Outside the Beltway

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Health Freedom Rally Times Square Oct 18” by Pamela Drew is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

RFK, Jr. to HHS

Steven L. Taylor
76

Comments

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Health Freedom Rally Times Square Oct 18” by Pamela Drew is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Via CNN: Trump picks Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be his secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

This, of course, another abhorrent pick of a person not only not qualified for the job in any substantive sense, but someone who will do active harm in the position.

Kennedy is a vaccine-skeptic and conspiracy theorist.

“The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration, and HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country,” Trump said in a post on X. “Mr. Kennedy will restore these Agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again!”

I suspect that statement will make some of Trump’s corporate allies unhappy.

And I guess Michelle Obama wasn’t wrong to worry about the health of food in schools, after all. Or, it is just a problem when a Black lady has opinions? (I think I know the answer, so never mind).

This add to the list of nightmare picks: Noem, Hegseth, Gaetz, and Gabbard to along with the more standard ones like Rubio.

I will note for the comments: if you want to proactively defend the pick, be my guest, but no bad faith whataboutism or unserious deflections. This is all real life, not a sporting contest wherein all that matters is whether your side scores points.

Trump’s nominee for HHS. Don’t forget to stay to the end where he links it all to biolabs in Ukraine.

I can hardly wait for all the logical, well-reasoned defenses of this from the people who voted for Trump.

https://twitter.com/ReallyAmerican1/status/1857177604509577700

Categories

, ,

Tags

,

76 responses to “RFK, Jr. to HHS”

  1. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    I guess if the intent is for a dumpster fire of an administration, the felon needs to fill the dumpster early.

    8
  2. Charley in Cleveland Avatar
    Charley in Cleveland

    Dear Mr. Trump – on behalf of measles, polio, small pox, and future COVID strains, thank you for making us relevant again. Bobby Junior is our guy!

    10
  3. al Ameda Avatar
    al Ameda

    This, of course, another abhorrent pick of a person not only not qualified for the job in any substantive sense, but someone who will do active harm in the position.
    Kennedy is a vaccine-skeptic and conspiracy theorist.

    I can think of one Silver Lining: He was not nominated or proposed to head up the Center for Disease Control (CDC).

    Although I’m sure that Trump will attempt to install someone like Dr. Joseph Mercola, an osteopathic physician, and strong proponent of alternative naturopathic medicines.

    3
  4. Jack Avatar
    Jack

    “…but no bad faith whataboutism or unserious deflections.”

    In other words, I’m right, you are wrong, so shut up, your views are wrong. And only a few days ago we were lectured…..…

    Gaetz is the real odd one. But I think anyone who reads widely knows there is something larger going on there. I don’t really fully understand it, but it’s bigger than the superficiality.

    2
  5. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    @al Ameda:

    I’m not sure how this works, but the CDC, FDA, NIH, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and a whole lot of other agencies, are part of the HHS.

    So, look for the FDA to withdraw approval for medication abortion drugs. Yes, I know they have other therapeutic uses. But unless they can be taken off the market, off-label use will still go on.

    4
  6. Slugger Avatar
    Slugger

    I must have prepared my microdose of LSD incorrectly today. I just hallucinated that RFK, Jr. was nominated to head HHS.

    8
  7. becca Avatar
    becca

    They must be shooting the good stuff with Elon at Maralardo. We won’t be able to leave the country if he starts that anti vax insanity. I guess that’s some kind of border control. No one can get in, no one can get out.
    Also, lots of dead kids. Elon hinted at building a master race. Maybe the plan is for only the strong to survive.

    2
  8. Gustopher Avatar
    Gustopher

    Make America Germ Afflicted.

    At least those of us who survive to old age will be able to say things like: “He wore a whale’s head on top of his car, which was the fashion of the time…”

    6
  9. Gustopher Avatar
    Gustopher

    @Jack: So, do you support the RFKJr nomination?

    10
  10. Jen Avatar
    Jen

    This, like many (but not all) of the nominations, is not simply unserious but dangerous.

