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Should a Miracle Happen…
Suffice it to say that I’m not on “Team Trump.” I think that nominating the former president is the surest way to give the Democrats a landslide not seen since the 1984 beat-down Reagan gave Mondale. But for ships and goggles, let’s say the Revenge Tour actually works, and we’re looking at Trump 2.0. Who would actually serve in a second (and instant lame duck) administration? Better yet, who could actually get past the US Senate?
And you can’t make up new positions. So Laura Loomer can not serve as Secretary of Bat Guano Crazy.
Published in General
Kari Lake as WH communications director (spokesperson). Kristi Noem to head HUD. Ramaswamy takes over Education vowing to abolish the department, and his job, within two years and declares himself as “Trump’s Fist”. Trump announces that Elon Musk has agreed to a year of service, possibly more, in the non-cabinet post of Director of Economic Reconstruction, effectively replacing the secretaries of Commerce and Energy. Newt Gingrich is appointed as head of an organizing committee to build popular support for a Constitutional Convention. Marjorie Taylor Greene as UN Ambassador.
I say she cannot be confirmed.
Elon isn’t happening either. You’re not allowed to make up positions.
Possibly some of the people who served before. Or people who don’t think that a political career is the point of service.
That problem has little to do with Trump and everything to do with Dem obstructionism to anything Republican.
Aww! He’s sticking to the rules! Waaa!
It has everything to do with Trump. Presidents usually get deference on their cabinet picks. A re-elected Donald Trump will not. Especially if he’s picking from his inner circle of sycophants.
Remember, the promise here is that you’re electing him to “drain the swamp.” The Swamp is going to fight back. And the Swamp has more tools in the Constitutional Tool Box than Trump.
Perhaps another question is who will fill the roles in the second year of the administration, after the first batch rotates out.
Somebody has to. (And my rules!)
Which represents the will of half of the country. Too many voters think the eliminating the Department of Education means an end to public schools, replaced by Christofascist private academies. Or at least it means starving teachers and schools that can’t afford to replace broken windows in winter. They think that the most molecular-level aspect of life – instruction of individual children – requires intervention and guidance from the most elephantine institution we have, the Federal Government. It is unlikely this shallow and unexamined idea will change.
Perhaps a better idea is leaving it in place and bending it in another direction. Curriculum mandates on civics, shop class, home ec, and financial literacy; JFK-style physical fitness programs; banning illustrated sex-manual comics for middle-schools, and so on.
That would mean every teen boy gets a hooker by the pool and a flag-football photo shoot on the front lawn of “the compound.”
You’re a couple of generations too late.
But bless your heart
Do you really believe that the norms will be restored? That these beasts with a taste for Republican blood will go back to their earlier diet because it was all about Trump all along?
You’re no fun EJ.
What needs to be done has been known for decades. So I don’t know if I’m bored or infuriated by your list.
I’ve watched the degradation of public school first hand since 1976. It’s not a mystery. Everyone knows what is needed.
At a minimum, a bare minimum, the FEDERAL Dept of Education needs to be disbanded.
Well, all right, I’m glad to see some creative thinking about reaching young men at a cultural time when they feel devalued! I know you meant it sarcastically, but I can’t help but think this would pay political dividends for the GOP. “One political party put your libido into lockdown. Another one gave you the best night of your life. Vote for life. Vote GOP on November 5”.
I’d settle for defunded/neutered.
Let them run experimental schools or pay for studies.
Let them not set policy, neither let them direct funds for disadvantaged, etc. students. See also pretty much any other department which takes money in and ‘grants’ it back to states for compliance with policies.
Pass a law or [redacted].
I’ll play. First off, going to assume Kari Lake is in the Senate. Some of these will be, eh, not “strange,” but not of political pedigree. In general, I want to leave elected officials where they are.
Secretary of State – Peter Thiel. PayPal Mafia might have some representation here. Thiel has the temperament, not sure he’d accept.
