#TrumpWars I: The #Swamp #Fills

Hey Everyone!

Today, I'd like to talk about, you guessed it, Donald Trump and his claims that he intends to "drain the swamp" in Washington DC. The easiest way to do this, in my opinion, is to juxtapose some of his words with some of his actions and let you draw your own conclusions.  So, what I'm going to do is post some quotes below and then post some facts about some of the people he wants as part of his administration. I won't be able to cover all of them, there are just too many, but I'll try to get to as many of the most important ones as I can. So, take a look and then decide for yourself if his actions match his promises.

Excerpt from a press release by Donald Trump: "My plan for the economy can be summed up in three simple words: jobs, jobs, jobs." (1)

Mr. Trump's choice for Secretary of Labor, a position that is supposed to be dedicated to protected the interests of American workers is Andrew F. Puzder. Mr. Puzder is the CEO of the franchise that owns Carl's Jr. and Hardees and has been an outspoken critic of the worker protections put in place by President Obama. Mr. Puzder also contributed generously to Mr. Trump's Presidential campaign and is a wealthy elite business man. He is against paid sick leave for workers and is described by Richard L. Trumka, president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., as “a man whose business record is defined by fighting against working people.” Recently, Mr. Puzder spoke out in favor of automation, stating that robots don't get sick or take vacations. (2)

Excerpt from a press release by Donald Trump: "Third: I am going to expand the definition of lobbyist so we close all the loopholes that former government officials use by labeling themselves consultants and advisors when we all know they are lobbyists....Decades of failure in Washington, and decades of special interest dealing, must come to an end. We have to break the cycle of corruption, and we have to give new voices a chance to go into government service." (1)


Mr. Trump's choice for Treasury Secretary is Steven Mnuchin.  Mr. Mnuchin is a former employee of Goldman Sachs (Yes, the big bank that, through its fraudulent practices, destroyed the US economy and contributed heavily to the 2008 economic crash. And about which Mr. Trump had so much to say when it came to Ms. Clinton's association with it), Soros Fund Managment (Yes, that would be George Soros, the billionaire that Ms. Clinton was criticized so much for taking money from), and part owner and former Chair of One West Bank. Mr. Mnuchin profited from the housing crisis when One West Bank bought IndyMac when it failed, though the bank was later forced to pay millions of dollars in fines for improper foreclosure practices. (3,4)

Mr. Trump's choice for Commerce Secretary is Wilbur Ross. Mr. Ross is a billionaire became known as the "king of bankruptcy" for making a habit of helping to pick over the bones of America's failing manufacturing industry. He is, naturally, in favor of making enormous cuts to the corporate tax rate, so that workers can start paying more in taxes, and doing away with the regulations that prevent energy companies from poisoning the American people. As Deputy Commerce Secretary, Mr. Trump's choice is Todd Ricketts, another Republican megadonor and billionaire. (5)

Mr. Trump's choice to lead the National Economic Council is Gary Cohn. Mr. Cohn is another Goldman Sachs executive, in fact he is the President and COO of Goldman Sachs. Mr. Cohn donated to both Republican and Democratic candidates, including President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Marco Rubio. And he has stated that banking regulations inhibit banks' ability to transmit capital. For all Mr. Trump's rhetoric about corruption and government connection to Wall Street, he sure does seem to love his bankers. (6, 7)

Mr. Trump's choice for head of the EPA is Scott Pruitt. Mr. Pruitt is the Attorney General of Oklahoma and has spent much of his time as State Attorney General fighting with the EPA. He has been a staunch defender of the oil and gas industry and has opposed efforts to limit the amount of mercury, arsenic, and other toxins that corporations are allowed to leak into the environment. Hmm..no special interests here. No, not at all. (8)

Mr. Trump's choice for Education Secretary is Betsy Davos. Ms. Davos is another billionaire and large Republican contributor. She is an opponent of public schools, and instead seeks to privatize education so that only the wealthy are able to educate their children. For those who are not rich, she believes that unregulated charter schools are sufficient. These substandard, for-profit schools should, naturally, to be funded by taxpayers, seems to be Ms. Davos's philosophy. (9)