    There is no fifth dimensional chess going on here. Trump is rewarding these people for their loyalty, qualifications be damned.

    The Senate has some soul searching to do, if they have souls, that is.

    12
  11. Gustopher Avatar
    Gustopher

    I expect that Trump is going to follow the time honored tradition of naming his most controversial nominees Friday afternoon, as part of the Friday Night News Dump, as fewer people will notice.

    I’m weirdly eager to see what he’s holding back on. It’s going to be great. Hershel Walker for Bureau of Land Management? Breaks the usual mold of a Black guy for HUD, unless he gets another Black Guy, but Herman Cain is unavailable.

  12. drj Avatar
    drj

    @Gustopher:

    It pisses off the libs. So, yes.

    “Ha, ha, look at these bleeding-heart libtard cucks being upset about preventable deaths.”

    That’s it. That’s all you need to know about Jack.

    4
  13. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Jack:

    In other words, I’m right, you are wrong, so shut up, your views are wrong. And only a few days ago we were lectured…..…

    No. You want to tell me why I am wrong, I am ALL EARS.

    But you can’t defend this pick.

    22
  14. drj Avatar
    drj

    @Jen:

    It’s not unserious at all. It’s a loyalty test.

    Trump is trying to get the Senate/GOP as a whole to go along with “up is down and down is up” (or: “Gaetz, Gabbard, etc. are serious candidates.”)

    If he succeeds, they’re broken. And he can do what he wants.

    It’s in fact part of the tried-and-tested fascist playbook.

    12
  15. Michael Reynolds Avatar
    Michael Reynolds

    @Jack:
    Avian flu is jumping the barrier to humans and since all you GAF about is your own bank account, what do you think a 50% death rate will do for your portfolio? You fucking clown.

    14
  16. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Jack:

    I don’t really fully understand it

    Yes you do. Trump is unfit for office and he is proving it right in front of you and you can’t mount a positive defense of it. You can whine and you can preen, but you haven’t made any argument whatsoever.

    18
  17. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Gustopher: He doesn’t have the courage to take a stance.

    3
  18. Michael Reynolds Avatar
    Michael Reynolds

    @Steven L. Taylor:
    I am generally loath to ban people, but it’s really time to say goodbye to @Jack. Things are getting very goddam serious. Millions of people are going to die because of this decision, and all this cretin can do is try to own the libs. Time to lose him.

    7
  19. Mikey Avatar
    Mikey

    The other picks are ludicrous, but this one is actively dangerous to millions of Americans.

    I guess we can count our blessings that Dr. Mengele is dead.

    6
  20. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    @Jen:

    People who engage in one quack belief usually adopt others a well. Thus far, Jr. is against vaccines and fluoride in the water supply, both long, long time tools that have proven to be valuable.

    Drug companies don’t make much from vaccines, even annual shots like the flu vaccine and the COVID boosters. they made a killing during the trump pandemic, only because the demand for vaccines for 2021 was in the billions. Otherwise, not so much. Since everything these days is about money and shareholder value, the big pharmaceuticals won’t stand up for vaccines, when they can get lots of regulations relaxed or eliminated.

    The FDA, and the public healthcare agencies overall, are rather politicized in America, but they do yeoman’s work. That may go away soon. Fortunately there’s Europe.

    And all this before even bringing up the whales head, the dead bear, and the brain worms.

    3
  21. dazedandconfused Avatar
    dazedandconfused

    This will be an interesting Senate confirmation hearing, to say the least. Assuming there will be one, this may be one of the reasons Trump has been talking a lot about recess appointments.

    One minor unserious deflection: As metaphor of how the second Trump administration feels to me from Mel Brook’s Spaceballs.

    1
  22. Matt Bernius Avatar
    Matt Bernius

    @Jack:

    In other words, I’m right, you are wrong, so shut up, your views are wrong.

    You owe me a new keyboard–my tea went everywhere thanks to that spit take.

    The audacity of you among all folks accusing others of that is chefs kiss!

    Oh, wait. I get it you were making a self deprecating joke!

