Trump's Cabinet of distraction

Trump appointed a clown show of a Cabinet to obscure what he's doing.

Appointing a Fox News personality with no management experience and a drinking problem to head the Department of Defense is going about as well as expected. Pete Hegseth hasn’t even been on the job for two weeks and he’s already surrendered to Russia and thrown Ukraine under the bus. He’s tried to walk back his stupidity but that’s like telling a jury to ignore evidence they’ve already heard. The damage is done.

Hegseth also took along right-wing conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec on his first trip to Europe. Posobiec is most famous for promoting Pizzagate, the crazy conspiracy theory that a group of prominent Democrats was involved in a child sex ring in the basement of a pizza parlor in Washington, DC. A North Carolina man shot up the restaurant in an attempt to free the imaginary victims. Posobiec also declared last year at CPAC, “Welcome to the end of democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely. We didn’t get all the way there on Jan. 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it.” We’re clearly sending our best to represent America—and the whole world is laughing, even if uneasily so.

You can thank Thom Tillis. He cast the deciding vote for Hegseth’s nomination. Tillis now owns everything Hegseth does heading into his re-election campaign.

Hegseth is just the beginning. Tillis and Trump’s toadies in the Senate shirked their responsibility to the American people and approved a Cabinet full of unqualified conspiracy theorists and misanthropes. They will embarrass the United States and might do serious damage to our country.

Tulsi Gabbard, now head of the Department of National Intelligence, defended Bashar Assad, denying he gassed his own people despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. She also spread Russian propaganda, siding with Putin in his war on Ukraine. Under her leadership, our allies won’t likely trust our intelligence agencies with sensitive information.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., will head the Department of Health and Human Services after years of spreading false accusations about vaccines. Mitch McConnell, a survivor of polio, was the only Republican to vote against his nomination and blasted Kennedy for lies and misinformation. Kennedy is little more than a conspiracy theorist and crank who has used his family name to stay in the spotlight.

Other nominees are also embarrassingly unqualified. They will make fools of themselves and our country. Their nominations shed light on Trump and his operating procedures. The Cabinet members don’t really matter. Trump knows they’re clowns, but he also knows his base doesn’t. They will get publicity and cause distractions that obscure the stuff he’s really doing.

Internationally, Trump sees every country as a competitor. There are no allies or enemies, just trading partners. He doesn’t have a core set of beliefs about human rights or democracy or anything else. He just wants the best deal he can get for US companies.

In his mind, Russia is no different than France or Germany. He wants to end the war in Ukraine because he wants to quit sending money to defend another country. He doesn’t really care who wins and he doesn’t really care how Putin treats his people or his enemies, so he doesn’t really care what Hegseth says.

The same with Gaza. He’s not exactly pro-Israel. He just wants to quit sending money over there. He sees it as a land deal. He doesn’t really believe he can displace 2 million Palestinians, but if he could, he would and without worrying about what happened to them as long as he was able to make money off the Gaza Strip. He would support ethnic cleansing if it made him richer.

Trump believes the world runs on money and real estate deals. To him, religion, values, and ideology are just distractions. That’s why he cozies up to the likes of Kim Jung Un in North Korea. He believes if the two of them can stay focused on the money, they can be friends and not spend money on military posturing.

He also respects power, not rights. He sees China, Russia, and the US as the major players in the world. If they can just divvy up the globe, they won’t need to spend money protecting their countries from each other. Trump wants control of the western hemisphere from Greenland to Patagonia. He’ll give Putin all of eastern Europe, and he’ll cede much of the Far East to China. Taiwan may be the first to go in a Trump negotiation. He’ll let democratic economic powers like Japan, the European Union, and Australia fend for themselves, but he doesn’t see them any better or worse than Russia or China. He doesn’t really care how they treat humanity.

Domestically, Trump has the same moral agnosticism. His view of politics is totally transactional. He’ll do what is necessary to keep his fanatical base behind him. They are the engine of his power. The less engaged swing voters aren’t really his concern. He just wants a loud and engaged chorus championing whatever he does.

His driving principle is profit. He doesn’t believe in the rule of law, democracy, or social justice. He just wants to make sure that his family and his business allies can make money. He’s clearly made the deal with the tech giants that he’ll allow them to operate without interference if they will just let him do as he pleases.

Kennedy’s future fights over vaccines or food or whatever are fine with Trump. He doesn’t care what happens as long as Kennedy doesn’t interfere with his grift. The more of a distraction the better. He’ll only step in if he’s afraid Kennedy is hurting him.

He’s turned Musk loose to cut the size of the government so he has more money for tax cuts and to reduce oversight that might expose unethical or damaging practices. Trump doesn’t believe he has any obligation to society and doesn’t believe anybody else does, either. He’s the ultimate Randian Superman, though Trump is not ideological enough to have any guiding principles besides grift.

Corruption is irrelevant. He’ll let New York Mayor Eric Adams off the hook as long Adams doesn’t interfere with his plan to deport immigrants. He’ll pardon all of the January 6 defendants and convicts to keep his cult fired up—and maybe to have a militia movement waiting in the wings. He’ll pardon anybody for anything if they might be valuable to him.

When Trump says he wants to destroy the Deep State, he really means he wants to dismantle the civil service. He doesn’t want professionals overseeing the government. He wants loyalists. Instead of making government less political, he wants to make it inherently political. He wants to return to the days of patronage and corruption. Think Tammany Hall on a national scale.

The deal with Eric Adams hints at a politicalization of the Justice Department that would make the name an oxymoron. He’s not seeking justice. He’s seeking control, using the Attorney General to further his political goals and solidify his power. The confirmation of Kash Patel to head the FBI indicates a willingness to use police powers to silence his enemies. Patel got the nomination because he had an enemies list, not in spite of it.

Trump’s advantage is that he is clear-eyed in his goals. He’s turning his interests into US interests. He wants peace with Russia and China in order to enrich himself and his cronies. He wants to cut the size of government to remove barriers to consolidating power and to enable conflicts of interests. He’s got the most powerful billionaires in the country to share his vision of an amoral oligarchy, which makes it an immoral endeavor.

There are weaknesses in his attempt to convert the country into Trump, Inc. He’s abandoning patriotism, even if may wrap himself in the flag. While our moral standing in the world has taken a hit over the last two decades, mainly because of our policies in the Middle East, we’re still seen as a beacon of hope and defender of freedom. Losing that status further could bring political consequences. His clown show is tiring. Even if Trump is trying to overwhelm his opponents with a firehose of outrage, he’s causing collateral damage to his brand among normies who just want to forget about politics. Remember, Trump lost in 2020, in part, because people were tired of his antics.

So, drop your political label. Instead of being left, liberal, or progressive, be freedom-loving and pro-democracy. Embrace patriotism. Put a flag in front of your house and decal on your car. Let your neighbors know that you love this country more than you love Trump.

Don’t get distracted by the outrage. It’s meant to discourage and exhaust you. Instead of getting angry, mock them. There’s never been an easier target than this group of miscreants. Once people stop taking them seriously, they will have trouble recovering.

Quit promoting agendas and become an opposition party. The goal now is to block bad policies, not pass good laws. Call your elected officials. Post on social media. Write letters-to-editors if you have local newspaper. Go to rallies. But be loud! They are.

Fight. Pay attention and try to figure out what matters and what is distraction. Now is not the time to tune out. There’s work to be done.