Trump Staff Picks, Co-Conspirators and the Revolving Door of Departures

[rareboy]

Re: Trump Staff Picks and Revolving Door of Departures

McNaughton deserves the Order of Canada for having to put up with TrumpCo. for the past two and a half years.

 

[KaraBulut]

Re: Trump Staff Picks and Revolving Door of Departures

For what it's worth, Canada's Ambassador to the US, David MacNaughton, is stepping down. He began at the end of Obama's presidency, but now things have changed with the Trump regime:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/david-macnaughton-ambassador-1.5240040

In today's distractions that I'll be posting later tonight will be an article discussing how many volatile situations are going on in and around American-allied countries. We don't have a functioning state department. We have a government full of "acting" secretaries. And while we're all dealing with the chaos of a President who is mentally ill and incompetent, there's no leadership in the world to deal with all of these situations across the world.

This is not good... and when this happened back in the 1930s, it didn't end well.

 

[KaraBulut]

Re: Trump Staff Picks and Revolving Door of Departures

We're now at the point where even the Acting Administrators are quitting...

Top U.S. auto safety official Heidi King to step down [Axios]

Heidi King, the acting administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is set to step down on August 31, Automotive News reports.

Why it matters: King was nominated a year ago to become permanent administrator, but never confirmed by Congress. Sources tell Axios that her management style alienated some at the agency, which has been coping with management churn and been accused by consumer advocates of being too cozy with the auto industry.

King had been highly involved in the administration's efforts to relax light-vehicle fuel-efficiency requirements from the Obama administration's standards...

What's next: King will be replaced by Deputy General Counsel James Owens.

King's special project was to write final rule that is expected to bar California, the nation’s most populous state and a trend-setter on environmental protection initiatives, from establishing its own vehicle emissions rules. Because... ya know... the Republican party is all about States' rights, except when it comes to the environment and climate change.

 

[Swift]

Re: Trump Staff Picks and Revolving Door of Departures

I really wish he could at least hold onto his cabinet...The revolving door is so upsetting. Even his own team doesn't have trust in him.

 

[KaraBulut]

Re: Trump Staff Picks and Revolving Door of Departures

WaPo did an analysis of the revolving door of Cabinet secretaries and the per diem industry of "Acting" Secretaries.

Who’s in charge? Many months of acting Cabinet secretaries. [WaPo]

Eight different departments have seen their leader change during the 30 months of the Trump presidency, a level of tumult that did not exist in the Obama and Bush administrations. Under the two previous presidents, Cabinet secretaries signaled their resignations with plenty of time for their replacements to be vetted, named, confirmed and sworn in with no gap, or with a gap of just a few days. None of Trump’s replacements has been ready to step into the job without someone serving in an active capacity.

Some departments had acting secretaries for several weeks, or even months, until Trump’s first nomination was confirmed, also a departure from the previous two administrations.

Ken Cuccinelli has been making the rounds with the rest of the immigration management who are trying cleanup the mess after the Mississippi raids. As so often happens with Cuccinelli, he's digging the grave deeper. Every time you see Cuccinelli, reminder yourself that he's another "Acting" bureaucrat who is in the position as acting because he'll never pass a Senate confirmation.

An Administration Run by Temp Workers [New Republic editorial]

Perhaps the most glaring example of Trump circumventing the Senate’s constitutional duty came earlier this month. In May, White House officials confirmed that Trump intended to pick Ken Cuccinelli, the former Virginia attorney general, to lead U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). But the prospect quickly faced strong opposition from Senate Republicans, many of whom Cuccinelli targeted from the right as president of the Senate Conservatives Fund. Facing near-certain defeat, Trump didn’t formally nominate Cuccinelli, naming him to the post in an acting capacity instead.

How did the president evade the Senate? According to Steve Vladeck, a University of Texas law professor, Trump first appointed Cuccinelli to USCIS as the agency’s “principal deputy director,” a post that apparently did not previously exist. Since federal law does not specify which official in the agency was the “first assistant,” Trump was then able to name Cuccinelli to the acting directorship. “In other words, through nothing other than internal administrative reshuffling,” Vladeck wrote, “the Trump administration was able to bootstrap Cuccinelli into the role of acting director, even though, until today, he had never held any position in the federal government.”

Cuccinelli has been a controversial character who has long been known for his anti-LGBT rhetoric.

