Trump made some good picks and some very questionable ones. Let’s also discuss recess appointments, when and why.
Recess-Appointment Scheme
Please consider Trump’s Recess-Appointment Scheme
The Constitution restrains the President’s appointments by giving the Senate the power to confirm, or not, his nominees. Hamilton in Federalist No. 76 writes that this provides “an excellent check upon a spirit of favoritism in the President, and would tend greatly to prevent the appointment of unfit characters.”
“We need positions filled IMMEDIATELY!” he posted on Truth Social. The prospect is that Mr. Trump might try to bully the Senate to go into a recess, so he can unilaterally make Mr. Gaetz the Attorney General, maybe until the end of 2026.
In 2005, when President George W. Bush sent John Bolton to the United Nations on a recess appointment, Mr. Bush noted that the Senate had “held thorough confirmation hearings,” and Mr. Bolton had won majority support. Yet a Democratic filibuster blocked an up-or-down vote.
Mr. Trump will face no such obstacles next year. Republicans are firmly in control of the Senate, and presidential nominees are no longer subject to the 60-vote filibuster rule, thanks to the late Democratic Leader Harry Reid. Many of Mr. Trump’s cabinet picks so far are competent, mainstream figures, and they’ll have no trouble getting through quickly. Although hundreds of positions require confirmation, lower appointees don’t need the same level of vetting as an Attorney General.
Recess appointments are Mr. Thune’s first test. He has said they aren’t off the table, and he wants to approve Mr. Trump’s nominees fast.
But his comments Wednesday suggest he also sees the gravity of what Mr. Trump proposes. “I’m willing to grind through it and do it the old-fashioned way,” Mr. Thune said.
Secretary of State – Marco Rubio – Good
“Little Marco”, as Trump used to call him (and Democrats now likely will), has decades of foreign policy experience in the Senate. He’s met a lot of foreign leaders. He’s honest and is known by allies.
But will Rubio jell with Vance and other isolationists?
Presumably, Trump must have talked to him about policy and Rubio agreed to carry out Trump’s agenda.
Assuming so, Rubio is a very good choice. If not, there will soon be major problems.
Attorney General – Matt Gaetz – Bad and Ugly
Judging from the cheering on X, many like Gaetz. However, he is woefully unqualified for the job. He only practiced for two years in a small law firm in tiny Fort Walton, Florida. He went into politics two years after law school, getting elected to vacant seat in the Florida state senate.
There’s no indication he ever practiced law after that. And he has no sense of what can be done. Look at House infighting making a farce of their budget demands.
Is that who you really want for Attorney General?
There’s an ugly aspect to this as well.
Gaetz’s only qualification is that he would do whatever Trump wants. But haven’t we had enough of lawfare?
I realize some of you will say they are OK with all of that. Add in sex with minor charges. Who cares.
But the one thing that matters is Trump should have known Gaetz would blow up. And in doing so, there went any hope of mass recess appointments.
Before Getz blew up, I emailed friends with these comments.
Gaetz is largely responsible for all the House infighting that led to the ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Might Trump just want to get rid of Gaetz?
I dismiss the idea because it seems to be a foolish way to accomplish things. But why nominate someone who seems destined to fail?
Gaetz will not be confirmed. That much is clear. And Gaetz is so bad (whether you see it or not) that Senators will look harder at some of Trump’s other choices.
Many will disagree, but Trump should have vetted questionable choices with some Senate leaders. He failed to do so.
Many want Trump to snap his fingers and for everyone to bow down. Gaetz is the sorry result.
Don’t confuse an electoral college blowout with a mandate to be a king. Trump will have to work with the Senate and the House or he will be fuming for four years.
EPA – Lee Zeldin – Excellent
Zeldin is good because he knows the EPA. His objective is to trash it. The bureaucrats can’t dodge him.
Zeldin said his priorities on “day one and the first 100 days” are to “roll back regulations.” Sounds good to me.
We need to undo Green New Stupidity fast, and Zeldin is the man.
Might he go overboard? Yes. If so, Democrats brought this on themselves.
UN Ambassador – Elise Stefanik – Mostly Good
“She will be an incredible Ambassador to the United Nations, delivering ‘Peace through Strength’ and ‘America First’ national security policies!” according to Trump’s team.
She is deeply critical of the UN an has called for a “complete reassessment of US funding” of the organization.
As an isolationist, I agree. But I have serious concerns over her unwavering support for Israel no matter what Israel does.
Secretary of Defense – Pete Hegseth – Good and Bad
On the good side, Hegseth commanded troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He received the Combat Infantryman Badge. He supports soldiers and veterans and has written a book on that.
Also on the plus side, Hegseth is very charismatic and would connect and command the respect of the troops. He would remove woke ideology from the services and service academies.
On the bad side, Hegseth doesn’t have any experience running organizations.
“The bureaucrats would run circles around them. It’s ridiculous to have this guy running a $900 billion enterprise. He’s never run anything. It’s the same with Gaetz,” said one of my insider friends.
And the Pentagon is puzzled because he really does not know anything about defense systems.
Let’s call this one questionable as opposed to terrible. I doubt he is confirmed. But he should have a place somewhere. How about Veteran’s Affairs?
National Intelligence Director – Tulsi Gabbard – Good
Gabbard is combat veteran who currently serves as a U.S. Army Reserve officer.
She served for two years on the House Homeland Security Committee that would have given her access to U.S. intelligence during classified briefings.
That’s on the light side, but in contrast to Gaetz, concerns over Gabbard are mainly from people who’s opinions are almost always wrong.
Here’s a few hoots courtesy of the Washington Post.
“Do you really want her to have all the secrets of the United States and our defense intelligence agencies when she has so clearly been in Putin’s pocket?” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) said on CNN on Thursday.
“Tulsi Gabbard is parroting false Russian propaganda. Her treasonous lies may well cost lives,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) wrote on Twitter on March 13, 2022, after Gabbard’s video about “biolabs.”
In 2019, former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton appeared to refer to her as a “favorite of the Russians” and suggested, without evidence, that Moscow was “grooming” her as a third-party candidate
If the above nonsense is the best rebuttal anyone can do, I am happy with the choice.
