Trump’s Cabinet: Unqualified, Incompetent, and Dangerous

By David Starr

 

To say that the new Trump regime is potential threat is putting it mildly. Trump has assembled various unsavory characters to make up his cabinet. Those among them are the following:

 

 Kash Patel -  A hardline Trump loyalist, Patel has been picked by Trump to be FBI director. PBS describesPatel as “a fierce ally to upend America’s premier law enforcement agency and rid the government of perceived ‘conspirators.’” Patel, then, sounds hell-bent on “cleaning up” a “bloated” bureaucracy full of “evil-doers.” 

 

Patel’s worshipping of Trump is practically maniacal. He will serve as a loyal henchman for the regime. He has said that he’s coming for Trump’s enemies, to impose payback for those who defied Trump.     

 

 In an attempt at indoctrination, Patel has published two children’s books that lionize Trump. One of them is called “The Plot Against the King.” It demonizes Hillary Clinton (although she is a hawkish neoliberal), portraying her as an obvious villain who plans to do harm to “King Donald.” Patel, meanwhile, casts himself as a heroic wizard who spoils Clinton’s plot.

 

Mehmet Oz – A proponent of privatizing Medicare, Oz seeks to push Medicare Advantage as a solution to a program that has benefitted many in its public form. In other words, having the private healthcare industry further profit off of it, usually at the expense of people needing care. This could mean the potential death of public Medicare, and, thus, the potential deaths of many. 

 

 Oz strongly supports this strategy, which is why Trump picked him to head Medicare and Medicaid. And it’s not surprising, according to the American Prospect, given that Oz has owned $600,000 of stock in two of the largest Medicare Advantage plans put out by UnitedHealth Group and CVS/Aetna.

 

Project 2025, the fascistic blueprint to try and change the United States, has Medicare and Medicaid included in its plan. Oz, thus, has “official” clearance to try and privatize those programs. This will leave seniors at the mercy of dishonest and profiteering, private health insurance companies.     

 

Marco Rubio – Virtually a fanatical Cold Warrior, Rubio doesn’t have a problem with Israel committing attempted genocide against Palestinians. He was confronted by CodePink, a dedicated activist organization, about his support for the “Holy Land.” He replied that Israel should kill all Hamas members, saying they are “animals”. But, like the fascist Israeli government, Rubio doesn’t seem to mind the collective punishment of Palestinians.

  Rubio, Florida’s senior senator, is slated to head the State Department. A hardline opponent of the Cuban Revolution, Rubio has aided the of right-wing Cuban exiles in Miami. His other obsession is the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The People’s World quoted him as saying “corporate and political leaders assumed capitalism would change China. That thinking was naive and dangerous.” With that claim, Rubio has taken a total flight from reality. Contrary to Rubio and other establishment figures, the PRC has its positive points, thus contradicting Rubio and his ilk.

 

Pete Hegseth – Trump has picked Hegseth to head the Department of Defense (DOD), a farcical choice. Despite his military past, Hegseth has shown to be more a propagandist than anything else. Hegseth has been a host on Fox “news” and, to say the least, is a very questionable choice. He no doubt has an imperialist streak in him.

 

Quoting the ACLU, “If confirmed, the military veteran will lead the nation’s armed forces in what will be his first appointment to a political office. Hegseth was commissioned as an infantry officer in the Army National Guard and he served in Afghanistan and Iraq after 9/11. Prior to his stint as a talk show host on Fox News, he led the nonprofits Vets for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America.”

 

Linda McMahon – Trump has selected McMahon to head the Department of Education. Leaders and advocates of education have strongly opposed his choice. McMahon was CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and it’s hard as hell to see her making choices about education. 

 

McMahon is a target of, according The19th News (an education organization), “a sexual misconduct lawsuit behalf of five men accusing McMahon and her husband, WWE co-founder Vince McMahon, of ignoring the sexual abuse by a male WWE employee that they endured as teen boys during the 1980s and 1990s. The men worked as ‘ring boys’ who set up and broke down wrestling rings at WWE matches. They allege that WWE officials knew about the abuse they experienced but did not intervene.”  

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, asserted that “The sexual misconduct lawsuit — it’s going to get a lot of scrutiny, and I’m very troubled by those allegations. She’s going to have to respond to them, about whether or not she was complicit in hiding or in covering up sexual assault. How can you be the head of education in America [with these allegations]? It’s antithetical, right?”

Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk – This gruesome twosome will head the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). It would be more accurate to say DOGE = Department of Greed and Excess. Trump has fully supported DOGE, despite faking ignorance of the entity. The BBC reports that DOGE, “it is not an official government department - the type of body that has to be established through an act of Congress and typically employs thousands of staff. Instead, it seems Doge will operate as an advisory body, run by two of Trump’s closest allies and with a direct line to the White House.”

Both will assist the Trump regime 2.0 to recruit a staff. DOGE, according to the BBC, “will provide guidance to the White House on spending cuts, and compile a list of regulations they believe are outside agencies’ legal authority.” DOGE will present this list of regulations to President Trump, who can, by executive action, quoting both in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece, “immediately pause the enforcement of those regulations and initiate the process for review and rescission.” 

Newsweek reports that “[w]ith this assignment, you have a perfect cocktail of corruption, a nascent federal advisory committee poised to violate open government rules, declared goals that are unattainable, and an underlying agenda that's unpopular.

“The super wealthy men have a two-part plan. Part one, gut federal government regulations. Part two, slash government spending. The ideas they are discussing would hamstring government agencies from protecting Americans against wrongdoing corporations, hurt regular people, and transfer massive amounts of wealth to the super rich class that Musk and Ramaswamy represent (not to mention the two men, themselves).”

The wealthy are definitely the priority for Trump 2.0. In a statement by the Justice Democrats, “150 billionaire families spent $1.9 billion on the 2024 election. Donald Trump appointed 13 billionaires to his [regime].” So, there’s an attempt to deform government and make it by the elites and for the elites. This will of course be a nightmare for many, as popular social programs could be axed. But this may cause enough outrage to prevent a disaster that DOGE represents.

It's inevitable that conflict will occur with DOGE’s reforms. But Trump and his henchmen don’t really give a damn. What is represented in this whole farce is greed and excess.