all, they’re just plutocrats and fascists who want power and influence, and they’re the ones who’ll be running the show now. Kennedy, however, is legitimately a nut. If Kennedy gets sidelined there is some hope Trump won’t be terribly interested in what happens with that file. That’s the best one can hope for - that his uninterest minimizes damage. And I’d say the chances of his being sidelined are pretty high, since, as you point out, Trump has never shown much interest in Kennedy’s pet issues or science woo, nor do those things interest Trump’s puppet masters. He used Kennedy to win the election, so Kennedy is now irrelevant. I’ll bet good money that within six months Trump won’t even be willing to speak to him. It was stupid of Kennedy to trust Trump, but then that’s what happens when you have worms in your brain. > [@Spoons](#): > > Anecdotal, but I’d suggest that it’s telling. Plus, the fluoridated water I was exposed to as a child has never made me feel that socialism or communism were viable economic systems. My idiot uncle was part of the team of morons that got Windsor to take fluoride out of its water supply. Within a few years serious tooth decay among children had gone up 51 percent. As to whether Kennedy can get Trump to do this it’s not really a federal matter anyway. Even Kennedy has quietly admitted this by saying he’ll get Trump to “recommend” it be stopped. That’s basically all Washington can do. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2024, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/48 "2024-11-08T16:53:18Z")
Was your “idiot uncle” on the payroll of the local dental society? ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2024, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/49 "2024-11-08T17:52:48Z")
RFK Jr and Musk will be given “Special Advisor” roles. For two reasons: 1) they don’t have to be approved by the Senate and 2) they can be ignored when they say something stupid. ETA: And in Musks’s case because he (in theory at least) has at least a few real jobs to do. ---
**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 8, 2024, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/50 "2024-11-08T20:56:31Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > Pardon me for asking, but _ **what** _ “federal oversight of education”? > **[Agenda47: President Trump’s Ten Principles For Great Schools Leading To Great...](https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/agenda47-president-trumps-ten-principles-for-great-schools-leading-to-great-jobs)** > > www.DonaldJTrump.com/JOIN ---
**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 9, 2024, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/51 "2024-11-09T00:17:58Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > > [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > > > Pardon me for asking, but _ **what** _ “federal oversight of education”? > > [Agenda47: President Trump’s Ten Principles For Great Schools Leading To Great Jobs | Agenda47 | Donald J. Trump](https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/agenda47-president-trumps-ten-principles-for-great-schools-leading-to-great-jobs) From that same website: “In connection with totally refocusing schools on succeeding in the world of work, President Trump pledges to close the Department of Education in Washington, D.C. **and to send all education work and needs back to the States**.” ---
**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 9, 2024, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/52 "2024-11-09T00:26:11Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > “In connection with totally refocusing schools on succeeding in the world of work, President Trump pledges to close the Department of Education in Washington, D.C. **and to send all education work and needs back to the States**.” Right. Which is incompatible with the rest of the agenda about how the federal government will force schools to do X, Y, and Z. He cannot dictate how schools are to be run AND shut down the branch of the government that dictates how schools are to be run. He may as well decree that he can grab women by the pussy as much as he wants and order Ronny Jackson to saw his arms off. ---
**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 9, 2024, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/53 "2024-11-09T00:54:37Z")
Well, there is one way he can force states to do things: by threatening to cut off funding. This is how the federal government managed to mandate a drinking age of 21 nationwide. ---
**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 9, 2024, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/54 "2024-11-09T01:01:37Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > This is how the federal government managed to mandate a drinking age of 21 nationwide. Which required an act of Congress, which means 60 votes in the Senate, which they don’t have. > **[National Minimum Drinking Age Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Minimum_Drinking_Age_Act)** > > The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 (23 U.S.C. § 158) was passed by the United States Congress and was later signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on July 17, 1984. The act would punish any state that allowed persons under 21 years to purchase alcoholic beverages by reducing its annual federal highway apportionment by 10 percent. The law was later amended, lowering the penalty to 8 percent from fiscal year 2012 and beyond. > Despite its name, this act did not outlaw the consumption ... ---
**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 9, 2024, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/55 "2024-11-09T01:05:24Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Which required an act of Congress, which means 60 votes in the Senate, which they don’t have. The only reason that they need 60 votes is that the filibuster/cloture rule still stands, and which, to date, neither the GOP nor Democratic majorities in the Senate have chosen to repeal. If the new GOP majority (which is, true, not 60+) chose to use the “nuclear option,” they could get rid of the filibuster if they so chose, without 60 votes. > **[Senate Filibuster: What It Is and How to Eliminate It](https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-is-the-senate-filibuster-and-what-would-it-take-to-eliminate-it/)** > > Molly E. Reynolds explains the Senate filibuster and what it would take to eliminate it. ---
**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 9, 2024, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/56 "2024-11-09T01:14:26Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > If the new GOP majority (which is, true, not 60+) chose to use the “nuclear option,” they could get rid of the filibuster if they so chose, without 60 votes. Which they could’ve done in 2017 but didn’t, even though Trump told them to and the Senate has no agency of its own and exists only to do whatever Trump decrees. And they won’t this time either, because they’re gonna want it when 2027 rolls around and they’re in the minority again. Or are we still assuming that Trump has the power to abolish all elections forever? ---
**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 9, 2024, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/57 "2024-11-09T01:15:15Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > And they won’t this time either, because they’re gonna want it when 2027 rolls around and they’re in the minority again. Unless their plan is to change things to ensure that they’re never in the minority again. ---
**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 9, 2024, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/58 "2024-11-09T01:23:37Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Unless their plan is to change things to ensure that they’re never in the minority again That was also their plan in 2001 and 2017. How’d that work out? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2024, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/59 "2024-11-09T01:28:21Z")
Republicans _have_ taken control of many state legislatures and gubernatorial positions, which has allowed them to gerrymander many states. ---
**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 9, 2024, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799/60 "2024-11-09T01:34:36Z")
You can’t gerrymander the Senate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-new-cabinet/1009799.md?page=4)