She is another isolationist who fits in nicely.
The Hill notes that Gabbard was also critical of Trump while she was still a Democratic House member, calling on CNN America’s assassination of Iran’s top general, Qasem Soleimani, an “illegal and unconstitutional act of war.”
She was right. Trump was wrong.
Also from the Hill … “I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue & stoke anti-white racism, actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms,” she said in a video statement in October 2022.
“Dear Presidents Putin, Zelensky, and Biden. It’s time to put geopolitics aside and embrace the spirit of aloha, respect and love, for the Ukrainian people by coming to an agreement that Ukraine will be a neutral country,” she wrote on Twitter, adding that Ukraine should be allied with neither NATO nor Russia, a decision that she said would “allow the Ukrainian people to live in peace.”
I approve those messages. Now, if she can only get Trump to pardon Edward Snowden.
Will Tulsi be confirmed? I don’t know. As with Hegseth, she’s an excellent person but perhaps cast in the wrong role.
White House Chief of Staff – Susie Wiles – Excellent
Wiles is a very conservative, by the book lady. She’s solid and a great appointment. She will be the first female chief of staff in United States history.
Trump called Wiles the “ice maiden”. As a political operative, “Susie does not f*** around.”
Perfect.
Department of Homeland Security – Kristi Noem – Good
Noem is under fire for shooting her dog because it was untrainable. Before that, she was on Trump’s short list of VP candidates..
She is a good choice in that she will carry out whatever Trump wants.
There won’t be squabbling, and that’s certainly good. I personally hope Trump starts with criminals and new arrivals then takes a pause.
Otherwise, mass deportations could get ugly fast.
Health and Human Services – RFK – Bad and Ugly
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has some major valid gripes about Covid. The rest is bad and ugly.
Kennedy is an anti-vax nutcase. The Wall Street Journal has some comments to consider.
Government health agencies certainly need a shake-up. The National Institutes of Health has become too focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, and it funds much dubious social-science research. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has failed at its core mission while extending its mandate into other areas like gun violence.
The Food and Drug Administration is too slow to approve novel therapies but has also been too slow to pull some medicines from the market when evidence shows they aren’t safe or effective. Bureaucrats apply inconsistent standards for drug approvals that generate suspicion about political favoritism.
Alas, Mr. Kennedy isn’t the person to fix all this, and he could make things worse if he puts government power behind his views. Start with his longtime campaign against vaccines. “There is no vaccine that is, you know, safe and effective,” he told CNN last December. None? Has polio nearly vanished on its own?
He has suggested that “wifi radiation” is increasing autism, food allergies, asthma and chronic illnesses. “I think it degrades your mitochondria and it opens your blood-brain barrier,” he told podcaster Joe Rogan last year.
Mr. Kennedy has blamed chemicals in water and consumer products for every health ill from cancer to gender dysphoria among young people. Genetically modified foods are another RFK Jr. villain. He has proposed that the government create organic-farming communes to treat drug addictions.
“Large-scale hog producers are a greater threat to the United States and U.S. democracy than Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network,” Mr. Kennedy declared in 2002.
Some Republicans have rallied in support of Mr. Kennedy because they think he will make public-health agencies more transparent and weed out alleged collusion between Big Pharma and government. But he lacks the experience and temperament to manage, let alone reform, HHS’s unwieldy bureaucracy. Mr. Kennedy’s expertise is as a gadfly.
A friend, Mark, commented
I have never trusted RFK Jr. since the mercury-in-swordfish panic. He was dead wrong (as we proved by our testing of a frozen prehistoric swordfish). But he still threw his political weight around to destroy that segment of the fishing industry.
All of these political jerks are nothing but walking egos that think they were put on this Earth to receive grand accolades because they saved humanity from some dreamed up global calamity. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Polio, measles, mumps, and smallpox have been eradicated or nearly so.
Kennedy is a fringe gadfly that has no business in an official role.
D.O.G.E – Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy
Trump can do what he wants in Dogeland because the “Department of Government Efficiency” is not a government agency.
Creating a new agency takes an act of Congress.
I hate to burst any bubbles, but I have a question: When has Musk ever delivered any promise on time? He is decades behind on full self driving.
Musk has pledged to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget but the total discretionary spending budget is about $1.7 trillion. Is Musk going to cut $2 trillion from $1.7 trillion?
$100 billion? Anything at all?
Trump said he will not cut Social Security and Medicare, so someone tell me how this will work.
I am all 100% in favor of closing down the Department of Education. Heck, that should be the starting point.
However, Musk has no idea in any meaningful detail how the department interacts with other entities as states and universities. You can’t send an email to Indiana and say we are closing the Department of Education down on Monday. Come pick up some boxes.
It takes an act of Congress to start or shut down a government agency. There are about 450 departments. Anyone care to bet how many get shut down?
If you want to close down Education, then bring back Betsy DeVos. She ran it for four years and wants it shut down. However, she resigned after January 6.
DOGE has no power to do anything but make recommendations. I can do that too. But making recommendations and getting things done are two different things.
Heck, give this dynamic duo a shot. It can’t hurt unless it turns into a clown show. Then again, that’s a very reasonable fear.
Regardless, any actions will be up to Congress.
A Look at the House
Meanwhile, Only 8 House Seats Still Undecided, Remaining Map Favors Democrats
Currently, Republicans have 220 seats. And despite the alleged blockbuster mandate, Republicans may end up with as few as 219 for the next session.
My guess is 221. However, Matt Gaetz resigned after being nominated by Trump for Attorney General. And Trump nominated New York Rep. Elise Stefanik to be ambassador to the UN.
That’s two less Republican votes until those seats are filled. A mere two or three defections could sink any Republican agenda if Democrats remain united.
It’s going to take statesmanship, not petulant demands, to get some things passed this session. House republicans proved that in the ouster of Johnson.
Judgment on Display
If the Senate can block one appointment to Trump’s ire, why not more? I don’t think RFK is possible either, and I hope not.