 

[KaraBulut]

Re: Trump Staff Picks and Revolving Door of Departures

We've now reached the point where they're having to fire the Acting Directors...

AG Bill Barr removes acting Bureau of Prisons director after Epstein death [Axios]

Attorney General Bill Bar has ordered the removal of acting director of the Bureau of Prisons Hugh Hurwitz following the suicide of alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein in the Manhattan Metropolitan Correctional Center.

The big picture: Barr has previously said there were "serious irregularities" at the MCC and that the Justice Department will ensure that those responsible for the oversight are held accountable. Barr has appointed Kathleen Hawk Sawyer as the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and Thomas Kane as deputy director. Hawk Sawyer previously served as director of the bureau from 1992 to 2003.

 

[rareboy]

Re: Trump Staff Picks and Revolving Door of Departures

^ Trump has figured out the secret to governing without the legislative branch by only having acting heads of agencies....almost every time they nominate someone who has to be confirmed by the Senate, the candidate has to withdraw because they are so unqualified.

At this point, even Trump must be running out of grifters and toadies to fill the positions.

 

[KaraBulut]

Re: Trump Staff Picks and Revolving Door of Departures

Thirty two months into Trump's term, we have an Ambassador to Jamaica. He was confirmed by the Senate and had his swearing in ceremony this week. He's 80 and he last visited Jamaica 20 years ago.

Which Arizona Republican donor did Trump just nominate to be U.S. ambassador to Jamaica? [AZCentral]

President Donald Trump wants to make a major Arizona Republican donor the new U.S. ambassador to Jamaica, the White House announced Thursday.

Don Tapia, 80, of Paradise Valley, is well-known in Arizona GOP circles for his massive political and philanthropic activities in Arizona and beyond.

Tapia used to own Essco Wholescale Electric Inc., which grew into the state's biggest Latino-owned business.

He last visited Jamaica about 20 years ago, he said in an Arizona Republic interview Thursday. The nomination requires U.S. Senate confirmation.

 

[KaraBulut]

Re: Trump Staff Picks and Revolving Door of Departures

Scoop: Top Homeland Security aide resigns amid tensions with White House [Axios]

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan's top aide and spokesperson is resigning amid frustration in the White House over the Department of Homeland Security's handling of major policy rollouts and White House distrust of McAleenan and his inner circle, sources familiar with his resignation tell Axios.

Why it matters: Andrew Meehan's departure comes amid broader internal tensions between the White House and DHS leadership. President Trump is wary of McAleenan, whom he associates with the Obama administration, and his top aides, several current and former administration officials tell us. These sources say Trump has no intention of formally nominating McAleenan for a permanent position.

 

[KaraBulut]

Re: Trump Staff Picks and Revolving Door of Departures

In May, 2017 P. Brennan Hart III was appointed by Trump to be GSA Associate Administrator, Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs. Hart, served as GSA’s principal liaison to Congress, federal agencies and state and local governments. Hart was a former campaign staffer during the 2016 campaign.

Mr Hart was recently fired.

GSA official had sex with White House staffer on roof of agency's HQ, watchdog report says [CNN]

A former top-ranking General Services Administration manager admitted to having sex on the roof of the agency's headquarters building and drinking alcohol in the office, according to an inspector general report made public this week.

Brennan Hart, a former associate administrator and acting chief of staff at the GSA, admitted to GSA Inspector General investigators that in the summer of 2017, he had sexual relations with an official from the White House on the roof of the building.

Hart said he made the unidentified White House staffer and himself drinks with vodka he kept in his office and they had sexual activity that began in administrative suite area and ended with oral sex on the rooftop of the building. The name of the White House staffer was redacted in the report released by the GSA. Hart also acknowledged drinking alcohol in the building, but only after business hours.

 

[rareboy]

Re: Trump Staff Picks and Revolving Door of Departures

Only the best people.

 

[TX-Beau]

Re: Trump Staff Picks and Revolving Door of Departures

BestPeople[SUP]TM[/SUP] is a property wholly owned by Trump Organization Inc

 

[gsdx]

Re: Trump Staff Picks and Revolving Door of Departures

^ Well, I suppose they could be the best of the worst.

 

[KaraBulut]

Re: Trump Staff Picks and Revolving Door of Departures

Trump court pick denounced feminists, gay-rights groups and diversity efforts in 1990s, 2000s editorials [CNN]

A White House aide nominated by President Donald Trump for a federal appeals court seat has a history of denouncing women's marches against sexual assault, dismissing education about multicultural awareness and accusing a major LGBTQ group of exploiting the brutal murder of a gay student for political ends.

