Empty Chairs

Empty Chairs

Donald Trump’s election was a “shock and awe” moment for many Americans. There was little the majority that voted for Hillary Clinton could look to as a positive: they saw a President whose life view was reality television, with little background in governing (see a previous essay: An American Apprenticeship.)

The hope: that Trump would bring in a “team” to run the country that could make up for his lack of experience. Here is the current cabinet of the United States.

1. Secretary of State – Rex Tillerson (CEO – Exxon/Mobil)
2. Secretary of Treasury – Steve Mnuchin (CEO – OneWest Bank)#1
3. Secretary of Defense – Jim Mattis (Marine 4 Star General)
4. Attorney General – Jeff Sessions (Senator from Alabama)#2
5. Secretary of Interior – Ruan Zinke (House of Representatives from Montana)#3
6. Secretary of Agriculture – Sonny Perdue (Governor, Georgia)
7. Secretary of Commerce – Wilbur Ross (Vice Chairman, Bank of Cyprus)#4
8. Secretary of Labor – Alex Acosta (US Attorney, Florida)
9. Secretary of Health and Human Services – Alex Azar* (Deputy Secretary)#5
10. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development – Ben Carson (Neurosurgeon)#6
11. Secretary of Transportation – Elain Chao (Secretary of Labor, GW Bush Admin)
12. Secretary of Energy – Rick Perry (Governor of Texas)
13. Secretary of Education – Betsy DeVos (Republican Fund Raiser)#7
14. Secretary of Veterans Affairs – David Shulkin (Deputy Secretary)#8
15. Secretary of Homeland Security – Kirstjen Nielsen (Deputy Chief of Staff WH)

#1 – Mnuchin led Wells Fargo Bank that engaged in million of dollars worth of fraudulent credit accounts, as well as contributing to the 2008 housing crisis through improper lending practices

#2 – Sessions lied to the US Senate in his confirmation hearings regarding his contact with Russian agents during the Trump campaign

#3 – Zinke has spent millions of dollars in taxpayer money for private luxury travel

#4 – Ross was Vice Chairman of the Bank of Cyprus, a bank infamous for laundering Russian money

#5 – Azar replaced originally appointed Tom Price of Georgia, who quit due to luxury travel and spending using taxpayer dollars

#6 – Carson is currently under fire for letting HUD contracts to his children as well as luxury spending of taxpayer dollars for his office refurbishing

#7 – DeVos is best known as the key fundraiser for Republicans in Michigan, but also has been deeply invested in for profit charter school corporations

#8 – Shulkin is under fire for using public funds to pay for a European vacation for himself and his wife

And there’s more. Elaine Chao is married to Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, creating a “bedroom” conflict of interest. While Rex Tillerson had a brilliant career at Exxon, a worldwide company, he has no experience in governmental diplomacy. And Rick Perry, well, he is now in charge of the US nuclear program, an area he didn’t even know was part of the Department a few months before he was appointed. He replaced Ernest Moniz, a Stanford PhD in nuclear physics.

There were a few more comforting placements: General Mattis at the Defense Department, General Kelly at Homeland Security, and General McMasters as National Security Advisor. He also placed Gary Kohn, chairman of Goldman-Sachs as his National Economic Advisor. While you can argue about their views, they all seemed to be competent picks for their positions.

But it was more difficult to fill in the staff positions at the White House and departments. Trump chose to emulate President Andrew Jackson, the populist Democrat elected in 1828. Jackson ran against the “establishment” National Republican party, the party of John Quincy Adams. When he won the Presidency, he introduced the concept of the “spoils system:” to the victor goes all the spoils.   Jackson believed that ANY American could fill the roles of government, so  the applicant’s loyalty to the President himself became the most important part of the selection process.

This became the critical criteria in selection for the Trump administration: a golf caddy became the President’s social media advisor, a young model turned PR executive his communication director, and even worse, a son-in-law his chief foreign policy advisor and his daughter filled a high White House role as well (though we still aren’t quite clear what she does.) Last week it was floated that the President’s personal pilot (remember the giant Trump Jet on the campaign) could be the next Chairman of the Federal Aviation Administration.

And now there is the evacuation. Forty-eight positions in the administration have been vacated since the Trump inauguration in January of 2017 (Rachel Maddow List .) National Security Advisor McMasters, Senior Advisors Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Kohn, and even Chief of Staff Kelly (“God punished me with this job”) are all rumored to departing soon.

Who will turn off the lights when no one is left in the White House? More importantly, who will man the Situation Room when an international crisis begins – maybe one started by a President who decided to begin a trade war (in order to change the subject from his flip-flopping on gun control.) And what about the attention demanded by Russian President Putin, creating cartoons about non-existent weaponry attacking Trump’s club at Mara Lago?

Who’s on watch when everyone’s gone or distracted, or talking to their personal attorney about exposure to the Mueller investigation? It’s not just about scandal, it is not just about crime, it is about the fate of the nation. Who will be sitting in the empty chairs, and who will be left to make decisions?

 

It has been 19 days since the school shooting at Parkland High School. While debate goes on, there still has been no significant legislation to protect kids in schools. We can debate gun control, but mental health and background checks should be a “no-brainer.” It’s not though, because of the millions of dollars of the NRA, and even more, the propaganda campaign they have effectively waged to a significant portion of America. Don’t let this one go by – America owes it to the kids at Parkland (and Sandy Hook, and Virginia Tech, and all the others) and more importantly, to the next school in the crossfire.