We’re a little more than two weeks out from the election and President-elect Donald Trump has already started filling his administration at a record pace. The results, to say the least, have been shocking yet somehow entirely foreseeable in hindsight. In the leadup to his second term, Trump is not making the same mistake he did last time of picking people who won’t do his bidding; he’s making all new ones.
Cabinet positions are often regarded as some of the most prestigious appointments, and all of them need confirmation by the Senate, so that’s what I’ll be focusing on today. There are 15 official departments that make up the Cabinet, although several others are often considered part of the Cabinet as well. Without further ado, here is a ranking of Trump’s picks in descending order of awfulness.
Only Moderately Bad
This category is reserved for the few people who might actually have some qualifications. Chief among these picks is Senator Marco Rubio, who was chosen for the job of Secretary of State. Rubio ran an unsuccessful campaign for president in 2016, getting humiliated by Trump during the debates. Afterwards, he crawled into Trump’s good graces, becoming a staunch defender of the president-elect. Disregarding Rubio’s political opportunism, he is a third-term senator and has served on the Committee on Foreign Relations, which is far more relevant experience than most of Trump’s picks can boast. Also on this list are two Dougs; Doug Burgum, who previously served as Governor of South Dakota, was picked to lead the Department of the Interior, while Doug Collins, a former representative and military veteran, is set to head the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Mostly Awful
Now we move to the people who might do a lot of damage in their respective jobs. Chris Wright was selected as Secretary of Energy while hailing from a background in the fracking business and is a major critic of efforts to stop climate change. There’s also Howard Lutnick, who as Secretary of Commerce will help to enact Trump’s agenda of ridiculously high tariffs. Don’t forget Sean Duffy, who will lead the Department of Transportation. I wouldn’t blame you if you did; Duffy is best known for being on reality TV shows and hosting the Fox Business show “The Bottom Line.” In other words, exactly the qualities Trump, who is himself famous for reality TV and watching Fox News, admires!
Linda McMahon, the most recent pick, was just tapped to be Secretary of Education on Tuesday. McMahon is a former wrestling executive, which in Trump’s mind makes her perfectly qualified to oversee education. But don’t worry – Trump plans to dismantle the department anyway, which may put money for higher education in serious jeopardy and leave McMahon without a job.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem ends this category, having been selected for the Department of Homeland Security. Unfortunately, the only home security she’s provided in the past is shooting her own puppy to death after it attacked a neighbor’s chickens.
Absolutely Horrendous
It’s hard to put into words how bad this category of picks is but I will try, starting with former progressive turned Trump toady Tulsi Gabbard. Gabbard was chosen to be Director of National Intelligence, yet she’s a national security threat herself, having met in secret with notorious Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad as a U.S representative in 2017. She’s also made several glowing comments about Vladimir Putin which likely endeared her to Trump, who has often cozied up to the Russian strongman.
Next up is Pete Hegseth, another Fox News host and veteran, who is nominated to lead the Department of Defense. Other than serving in the military, he has no qualifications to head the largest department in the U.S government. He also wants to purge the military of “woke” generals and eliminate putting women in combat roles. In case that wasn’t enough, he was investigated for an incident of sexual assault that occurred in 2017.
Speaking of sexual assault, there’s a lot more to go in that department. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a virulent anti-vaxxer who is nominated for Secretary of Health and Human Services, apologized in June this year to a woman he assaulted in the 1990s.
Last and certainly least, Matt Gaetz was picked for the position of Attorney General after a stint in the House of Representatives, where he gained a reputation for causing problems in his own party. Gaetz has a lot of experience with the Justice Department, in that he was federally investigated for having sex with a 17-year-old. He conveniently resigned his seat right before a damaging ethics report was set to release details about his sexual misconduct. It remains to be seen whether Gaetz will even be confirmed, but in the era of Trump’s GOP, you never know.