Trump put his judgment on display. And some of his picks are so excruciatingly bad that it’s safe to say he flunked.
By making at least two awful choices, Trump invited closer looks at the rest.
Art of the Possible
Even if you like Gaetz, he could not possibly get confirmed. Trump should have known this in advance.
Politics is the art of the possible. Trump has made it the art of the impossible. He has already lost a lot of political capital. It didn’t take long.
Trump does not have a working majority in the House, and the incumbent party typically loses seats in the midterm elections.
It’s a bad start and a mess of his own doing.
As for mass deportations, my view remains The Economic Foolishness of “Deport All the Illegal Immigrants” In Three Pictures
Gaetz, according to Greenwald, supported the causes of Snowden and Assange to Trump.
That causes me to give him absolution.
If you can make the case that he is worse than Garland, I may reconsider.
It’s not about being better or worse than Garland!
It’s about whether or not he is qualified for the job. As for pardons, the AG cannot do that. It’s up to Trump.
So, try again
Of course he can’t, I merely pointed out he advocated the causes to Trump, which was more noble than just about anything any of the other possible appointees have done.
As to qualifications for AG, what are the baseline requirements?
Just because he has not marinated at the Justice Department does not mean he is unqualified.
Looking forward to Gaetz’s list of hot 17 year olds in the DC area.
Let’s pick on the US Dept of Education. Split off in 1980 (by Carter), DoEd has succeeded in, well, creating marginal education and spending vast sums doing it.
From a study of 15 year-olds tested as part of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)… The data is for 2022. The source is The Balance. BTW, the 2022 budget was… $637.7 billion, about $400 billion higher than normal thanks to Covid. Money well spent, right?
“…The U.S. scored 465 in math, below the OECD average of 472 and well below the scores of the top five, all of which were in Asia:
Singapore: 575Macao: 552Chinese Taipei: 547Hong Kong: 540Japan: 536China was not included in this ranking because only four provinces participated
The United States scored 499 in science, above the OECD average of 485 but still well below the top five highest scorers in science, which were:
Singapore: 561Japan: 547Macao: 543Chinese Taipei: 537Korea: 528…”Seeing as EDUCATION is the key to economic success, and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math are popular(STEM) , it’s clear to me DoEd is beyond FAILING. It’s an outright f*(king disaster.
Betsy DeVos failed the first time. Who’s next?
A fun exercise, try clicking on the website for innovation.ed.gov:
https://innovation.ed.gov
I think Gaetz is a brilliant choice for a contrary reason. First if there is any chance of a confirmation ,it would put the fear of God in those who need to go in the Justice Department and they might resign. Second, Gaetz is a loose cannon. He emerged as the ringleader of the conservative nut jobs who will destroy everything that could be accomplished if it doesn’t conform 100 per cent to their plans. Gaetz is not Trump so at some point he could be a problem. To be considered for attorney General, he had to resign from congress to stop an investigation. which he did. Problem solved.
It is utterly unserious and dangerous to nominate unqualified or person’s who oppose the mission of a particular government agency. It is one thing to desire reform in a way that is intent on better accomplishing an agency’s mission more efficiently. It is entirely another thing to attempt to “blow up” or otherwise undermine an agency’s ability to accomplish its Congressionally authorized mission.
DOGE is an appropriate acronym because it represents a made up, pointless cryptocurrency and a made up, make believe government agency.
Mish says that he is an isolationist and therefore sees some utility in some of Trump’s unqualified, non-serious appointees because they are isolationists. My question is, when is the last time that the U.S. was isolationist? By my recollection, that would be during the first iteration of “America First” in the late 1930’s. What did this result in? Well, it fostered the isolationist/appeasement sentiment in the UK and France, and this gave Hitler the green light to move into Czechoslovakia and Poland, while executing a bloodless cue in Austria. You can trace the Nazi expansion into Eastern Europe and Hitler’s ability to continue his military build up from 1936 – 1939 to isolationism and appeasement among the eventual WWII allies who paid a heavy price for the America First, France First, and UK First isolationists of that period of time.
At what point does the US NOT get involved in foreign conflict, when it has a Federal deficit of $36 trillion and growing?
We spend more in annual military spending than the next ten largest military spending nations combined. Why to we do this if we are not going to protect our interests around the world? It is in our interest as the worlds largest economy and democracy to promote and defend democracy.
Nate Silver has just been announced as Trump’s pick to head the newly organized Department of Crackheads. In an interview Nate said private polling shows he has a 51% chance of approval among senators with wooden legs or bunions.
in other news Kamala Harris has announced she will begin selling her own brand of upscale boxed wine, called “Simply Kamala” at 479.99 per 2 liter box, future sales are an unknown. So far Ophrah and The Ladies @ The View, have highly praised the vino, and said they love the packaging and the beautifully designed label. New FEC reports make it appear Kamala paid Ophrah 2.5 milion to endorse her wine as well as to host wine tasting of her brand at various airports, bus stations and malls on the Blue Coasts. A portion of sales has been pledged to construct homeless housing from the recycled “Simply Kamala” boxes, which are made of reinforced concrete, giving new meaning to having a good solid drink every now and then.
Joe Biden has offered incoming President Donald Trump storage space for classified documents in his heated garage in Maryland next to his Corvette and away from the furnace and his collection of stuffed dogs. He said Mr. Trump will get the same storage rental rate as he charges the Red Chinese as he explained, “I’ve always actually been a member of the GreenBack Party”.. all checks should be sent to Biden,LLC c/o TheBahamas. This should not be construed as investment advice and past performance is no indicator of future earnings..
just another day in D.C. – the capitol and the comics
Getting rid of McCarthy was a good thing, just as it will be a good thing to get rid of the big RINO Thune. The rule of thumb is the louder the opposition complains about appointments, the better the choice. It’s not lawfare when you’re on the right side of the law.
The food & drug industrial complexes are as corrupt as they come – just look at the health of the country and ingredients in our Big Food supply. Big Health & Pharma are responsible for killing more people than the DOD. Even if you ignore the massive fraud and corruption, the 3rd largest cause of death is medical errors and death toll from the Jab will continues to grow.