Chief of Staff – Dan Bongino. He’s seen the inside of the Executive Branch and that’s where the action will be, rather than Congress. He has the energy and the drive. I think if asked he’d give it serious consideration, but might not enjoy it.
Attorney General – Ted Cruz. It’s one of the high profile spots, otherwise let him continue in the Senate. The position won’t be diminished even if the dominion is reorganized.
CDC Director – Robert Malone. I don’t think anyone wants to get the politics out of medicine and science more. He’s not a Republican, but makes common cause.
CIA Director or DNI – Richard Grenell. No brainer here, but I like him on campus more than in the West Wing. He’ll clean things up better and refocus the mission from a closer seat.
Council of Economic Advisors – Elon Musk. Doesn’t have to quit his day job.
Energy – Byron Donalds. I’m loath to remove him from Congress, but he’d be good.
And I’ll stop there and take my lumps.
Elon Musk loves China too much to be trusted, as far as I’m concerned.
In other words it will be business as usual under a Dem administration.
I like these, especially Ted Cruz. Just think of all the unemployed lawyers.
The federal government merely hands out education grants. It has no authority over the curriculum.
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) said that states had to have some sort of standardized tests in order to receive grants. (That changed under the Obama administration, and I believe they no longer have to test their students, although most still do. But I don’t remember the exact nature of those changes.) Under NCLB, states were free to develop their own tests.
If states wanted to save money by using the federal curriculum and standardized tests instead of their own, they could do that. But no state was required to. Unfortunately, most states took the money and used the federal government’s curriculum and tests. They did that to save money that could then go into the teachers’, administrators’, and support staffs’ pay and benefits as bargained for by their unions.
Getting rid of the department of education at the federal level therefore would not accomplish much in fixing education. The fix has to be made at the state and local levels.
When Massachusetts went through its education reform movement in the 1990s, one town was wealthy enough and determined enough to rid its schools of both federal and state interference. It refused to take any money from either government. It was a very wealthy town populated with tech company executives. I’ve forgotten which town it was–it might have been Lexington or Lincoln-Sudbury. At any rate, on the SATs, the kids as a group outperformed every other school system in the country. It was a phenomenal result.
It was interesting to me because if the kids aren’t learning the stuff that’s on the College Board’s standardized tests–that is, if a school goes off on its own to pursue its own interests and subjects– then how can those kids succeed on a test based on content they were never taught? I think the answer is that the SATs are tests of reasoning power, not academic achievements. The kids in this independent high-performing school district were well prepared to reason themselves out of any problem, and that is the sole purpose of education–to teach kids how to think, not what to think.
I wish all states and towns would follow this model. Don’t take the money! :) :) Stand on your own two feet.
Speaking of miracles, let’s suppose DeSantis deftly nudges Trump out without alienating his millions of hard-core supporters (meaning not all the millions of supporters, but the maybe 5-10 million of his hard-core supporters) and is somehow is able to avoid the slings and arrows fabricated by the Attack Media as “worse than Trump” (mark my words) and avoid trickery and malfeasance from the Deep State (* if he’s actually serious about Intel reform) and wins.
Who will be in his Cabinet?
Jeb Bush Immigration
Max Boot Sec Defense
Chris Christie Attorney General
Bill Kristol Chief of Staff
VP Nikki Haley
As far as I’m concerned these people are looney because they are living in a world that no longer exists. What may have been ‘sane’ 20 years ago, and that’s questionable itself , doesn’t mean their approach now will be effective and not counterproductive creating a ratcheting effect for the next cycle.
The media and the deep state are the fundamental problems. If they aren’t dealt with, nothing will change. Perhaps we will have a temporary respite from governmental authoritarianism, or more likely a stagnation that will be quickly reinvigorated and amped-up by the next Democrat administration.
I would like to avoid WWIII. I actually think Trump can help us avoid it. He is in a unique position that few acknowledge. Similar to Dennis Rodman turning out to be our best diplomat to North Korea. Crazy, right? Well the world is crazy.
