Trump DoE pick didn't know what the DoE does.

[Zarc]

The ignorance of Trump himself and many of his appointees angers me greatly. I mean, take Ricky Perry for example, the man who famously wanted to abolish the Energy Department he couldn't remember and which he is now supposed to lead:

“My past statements made over five years ago about abolishing the Department of Energy do not reflect my current thinking,” Perry said in his opening statement. “In fact, after being briefed on so many of the vital functions of the Department of Energy, I regret recommending its elimination.”

I mean what the fuck. In other words, when he said 5 years ago that he wanted to abolish it he didn't know what he wanted to abolish because he was ignorant to what it actually does, such as being in charge of the Nuclear Arsenal of the United States (since President Truman wanted to make sure the Nuclear Arsenal remained under strict civilian control). It's so infuriating that he was running from President and proposing shit he knew nothing about. Just now that he has been handed the job to run the freaking department does he inform himself of what it does, apparently. And that is exactly what Donald Trump has been doing but at an epic scale. Like how he repeatedly says that the United States doesn't have any vetting of immigrants, when the United States in fact have among the most rigorous vetting of any country in the world. How he seemed to be oblivious to what the nuclear triad is, because he is obviously ignorant about nuclear policy. He just have some vague superficial and abstract worry about the threat of nuclear weapons without actually knowing anything specific about nuclear policy. There is a cult of ignorance in the United States that is extremely destructive.

[Thepersona]

Turns out this whole story is false the source in question came out saying it was bullshit.

source for your claim?

[Crissi]

If Perry does manage to do a good job though, or even a passable one, I'll willingly and happily congratulate him. Like I said before, I dont actually hate Perry.

[Captain N]

source for your claim?

There was a Blaze article a page or so back...with the poster ironically calling this whole thread Fake News.

[Thepersona]

If Perry does manage to do a good job though, or even a passable one, I'll willingly and happily congratulate him. Like I said before, I dont actually hate Perry.

probably he will do a mediocre one. which is higher than expected nonetheless

[SirPiken]

Yeah, turns out Perry was totally qualified all along!

When the ground your position rest upon crumbles, just pull some sarcasm out of your ass and stand on that...

[Nathreim]

source for your claim?

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer...ick-perry.html

Shortly after Perry was named as Trumps pick he did a brief interview on Dec 14 talking about the many aspects of the DoE including nuclear security.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/donald...t-trump-232614

"As the former governor of the nation's largest energy producing state, I know American energy is critical to our economy and our security. I look forward to engaging in a conversation about the development, stewardship and regulation of our energy resources, safeguarding our nuclear arsenal, and promoting an American energy policy that creates jobs and puts America first." - Rick Perry


So the NY Times claim that Perry believed "he was taking on a role as a global ambassador for the American oil and gas industry that he had long championed in his home state." and that he later found out that wasn't what the DoE did was false.

[Glorious Leader]

DeVos...train wreck agree 100%

The others? Highly debatable.

Ben carson for hud... even fucking ben carson didnt think he was qualified

[Wells]

When the ground your position rest upon crumbles, just pull some sarcasm out of your ass and stand on that...

The ground is that Perry doesn't know what he's doing. Looking like solid ground to me.

- - - Updated - - -

Ben carson for hud... even fucking ben carson didnt think he was qualified

Carson for HUD is just baffling. I want to be charitable but I can't help but think Trump saw the word "urban" and decided it was the job for a black guy.

[Elim Garak]

You seem to think that I dont know shit,

No, I am saying that you don't know how Texas is actually being ran. And I'm not talkign about theoretical or historical nonsense. I'm talking practice. You didn't know what was involved in running Texas when Perry was the governor. You weren't privy to that kind of information. There's no bad connotation to this - it's NORMAL. You are not stupid because of this and I really don't understand why you take it so personal. Especially considering that by you I also mean ANY one who isn't governing Texas (or any other state).

when I actually do because not only was I taught this, but I researched it as well.

See above.

Also, someone that's experienced Perry's stewardship

I don't even understand what that means in current context. Yes, you lived in Texas. As I said - you had no access to all the data. You were observing things from below. Different perspective. Nothing bad in this either.

is likely going to know better than some random from whateverville.

Why this hostility? Did I say that Texas is a bad state or something?

Just like I wouldnt have much to say, or much exp, with a governor form say, Arizona in terms of the job they've done. Critisize their policies sure, but not necessarily the job they;ve done or their responsibilities.

And you shouldn't do it for Texas. You are not qualified. Perry was graded B in fiscal matters - by qualified people.

So really, you're just trying to find crap to fling, and failing.