There are no consequence to having RFK Jr that could possibly outweigh what I hope he does to Big Food & Pharma, and looking at the markets response to these sectors, the invisible hand agrees. He has been trying to shine the light on these industries and other establishment frauds, like Ukraine, and he as earned the opportunity to demonstrate equal justice.
Trump deserves his picks, and if they mess up, I trust he will not hesitate to fire them.
Did I hear you correctly on Coast to Coast AM the other night telling the bland host
that “illegal aliens are here, working & paying taxes.” Are you advocating for them
despite them breaking the law just because they’re paying taxes? How much do you suppose is sent back home from wages paid “off the books” that isn’t taxed?
It is not possible on 30 seconds to give a complete view. This is what Trump said to the WSJ:
“We have a lot of good people in this country, and we have to do something about it,” Mr. Trump said. “This has been going on for a long time. It’s a complicated subject.” He declined to specify whom he’d deport: “I don’t want to go too much into clarification, because the nicer I become, the more people that come over illegally.” Yet after stringent talk about deterrence, he ended with nuance: “There are some human questions that get in the way of being perfect, and we have to have the heart, too.”
Here is my complete view.
https://mishtalk.com/economics/the-economic-foolishness-of-deport-all-the-illegal-immigrants-in-three-pictures/
Thank you.
Missing from this fine discussion is any review of current HHS Secretary: Xavier Becerra
A do nothing friend of Gavin’s from California waiting for his shot a Governor (he or Harris it looks like; Gavin is termed-out in 2026).
You can bet Xavier is working tireless on behalf of his and his party’s key under-served constituents (immigrants).
HHS Budget: $3,000,000,000,000
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/22/xavier-becerra-immigrant-health-care-470423
Go get ’em RFK!
“Tulsi Gabbard is parroting false Russian propaganda. Her treasonous lies may well cost lives,” Sen. Mitt Romney said
Gaslighting.
Mitt should stick to bankrupting Toys R Us.
Tulsi is an idol here on this blog. Commentators are infatuated with her. She is a troublemaker. Matt Gaetz, if confirmed by Trump during congress recess, will purge opponents.
Regarding Matt Gaetz; it is true he lacks legal experience, and he’s basically your rabid pit bull without a leash; however, motivation might be more important.
If Democrats and Do-Nothings are scared, it might be a good thing… just maybe something will happen besides Congressional committees writing stern letters?
Those who write they despise status quo Washington, claim needs change, certainly having problems with the nominees brought in to do just that.
Not had enough of Garland, Wray, Jack Smith, collusion with local DA’s to target political opposition. Nope just bring in people who are going to do the same thing.
Big Ag wrecking Farmland as that is only way to turn a Buck.
Introducing regenerative farming as a main stay once again as it was for all previous history. Based in Local food production of the Family Farm. Too unimportant to try going with someone who has a commitment to accomplish an enormous task like that.
Even though there are regenerative based farms with thousand acre plus size already profitable.
We want change, just don’t make it so extreme as to be meaningful. After all where would the Nation be if we actually cast an eye on what has been going on and fix it.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly?
Classed by attractiveness:
Good-looking: Rubio, Gabbard, Kennedy, Hegsef, Stefanik, Noem
Bad-looking: Zeldin, Waltz, Wiles, Ratcliff,
Ugly-looking: Homan, Burgam, Gaetz
Elon and Vivek are in a class of their own.
Additions and modifications are welcome.
You find Rubio attractive? My my…
Don’t like the Latin look? My my.
Gaetz is hot with that Conway Twitty hair.
Lloyd Austin at Pentagon a complete mediocrity as a general. From those who knew him. Hegseth smart and practical. Gaetz, stir the pot. You don’t need a deep law practice to run DoJ. Garland has used the DoJ like toilet paper. Lets not kid ourselves. You don’t really need deep experience to run any agency. Smart pragmatic people, coupled with shit canning those below running their own agendas. Look at IC cronies like Hayden, Brennan, Clapper. Rear end kissing scum, not very bright, ruthless and self absorbed. Like a lot of management on Wall Street quite frankly. Shake this mess up, this country needs a great reformation. We’ll see how well the mostly dim witted and beholden senators do.
I think the only qualification Gaetz needs is the guts to expose Deep State criminals. I think he meets that qualification but he probably will not get the chance.
First, you have to find them, and proof of misdeeds. Then, you might be able to expose them–if you live long enough.
One place to start is the Senior Executive Service SES). “Members of the SES serve in the key positions just below the top Presidential appointees. SES members are the major link between these appointees and the rest of the Federal workforce”
SES personnel “…operate and oversee nearly every government activity in approximately 75 Federal agencies.”
Guess what happens when SES members do not agree with the Presidential appointees? NOTHING!
Benign, or cancerous????
Read more about it here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senior_Executive_Service_(United_States)
https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/senior-executive-service/
About 90% are career employees. Draw your own conclusions.
Yet another part of the machinery that makes up the bureaucracy that I have never heard of.
Most people have not heard of it, for good reason. The upper echelon of public ‘servants’ are the overlords. What’s more, they cannot be fired at will. I expect Trump will need to prove criminal acts.
The Wiki article used to include #s, including how Obama vastly expanded it with his peeps. Of course, that little ‘gem’ has since disappeared.
If you look for the ‘Deep State,’ dig here first!
I can’t help but be curious. Is the underlying argument that we actually should just pretend to change things like we always do and let the uniparty get on with managing a temporarily mollified populace? Invariably people with a great deal of experience and “reputation” are the ones who have grown and adapted to whatever the current system is and they usually have a fair bit invested in perpetuating said system. Their solutions are always mere tweaks around the outside edges because vested interests will not support anything which does not support those vested interests and naturally be extension them. We need to undo a tremendous amount of damage to the American dream that has been hijacked by the Neocon crazies in the basement. We need to return government to the rightful owners. I suppose the real question is do we really want the current system to change? Change is hard and disconcerting. Especially to those that profit from the current way of doing things. Bottom line is some folks will lose. Some folks that have been doing things that are illegal and contrary to the interests of America and have committed treason. Others have misappropriated millions and broken laws and will go to prison.
