But it's Labor Day morning and I'm in the office to do some work after being out all of last week for a trial, and I'm not really ready to look at a hundred zillion emails yet, so I'll at least get a start on it. So I went to the second-to-top post at the Executive Office of the President, as a start. The highest-up post is White House Chief Of Staff; we all know that's that Kelly guy for now until he gets fired. DEPUTY WH Chief of Staff is Kirstjen Nielsen. Do you know her? You don't.
Together with the White House counsel, the press secretary, and a few others, the Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff set the president's appointments and schedule. They serve an average of 18 months (not by law, by choice; only one has lasted a full term) and frequently use the post as a springboard to other appointments or positions in government. Obama's Jack Lew, for example, went on to become Secretary of the Treasury, back when Treasury was headed by someone other than a criminal billionaire whose wife mocks the poor on Instagram.
Kirstjen Nielsen would like to be known as an expert in "homeland security," and although I've been beating this drum for 16 years I'm going to say again how much the word "homeland" creeps me out. When Worst President Ever created the Department of Homeland Security I thought it sounded Nazi-ish. Turns out I was right. But Nielsen's expertise in securing the homeland does not, apparently, extend to natural disasters. Two Congressional reports said she was one of the Bush Administration's officials who dropped the ball on Katrina. (Ironic that she was named to her post as Harvey hit land.) Nielsen was said to have received a series of warnings via email about Katrina's impending severity, yet the White House never acted on them. Nielsen was fired in April, 2007 by Bush. Imagine being fired by the Worst President Ever (like the NFL Hall of Fame, people currently on the job are not eligible for this award).
What Nielsen really is is a lobbyist for tech and aerospace industries. Her bio also says she is "general counsel" for "Civitas Group LLC," a position that helped her be one of "The Most Influential People in Security 2016". (Her bio for that award mentions her role in the Bush Administration as being "crisis manager for major events and emergencies." Hey, it didn't say she was a good crisis manager!)
Nielsen also lists herself on Twitter as the "President" of "Sunesis Consulting." Sunesis' specialty is helping companies comply with "Sarbanes-Oxley." That's the law the Bush administration passed in the wake of Enron and other scandals. I bet with all the attention being given to the economic collapse of 2008, you entirely forgot about its little brother, the collapse of eleven major companies in 2002 due to the fact that they were (to use a technical term) "criminally fraudulent enterprises that cooked the books to ensure profits for the head CEOs." Bush called the law (which [passed the Senate 99-1)
What do you want to bet that just as Carl Icahn broke the law in trying to get cap-and-trade changed so he could make more than just $500,000,000, we will see the Trump administration start to roll back boardroom regulations that were put in place by the previous Republican administration?
"the most far-reaching reforms of American business practices since the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The era of low standards and false profits is over; no boardroom in America is above or beyond the law."
Don't place that bet yet: In March Trump ordered that the Treasury Secretary review regulations including Sarbanes-Oxley specifically. Now would be a good time to pull your money out of the stock market.
5 comments:
What's worse than worse President ever? Because we're in that now.
Hey Brian - just checking in on you. I thought you were a HUGE Trump supporter. When did you turn on him?
I'm kidding. I hope you are well.
Profiles of the swamp. That's what this is.
Andrew: On 2/8/2000 Bush introduced his $1,600,000,000,000 tax cut plan to great consternation of many, lying about its effect on the budget and deficits. Two months later he was criticized by China for not apologizing when a US spy plane killed a Chinese pilot and took a "hardened stance" towards China. He considered restricting steel imports in June, risking a trade war. That's all before he urged Congress to give the President expansive powers to wage wars on any enemy, anywhere, and started the war in Afghanistan in October, a war we are still in, and then went to war in Iraq, ditto.
It's hard to explain why Bush was so bad without sounding like I'm defending Trump, but that was Bush's first 10 months: smash a hole in the federal budget, continue the crippling insistence that lower taxes are good and/or necessary, expand the military powers of the presidency beyond Constitutional protections, and get us into two neverending wars.
By comparison, Trump's first 8 months have merely been embarrassing.
Rusty: I once read Trump's Art Of The Deal -- for fun!-- as a younger man who also once believed, 100%, that the Clintons had Vince Foster killed. Actually growing up helped me see beyond that foolishness.
Liz: You named it!
Hmm... I guess the question, then, is it worse to be the most incompetent President ever?
And, well, I can't help but think that when you agenda is to just undo every good thing that has been done in the past 50 or so years that that makes you the WORST. Worst everything.
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