PLEASE TELL ME THE CABINET ANNOUNCEMENTS ARE A JOKE

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Since the publication of this blog, Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his nomination. This certainly represents a bit of HOPE with regard to the following, but that feeling should be experienced with caution.)

My already-broken heart continues to break a little more every day as the hellish landscape of Tr*mp's administration picks are revealed. It breaks for the LGBTQIA+ community, for people of color, for women, for children, for the poor, for non-Christians, for our service men and women, and for the environment. It breaks for the impending loss of our rights and freedoms; the ensuing chaos of the new regime's blatant lawlessness; the purposely misguided distrust of our government institutions; the purposely misguided distrust of science; and the acceptance of medical conspiracy theories. It breaks the most for the continued (and increasing) normalization of hate and hate-incited violence; and for the fear and anxiety that have replaced hope and joy for so many in this country. And with the scarcest reserves of hope I have left, I keep saying to myself, "Please let this be a dream. Please let this be a joke."

Robert J. Kennedy, Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services?!? The man who is a medical and science conspiracy theorist?!? The man who thinks we should halt ALL medical research on infectious diseases?!? Are you joking?!?

RFK, Jr. has ZERO experience managing a large or even medium-sized organization. And sadly, the more than 80,000 hard working scientists, researchers, doctors and others employed by this department will be the first to suffer from that lack of experience.

Worse, he has ZERO experience in either medicine OR science. In fact, he's an anti-vaxxer who chairs the Children's Health Defense, a non-profit activist group mainly known for anti-vaccine disinformation, and which has been called one of the main sources of misinformation on vaccines. Worse still, he believes vaccines cause autism, which has been disaproven time and again by numerous studies. And he wants to end school vaccine mandates, making children (whose parents buy his snake oil) vulnerable to long-since-defeated-but-now-re-emerging diseases like measles, whooping cough and meningitis.

But wait, there's more! He believes chemicals in water turn kids gay, and is a multiple-times, credibly accused sexual predator. He also said a worm got into his brain and ate a portion of it, and admitted to dumping a dead freaking bear in Central Park. Even his own family members despise him.

(For more on RFK, Jr., read "RFK Jr. is building a presidential campaign around conspiracy theories.")

Matt Gaetz to lead the Department of Justice?!? The man who has been under criminal investigation himself?!? The man who just resigned from Congress so the House Ethics Committee would no longer have jurisdiction to further investigate his crimes and sketchy behavior?!? And before he got booted after the committee's final report came out?!? Are you joking?!?

Like RFK, Jr., Matt Gaetz has ZERO experience managing a large or even medium-sized organization. And similarly, the more than 115,000 attorneys, special agents and other staff employed by this department will be the first to suffer from his lack of experience—that's to say if they're not immediately fired for not bending the knee to Shitler. Worse, Gaetz has ZERO experience in law enforcement other than being arrested and investigated, and has very little experience as an actual lawyer, let alone any experience with the DOJ—unless you count the incessant criticizing for its January 6 domestic terrorist investigations and prosecutions.

In March 2023, Gaetz said: “We either get this government back on our side or we defund and get rid of, abolish the FBI, CDC, ATF, DOJ—every last one of them if they do not come to heel.” He will not only turn the DOJ into an unrecognizable, lawless shitshow, he will lead the charge to end the set of norms under which the institution has operated post-Watergate to prevent political bias from affecting criminal investigations. In layman's terms, he'll have no problem obeying his orange liege's orders to arrest and jail political opponents and dissenters, among others. (Russia 2.0!)

But wait, there's more! And yep, you guessed what it is! Sexual predator stuff. Gaetz has shown other lawmakers on the House floor videos and photos of nude women he's had sex with. He was investigated by the FBI for being credibly accused of having sex with a 17-year-old high school girl, prostitution and sex trafficking. The House Ethics Committee has also investigated Gaetz for his sexual misconduct as well as accusations of misusing state identification records; converting campaign funds to personal use; and/or accepting a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift, in violation of House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct. But hey, in Tr*mp's world, he's the perfect man for the nation's top law enforcement officer, right?!?