Anyone willing to endanger themselves by changing anything is – as Mike Rogers of Michigan said of Trump – “beneath the character of the office”. Of course, Trump just feted Rogers at Mar a Lago.
Like Willy Clinton, and Tricky Dick?
And to think my 17 year old son likes RFK🥸. Solid assessment overall ty Mish!
“And to think my 17 year old son likes RFK.”
That’s what totalitarian cradle to grave indoctrination does to kids.
Not that “liking” Trump nor Obama (as “leaders.” They can both be fun and charismatic to just be around…) is any different.
Totalitarian government begets totalitarian leadership classes and leaders. That’s why the difference between Trump and Sanders; in any area; are at most at the level of low single single digit percentages. In practice, there is NO difference. While, at the same time, the Chinese are,and will remain, 30% (+- perhaps 3% depending on Trump vs Sanders at either so called “extreme”) ahead.
No amount of playing ostrich while pretending things will somehow different just because another idiot Dear Leader gets to sit and spout nonsense in The White House will make any meaningful difference at all: America is GROTESQUELY uncompetitive. Unless that is SOLVED, by lowering costs and restrictions across the board by at least 50-75%, that’s it.
Thing is: 95% of those 50-75% will have to come by way of reducing the amount of crassly stolen loot being handed to exactly the “ruling classes”: That gaggle of purely negative value add idiots living high despite producing nor contributing NOTHING of value. Instead sitting there collecting rent; having their so called potfoiiiio pumped up by loot stolen from productives; wasting productives’ time in childish ambulance chasing kangaroo courtroom dramas; pretending to be doing something even remotely useful by being handed ever larger “commissions” for doing nothing any average 5 year old could do better; forcing productives to “comply with mandates”; “contracting” for run amuck government blah, blah…. IOW: Being useless deadweights doing everything under the sun, EXCEPT FOR producing valuable output at prices competitive with what Chinese enterprise produce it for without even breaking a sweat
Until those deadweights are all liquidated, such that more competent people can pick up what little pieces are left after the idiots have squandered and destroyed everything they have been handed by way of loot, China will just continue to pull ahead. Further and further. And by the looks of it, faster and faster as well. No amount of childish, Latin tinpot caudillo grandstanding every 4 years, will ever change that.
Merrick Garland and Anthony Fauci had loads of experience.
Fauci was front man for bio warfare complex, both offensive and defensive as is always the case, but here wedded to profit margins as well as DoD and Spooky complex.
When you have been responsible for saving even 1/10 of 1% of the lives that Fauci has saved during his lifetime in service to the public, then and only then can you legitimately criticize.
the epitomes of “unfit for office”
RFK is an excellent choice. The Covid vax killed and injured soooo many. Read all the articles on naturalnews.com from other countries using the same vaxes as the US. Also, we have so much “junk” allowed in our food. This crap isn’t allowed in the EU. We need to increase our standards. We need to figure out why so many kids are autistic. Is this because of vaccines? Why is there so much garbage in these things? There is mercury in the flu shots. They shouldn’t allow items that may cause cancer to be put in our medications/vaccines/shots.
With today’s teachers, most of us would be autistic after one semester.
If Gaetz isn’t confirmed as AG Trump will make him FBI Director after he fires Wray. Regardless of who is AG they will clean house at the DOJ.
That will be hard for the Dems to out-parody, unless they put Whoopi Goldberg as head of the CIA.
I ‘pray’ Matt Gaetz’ first act as AG is to release the tapes and transcripts of Biden’s infamous interview by Robert Hur regarding classified documents.
If the DOJ did NOT commit perjury by substantially changing the testimony in the transcript I’d be very surprised.
At which point, Gaetz will have justified his appointment.
Matt Gaetz will be the new regime change king, replacing Obama’s Hakeem.
Candace Owens explains how Gaetz was framed by the FBI. Gaetz is the perfect candidate to clean house at the FBI . Wray faces a lifetime in court and prison.
https://rumble.com/v5prknz-candace-owens-gaetz-he-absolutely-must-be-confirmed..-theyre-freaking-out.html?e9s=src_v1_upp
Bet $1 that no one goes to prison. Or firing squad. They can clean up a lot but to hold these lizards completely accountable, long shot. Hope that they do.
Assuming this is true, this is a must-see for all Matt Gaetz haters.
I had thought Mish’s repudiation of Dr’s care of prostate cancer and his own successful self-treatment would have pushed him toward RFK.
I still have a bottle of the Brocolli stuff on the shelf. RFK would love Mish’s anti-AMA story.
Netflix was bitten in the ear by Jake Paul. RFK Jr has a turkey chest. Flexibility trumps power, pumping weights and powder. Tulsi has a big mouth. She knows nothing about history of wars. She talks like a military lawyer. Hegseth can manage the US Black/Latino army well.
I knew nothing about Kennedy until recently but your assessment of him seems uninformed. Not your usual style Mish. His focus on food additives and health impacts is well researched and worth listening to. It’s difficult to imagine he could make things worse for an already unhealthy population.
The shameful regulatory capture of the 3 letter US health agencies by pharma and hospitals might be example number one in economic textbooks going forward. They have migrated from their useful function to marketing arms of the health industry. If JFKjr can fix that, I will be satisfied. For certain, he would be no worse than the absent HHS secretary now “serving”.
If Trump had only promised to rid the airways of pharmaceutical advertising, we would be a hell of a lot better off!
“His focus on food additives and health impacts is well researched and worth listening to.”
After all, noone is better positioned to referee medical/”health” “research” than vapid, self promoting ambulance chasers on the make…. Doubly so when they have, like, famous last names and, like stuff, too.
The fact is we need a paradigm shift in our understanding of health. RFK may not be the best person to deal with Fat Pharma, but he is not afraid of confrontation, unlike the weasels in Congress.
Childhood diabetes is on the rise, globally. RFK thinks it might be the food… ya think?
