Transition Team/Cabinet Thread

[Kingpoleon]

Too many vaccines can cause a weakening of our immune systems. If few people ever developed anything more serious than the common cold usually, mostly currently harmless flu strands would have death rates skyrocket. It is not healthy to prevent 99% of non-fatal diseases.

That is not true at all.

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/109/1/124

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Yes, in general, vaccines help. But if we all got vaccines for the flu, and never caught the flu, we would see genes die out over time that are resistant to the flu, and eventually be more susceptible if we did get it.

Vaccines, used appropriately, are almost always good and healthy. We need to make sure that there are never circumstances in which it is bad to ask questions. Being against vaccinations is one thing, but asking questions and learning about it? That is a sign of a healthy and functional society.

[JMT]

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-will-pick-sonny-perdue-to-lead-agriculture-233820

Sonny Perdue picked for AG secretary, formal announcement set for tomorrow.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Fun Fact: Trump is the first president since Carter to not have a Hispanic member of his Cabinet.

[justfollowingtheelections]

Fun Fact: Trump is the first president since Carter to not have a Hispanic member of his Cabinet.

Well only some of them are good people (apparently not enough for Trump to find someone to nominate).

[SteveRogers]

Fun Fact: Trump is the first president since Carter to not have a Hispanic member of his Cabinet.

Well only some of them are good people (apparently not enough for Trump to find someone to nominate).

Trump has never actually met one that he likes. He assumes that some of them are good people.

[Sir Mohamed]

Fun Fact: Trump is the first president since Carter to not have a Hispanic member of his Cabinet.

I’m not surprised by this. Perdue is probably not the worst choice and not somebody who worries me. But he should have picked Abel Maldonado. I think it’s troubling that 80% of his cabinet members are old white men. Actually sad, because we’re a more diverse nation. Especially the number of women should be significantly higher.

[emailking]

Fun Fact: Trump is the first president since Carter to not have a Hispanic member of his Cabinet.

I’m not surprised by this. Perdue is probably not the worst choice and not somebody who worries me. But he should have picked Abel Maldonado. I think it’s troubling that 80% of his cabinet members are old white men. Actually sad, because we’re a more diverse nation. Especially the number of women should be significantly higher.

Oh my God, give me a break. It shouldn't be troubling at all that he picked his cabinet in the way he did. Race and gender aren't a qualifier to becoming a cabinet secretary. I wouldn't want a cabinet formed up of people that were only selected because of race or gender. The only people that should be in the cabinet are the people that can help implement what the President wants to do and that is what Trump did.

But having 80% white men is unlikely by chance alone. So either:

1. The best people that can help implement what the President wants are predominantly white men.
2. There was an unconscious racial & gender bias in the selection process.
3. There was an explicit racial & gender bias in the selection process.
4. It happened that way by random chance.

You think 1 is that case, I assume. But any of 1, 2, or 3 is troubling and sad, as he said. 4 is possible but pretty unlikely.

[Higgs]

Fun Fact: Trump is the first president since Carter to not have a Hispanic member of his Cabinet.

I’m not surprised by this. Perdue is probably not the worst choice and not somebody who worries me. But he should have picked Abel Maldonado. I think it’s troubling that 80% of his cabinet members are old white men. Actually sad, because we’re a more diverse nation. Especially the number of women should be significantly higher.

Oh my God, give me a break. It shouldn't be troubling at all that he picked his cabinet in the way he did. Race and gender aren't a qualifier to becoming a cabinet secretary. I wouldn't want a cabinet formed up of people that were only selected because of race or gender. The only people that should be in the cabinet are the people that can help implement what the President wants to do and that is what Trump did.

But having 80% white men is unlikely by chance alone. So either:

1. The best people that can help implement what the President wants are predominantly white men.
2. There was an unconscious racial & gender bias in the selection process.
3. There was an explicit racial & gender bias in the selection process.
4. It happened that way by random chance.

You think 1 is that case, I assume. But any of 1, 2, or 3 is troubling and sad, as he said. 4 is possible but pretty unlikely.

Republicans are more white and male than the average, by far, and people who go into politics are also skewed white and male. 80% makes more sense when placed into context. You're delusional if you ignore these facts and just assume the cabinet is like that because Trump is racist/sexist whatever

[Sir Mohamed]

Fun Fact: Trump is the first president since Carter to not have a Hispanic member of his Cabinet.

I’m not surprised by this. Perdue is probably not the worst choice and not somebody who worries me. But he should have picked Abel Maldonado. I think it’s troubling that 80% of his cabinet members are old white men. Actually sad, because we’re a more diverse nation. Especially the number of women should be significantly higher.

Oh my God, give me a break. It shouldn't be troubling at all that he picked his cabinet in the way he did. Race and gender aren't a qualifier to becoming a cabinet secretary. I wouldn't want a cabinet formed up of people that were only selected because of race or gender. The only people that should be in the cabinet are the people that can help implement what the President wants to do and that is what Trump did.

But having 80% white men is unlikely by chance alone. So either:

1. The best people that can help implement what the President wants are predominantly white men.
2. There was an unconscious racial & gender bias in the selection process.
3. There was an explicit racial & gender bias in the selection process.
4. It happened that way by random chance.