(For more information on this unqualified, MAGA loyalist, read "No Matter How Bad You Think an Attorney General Matt Gaetz Would Be, He’ll Be Worse."

Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense?!? The man whose highest rank was Major—in the Army National Guard—to oversee 3 million+ soldiers and civilian staff?!? The FOX & Friends Weekend co-host?!? Are you joking?!?

Big surprise here. Hegseth has ZERO experience managing a large or even medium-sized organization. He has ZERO experience working with the Pentagon and ZERO experience with large budgets, which at nearly $1 Trillion for the DoD should concern EVERY hard working, American tax payer. Worse, his lack of experience not only doesn't bode well for leading our service people, it's downright frightening, irresponsible and dangerous considering the current global crises—Russia's war with Ukraine, attacks in the Middle East by Iranian proxies, conflict between Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah, and escalating worries about the growing alliance between Russia and North Korea.

He praises waterboarding and blasts the policies, laws and treaties of the Geneva Conventions that constrain warfighters on the battlefield, effectively believing it should just be a free-for-all. In fact, he defended a number of servicemen who committed gross war crimes and rallied Tr*ump to pardon them. He's also criticized international institutions like the United Nations as a "farce" and a "giant joke."

Worse still, he's a misogynist who believes women aren't qualified for combat because "they're life-givers, not life-takers"(obviously stopping just short there of saying women should be subservient and barefoot in the kitchen). He plans to fire every officer who supports diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, and mocks and misgenders transgender service people. And besides making regressive comments about women and LGBT+ people serving in the military, he has a track record of anti-Islam rhetoric and statements suggesting his support for deploying troops against other Americans.

What scares me the most about this guy is that he's a Christian Nationalist and member of a Christian Nationalist supremacist church, he has a tattoo that is a rallying cry for white supremacists, and has connections to the TheoBros, which is a group of young "Christian" extremists who want to end the 19th Amendment, restore public flogging, and make America white again, and who believe America should be subject to biblical law. Handmaid's Tale, anyone?

But wait, there's more! And if you loved the sexual predator stuff above, wait until you get a load of this. Not only is he credibly accused of raping a 22-year-old woman and then paying her off to avoid charges, he published a column in college claiming that having sex with an unconscious woman is not rape because the woman experiences “no duress.” (JFC!) And frighteningly, he is a national security threat because he's a serial philanderer, which opens him up to blackmail.

And while there is the slightest bit of hope as reports are now saying Tr*mp's transition team is "quietly looking at alternatives," that hope is loaded with some serious irony and typical Republican hypocrisy. Specifically, how they're suddenly clutching their pearls over a man who raped a woman and paid her off to keep her silent while supporting a man who the court agreed raped a woman and who paid off another to keep her quiet.

(For more information on this unqualified, MAGA loyalist, read "13 things everyone should know about Pete Hegseth.")

And there's so many more. People like Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence. Are you joking?!? She has ZERO experience in the Intelligence community, ZERO experience managing a large or even medium-sized organization. She parrots Russian talking points, regularly sides with our enemies over our own intelligence agencies, and is referred to as "Russia's girlfriend" by Kremlin state media, FFS!

And don't even get me started on Dr. Oz to lead Medicaid and Medicare. Are you joking?!? He's a charlatan who repeatedly promoted products of questionable medical value sold by multilevel marketing companies who have regularly drawn the attention of federal regulators (don't worry about that though as Tr*ump plans to deregulate EVERYTHING). Worse, studies have shown that more than half of the health recommendations he peddled on his show had either no evidence behind them or they actually contradicted what the best-available science tells us. (For more on this quack, read "Dr. Oz’s Sad Trip Down the Rabbit Hole.")

Sadly, none of this is a dream. Nor is it a joke. It's our FAR-from-funny reality.