Warning: racist graph attached.
https://naturalsociety.com/wp-content/uploads/diabetes-trends-e1492374280312.jpg
Nine years is only a snapshot. There is better data, but why labor the point.
Our eyes are telling us that something is wrong with our health that is unprecedented and the last thing we need is a head of HHS to be a guy saying everything is fine. The response to Covid that these agencies instituted and managed was horrendously bad. That level of incompetence must not be allowed.
Health problems preceded Covid, of course. However, health issues are plaguing the world generally. Using childhood diabetes as litmus, the results are sickening, and an indictment of the US Department of Health.
“… cross-sectional analysis that included 1 449 897 children, in 2019, there were 227 580 cases of childhood diabetes globally, resulting in 5390 deaths and 519 117 DALYs; and a 39.4% increase in incident cases since 1990…”
DALYs are disability-adjusted life-years
Malaysia and Singapore are winning at diabetes.
Maybe fat shaming works. Obviously, glorifying flab as liberals are currently doing, will only make health worse.. Oh, wait, Fat Pharma can make $trillions with diet drugs.
Your views of RFK are just the same as every other boomer who only watches MSM.
For starters – I watch about 10 hours of TV a YEAR.
Second what the Hell do you not understand about polio, smallpox etc vaccines?
Third he is correct about Covid and I never said otherwise
AIPAC came of rather well, wouldn’t you say? Weapons bound for Ukraine will be re-directed to our little buddy in the middle east and greatest ally.
If Suleimani was alive Kevin could have celebrated. Bibi weaken Hezbollah.
It’s inferior to Druze and christian Maronite forces. They are wanted criminals.
Half of christian Maronite escaped Lebanon and settled in Europe and the US. They voted for Trump. They cannot stand Kamala Harris radical policies. They admire Bibi. An Iranian top diplomat was refuse entry to Lebanon without a search. They found $150 millions for Hezbollah in his suitcases. Hezbollah was the richest terrorist group in the world.
Let’s ask AI. AI knows everything.
“However, he is woefully unqualified for the job. He only practiced for two years in a small law firm in tiny Fort Walton, Florida. He went into politics two years after law school, getting elected to vacant seat in the Florida state senate.”
Gaetz isn’t going to be AJ for his lawyering skills. He’s there as a Pitbull to clean out the joint. And it’s not like the AJ litigates. He or she is simply there to ensure the president’s legal vision is carried out, and that’s exactly what Garland has done and Gaetz will do himself.
It’s time for a boat load of payback and getting the DOJ straightened out.
Hell, Liz Cheney could do the job is she were somehow aligned with Trump.
Now, I don’t think Gaetz is going to be confirmed due to his baggage, unless it comes down to a recess appointment, which I would be fine with. It’s time for the GOP to start playing nasty.
Start?
RFK is not anti vax, did you read his Fauci book? He was against the covid vaxes because they were not adequately tested.
Not to mention that mRNA programs to body’s cells to create the pathogen, in this case the spike protein. Which caused all sorts of problems.
We know Gaetz and RFK are good by the flood of negative news from the msm, this is a sure sign of good when the liberal anti-American media says bad.
Qasem Suleimani invented a new type of colonialism : “colonialism without occupation”. His proxies were stronger than the occupied nations army. They obeyed Suleimani, against their nation interest. Suleimani engineer the cauldron that could have kill Israel. Killing him was too risky for Bibi. It was a gift to Trump.
Most don’t care for the biblical theme park in the middle east, to be honest. Other than those with an ethnic stake in it or the christian wingnuts.
Gaetz and RFK are an equal and opposite reaction to the abuse and lies in corrupting the US legal system (e.g.: the DOJ) and the US health system (e.g.: the CDC). Those two organisations trashed their reputations publicly with dramatic and abusive overreach.
These two picks look like middle fingers to the lawfare and the covidiocy (IT IS NOT A VACCINE, IT IS AN INOCULATION, THAT’S WHY ANTIBODIES DON’T STAY, BECAUSE IT IS SYNTHETIC AND DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY DISEASE MATTER – yours, an Oxford Post-doc who worked on AIDS anti-retrovirals). Perhaps they are prophylactics for the biblical penetration the DOJ and CDC/NIH etc… need?
What is fantastic news for the UK, is the trolling by Trump and Farage of the UK (extremist) Labour Party by dangling a UK-US trade deal if the UK disaligns from the EU, and this comes at a point where Labour is under pressure over tax and economics.
It’s not actually a vaccine, they just changed the meaning of the word vaccine to make it one, it’s an inoculation.
Agree. I remain Covid unvaxxed and pure blooded..
Strange as RFK Jr..was generally right about everything for the most part..and now even a government study is indicating that water with fluoride(ingesting it) can cause blood and brain issues. But OK, armchair skeptics back to covering for corporates again whether they know it or not
100%.
It makes more sense to think of Gaetz and RFK as negotiating positions.
RFK isn’t perfect but is best available counterbalance to Big Pharma. There needs to be much more skepticism of Pharma marketing studies masquerading as science. We can only get to the truth by forcing the right questions to be thoroughly answered. It’s better to be wrong sometimes than to fail to be skeptical.
BTW he was not wrong about polio vaccines not being 100% safe. The early ones were disastrous. There are also a lot of other pharma horror stories that don’t get covered by media due to Pharma being the top advertiser.
I wonder if sales of Kennedy’s book are increasing now? The book was hardly reviewed when released and was actively censored from mention in the “respectable” press as it did a real takedown of demigod Anthony Fauci.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Progressive American Critique of Pandemicism: A Review of ‘The Real Anthony Fauci’
EUGYPPIUS
APR 29, 2023
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health (Skyhorse Publishing, 2021). ISBN: 978-1510766808.
No single work has influenced the American alt-Covid discussion as much as Robert F. Kennedy’s The Real Anthony Fauci, an extended attack on the medical-industrial complex and its purported kingpin, recently-retired National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci. Across 450 pages of narrow margins and densely-set type, Kennedy argues that the entire Covid pandemic unfolded as a second act to the AIDS scare from the 1980s and 1990s. In Kennedy’s view, Fauci played a key role managing both pandemics, to steer massive profits into the coffers of corrupt pharmaceutical companies by pushing harmful proprietary drugs over vastly less profitable but more effective remedies, leading in both cases to untold unnecessary mortality.
