Outside the Beltway

Outside the Beltway

More Bad Appointments

Not Gaetz and Hegseth bad, but still, pretty bad.

Steven L. Taylor
25

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Via The Hill: Trump to nominate Mehmet Oz for CMS administrator.

Like Kennedy, Oz has no experience running a massive bureaucracy. CMS operates Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and the federal Healthcare.gov ObamaCare exchange. 

Between all four programs, CMS oversees health coverage for more than 150 million people.

Buy, hey, he was on the TV!

Via Inside Higher Ed: Trump to name McMahon education secretary, CNN reports.

What could go wrong?

These are clown show picks, to put it kindly.

Also, via the BBC: Trump picks ex-congressman and Fox host as transport secretary. You know, more people from the boob tube, which is where all the good cabinet secretaries come from.

“The husband of a wonderful woman, Rachel Campos-Duffy, a STAR on Fox News, and the father of nine incredible children, Sean knows how important it is for families to be able to travel safely, and with peace of mind,” the president-elect said.

Before beginning his career in public service, Duffy was a prosecutor and a reality TV star, appearing on several shows including The Real World: Boston, and Road Rules: All Stars.

In 2011, he was elected as a Republican to represent Wisconsin in the US House of Representatives, where he served until 2019.

The good news is that these aren’t the kind of picks that put a pit in my stomach, so there’s that, I guess. But that is just a comparative metric to things like Tulsi Gabbard for DNI.

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25 responses to “More Bad Appointments”

  1. Scott Avatar
    Scott

    There is no strategy here. It just shows utter contempt for all Americans. That is all there is to it.

    9
  2. Steve V Avatar
    Steve V

    It’ll be four years of them just kicking sand in the face of the country and nothing else

    6
  3. Argon Avatar
    Argon

    It speaks volumes that these people would accept these positions and think that they could do a good job. The Dunning-Kruger administration.

    9
  4. Moosebreath Avatar
    Moosebreath

    I guess Trump likes Fox News again.

    3
  5. DrDaveT Avatar
    DrDaveT

    @Argon:

    The Dunning-Kruger administration.

    This. Or, rather, whatever the equivalent of D-K is that mistakes Reality TV for reality. Get ready for Joanna Gaines as HUD secretary. If Jay Silverheels were still alive, he’d now be head of the BIA.

    3
  6. Mikey Avatar
    Mikey

    @Steve V: “There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always— do not forget this, Winston— always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless.
    If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face— forever.”

    9
  7. charontwo Avatar
    charontwo

    @Moosebreath:

    The common thread here is “seen on TV.”

    Just taking the GOP emphasis on message manipulation to the next level.

    3
  8. Assad K Avatar
    Assad K

    I’d say there’s a couple of ideas McMahon supports that on the face of it, aren’t bad. Like increased access to vocational training. But I’m quite sure that there are considerably more terrible ideas.

    1
  9. Matt Bernius Avatar
    Matt Bernius

    Two thoughts on that higher ed article:

    Picking McMahon, a wealthy executive with little experience in education, is a move reminiscent of Trump’s first term, when he appointed Betsy DeVos as education secretary. DeVos, a billionaire philanthropist known for her support of school choice, voucher programs and charter schools, was a controversial candidate whose confirmation required then–vice president Mike Pence to cast a tie-breaking vote in her favor.

    I mistakenly thought that Pence was required to break the tie because this was during the time of the 50/50 senate split. But it wasn’t–Collins and Murkowski voted against DeVos. It’s a reminder that even with intra-party resistance to a nominee, they have historically made it through.

    The other portion was the issue around extending Pell Grants to include short term certificate and job training programs. For the record I think it’s a good idea. And also there is still a challenge with it. From the article:

    The bill, which would expand eligibility for federal Pell Grants to students enrolled in short-term credential programs, was blocked by Democrats but faces a much easier path to becoming law in the new Congress. Critics worry that in lieu of increases in overall Pell funding, expanding the program would deplete funds for students pursuing four-year degrees.

    In the Hill piece, McMahon argued that Pell funding for credentials like coding boot camps would “create high-paying jobs for more Americans.” A report published Monday on a federal short-term Pell pilot program found that it did not lead to higher employment or earnings for participating students.

    I can report, as I type this in a hotel room in Memphis, this is the pattern that we are seeing on the ground. There are a lot of amazing workforce development programs that are getting talented folks through this training. Unfortunately, the gap to getting them into jobs is still a huge issue. The most common thing applicants hear is “while you have the certificate, you don’t yet have any on-the-job experience.”

    It’s a great example of a situation where there needs to be a multi-pronged solution. Simply increasing access to certificates is not enough–and worse, if it’s only partial funding for those programs–you are risking putting people in precarious financial positions into even more debt.

    That isn’t an argument for 2/4 year college for all. Just getting into implementation realities.

    3
  10. Joe Avatar
    Joe

    The most common thing applicants hear is “while you have the certificate, you don’t yet have any on-the-job experience.”

    These people are applying for the wrong jobs, Matt, they need to be applying for cabinet positions.

    5
  11. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Matt Bernius: I am a proponent of more education for citizens and for expanding their access to education.

    But I also have seen, close up, “workforce development” at the sate level and while I am generally supportive, I have also been quite frustrated by them, insofar as it often feels like the proponents thinks that just using the term “workforce development” is all you need.

