I had originally intended to post these two topics separately, but the more I read and the more I thought about it, I realized that just like President-Elect Trump and his conflicts, his Cabinet has their own conflicts. In addition, there are conflicts between his Cabinet and himself that are being ignored. One question that should be asked is why has he picked who he picked?
After spending the whole campaign touting how he’d hire the best of the best in their respective fields to run the departments they have the experience with to make the best difference, this is who he has come  up with.

To quote the PEOTUS, “sad!”

What makes Ben Carson qualified to be the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development? The original pretense was that Dr. Carson lived in federal housing, commonly known as The Projects, but it’s been revealed and confirmed that he did not, in fact, live in low-income housing. He certainly grew up poorer than he is now, more than likely poorer than I was at the same age growing up in urban/suburbia, but it sounds like I’m more qualified. I mean, we’ve both lived in a house.

Betsy DeVos. Nominee for Secretary of Education. In this case, I actually am more qualified than Ms. DeVos, and should be considered for this Cabinet position. After all, I have a Master’s degree in Educational Issues, a Bachelor’s in elementary education, a graduate minor in medieval studies, and an undergraduate minor in political science. I am certified to teach in New York state from nursery/preschool through fifth grade, and from 7th to 12th grade in the subject of social studies. My certification in New York also makes me qualified to teach in several other states due to reciprocity. I was a teacher for a decade. I worked for the MWR department of the Department of the Navy and wrote the child development curriculums for their preschool aged program. How am I not a candidate for this Cabinet position? Could it be that I didn’t contribute exorbitant amounts of money to Mr. Trump’s campaign or to the RNC?

NSA Director nominee, Michael Flynn. A conspiracy theorist who recently tweeted about a Hillary Clinton connection to a pizza place, a false story that almost got someone killed when an armed gunman (are there any other kinds?) showed up looking for answers..

Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson who can’t answer a simple question about what Exxon/Mobil thought about climate change while he was there. Not now that he’s no longer with the company, but while he was there.

Do I really need to explain the objections to Senator Jeff Sessions? I think it might be different if over the past several years his attitude and opinions had changed, but they hadn’t. How can someone who doesn’t believe in civil rights for everyone be tasked with protecting everyone’s civil rights?

Winning the election partly on criticizing Clinton’s speeches at Goldman Sachs, cherry-picking her words to fit his narrative, as well as Ted Cruz’s wife’s association with them, and then hiring three, or is it four, former Goldman Sachs employees to run the economic aspect of his Administration.

Former Texas Governor Rick Perry for the Department of Energy, an area that when he was running for President said he would disband.

A head of the EPA that doesn’t believe that man contributes to global warming.

A head of Labor who was just described on Monday as not liking all of the blowback and “all the paperwork”. Being an employer, in fast food, no less doesn’t make you an expert in labor practices.

Searching for an Hispanic to run Agriculture. I guess because they know the most about farming because of crossing the border illegally to be migrant workers, right?

Mr. Trump declaring that jobs stay in the US but at the same time applying for a waiver for his companies to hire foreign labor as visiting workers.

The fiction of his transition team’s insistence that Mexico will pay for ‘the wall’. They won’t. They’ve said they won’t. Raising the import tariffs on Mexican goods will only negatively affect the poor people who the cost will be passed onto.

Chief of Staff Reince Preibus and incoming White House spokesman, Sean Spicer talking about moving the press corps away from the West Wing to accomodate more reporters. That is such a smokescreen. Have the main news groups stay there and rotate the other press passes. It’s really not that hard. And don’t threaten to throw out someone for simply doing their job. Watch some tapes of Josh Earnest, Robert Gibbs, and Ari Fleischer to get a feel for it if you’re that out of touch. Add Breitbart if you want. Just don’t let them sit in Helen Thomas’ seat. 

In addition, Mr. Preibus told news outlets that the ethics department needs to watch how they cover Mr. Trump and implied that there would be retaliation. It was basically reminiscent of The Incredible Hulk television series – you wouldn’t like him when he’s angry or unethical; whatever.

It’s not a Cabinet position, but bringing on Robert Kennedy Jr. as the head of his vaccine safety committee. Hiring someone already indisposed against vaccines instead of someone who has some kind of medical background just doesn’t make sense.

But what in this Cabinet does? It seems like Mr. Trump looked at a list of who is the most against this department and that’s who he picked to run it; the one person who will run it into the ground. Or they are the one person who will personally benefit from the changes they will implement in their department. Either way, it is not effective as a leadership role or reducing the conflicts of interest.

Most of these nominees haven’t undergone the required ethics committee clearance and haven’t completed the paperwork for the ethics committee. Senator Mitch McConnell is the biggest hypocrite of them all, suggesting that the ethics requirements can come later when he said the exact opposite in 2008/09 for President Obama’s nominees, who did not have any problem meeting the ethics guidelines

And let’s not forget the transition team’s request for the names of people in the energy department working on climate change/global warming issues and those civil servants working on women’s issues including family planning and contraception. The Trump transition team requested of Congress, and received a revival of an 1876 rule, the Holman Rule, gone since 1983, that will allow the new Administration to reduce federal workers pay to $1, thereby eliminating the need to actually fire people illegally, but force them to quit if they want to continue to support their families.

This is a Cabinet and an Administration starting things on the wrong foot, trying to swindle the people of the United States through showmanship and rhetoric and Twitter into creating a windfall for themselves.

We the people are the only ones to stand in their way, and we must act. We must Resist and use our First Amendment rights through speech, assembly and supporting the Free and Independent Press while we still can. Anyone who thinks this is hyperbole, please go look and see what the transition team has already done to benefit themselves. Follow Robert Reich, former Labor Secretary, Dan Rather, and Connie Schultz as well as the political team at Vox. Visit my new page for links and suggestions on places to read about what’s going on.

It’s up to us.