Today, we learned that Rick Perry didn’t know what the Secretary of Energy did when he accepted the job. He thought it meant he’d get to gloat about oil and gas all around the world. Why did Trump pick him for the position, anyway? Because Trump most likely didn’t know what the job entailed, either.* Yesterday, we learned that Betsy Devos, the nomination for the Education Secretary thinks we should allow guns in schools because you never know when you’re going to have to shoot a grizzly bear. We’ve also learned that Tom Price, the nomination for Secretary of Health and Human Services says people will be fine without the ACA because they can get other insurance. Insurance that wasn’t there in the first place. We’ve learned more than that, of course, but I’m trying not to lose my goddamn mind over these picks, so I’m keeping it brief.
Right after the elections were over, Ian and I played a very morbid game of ‘Name the Worst Possible Candidate For Each Position’. We weren’t doing it to be unfeeling or flippant, but because we were in shock and needed to deal with the trauma somehow. We’re both sarcastic, mordant people, so this was our way of coping. Remember, this was a joke between us, not something to be taken seriously. We watched in horror as Trump either met or exceeded** all our joke picks. We knew it was going to be bad, but with every passing day, it got worse and worse. I avoided much of the news in the past two months, but I’ve been paying closer attention in the past week because I felt it would be cowardly of me to just put my head in the sand and pretend what’s about to happen isn’t happening.
I’m mortified by the new administration. I look at all the high quality people in President Obama’s administration,*** and I want to weep at the steep downgrade we’re making in each position. Call me an elitist, but I want the most qualified person in their area of expertise to head each department. What’s more, I want someone who’s not actively hostile to the department they’re being chosen to lead. That was part of the game Ian and I played. Who would be the person who’s the most disdainful of this position? For example, the EPA. We both were like, that climate change denier scientist duded. He’d be perfect for the position! Lo and behold, he’s the one who was chosen, and it just went downhill from there.