That's just what you prefer to see.

[Kaleredar]

stop exagerating, those ppl are smarter than u anyway

I dunno, I can name three agencies of government. Which I think means I've got Rick Perry beat.

[IIamaKing]

There's plenty of two way communication across party lines. There's just a dearth of it here because people tend to be more interested in "winning" and shitposting than actual discussion or evaluation of positions.

Its not just here though, its any internet communication really. And I know one guy who can sit down and actually objectively discuss divergent opinions. The rest fall back into the same talking points that seem to be sent out in some news letter. "Hillary Lied people Died" "Bush was a war criminal" Bill was a rapist" "Trump is a racist" "Trump is in bed with Putin".

What 2 way working together did we see the last 6 years? None, we saw a contentions congress obstruct all the way to the bank. But I cant really fault that as, sadly, thats pretty much the platform they ran and were elected on. Which was a result of the BS scaremongering the right was selling for free.

And from what I can see we are poised to repeat that just swap the parties around. Who on the left is saying lets wait and see, it might be ok? I mean if there is some one I haven't heard it.

8 years ago the right wing media convinced half the country that we were going to be the Communist States of America when he got done. And I bought some of that shit for a time. Until 4 years later every thing was pretty much the same as it ever was.

I feel I have strayed quite a bit here. Sum it up, people need to listen to the other side, the other side needs to stop thinking the other side is bad and understand that the other side is just Americans who have a different world view and we need to learn to live together without being vile twats.

[Kaleredar]

Hopefully not a warmonger and someone with prosperous ideals.

So how do China and Russia stack up on those? Cuz they're contenders two and three.

[IIamaKing]

You'd have to ask the cat. Why would a white person be offended by racism against black people? Regardless of why, we all agree that it happens, right?

Sure, but dont confuse what I was saying for offense. More of a calling out the notion that the other side is full of idiots. Which is something that can be said of BOTH sides. Its stupid and does us all a disservice.

[Belize]

Isn't everyone he has appointed against the department they are in charge of?

Essentially.

I'm starting to think that he put a bunch of people even less competent than him, so that once shit hits the fan, he has a group of morons to blame.

[petej0]

And from what I can see we are poised to repeat that just swap the parties around. Who on the left is saying lets wait and see, it might be ok? I mean if there is some one I haven't heard it.

There have been a few celebrities who have come out in support of Trump by saying something similar to "give him a chance" but they just get shouted down. God forbid a black guy meets with Trump, then you get called a sell out and labelled a "Mediocre Negro". The temper tantrum has reach record levels with people boycotting or threatening those who show up at the Inauguration. Andrea Bocelli & Jennifer Holliday got death threats if they sang at the Inauguration!!! Seriously?

[SirPiken]

The ground is that Perry doesn't know what he's doing. Looking like solid ground to me.

No the ground was a fake news story that you immediately believed because your defining characteristic is confirmation bias.

[Wells]

No the ground was a fake news story that you immediately believed because your defining characteristic is confirmation bias.

I see no reason to grant that its fake, nor is the underlying point in any way refuted. A party lackey of mediocre intelligence has been given a post at a serious agency for which he has no relevant skill.

[Phookah]

Trumps entire cabinet is a joke.

His pick for Attorney General? Jeff Sessions, who if you don't know has spent a good chunk of his career fighting against civil rights. He lost a judgeship in the 1980's due to testimony about his racist comments and actions in his work.

His Dpt. of Commerce pick? Wilbur Ross, who in addition to being involved in the Sago mine disaster (he purchased it and then did an interview where he talks at length about how unsafe he knows it was and decided to keep it open regardless) has also been fined by the Securities and Exchange Commission for defrauding investors over 10 million dollars in fake fees.

His Sect. of Treasury is Steven Mnuchin, who is a former Goldman Sachs executive. Enough said.

His National Security Advisor is Mike Flynn, an outspoken racist who also jives with stupid conspiracy shit like "Obama is a muslim", "Sharia Law is getting voted in X" etc and also has business ties to Turkey and Russia (a paid speaking gig for Russia Today even!)

His pick for Sect. of Education is (ugh) Betsy DeVos, someone who literally has zero experience doing what shes going to be hired for, is fanatically religious and advocates for the defunding the of the public school system and the pushing of charter schools (which typically are extremely volatile in results with children and are exempt from quite a bit of federal regulations).

So TL;DR

Find the lube and grab your ankles ladies and gents.
We're fucked.

[Draco-Onis]

No the ground was a fake news story that you immediately believed because your defining characteristic is confirmation bias.

The video of his confirmation hearing is also fake news