…
https://www.eugyppius.com/p/robert-f-kennedy-jr-and-the-progressive
Yes, it’s selling well.
5th best selling book this week on Amazon; 25 weeks on list.
I’d read it … but probably depress me with facts/history.
FWIW, current HHS is a CA Newsome pal waiting for his shot at governor. A total do-nothing.
There used to be 2 polio vaccines in the US. One was stopped because it was proved to cause more polio than it cured. It was not the medical community that got it stopped. I don’t pretend to know how to fix things but we are dealing with massive corruption.
How about a Musk post?
Conflict of interests… you can’t have the owner of X in government, whilst criticising/invetigating/prosecuting people for government compromise of Twitter.
It’s an unpaid advisory only. He will say where to cut and the axman who cuts will be a government employee.
It would kill all the political capital he gained by revealing the leftist corruption and capture of it… two wrongs don’t make a right.
You could say same for major shareholder in DJT. I do not think owning a business is a disqualifier for public service.
That’s not just any business is it, don’t be disingenuous.
Its not a government agency. Boom.
What’s wrong with picking Matt Gaetz? At most he is a serious pedophile (as per McCarthy). But then the president-elect is a convicted felon and a sexual predator. Thus, Gaetz may even add some diversity to the cabinet. I am much more concerned about RFK Junior. That appointment could kill at least another half a million Americans for no good reason (I am comparing US and Canadian Covid fatalities per 100,000 population).
Inform yourself better on the issue. Here is one place to start.
Kansas AG Kris Kobach accuses Pfizer of misleading vaccine marketing in lawsuit
AG Kobach says that Pfizer marketed the vaccine as safe in terms of heart conditions such as myocarditis and pericarditis. He referenced a question Albert Bourla, Pfizer CEO was asked in January 2023 of if the vaccine caused severe myocarditis, to which Bourla responded “we have not seen a single signal, although we have distributed billions of doses.”
“However, as Pfizer knew, the United States Government, the United States Military foreign governments and others have found that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine caused myocarditis and pericarditis,” Kobach said.
https://kansasreflector.com/2024/06/17/kansas-ag-kobach-accuses-pfizer-of-misleading-vaccine-marketing-in-lawsuit/
And another aspect.
Will Washington solve the problem of the revolving doors between Big Pharma and government regulators. This is the primary reason federal agencies are paralyzed by corporate interests and remain negligent in their protective roles.
Americans are also barraged with a one-sided view about the benefits of pharmaceuticals. The United States is one of two countries in the world where prescription drugs can be advertised. This inappropriate promotional effort has a secondary consequence; news and information about pharmaceutical issues cannot be trusted when coming from networks dependent on this huge source of income.
Efforts to initiate meaningful change to the current system continue to be dismissed by mainstream news media. Big Pharma’s concerns about earnings overshadow what is best for patients. Profitable symptomatic drugs dominate treatment while funding research to understand the underlying causes of illness is secondary.
And another.
Many food additives turn out to be extremely harmful, with links to every single chronic health condition you could care to name, from cancer and obesity to neurological and behavioral conditions like Alzheimer’s and autism. Tartrazine, which is found in Twinkies, Mountain Dew, candy, and cereals, among other foods, has been linked to hyperactivity in children and cancer.
In the European Union, foods containing tartrazine must carry a warning label: “May have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.”
The GRAS system, “generally recognized as safe” was first introduced by the FDA in 1958 after the passage of the Food Additive Amendments, to “grandfather” through additives that were already used in food.
The new additive regulations were intended to ensure ingredients capable of causing long-term harm never entered the food supply. The GRAS designation mutated into a system that allowed companies to introduce and safety-test additives themselves without
FDA oversite.
This happened in part because the FDA simply couldn’t keep up with demands from companies to test their new additives for the processed-food industry. So companies started testing additives themselves and adding them to their food products without any consultation with the regulator.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/food-additives-exposed-what-lies-beneath-americas-food-supply
Please explain why “red counties” with lower take up of the Covid vaccines had significantly more Covid fatalities than “blue counties” with higher vaccine take up. And please explain why so many more Americans died of Covid than Canadians (per 100,000 population).
Sure …it’s a good question and people need to understand differences:
It’s suprising I couldn’t find a summary reference. Here’s one for point 3.
https://i.cbc.ca/1.5553225.1588373962!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_1180/chart-on-deaths.jpg
Great Barrington Declaration was the road not taken (but was the right road).
I think those are the data for the early Covid phase way before the availability of vaccines. The final count (per million of population) was about 3,000 for the US vs. 1,100 for Canada. Clearly, there was no good reason for 1 million Americans to die.
(1) red counties are demographically older – more people at higher risk. Mish even had a map of that here a month or two ago.
(2) Americans are overall worse on zillions of health metrics. And for that matter live closer together than Canadians, increasing virus transmission rates.
At minimum, to prove your case you would have to actually do some serious analysis.
(2) may well be a good reason explaining why more Americans died from Covid than Canadians. But can worse health metrics of Americans really explain why almost 3 Americans died for one Canadian? Anyway, I don’t have the credentials to do the kind of analysis you are referring to.
Don’t want to rehash COvid but the definition of what constitutes a Covid death was BS.
If someone went into the hospital for some other problem such as a heart attack but caught Covid in the hospital and died, possibly from their long existing heart problems and not from Covid, they were still classified as having died from Covid. And autopsies were rarely being done.
See:
Living life on a nylon line, swallowing the entire hook, line and sinker.
Your portrait of RFK is not a good faith effort.
He has repeated ad nauseum that he is not anti-vax and does not want to abolish them. He just thinks there should be honest transparent research available, and he himself documents his scientific sources meticulously.
RFK started by taking environmental cases, but was drawn to the food/medicine cluster by the abuse of power, money, influence, and corruption that rule where impartial science should rule.