    5
  23. drj Avatar
    drj

    @Steven L. Taylor:

    This isn’t about courage. Not taking a stand makes him harder to pin down. Which makes him a more effective troll.

    He knows what he is doing.

    2
  24. drj Avatar
    drj

    @drj:

    I should have added that trolling – rather than making positive policy contributions – is at the heart of what it means to be MAGA. So that fits.

    4
  25. Michael Reynolds Avatar
    Michael Reynolds

    @drj:
    Not really. I’ve known him a ling time. He’s just stupid, weak and nasty.

    4
  26. wr Avatar
    wr

    @Jack: ““…but no bad faith whataboutism or unserious deflections.”
    In other words, I’m right, you are wrong, so shut up, your views are wrong. And only a few days ago we were lectured…..…”

    Oh, look — bad faith whataboutism and unserious deflections. What a shock!

    4
  27. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Michael Reynolds: It is time to consider it.

    @wr: Indeed.

    3
  28. Gustopher Avatar
    Gustopher

    @Kathy:

    Thus far, Jr. is against vaccines and fluoride in the water supply, both long, long time tools that have proven to be valuable.

    He is, however, in favor of roadkill and severed whale heads on cars. These tools have not been studied enough to know whether they are valuable, and positive outcomes may well simply be the placebo effect.

    Was he an Ivermectin For Covid fan, or was Ivermectin just a big drug company non-solution?

    3
  29. Michael Reynolds Avatar
    Michael Reynolds

    @Gustopher:
    That brain worm did a number on this guy.

    1
  30. Andy Avatar
    Andy

    The first rule of trolls is not to feed them…and some people here seem to love the feeding.

    6
  31. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    @Gustopher:

    Roadkill is a cheap source of protein. No seriously. Some people collect it, butcher it, cook it, and actually eat it. It’s odd, but with proper care and attention to likely contaminants and pathogens, it’s safe enough (and I’d never do it in a million years). They don’t dump it in Central Park.

    @Michael Reynolds:

    The worm says Jr’s brain was like that when it got there.

    4
  32. Gustopher Avatar
    Gustopher

    @Andy: With care and feeding, our trolls might grow up to be shitposters.

    5
  33. Grommit Gunn Avatar
    Grommit Gunn

    On top of the other agencies, he will also be over the Indian Health Service. Which is a horrific idea.

    1
  34. Just nutha ignint cracker Avatar
    Just nutha ignint cracker

    @Jack:

    In other words, I’m right, you are wrong, so shut up, your views are wrong. And only a few days ago we were lectured…

    Do you really have that little faith in your ability to make a credible argument for your position? So far, none of your actual arguments have been particularly ridiculous. Not persuasive to me, but in politics, lots of arguments are arguments of faith or belief in principles immutable to the speaker but not to others.

    Gaetz is the real odd one. But I think anyone who reads widely knows there is something larger going on there. I don’t really fully understand it, but it’s bigger than the superficiality.

    My theory (and thanks for bringing this up so that I didn’t have to wade in blindly) is that Trump took offence at the degree to which his choices were criticized last time and is demonstrating how much worse his choices can be. Sort of “You thought Rex Tillerson was a stupid choice?* I’ll show you what stupid choices look like!! How about Gaetz for AG or some second stringer from Fox News for SecDef?”

    What’s your theory? It doesn’t need to be fully formed. In fact, many of my students over the years have discovered that talking and getting feedback about amorphous ideas can help crystalize them and many of my students told me I give really helpful feedback.**

    *for the record, yes, I did, but my image of him improved over time, if only slightly

    **and not to toot my own horn, but one of my former students became the Deputy Director of the Civil Rights Division of DOJ during Biden’s administration. I don’t know if she will be invited to stay by the new administration, though.

    4
  35. Not the IT Dept. Avatar
    Not the IT Dept.

    Jack tried this same crap over at John Scalzi’s site and got slapped down for it, groveled a bit and was forgiven. From what I can see he hasn’t been back since. (If anyone is looking for new sci-fi authors, Scalzi regularly gives them space on his blog to introduce themselves.)

