This is Going to Get Worse Part 2
LAST MINUTE EDIT: Life has been hectic and there has been a lot of breaking news while I’ve been updating this. Most notably, Matt Gaetz has withdrawn from consideration for Attorney General and Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth’s police report has been released. I will warn that what is described in this report is a rape. If accurate, Pete Hegseth is the sort of man who brings date rape drugs to a women’s conference and must not be in charge of the US military.
I have a lot to say about the election but I want to continue looking at some of Trump’s nominations tonight.
RFK Jr. is Trump’s pick to run Health and Human Services. People will die if this man runs healthcare in the United States. Entire books have been written about how wrong Kennedy’s science views are. He has no medical or public health training of any kind. I know a number of people in this field who are terrified of the damage he can cause. Kennedy is America’s foremost anti-vaccine advocate - a medical wonder that has saved hundreds of millions of lives, possibly over a billion. Vaccines are the most important and successful medical development in human history. RFK Jr. has said there are no safe vaccines (and later lied, claiming he never said that) and lied about vaccines causing autism. Kennedy said the virus that causes Covid-19 was engineered to kill white and black people while sparing Chinese people and Ashkenazi Jews. He has pledged to use the government to investigate “chemtrails” which are simply lines of water trailing jet engines. He wants to end water fluoridation, another incredibly successful public health initiative. He is an HIV denialist who has said there is no proof linking the HIV virus to AIDS. He’s stated gay men in the 1980’s were getting AIDS because they used over the counter drugs called poppers. There is no evidence of this. He also thinks gay and transgender people exist because of chemicals in the water. He has said Wi-Fi causes cancer. In addition to his numerous anti-science conspiracy theories, RFK is a serial adulterer (like Donald Trump) and has been accused of sexual assault (like Donald Trump). I’ll reiterate he has no medical or public health education of any sort and his medical beliefs come almost entirely from the domain of conspiracy theories. Which makes him a perfect fit for a second Donald Trump administration but also makes him potentially the most dangerous man in the country.
RFK is not the only horrible public health nominee. Dr. Memet Oz has been nominated to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Though a successful cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. Oz is most known for his television career where he has promoted all manner of quack science. Like so many other nominees, he has no experience whatsoever running large organizations. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya has been nominated to run the National Institutes of Health. Bhattacharya was one of the architects behind the plan to let Covid-19 run wild in the population rather than rely on slowing the spread of the virus and vaccinations. Far more people would have died. And while he has not been formally nominated yet, Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo is being looked at for a top healthcare spot - possibly Surgeon General or CDC Director. Ladapo is another anti-vaccination doctor who was also against masking. Ladapo recently was rebuked by a court for telling Florida TV stations they were not legally allowed to run ads against Florida’s proposed abortion ban in a blatant violation of the 1st amendment.
In his first term, Trump often lamented that his Attorneys General did not act as his personal lawyer. He was never capable of understanding those in his administration worked for the country and not for him. He will solve that issue in his second term as he has nominated several of his personal lawyers to top positions. Todd Blanche as Deputy Attorney General, Emil Bove as Associate Deputy Attorney General, and John Sauer as Solicitor General. Blanche and Bove represented Trump in the case where he was ultimately convicted of dozens of felonies. The judge chastised Blanche for inappropriate conduct multiple times in the trial. Sauer represented Trump in his 1/6 case and is the lawyer who argued that the president may assassinate rival politicians and remain immune from prosecution.
Tulsi Gabbard was nominated to be Director of National Intelligence. Gabbard has zero experience in intelligence but like most Trump nominees, he has selected her because she’s said nice things about him on TV. Gabbard blamed NATO for the invasion of Ukraine and has downplayed the war crimes committed by Syria’s Bashar al-Assad.
Linda McMahon was nominated to run the Department of Education. Unlike most Trump nominees, she has experience here. Though she lied about her credentials, she DID briefly serve on Connecticut’s Board of Education and was the head of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term. Why are we listing her here? Another sex scandal. McMahon is named in a lawsuit over 5 plaintiffs who say they were sexually assaulted by WWE employees.
Russ Vought has been nominated to run the Office of Management and Budget. Vought previously served in the role under the first Trump administration. He is one of the architects of Project 2025. With the incredibly bad approval numbers for the project, the Trump campaign said they would not be nominating anyone involved with it. They lied as they have now nominated multiple Project 2025 members. Vought openly considers himself a “Christian nationalist” and is one of the leading people behind the push for massive firings of civil servants to replace them with Trump loyalists.
There are more nominees I’m not touching on here but by and large, these are people who are massively unqualified for their positions which is the goal here - not running the government successfully, but running it to serve the chaotic and dangerous whims of Donald Trump.
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