Perhaps you have a theory that explains the exponential explosion of chronic disease in the American population if not environmental? While you’re at it, why is there a roughly 17% increase in mortality since March 2021 in OECD countries?
Someone once said, “We always get the government we deserve”. Let the fun and games begin! I am looking forward to our new Golden Age and all the opportunities it provides to improve my wealth.
May I suggest MTG for dismantling Education? Or maybe we could put her in charge of that weather machine she was talking about.
RFK will make us all much healthier. Hopefully he gets everyone in the nation to start an exercise program. I’m a big believer in exercise.
Also looking forward to Musk saving us 2 trillion a year. Go DOGE!
Still Long Natural Gas stocks!
The photo says it all! [lol]
Woohoo! Gym memberships for all! 10% reduction in your taxes for running a marathon. How many marathons have you run?
ten times more than you, probably.
Not as long as me, buddy. I’m 10x on you.
As long as the nominee is not openly advocating for the physical and chemical castration of children and running a psyop on Americans trying to convince them that Dr. Mengele as a great man, I am in favor of that nominee. RFK, tear it all up. The first premise of medicine is do no harm, not turn a buck.
Well I guess we will find out whether replacing swamp creatures with unqualified wackadoodles makes any difference.
I am tring to convince my neighbor to ride our bicycles to St. Francis, KS and back in 3 days with spousal support in Ft Morgan, CO for two days. He is from San Fransico, and a strong rider. I want to show him how empty the land is.
Watch out, he may think “see, there’s plenty of land to bring in the entire Southern Hemisphere. We need more restaurants to serve roast cuy.”
Land is usually empty for a reason, such as no natural resources, no water, inability to support a larger population, no infrastructure, no jobs, etc.
I don’t think Trump will try the maneuver of adjourning Congress. If I’m right, then it will take 50 senators to adjourn. If they can’t round up 50 to confirm Gaetz, they also won’t get 50 to vote to adjourn and let Trump do all the recess appointments he wants. So, Gaetz probably won’t get confirmed. Hopefully Trump has someone just as hard-assed warming up in the bullpen. If Gaetz does get through, that’ll be OK by me. DOJ needs to be purged from top to bottom.
Rubio as Sec of State: not my fave, but at least he voted against the last tranche of the Ukraine slush fund. RFK, Jr: Fine with me. The worst virus is censorship and he’s against it. Tulsi as DNI: excellent. Ratcliffe to head CIA: probably good. Stefanik at the UN: way too pro-Israel, but so is the US, so why pretend otherwise? Hegseth as Sec Def: sounds like a lunatic warmongering Israel-firster – just like Trump’s Nat’l Security Advisor, Mike Waltz. Huckabee and Witkoff: barf.
Hopefully someone will ask Hegseth how we’re going to go to war all over the world with our aircraft carriers at the bottom of the ocean.
A President can get whoever he wants in whatever position he wants, IF he wants. From recess appointment to The Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, he has many ways to install who he wants.
Hell, he could simply relieve everyone of their position until that last employee standing like The Janitor can get it by default. There are some barriers like time limits they can serve, but those are easily overcome as well.
To mant bites to eat just now, but overall, Tulsi is in, The US wins.
Canada has elected a part time drama teacher, and ,Ursula nominated head of eurocracy, is hardly good at anything.
Is there a rule that only lower ranks should have the experience needed for the job?
” Fortune often redresses the height of office by the inferiority of the holder.” Balthasar Gracian.
” You can’t send an email to Indiana and say we are closing the Department of Education down on Monday. Come pick up some boxes.”
Yes, you CAN! THAT is exactly what is needed.
Get these things closed down fast. Otherwise it becomes a ‘Yes Minister’ fiasco to nowhere.
Where there’s a will there’s a way.
Come pick up your boxes is exactly the right mentality for a change.
We got by for 250 years without a DOEd. Education is local. Yes you can wipe out the Feds in one day.
Not going to say Gaetz is great, or has a good choice of friends (Kennedy-eque) but lets look at the allegations of “sex trafficking”.
The path begins with a convicted felon, turned State’s witness, Joel Greenberg. No credibility; plus some “unnamed women”. Anyone heard on MSM or even Fox?
Enjoy the blurb as he worked on his plea deal to 33 charges.
https://apnews.com/article/us-news-orlando-florida-01334259e79bfd2e602c472925103a7a
Thanks for taking time to share the link. I didn’t know anything about this. Maybe I’m missing something? It reads to me like the AP is stretching to imply guilt by tenuous association with that other guy.
I believe this was the genesis of the allegations … note the AP story is 3 years old.
Nothing came of the allegations but still… they are ALLEGATIONS of SEX TRAFFICKING! oh my gosh! This cannot be allowed!
Mollie Hemingway, who is bright, at the Federalist had a nice piece on how Gaetz was set up. Oh no, they cant do that! How about 30+ felony “convictions” for a crime that was a misdemeanor, run out on statute of limitations, brought to life like Frankensteins creature if it was in furtherance of another federal felony which was never charged, tried or convicted, hence a fiction, whose judge told jurors take your pick of any three possibilities to convict, and which will surely be thrown out on appeal, if not before by Merchan who was told beforehand that Trump will never win. Two fake impeachments. Smith, Fanni, etc. ad absurdum.
The Gaetz pick is smart maneuvering from Trump’s point of view. If Gaetz is somehow confirmed then Trump gets a lapdog in charge of the DOJ. If Gaetz is rejected then Trump rids himself of an annoyance in the house. In the meantime Trump gets a massive loyalty test right at the start to see who will slavishly vote for his dumbest demands.
Actually, if Trump looses Gaetz to the Senate confirmation process, I bet ya he has a deal worked out with DeSantis to put him in little Marcos old Senate seat.. LMAO.. Brilliant
I like it! And put Lara Trump as AG! 🙂
Maybe Pam Bondi of Florida? Proven Trumpster I believe.
Eric Holder : “I am Obama’s wing man”. Merrick Garland … Chuck Schumer’s puppet, or to be more explicity, Lisa Monaco / Obama’s puppet.