You think 1 is that case, I assume. But any of 1, 2, or 3 is troubling and sad, as he said. 4 is possible but pretty unlikely.

Agree with emailking.

America is a diverse nation; we have 13% blacks (ok, ge got Carson, so that’s not bad), but more than 17% latino/hispanic. At least half of the US population are women. A decent number of citizens is under 60 years old. And all the Trumpster got are two or three women and a black guy and the rest old white men (at 54, Mnuchin is one the youngest). Come on. Shouldn’t the cabinet in some ways represent the diversity of this nation? I agree that selections should be made based on competence and integrity. But out of all these women, latinos and dudes under age 55, including many Republicans, there is nobody else capable for these jobs? Give me a break.

[Maxwell]

Perry is doing better here than he ever did in either of his presidential campaigns.

[emailking]

You're delusional if you ignore these facts and just assume the cabinet is like that because Trump is racist/sexist whatever

I didn't assume that.

[KingSweden]

Perry is doing better here than he ever did in either of his presidential campaigns.

For all the jokes about "oops" I actually don't think he's a terrible choice for Energy

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Guys, even if you think it's silly to impose quotas or whatever, you shouldn't be getting horribly het up and offended (dare I say triggered?) about the suggestion that maybe, just maybe, Trump's Cabinet being woefully demographically unbalanced is a worrying sign of a partial or sectional set of policies and interests.

[Santander]

https://twitter.com/CNN/status/822137119414120448

[emailking]

The diversity of the country is irrelevant to selecting cabinet nominees. You do have a point that there is more people qualified to the jobs more than likely but at the end of the day it is who Trump can work with the best that gets a cabinet job. Gender doesn't matter; age doesn't matter; race doesn't matter. The broader argument you're conveying is essentially that because America is so diverse we should have a cabinet that is equivalent to the racial and gender percentages in America. The cabinet isn't supposed to reflect the population of the United States, it is to implement policy decisions that the President allows. I would also just like to reiterate that race, gender and even age do not matter at all.

But it's the fact that they shouldn't matter that makes the end result troubling. Somewhere, they're mattering. Maybe they're mattering in Trump's mind. Maybe they're mattering the composition of the Republican party (and conversely of the Democratic party). Maybe they're mattering in the kind of people who can get ahead in this world. Each of these possibilities is sad and troubling in its own way. If race and gender didn't matter at all then the composition of the cabinet would look like the composition of America in terms of race and gender with a high degree of likelihood. And that wouldn't be because race and gender were taken into account in the selection process. It would be because they weren't.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Fun Fact: Trump is the first president since Carter to not have a Hispanic member of his Cabinet.

I’m not surprised by this. Perdue is probably not the worst choice and not somebody who worries me. But he should have picked Abel Maldonado. I think it’s troubling that 80% of his cabinet members are old white men. Actually sad, because we’re a more diverse nation. Especially the number of women should be significantly higher.

Oh my God, give me a break. It shouldn't be troubling at all that he picked his cabinet in the way he did.

It's very troubling that he picked a cabinet based on how they look on TV.

It's almost like he's an insane idiot who thinks he's playing the President on a Reality TV show.

(Maybe he really is the heir to Reagan! /snark)

[Maxwell]

Perry is doing better here than he ever did in either of his presidential campaigns.

For all the jokes about "oops" I actually don't think he's a terrible choice for Energy

Trump almost certainly could've done worse - he could've picked my Governor! Or even Joe Manchin!

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Woody Johnson is going to be Ambassador to the UK..........

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Woody Johnson is going to be Ambassador to the UK..........

Have no idea who this is, but hilarious that he's named after a dick twice.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Woody Johnson is going to be Ambassador to the UK..........

Have no idea who this is, but hilarious that he's named after a dick twice.

He owns the NY Jets........who suck the big one, so his name fits.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Woody Johnson is going to be Ambassador to the UK..........

Have no idea who this is, but hilarious that he's named after a dick twice.

He owns the NY Jets........who suck the big one, so his name fits.

That's the gang from West Side Story right?

[Hindsight was 2020]

Woody Johnson is going to be Ambassador to the UK..........

Hallelujah that means he won't be running the day to day operations of the Jets anymore

[KingSweden]

Woody Johnson is going to be Ambassador to the UK..........

Hallelujah that means he won't be running the day to day operations of the Jets anymore

This might be the best thing to happen to Jets fans in decades

[The Other Castro]

Woody Johnson is going to be Ambassador to the UK..........

Have no idea who this is, but hilarious that he's named after a dick twice.

He owns the NY Jets........who suck the big one, so his name fits.

That's the gang from West Side Story right?

Trump needs someone to keep him cool, boy.

[justfollowingtheelections]

Fun Fact: Trump is the first president since Carter to not have a Hispanic member of his Cabinet.

Well only some of them are good people (apparently not enough for Trump to find someone to nominate).

Trump has never actually met one that he likes. He assumes that some of them are good people.

Good point.  But hey, at least he has an open mind.