    Source: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2024/11/09/making-money-in-the-next-four-years-and-why-you-need-to-plan-now-to-support-your-favorite-creators/#comment-938392

    4
  36. Scott O Avatar
    Scott O

    Why would someone want to come here just to tell us that we’re all stupid? Then go to the glittering eye to tell a few people there that everyone at OTB is stupid?

    Nothing better to do with their time? Or perhaps they are a closeted OTB lover, struggling with coming out, afraid that his friends will reject him.

    3
  37. Just nutha ignint cracker Avatar
    Just nutha ignint cracker

    @Kathy:

    But unless they can be taken off the market, off-label use will still go on.

    In a Trump administration with RFK, Jr. at HHS, it possible that mifepristone as an OTC item would be preferable given that the FDA has less authority in that arena. (Three cheers for unfettered capitalism—for a change!)

    2
  38. Just nutha ignint cracker Avatar
    Just nutha ignint cracker

    @Jen: My understanding is that many people on Capitol Hill have no control over their souls, having sold them them to diverse and sundry interests long ago.

    1
  39. Just nutha ignint cracker Avatar
    Just nutha ignint cracker

    @Gustopher: Wait…
    You’re saying that there are more controversial appointments than Gaetz, Gabbard, and RFK, Jr.?

    Mind blown.

  40. Jack Avatar
    Jack

    @Michael Reynolds:

    Xxxoooxxc.

    You are a silly and unhappy man.

  41. Al Ameda Avatar
    Al Ameda

    @Kathy:
    Well damn. There goes my Silver Lining.
    One way or another I believe that MAGA conservatives are going to federalize a ban on medicated abortion. They’re not happy with this ‘back to the states’ thing.

    1
  42. Jack Avatar
    Jack

    @Not the IT Dept.:

    I have never heard of Scslzi in my life.

    Nice try, zero.

  43. Just nutha ignint cracker Avatar
    Just nutha ignint cracker

    @Kathy:

    Drug companies don’t make much from vaccines, even annual shots like the flu vaccine and the COVID boosters.

    Vaccines must be amazingly expensive to produce then. The bills for the last vaccinations I got–Covid, Flu, and Pneumonia–totaled over $900 list price. That was at a chain store pharmacy, so they may be exaggerating the list price, and I’ve had bills since I returned from Korea for medical services where the extended invoice showed that as much as 99% of the list price had been written off–my copay was larger than the amount my insurer paid. With so many variables in the system, what the various principals are spending, earning, writing off isn’t very transparent.

  44. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    @Just nutha ignint cracker:

    IMO, the choice for treasury should indicate how serious the felon is about tariffs. I don’t care to speculate whom it might be. I wouldn’t be surprised if he named the Mypillow guy.

    I recommend this piece from The Guardian. It contrasts some of the current picks with those of four years ago.

    You may notice a pattern of what got each of them fired, except for Flynn. Me, I’d argue that the theme of clashing with the felon, shows they were loyal to him, by my definition earlier in the day, and they were trying to keep him from making blunders, breaking the law, or even looking foolish (itself a fool’s errand). But see what he had to sya about all of them

    1
  45. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Andy: I was honestly trying to not treat him like a troll.

    I can be a bit of an optimist at times.

    5
  46. Beth Avatar
    Beth

    @Al Ameda:

    Oh that’s for sure gone. I mean it was gone with them using Comstock.

    This also means that trans healthcare is doomed too. I wish I could better explain to people that women’s healthcare and trans healthcare are inherently linked. The people against both believe that they and they alone get to control our bodies.

    7
  47. Michael Reynolds Avatar
    Michael Reynolds

    @Beth:
    I’ll get my daughter to Canada if need be. (Oddly echoing my Dad’s offer to get me to Canada to avoid Vietnam.) I’m worried about a nephew-to-niece just about to start meds. She’s in Illinois.

    So glad I removed the one MAGA from my life. I’d strangle her.

