Send in the Clowns

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated many grossly unqualified individuals for key appointments in his upcoming administration. To this point, the most egregious examples are Tulsi Gabbard, Robert Kennedy Jr., Matt Gaetz, and Pete Hegseth.

Ms. Gabbard is not only not qualified to be the Director of National Intelligence, she brings with her a well-known fondness and support for the ruthless dictators of Syria (Bashar al-Assad) and Russia (Vladimir Putin). Many political commentators, including some in Russia, have described her as a Russian asset. The US intelligence community must be quaking in their shoes at the thought of how such a director would operate.

RFK Jr., who has been nominated to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services, is a vaccine skeptic, an opponent of fluoridated drinking water, and an advocate of unpasteurized milk. He brings no scientific or medical training to support any of his dangerous beliefs. Apparently, his role will be to “Make America Great Again” by promoting tooth decay, illnesses from milk-born bacteria, and reversing the vaccine-created “herd immunity” that is protecting us from outbreaks of many dangerous infectious diseases.

Matt Gaetz was nominated to be Attorney General, despite having no experience as a prosecutor at either the state or federal level. In addition, he has been under investigation by the House ethics committee for possible sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, accepting bribes, and obstructing government investigations. Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton deemed it “the worst nomination for a Cabinet secretary in American history.”

Pete Hegseth, who has been nominated to be Secretary of Defense, is a weekend Fox News political commentator who has no experience as an administrator of any defense-related organization. Also, he has been accused of sexual assault, violating the military prohibition against white supremacist tatoos, and was one of 12 National Guard members who were removed from helping to secure the inauguration of President Biden after the military and the FBI found that they had made extremist statements in posts or text messages or had ties to right-wing extremist militia groups.

Stephen Sondheim wrote a song titled “Send in the Clowns”. Sadly, an excerpt from the lyrics of that song very much applies to this state of affairs:

But where are the clowns?

Quick, send in the clowns

Don't bothеr, they're herе

Ed Shaffer

Galien