Howard Lutnick, a Wall Street financier, as Secretary of Commerce.
Not announced by Trump yet but hearing Ben Carson is being considered…so if announced it’ll count.
Just a leak, right?
I wonder what the leaker’s motive is.
Here is the article: Trump expected to pick Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary
Dr. Oz for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator.
Because why the hell not.
Came here to report this news.
Every time I read about another appointment, my heart sinks. It’s currently trying to exit my heels.
That’s a bit of a surprise to me; it’s not a role that I expect to go to a celebrity. I don’t think I could even name any previous CMS administrator.
Possibly silly concern, but I wonder how long each of these fabulous appointees need to serve at their jobs to earn pensions. Sure, not likely to make a big difference for some of them, and not a drop in the budget bucket.
In case you were wondering, this is what “qualified and capable” looks like for the CMS Administrator role:
And then, there’s Dr. Oz.
I’m still torn. I can’t be sure how much this will be kakistocracy and how much it will be kleptocracy.
Obviously, it can be both. Maybe the Venn diagram circles overlap perfectly. People are saying …
I’m at the point where I’m at least happy that he has a medical degree. Yes he promoted all kinds of crap on his television program but that was for ratings. He wouldn’t need to do that in this job. He has at least supported vaccines.
Actually, I don’t think having a medical degree is needed to be CMS administrator. Looking in Wikipedia for the bios of several people recently in that role, I find people with a MPH, MPP or MBA degree.
Oz said sending kids back to school during COVID was “an attractive option” because the extra deaths resulting from it wouldn’t be too high.
For that matter, I’m not sure that a medical degree is particularly useful for running CMS. It’s not HHS or the Surgeon General’s office; one needs to understand public health, health insurance, and health networks.
That’s my point; it’s a very big, important administrative role. (For that matter Surgeon General is also an administrative role, though one often or entirely given to physicians.)
I wasn’t disagreeing with you (apologies if it came across that way); I was just noting that being a medical doctor, in and of itself, probably doesn’t give a candidate any actual understanding of what makes CMS tick. Not that that stops Trump from some of these choices…
Egads, if the Onion made this list for Trump’s proposed picks, we’d be laughing out asses of at how ridiculous, but deny it has any believability.
I have a new theory. We all know the idea that Trump didn’t really expect to win the first time. We know Trump was a Democrat at one time.
Ok,deep lunacy CT, Trump has actually been trolling the Republicans this entire time, to see how stupid he has to get before they realize it’s a hoax. Sort of like the original Colbert Report, but more covert.
Hear me out.
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He started with Birther nonsense. It sold much better than he hoped.
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He launched his campaign riding down an escalator, symbolizing taking the country downhill. The Dems saw this and laughed. The Reps didn’t see it.
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He was nasty and rude to the Republican candidates, and people ate it up. He won the R nomination, to his own surprise.
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He flirted with White Supremists and dog whistles, but the dems heard them as alarms, the reps heard them as a call.
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The Dems ran Clinton against him, who a lot of even democrats didn’t like. The email issue was an own fail. Comey handed Trump a surprise win.
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Trump picked poorly qualified staffers and cabinet, expecting pushback from the Senate, but got them confirmed.
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He ham-handed his way through the first Presidency, waiting to be Impeached and ejected, but the Rs just kept defending him.
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He went after abortion rights. He knew the dems would get activated. He thought the personal freedom conservatives would oppose him. They didn’t.
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He lost the election, but kept pushing because the Rs just kept defending him.
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He increased the trolling by attacking Biden for being “too old”, but only being a couple of years younger - and will be inaugurated at an older age. The Rs didn’t see the irony.
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Biden dropped out and Harris replaced him. So he pivoted to being the old, deteriating guy. He started bumbling words, making “mental mistakes”, etc, but the Rs were oblivious.
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He amped up the trolling by swaying through a rally, and abandoning his followers in the desert. They defended him and blamed the dems.
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He started working with Musk, and then brought in RFK. The Dems called him out. The Rs went along with him.
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Despite all his best efforts, he won.
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So he’s gone all-in. His Cabinet picks are a deliberate cry for help to the American people. He’s screaming to patriots, WAKE UP! I’M TRASHING THE CONSTITUTION AND YOU ARE HELPING ME! He’s daring the Rs to defy him, to say “enough is enough”.
And stupid America is still falling for it.
Yeah, I know he faced real legal troubles. This story isn’t real. He isn’t smart enough to have done this intentionally.
Another thing; CMS administrator isn’t really a public-facing position so why would Dr Oz want the job?
Sorry, it was “an appetizing option”. Much less sinister that way. My Dr. sister said since he’s a cardiac surgeon, he knows nothing on vaccines.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dr-oz-coronavirus-apology-mortality/
He may see it as a sinecure.
So Linda McMahon is reportedly Trump’s pick for Secretary of Education.