    4
  48. Pete S Avatar
    Pete S

    @Michael Reynolds:
    Don’t count on Canada long term. We seem to going full speed ahead to electing our own mini Trump who is running on nothing but anger about carbon taxes

    4
  49. Eusebio Avatar
    Eusebio

    Every time RFK Jr talks about anything related to healthcare, I hear a voice saying, “the Dunning-Kruger effect is strong with this one.” The voice is, of course, that of the late, great James Earl Jones.

    I’m under the impression that Jr did have some expertise pre-brain worm–in the field of environmental law. I’d suggest that every reporter interviewing him include at least one question on climate change and U.S. policy concerning carbon emissions.

    3
  50. Beth Avatar
    Beth

    @Michael Reynolds:

    Illinois will be as good as CA and NY for as long as they can last. Pritzker is solid on a lot of levels. The problem is how do you fight against the weight of the federal government?

    3
  51. Jc Avatar
    Jc

    Why even reply to Jack? He is not a serious person. Depending on the topic it’s 5%, maybe worth a reply/discussion. The other 95% is just trolling and trying to “own” and “zing” or misdirection. I just scroll on.

    3
  52. Bobert Avatar
    Bobert

    @Just nutha ignint cracker:

    I am awaiting Gym Jordon’s nomination to a cabinet post (just which one I’ve no clue).

    1
  53. Andy Avatar
    Andy

    @Steven L. Taylor:

    Just to be clear, I wasn’t thinking of you when I wrote that.

    3
  54. Kurtz Avatar
    Kurtz

    @Andy:

    Yeah, I mean, I do not love earnestness. And giving people the time of day who probably do not deserve it may be the height of that trait. At the same time, the regular ‘trolls’ have, when prodded, made more of an effort. At least once or twice.

    I’ve stated that I don’t see them as trolls, but lately, I think I may have to concede that whatever personal purpose their comments serve, actual discussion and argument appear to be pretty far down the list.

    I think part of my desire to try to engage with them flows from the current GOP placing marginalization at the center of their messaging. In theory, engagement would counteract that feeling.

    But I guess if one wants to feel downtrodden, they will, no matter what their perceived enemies do.

    It’s a no-win situation. Just as it is with any media outlet who tries too hard to not appear biased.

    3
  55. DK Avatar
    DK

    @Bobert:

    I am awaiting Gym Jordon’s nomination to a cabinet post (just which one I’ve no clue).

    At the rate Don’t-Call-Him-Dementia-Donald is going, a Department to Promote Child Abuse would not be unheard of. Gym Jordan would fit in there. But so would Kevin McCarthy’s nemesis, Matt Gaetz — a crackhead who hooks up with underage teens.

    3
  56. DK Avatar
    DK

    @Beth:

    The problem is how do you fight against the weight of the federal government?

    Anyone heard from the rich liberal bros? What’s Mark Cuban, Jimmy Kimmel, and Jon Stewart saying?

    1
  57. Jay L Gischer Avatar
    Jay L Gischer

    @Jack: Go ahead and tell us why Kennedy is a good pick and you like him. I’m listening. I would find that interesting.

    Contrariwise, if all you offer is abuse about how we’re stupid and out of touch and bad and so on – that’s a waste of time.

    4
  58. Jay L Gischer Avatar
    Jay L Gischer

    @Jc: Here is my personal answer. I ask earnest questions because long experience with difficult people suggests that gives you the best shot of putting them on a different track.

    Mind you, the odds aren’t great even at the best. But they are non-zero, and I’ve had some limited success.

    Many of these people remind me of folks I grew up with. They will be belligerent in groups they don’t trust, and things change when they start to trust.

    2
  59. DK Avatar
    DK

    @Kurtz:

    In theory, engagement would counteract that feeling.

    This typically only works with people who are healthy. Personality disorders cannot be counteracted externally. Some people will create ways to be depressed, aggrieved, and resentful. It is what it is.

    2
  60. DK Avatar
    DK

    @Eusebio:

    Every time RFK Jr talks about anything related to healthcare, I hear a voice saying, “the Dunning-Kruger effect is strong with this one.”