Steven Menashi, a Stanford-trained lawyer who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, wrote dozens of editorials and blog posts in the late 1990s and early 2000s for a number of college and professional publications decrying "leftist multiculturalism" and "PC orthodoxy." He complained about "gynocentrists," wrote that the Human Rights Campaign "incessantly exploited the slaying of Matthew Shepard for both financial and political benefit" and argued that a Dartmouth fraternity that held a "ghetto party" wasn't being racist...

If confirmed by the Senate, Menashi would receive a lifetime appointment on the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers New York, Connecticut and Vermont.

 

[Dystopian]

Re: Trump Staff Picks and Revolving Door of Departures

Contemplating the options presented by the 25th Amendment to remove Dumpy from office and/or remove the powers of the Presidency even if he is still "President".....How rabidly will his sycophants defend his increasingly bizarre antics as his mental capacity erodes and he becomes more unstable? Pretty much their careers in Washington will come to a screeching halt. Pence is the poster boy for religious crazy, but he is also a smart, experienced politician and must realize that keeping Dumpy's cast of half baked yes men in place wouldn't help restore confidence in the GOP, him, the office or the government both here and abroad. Kelly Anne, Betsy, Ben....Poor Kelly Craft. Wilbur. Ivanka and Jared back to being slum lords in Baltimore.

 

[Dystopian]

Re: Trump Staff Picks and Revolving Door of Departures

And...Ratcliffe is out of the running....

Advice from someone who knows first hand what it's like to have his lack of qualifications broadcast and in print more times that he can lie to keep up.

 

[KaraBulut]

Re: Trump Staff Picks and Revolving Door of Departures

Contemplating the options presented by the 25th Amendment to remove Dumpy from office and/or remove the powers of the Presidency even if he is still "President".....How rabidly will his sycophants defend his increasingly bizarre antics as his mental capacity erodes and he becomes more unstable? Pretty much their careers in Washington will come to a screeching halt. Pence is the poster boy for religious crazy, but he is also a smart, experienced politician and must realize that keeping Dumpy's cast of half baked yes men in place wouldn't help restore confidence in the GOP, him, the office or the government both here and abroad. Kelly Anne, Betsy, Ben....Poor Kelly Craft. Wilbur. Ivanka and Jared back to being slum lords in Baltimore.

There's a story in Michael Lewis' book about the night of the election where Trump has just won Pennsylvania and Mike Pence goes to kiss Karen Pence and she pulls away and says, "Well, you got what you wanted, Mike. Now leave me alone."

Out of all the lackeys that Trump has thrown under the bus, Pence somehow has been spared. He got through the Mueller investigation without being implicated in any of the crimes. It's not clear what his role is but given the stories from Kasich about being offered the role of VP so that he could handle the domestic and international duties of the President (in other words, pretty much everything), it's likely that Pence signed up because it was the only way he would ever get into the White House without RSVPing to an invitation.

Whether he's complicit, the mastermind or just another sycophant remains to be seen. Given that this is someone whose beliefs are predicated on a virgin giving birth, it's hard to know whether he's the follower or the leader.

 

[KaraBulut]

Re: Trump Staff Picks and Revolving Door of Departures

Trump personal assistant Madeline Westerhout abruptly resigns [Axios]

President Trump's longtime personal assistant Madeline Westerhout suddenly resigned on Thursday, 2 people familiar with her departure told the New York Times.

What they're saying: According to 1 of the anonymous sources, Trump reportedly discovered that Westerhout shared private details about his family and White House operations. The exchange took place at a recent off-the-record dinner with reporters, per Axios' Jonathan Swan, and the information got back to the White House. "The breach of trust meant immediate action," per the NYT, adding Westerhout, who has been with Trump since the first day of his presidency, was immediately deemed a "separated employee."

 

[rareboy]

Re: Trump Staff Picks and Revolving Door of Departures

ooops.

Now maybe she can share where a few of the other bodies are buried.

 

[KaraBulut]

Re: Trump Staff Picks and Revolving Door of Departures

ooops.

Now maybe she can share where a few of the other bodies are buried.

Hopefully she didn't sign that NDA that Trump was trying to force everyone to sign.

If not, she's got a book deal in her future.