Donald Trump's statement to a pastor in an interview that aired on the Impact Network regarding the perception that he is racist: "I am the least racist person that you have ever met." (10)

Mr. Trump's choice for Attorney General is Jeff Sessions. Mr. Sessions has stated that he thought the KKK was “okay, until he learned that they smoked marijuana.” He has stated that the NAACP and the ACLU are "un-American" and "Communist-inspired." And then there's this story from J. Gerald Hebert, "I was a young lawyer in the civil rights division at the Justice Department in 1981 when I first encountered Jeff Sessions. At the time, Sessions was the new U.S. attorney for Alabama. I met him while I was handling a major voting rights case in Mobile, and I relayed a rumor I’d heard: A federal judge there had allegedly referred to a civil rights lawyer as “a traitor to his race” for taking on black clients. Sessions responded, “Well, maybe he is.”"  Yeah, no trace of racism there. (11, 12, 13)

Trump's White House Chief Strategist is Steve Bannon. Mr. Bannon is another former Goldman Sachs executive and Executive Chairman of conservative "news" outlet, Breitbart News. He has stated that Breitbart was a platform for the "alt-right," a thinly veiled rebranding of white supremacy. Mr. Bannon kept his daughter out of public schools because, according to his former wife, he didn't want her in classes with Jewish students. And it's not just his detractors who claim he's racist, leaders of the white nationalist movement, including former KKK leader David Duke, have stated that they view him as their representative in Mr. Trump's administration. (14, 15)


So, there you have it, people. And that's not even a comprehensive list of the swamp creatures Mr. Trump is installing as part of our government.  I don't know about you, but I think actions speak louder than words. If you're someone who supported Trump because you thought he would be an agent of change, did you want this kind of change?  If not, there are a couple petitions you might want to look at. That also goes for anyone who didn't support Trump and who doesn't want our government to be run by Goldman Sachs and Exxon Mobile. I'll link to the petitions below.

First Petition:  https://tytnetwork.com/public_html/petition/

Second Petition:  https://www.change.org/p/donald-trump-get-the-lobbyists-off-of-your-transition-team

Thanks for stopping by today, folks, I hope you found this post enlightening. Don't forget to check back tomorrow for more of Mistral Dawn's Musings!


References:

(1) https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/trump-pledges-to-drain-the-swamp

(2) http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/08/us/politics/andrew-puzder-labor-secretary-trump.html

(3) http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2016/11/29/who-is-trump-pick-steven-mnuchin-what-does-the-treasury-secretary-do-anyway/#3c0f1e0a628f

(4) http://money.cnn.com/2016/11/29/news/economy/donald-trump-steven-mnuchin-treasury/

(5) http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/24/us/politics/wilbur-ross-commerce-trump.html?_r=0

(6) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/12/09/trump-to-name-goldman-sachs-veteran-gary-cohn-to-head-national-economic-council/?utm_term=.3b17453c212e

(7) http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-gary-cohn-goldman-sachs-national-economic-council/

(8) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/12/07/trump-names-scott-pruitt-oklahoma-attorney-general-suing-epa-on-climate-change-to-head-the-epa/?utm_term=.56615c506bf5

(9) https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/11/betsy-devos-trump-education-secretary-michigan-charter-schools

(10) http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/15/politics/donald-trump-election-2016-racism/

(11) https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/11/22/my-testimony-about-jeff-sessionss-racist-remarks-kept-him-from-becoming-a-judge/?utm_term=.fbc87c6f0d65

(12) http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/17/politics/jeff-sessions-racism-allegations/

(13) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/18/10-things-to-know-about-sen-jeff-sessions-donald-trumps-pick-for-attorney-general/?utm_term=.42552f6f2093

(14) http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/15/opinion/turn-on-the-hate-steve-bannon-at-the-white-house.html

(15) http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/14/politics/white-nationalists-on-bannon/