No Hispanics in Trump Cabinet (Not Much Diversity in General)
Via the DMN: Trump Cabinet will be the first in decades without a Hispanic member
Donald Trump’s Cabinet is poised to become the first since 1988 without any Hispanic officials — sparking rebukes from members of the nation’s second-largest ethnic group — as Trump tapped former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue for agriculture secretary.
This is not especially surprising. It does strike me that it is just another example of the Republican Party’s ongoing failure to reach out to a significant portion of the population.
In general, the cabinet is not especially diverse, as it is dominated by white males, which is also not surprising. The exceptions being:
Trump’s pick for housing secretary, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, is black. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, his pick for United Nations ambassador, would be the first Indian-American Cabinet member. Transportation pick Elaine Chao is Taiwanese-American.
The incoming administration’s response:
Asked about the dearth of Hispanics in the Cabinet, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer called it more important to pick people who can do the jobs well.
“He has continued to seek out the best and the brightest to fill out his Cabinet,” Spicer said Wednesday. “We have 5,000 positions and I think you’re going to see a very strong presence of the Hispanic community” among senior administration appointments and White House staff.
“I don’t have any concern about diversity,” he said.
Also not surprising.
He’s got the perfect cabinet. They’re rich. … They’ve probably got other features…
No doubt this is a feature, not a bug, to most of his supporters.
This is truly an administration of Republican rich white males. You know, the whiners who say they have been excluded to make room for minorities of lesser ability. It’s their chance to show us what they are capable of. A whole new generation will grow up comparing a highly diverse Administation led by a black man to this one. How do you think that will affect their world view?
Apparently Spicer doesn’t understand the meaning of those words…best…and brightest.
Well, they’re not doing that either.
@MarkedMan:
I don’t think it’s the rich white guys who’ve been complaining about being excluded, because they never are excluded, and they know it. It’s the working class or unemployed white guys who are complaining about being excluded, and the sad thing is, they think Trump, who’s spent his life trying and failing to be one of the “elite,” is going to welcome into the fold.
Side note: The website The Gateway Pundit is apparently going to get a White House press credential. Next up, The Daily Stormer and Infowars, I suppose.
So they’re saying there’s no decent candidates who happen to be brown? Honestly, diversity happens naturally when you truly hunt for quality instead of just taking the first 10 guys who “happen” to be there. Its a big country and Trump’s trying to tell me not a single Hispanic out there is qualified for a post, instead offering up dreck like DeVos and Sessions?
It’s entirely possible to end up with an assembly that most homogeneous based on talent and needed skill-set. Someone, it doubt that’s what’s happening here.
@CSK:
Guys! This is OTB’s chance. Go get in line for credentials, see if you can get the free toaster too! If they’re handing out candy, make sure to get enough for the rest of us…..
@C. Clavin:
If there’s one thing you can depend on, it’s that neither Trump nor his spokesminions have any historical knowledge whatsoever.
@KM:
I have the distinct feeling that the only “news” outlets getting press creds will be crackpot pro-Trump blogs written by semi-literate paranoid hysterics. James, Doug, and Steven appear to be far too sane and well-informed to qualify.
Aren’t they just going to all be deported soon anyway? Come on, libtards, use your heads! /sad snark
Boo-hoo
Trump is not sending us the best and the brightest. Trump is sending whites, males, rich folks . . . , and I am sure some of them are decent people.
Betsy de Vos? Ben Carson? Really? This is certainly a … transformational (yeah that’ll work) … interpretation of “best and brightest.”
@Just ‘nutha ig’rant cracker: At this point we can only hope the utter incompetence of this sorry bunch doesn’t do too much lasting damage to our nation.
@Just ‘nutha ig’rant cracker: When I saw that ‘best and brightest’ quote from Mr Spicer I wondered if Michael Brown might be headed back to his old job at FEMA.
hispanics are caucasians, last i checked- and they checked…unless there was a gubmint benefit to being such. heck, you all thought obama was a black guy, when he was only half …..but that’s all that matters to the guilt filled tossers.
when will you racists realize that we’re not buying it anymore?
@bill:
IMPORTANT NON-RACIST QUESTION:
Are ‘tossers’ racists?
@bill:
I don’t know where you “checked” to find this information, but Hispanics are not a race, period.
@bill: Hispanic is an ethnicity. Hispanics can be of any race. All of those Mayans and Incans the Conquistadors found? Hispanic. Black Domincans? Hispanic.
Obama, like many mixed-race people, is regarded as black by our society. Having a white parent doesn’t get you only half-stopped-and-frisked.