    You can understand him?

    Every time I hear RFK Jr. talk I hear a dying frog. Many Americans will decline to take health advice from a dude with steroid voice, I don’t care whose son and nephew he is.

    It’s pretty funny he’s getting away with sounding like that. And he appears to have helped cause a measles outbreak in Samoa already. But he’s your standard unqualified identity politics DEI hire.

    I’m guessing California will be relatively well-vaccinated. There were certain states I wasn’t planning on visiting anytime soon anyway.

    4
  61. Ken_L Avatar
    Ken_L

    Kennedy believes that chemicals in the water are turning kids gay and transgender. He believes that sunscreens cause cancer.

    Trump braying that this man has permission to “go wild on health” with a two trillion dollar budget is going to have much greater consequences for ordinary Americans than Gaetz becoming Attorney General.

    BTW lost in all the excitement is the news that Trump has rewarded three of his personal lawyers with the positions of Solicitor General (Sauer), Deputy Attorney General (Blanche) and Veterans’ Affairs Secretary (Collins). Presumably these appointments are in lieu of paying their bills for legal representation. Collins has no qualifications whatsoever for his position, unless two years as a Navy chaplain count.

    4
  62. DK Avatar
    DK

    @Ken_L:

    Collins has no qualifications whatsoever for his position, unless two years as a Navy chaplain count.

    Oh, but Musk and Vivek Don’t-Call-Him-Ramalamadingdong have already announced that our veterans spending is bloated. Now, woe be unto the congresscritter who votes for deep cuts in veterans spending. But the nomination of Collins, another unqualified DEI candidate, makes sense if you believe he won’t have much of a VA left to manage.

    I love a good farce.

    3
  63. Tony W Avatar
    Tony W

    @Beth: Large blue states might need to organize tax strikes against the Federal government.

    They can’t withhold our Federal money if we don’t give it to them in the first place.

    1
  64. Jen Avatar
    Jen

    @DK:

    Oh, but Musk and Vivek Don’t-Call-Him-Ramalamadingdong have already announced that our veterans spending is bloated.

    This, IMHO, is going to be the one to sit in the bleachers and watch. Money and power go hand-in-hand in DC, and if/when this not-really-an-agency starts recommending cuts to departments, the proverbial knives will come out.

    3
  65. ptfe Avatar
    ptfe

    Re: Jack – that one day where he engaged, we found out what he does and what he cares about (“line go up!”) All the commenters on this board should remember that when trying to get him to engage further. During election season, several of us asked repeatedly for the resident Trump supporters to make a positive case. We heard nothing. Ever. There was no positive case for the fascist rhetoric, the lies, the demonization of immigrants, the bizarre behavior.

    The Jack engagement was post-election, and he justified support of Trump by saying he thought the “economy” would “improve” under a new administration. That’s what Republicans say every election season, and since their full control of policy almost always drops us into a recession, it doesn’t take a genius to see where this Trump term is going.

    (I’ll also note that one Trumper – and I believe this was also Jack? – even tried to pre-sell the next recession as “Biden’s fault” by saying that the economy was on the precipice of a recession right now! so don’t blame Trump when it happens I guess? especially if it happens in the first year of his term.)

    So it’s not surprising that who gets appointed to which roles is full-stop irrelevant to him. Domestic policy doesn’t matter, unless it harms investors. Foreign policy doesn’t matter unless it harms investors. Attorney generals don’t matter unless they harm investors. Nothing matters unless it harms investors. All policy for Jack is strictly about investors, and whether they can continue to make mad profit in the US market.

    So when you ask Jack to “justify” RFK Jr, you’re barking up the wrong tree – not just the wrong tree, but in the wrong forest, and probably on the wrong continent.

    (That’s different from JKB, who, if he believes the absolute nonsense he posted a link to, has such a skewed view of the world that up is down and left is right and black is white. You can expect that he will love RFK Jr because he firmly believes the press release.)

    2
  66. Jen Avatar
    Jen

    @ptfe: I mostly agree, but to me some things are obvious.

