The Puppet Show

Blog#223- 11/19/23

THE PUPPET SHOW
By
Richard Davis

It’s quite clear that the incoming president intends to dismantle as many established institutions as he can. When you consider the people he has nominated for his cabinet it is impossible to find anyone who is even remotely qualified for the job. My first reaction was laughter, but when I gave it more thought I realized that we are witnessing the creation of a puppet government.

If you want to destroy existing government the best thing to do is to hire incompetent people to help run it. These people are so weak, in terms of character as well as qualification, that Trump will be able to have complete control over them. They are all sycophants and they have made it clear that they will do whatever their master requires of them. They all owe him big time.

Of all of the nominations, a few stand out as particularly dangerous. Matt Gaetz has been accused of inappropriate relationships with minors and of having a habit of drug abuse. The House Ethics Committee was investigating him but once Trump nominated him for Attorney General he quit the House and that ended the investigation.

Even loyal Trumpers and other Senate Republicans are asking for disclosure of details of the Gaetz investigation, but House Speaker Johnson is hiding behind precedent and will not release them. The nomination of Gaetz is a clear signal that Trump has no intention of respecting any of the rules of law governed by the Attorney General. He plans to use Gaetz as his personal lawyer to go after anyone he considers an enemy.

If Gaetz has to go through a normal nomination process it is unlikely he will pass muster. But there are hints that Trump will try to bypass congress and appoint some cabinet members during a recess when votes are not needed. If that happens no one will be safe from frivolous prosecution.

Then there is the equally absurd nomination of Robert Kennedy Jr. to head the department of Health and Human Services. He would have a great deal of control over all of this country’s health care institutions, such as the CDC. Kennedy has no health care background and his only qualification, in Trump’s mind, is his opposition to the use of vaccines and his conspiracy theories about diseases that have no scientific basis. If Kennedy becomes a cabinet member a lot of people could suffer and die needlessly from the disease of misinformation.

Then there is Chris Wright, the nominee for Energy Secretary. According to the New York Times, “Mr. Wright is the chief executive of Liberty Energy, a Denver-based fracking company. He has no government experience and caught the attention of Mr. Trump in part through his appearances on Fox News.” Wright has made public statements saying the there is no climate crisis. Who knows what evil direction he will move energy policy.

Elise Stefanik, nominee for U.N. Ambassador, has almost no foreign policy experience. But she has been one of the most visible Trump ass kissers in the past few years. Trump has no respect for the work of the U.N. and he has made that clear by nominating yet another unqualified person for an important post.

If most of these nominees are confirmed Trump will be able to get them to do whatever he wants. They are all beholden to him and he will probably not let them forget it. It is possible that some of the departments these people might control could fall apart during a Trump administration. If that happens the White House amasses more power and that means that the next election may never happen. These are strange times and we need to think about worst case scenarios, because they are already playing out.