All joking and facetiousness aside, I think we are screwed either way, and this post is an exercise in a kind of internecine smuggery, which I admit to being a willing participant.
*We will know how serious he is about Intel reform by, well…. whether he wins or not. If he loses, he may well have been serious. If he wins, he likely wasn’t.
I have worried about this too. People have come up with some names with which I’d be comfortable, but I am wondering whether all would be willing to serve after what happened in 2020 and since. The minute they go against Trump, they will be villified and insulted. Do we want an administration of yes men?
And all civil service unions destroyed. Civil servants serve the people. The people do not exist to serve the civil servants and their unions.
Good points but also not effective. There’s no way, with the current system in place any of this would or could ever happen. Republican incrementalism has been proven to be a complete failure.
If this kind of approach is undertaken, will likely get transgender home ec, gay shop for boys sculpting wooden dildoes, symp-communist financial literacy, and civics class instruction on ballot stuffing and community organizing.
In other words, Democrats allow Republicans to pretend they are reforming things and they simply sneak-in and all their cultural goals. GOP types get a ‘win’ in rhetoric but never in substance.
I align myself with your position here.
Trump actually knew how to deal diplomatically with our enemies. His detractors were mortified! “No, you’re supposed to speak angrily yet carry no stick!”
Huge swaths of Republicans will vote for Kyrsten Sinema before that happens.
Starting in 2025 the CDC Director needs confirmation from the Senate. So, that ain’t happening.
That could happen. His fellow senators would relish the idea of ending his elected status and getting him out of the Club.
“Internecine smuggery” Another working definition of “primary.” But it’s really not. What percentage of Trump supporters do you think are in this for the “revenge porn” aspect of it all and, should there be a miracle of miracles, will wake up on the first Wednesday of November and say, “Now what do we do?” My real fear is that one of those people will be Donald Trump.
I understand the reasons why you think so, but he might have a strong advocate in Rand Paul and the two of them would make a contentious confirmation hearing…interesting. The hearing alone might accomplish a few things.
Dr. Malone, however, might not want to take the time away from his horses, and I wouldn’t either.
The cabinet is not in the constitution. Leave all the posts empty and have the President exercise executive power himself. He can convoke a Committee of Public Safety to advise him that requires no Senate approval. I am aware this doesn’t answer the question.
The job of the President of the United States is to “faithfully execute” the laws passed by Congress. Ignoring laws to establish and appoint heads of various cabinet-level departments is not an option. However, I can see where Trump supporters might like the idea of the President as Sovereign and not the Executive.
“Darling, I’ve been invited by president-elect Trump to serve as Secretary of Making Things Better in the new administration. Should I accept?”
“Well, sweetheart, that title would look good on your résumé.”
“Yes, light of my life, it would indeed. I’m still planning on ending my career with a partnership at Sue, Grabbit, and Runne, and you know how keen they are on giving sinecures to clapped-out politicians and date-expired government officials. Not that I’d be either of those, of course, far from it. Still got a few good years in me, I think.”
“Of course you do, my peach, but I see some risks. Many Trump appointees now revile and despise the man. This might have something to do with the millions in legal fees they’ve been saddled with once they’ve left office. Some have had to declare bankruptcy, I hear. Strange that a so-called billionaire doesn’t help them out, isn’t it? Another concern is the invective and vitriol you’ll be subjected to if you end up on Trump’s wrong side. It doesn’t take much, really it doesn’t: a dismissive comment on his notoriously deceitful golf scores, observing that after running one of them he still can’t name the three branches of government—anything even the tiniest bit critical will do. You’re so honest there’s a real chance you’ll end up as a Trump target no matter how loyal you’ve been. And I could too, because he’s not above insulting the wives of those he hates.”
“I’d like to see him try, my little sausage. I’d be forced to horsewhip the man, so help me. So it’s money and honor, then. I’m going to have to think about this some more.”