An unapologetic disseminator of hate will soon roam the halls of the White House as “Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor.” Left to stand, this appointment will be a moral stain on our country and an omen of much more to come. It transforms the President-Elect’s campaign rhetoric into a taxpayer-funded position in the Federal Government, making a mockery of the historic struggle of African Americans and other groups for freedom and equal rights. It is one glaringly obvious anti-democratic move in a pattern of behavior that should make Americans of all political persuasions wary of what lies ahead. It is one of many points on which there should be no disagreement between Republicans and Democrats.
Whether we find the President-Elect repelling or refreshing, we can agree that he is taking America further and further into uncharted territory. He is at odds with the conservative economic principles and foreign policy goals of his own party. Perhaps even more alarmingly, he pushes ethical boundaries. A man whose primary qualification for office is ostensibly his business acumen, he has used U.S. bankruptcy laws to escape from financial liabilities while stiffing business partners and vendors. He declared himself smart for utilizing tax loopholes to avoid paying taxes despite his enormous income. He defrauded thousands of students of his now defunct so-called “university.” A month before taking office, he is dancing at the edges of bold-faced nepotism and blatant conflict of interest, making a complete mockery of fairness and transparency in government.
He has misrepresented complex issues such as trade, immigration, and global terrorism to his supporters, making scapegoats of immigrants, and stirring up hatred against minorities. In a frightening departure from the traditions of both the Republican and Democratic parties, he labeled his general election opponent a criminal, and encouraged his supporters to chant “lock her up” at his rallies.
He has shown a reckless disregard for existing U.S. foreign policy initiatives, treaty commitments, relationships with allies, and nuclear nonproliferation goals. He has sown seeds of doubt in our elected officials, the courts, the Federal Reserve, the intelligence agencies, the military, and the election process itself. He has demonized the press and threatened to “open up” the libel laws. Through ambiguous and often contradictory statements, he has created profound confusion in the public mind about what he intends to do in office.
If the President-Elect and his backers were setting out to enfeeble the Federal Government, his staff and Cabinet might be just as it is shaping up to be. The “Chief Strategist” position was the first shot over the bow. His pick for Attorney General is a senator from Alabama who failed to receive Senate confirmation in the 1980s because he was deemed too racist. For National Security Advisor, a position that requires integration of insight across multiple agencies, he selected a military general known for his extremist views, uncompromising manner, and shameful record of promoting fake news.
He went on to name a Housing and Urban Development head who does not support the Fair Housing Act; an Education Secretary with no background in education who would “voucherize” our public schools; an Environmental Protection Agency director who is a climate change skeptic with a current suit against the agency; a Labor Secretary whose own businesses have been cited for violations of Labor Department regulations and who has publicly romanced the notion of replacing workers with machines; an Energy Secretary who is on record for wanting to abolish the Energy Department; and a Secretary of State with a vested interest in removing sanctions on Russia for its egregious human rights violations.
While each of these individuals is highly credentialed in one respect or another, as a group tasked to head particular agencies and departments of the Federal Government, they represent a game of musical chairs gone wild. This is not a normal transition of power. It is a travesty.
The election results are being wrongly construed as a mandate to weaken the Federal Government. We can normalize this. Or we can heed the roar of a fragile, trapped, and endangered democracy and insist that the President-Elect clearly demonstrate his commitment to upholding it. The ears of the whole world are trained on us.