    I also have found, and it may have just been my specific experience, that a lot of certificates and especially “micro-credentials” and “stackable credentials” are fads that sound better than they actually are.

    A lot of it is because it is an attempt to repurpose college-level work in a way that feels like trying to out 15 lbs of goods in a 5 lb sack. I think the efforts should be more along the lines of continuing education.

    1
  12. just nutha Avatar
    just nutha

    @Matt Bernius: The potential problem for the idea is that the last expansion of gubmint aid into vocational programs provided the impetus and funding for a raft of for-profit scam pseudo education enterprises.

    Yes, Congress can protect against such abuses. Color me skeptical that a Republican Congress will, and that Linda McMahon would even recognize it happening. Or care.

  13. Sleeping Dog Avatar
    Sleeping Dog

    @Scott:

    I disagree, there is a strategy here, it is to make the government, that large numbers of people distrust all ready, completely incompetent. This is part of the plan to destroy the deep state that they view is obstructionists, when in truth is generally doing the job that congress assigned to it.

  14. Argon Avatar
    Argon

    Looks like Oz may hold a half-million $$ in the stock of an insurance provider (or should we say, insurance denier), that should expect to see a lot of new business from the privatization of Medicare.

  15. just nutha Avatar
    just nutha

    @Steven L. Taylor: At the risk of being identified as a SOCIALIST!!!!1111!!11!!!*, workforce training programs in the absence of industrial policy to target and focus the outcomes is [cue inner surly Marxist] more of a recipe for creating wage lowering supply gluts than for improving employment and productivity. Just sayin’…
    *A charge I will plead “guilty as charged” to in this case.

  16. Jake Avatar
    Jake

    You found no issue with a sitting president sticking a cigar inside a young intern in the Oval Office.

    You had no problem putting a dude who mocked women by wearing a girl costume, donned a dog mask in his spare time, and publicly advertised his kinks in charge of nuclear waste.

    You voted for a woman who defended rapists and tried to discredit and intimidate multiple women who accused her husband of rape and/or sexual misconduct.

    You voted for another woman who slept with married men to advance her career, and whose husband physically assaulted his girlfriend.

    You kept reelecting a man who had an affair with a Chinese spy.

    You closed your eyes at the debauchery going on in the White House over the last 4 years (e.g., staffers filming themselves having anal sex in the senate hearing room, cocaine found in the West Wing, and activists flashing their bare breasts on the White House lawn).

    So spare me your sudden moral awakening when some harpy predictably crawls out of the woodwork of obscurity right before an election or a confirmation hearing to accuse some Republican of sexual misconduct. Every. Single. Time.

    1
  17. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Jake:

    First, who is “you”?

    Second, this is whataboutism (it has fuck to do with the post, which does not mention sexual misconduct). In fact, I think you are the first person in this thread to mention it.

    Third, are you concerned about these things, or not? Because where is your opposition to Trump and his appointees?

    3
  18. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @just nutha: I will add that what it also tends to mean is industry trying to offload the cost of employee training onto colleges and universities.

    1
  19. just nutha Avatar
    just nutha

    @Steven L. Taylor: Ayup!

    1
  20. de stijl Avatar
    de stijl

    @Mikey:

    A clownshoe lightly tamping on a face for four years. This, too, shall pass.

    One thing I find a bit heartening is that Trump seems determined to nominate cabinet heads who are utterly unqualified, but he’s seen them on his teevee. Idiots, for the most part.

    There is a through-line, here, in regards to why Trump chooses a particular person for a cabinet level job. He has seen them on his TV and he likes the cut of their jib. Hegseth, Oz, McMahon, Duffy. It’s a bit fandom.

    He seems to be attracted to cranks and quacks. RFK, Jr., Gabbard, and also needy media whores like Gaetz.

    Makes sense. The Apprentice. He has a better sense for celebrity quotient than for aptitude, qualifications, professional standing, or experience.

    He is a fan of having celebrity contrarian disruptors under his direct control.

    1
  21. de stijl Avatar
    de stijl

    Idiocracy, the movie, was a bottom up depiction of how America fails – by bred stupidity.

    This is top down idiocy. RFK, Jr. Dr. Oz. “It’s got electrolytes!”

    2
  22. dazedandconfused Avatar
    dazedandconfused

    @Scott:

    He may only be interested in “rewarding” loyalists and creating a wall of such around himself for protection.

    The only clear ideology I can see in Don Trump is Don Trump. He does not seem, to me, likely to do things that would make Don Trump broadly and deeply unpopular. A lot of the ideologues he who have assumed to role of being loyal to him to gain power certainly will though.

  23. Jc Avatar
    Jc

    @Steven L. Taylor: it’s a bot. That post is word for word a post on X…..Just some troll. Probably posting it wherever any discussions are regarding appointees. Probably didn’t even read the blog post.

    1
  24. wr Avatar
    wr

    @Steven L. Taylor: Also, most of what’s he’s reciting are lies and smears pushed by the vilest of the online right.

  25. wr Avatar
    wr

    @Steven L. Taylor: “Third, are you concerned about these things, or not? Because where is your opposition to Trump and his appointees?”

    Fourth, why is this creep still here? The site is so much more pleasurable with the most toxic of the trolls gone, but their absence really makes this guy’s vileness stand out.

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