    If the head of Health and Human Services opposes vaccinations and has designs on overhauling our food supply by (something something, food dyes, etc.), his actions and policies very much *will* impact investors. Agribusiness and pharma aren’t small niche mom-and-pop companies. The rest can be extrapolated through the entire economy. Trump’s already announced he wants Congress to eliminate the tax breaks for EVs. That impacts every one of the major car manufacturers, including…Tesla.

    These appointments matter, not just because they are going to be an embarrassment on the global stage. They matter because they have the highly likely potential of wrecking our economy. Businesses don’t like uncertainty, and some of these proposals to eliminate regulations are going to be a godd@mn mess, because of they way in which they work with state and global regs. And that doesn’t even include the tariff nonsense! OOOF.

    2
  67. SC_Birdflyte Avatar
    SC_Birdflyte

    Trump is following Bannon’s advice to “flood the zone with shit.” He’s just getting an early start with these nominations.

    1
  68. ptfe Avatar
    ptfe

    @Jen: Not all these picks are good/bad on that spectrum, and they send very strong signals about where money is going to flow. Private military contractors are back. Pharmaceuticals might lose a bit in vaccines, but they will massively profit from fewer regulations on their drug manufacturing and sales. Agribusiness is out, private prisons are in. That’s all the certainty the investor class needs.

    I’m a casual investor, but even I can see the writing on the wall for many of these moves. It’s pretty easy to decide to throw $100M into an industry that exploits Constitutionally-protected slavery, cuts every corner possible, has limited oversight, and is going to become de facto housing for hundreds of thousands more people in the next 2 years – as long as you don’t care about the human cost.

    4
  69. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Andy: Thanks for the clarification.

    1
  70. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @ptfe: While on the hand it does not surprise me that a GOP voters cites the economy (and taxes specifically) for their vote, it is a radically simplistic answer from someone who claims to be a titan of investment.

    It really shouldn’t be this hard to get someone to explain themselves. But here we are.

    1
  71. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Jen: One the crazy thing about the RJK appointment is that if he is to be taken seriously, he will want to regulate businesses in ways that if the Dems tried would be lead to howls of “communist!”

    He is really going to tell Kelloggs what dyes they can use? He is going to stop big Pharma form advertising on TV?

    A lot f the regulations the corporate American complains about include things like pollutants and pesticides. So forth and so on.

    2
  72. Matt Bernius Avatar
    Matt Bernius

    @Steven L. Taylor:

    One the crazy thing about the RJK appointment is that if he is to be taken seriously, he will want to regulate businesses in ways that if the Dems tried would be lead to howls of “communist!”

    His expressed position on regulating the food industry to combat obesity is incredibly more radical and far-reaching than anything Michelle Obama proposed in her school lunch nutritional program work. Or for that matter, what Michael Bloomberg did in the early teens in NYC.

    Both were positioned as government overreach and examples of the nanny state killing business by the right.

    It’s going to definitely be interesting to see what happens when Conservatives and anti-anti-Trumpers finally have to take Trump and his entourage literally rather than figuratively.

    2
  73. Jen Avatar
    Jen

    @Steven L. Taylor: YEP!
    @Matt Bernius: YEP!

    My .02 is that American corporations are going to load up on the lobbying.

    This cabinet is going to have the effect of being the Lobbyist/DC Lawyer Full Employment Protection Act.

    1
  74. Argon Avatar
    Argon

    @ptfe:

    Agribusiness is out, private prisons are in…

    Agribusiness is absolutely in. Trump won’t let RFK Jr. near environmental issues and food processors. They were big supporters early on and major concerns for a large number of solidly-red states.

  75. wr Avatar
    wr

    @Matt Bernius: “His expressed position on regulating the food industry to combat obesity is incredibly more radical and far-reaching than anything Michelle Obama proposed in her school lunch nutritional program work.”

    Yes, but Michelle Obama is Black. And a woman. And a Democrat. So coming from her, it’s evil.

    2
  76. Jen Avatar
    Jen

    @Jen: As I was saying….

Latest Posts