The United States of America. Such an amazing country. So much ingenuity. So much endeavour. A land that stretches from The Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific and within its boundaries there is endless goodwill, so much optimism, so much kindness. It is home to 349 million people making it the third most populous country on the planet.
With all of that in mind, what puzzles me is how can it be that the government of that great country is led by a bunch of amateurs, ill-qualified for their roles and often guilty of cretinous, toadying behaviour. Surely, surely, America contains hundreds of better qualified, more suitably experienced, perceptive and industrious citizens who would do a far better job than the amateurs who currently occupy leadership roles within the US government.
Let's take a look at just five random members of the current cabinet:-
Scott Bessent - Secretary of The Treasury
After Trump was elected president in 2016, Bessent donated $1 million to Trump's 2017 presidential inaugural committee. In 2023 and 2024, he donated more than $1 million to Trump's 2024 presidential campaign. In February 2024, Bessent hosted a fundraiser in Greenville, South Carolina, that raised nearly $7 million for Trump's campaign. In relation to his past tax responsibilities, Bessent wilfully used loopholes and "write offs" to dodge payments of up to two million dollars. This came out in his confirmation hearing in the US Senate.
Pete Hegseth - Secretary of Defence (aka "Secretary of War")
For ten years, Hegseth was a regular contributor to the right wing TV channel - Fox News, often spouting off about military matters. No doubt it was that media presence that led him to his current job. His character was severely questioned in his confirmation hearing for he has a history of drunkenness and womanising. Senator and former war hero, Mark Kelly, said this of Hegseth, "He is the most unqualified defense secretary in history".
Robert F. Kennedy Jr - Secretary of Health and Human Services
When he was a teenager, Kennedy was expelled from two boarding schools. Some Kennedy family members regarded him as the "ringleader" of a pack of spoiled, rich kids who called themselves the "Hyannis Port Terrors", engaging in vandalism, theft, and drug use. His first cousin Caroline Kennedy later blamed Kennedy for leading other members of their family "down the path of drug addiction", calling him a "predator". At Harvard, Kennedy continued to use heroin and cocaine, often with his brother David, earning a reputation that has been described as a "pied piper" and "drug dealer". Later in his life, Kennedy began experiencing severe short and long-term memory loss and mental fog in 2010. In a 2012 divorce court deposition, he attributed neurological issues to "a worm that got into my brain and ate a
portion of it and then died"
Linda McMahon - Secretary of Education
McMahon made a lot of money with her husband Vince by advancing wrestling events in America, having previously promoted other sports. When Trump appointed her to the role she now occupies,he said he wanted her to close down the department - "I want her to put herself out of a job." She used to refer to AI as A-One. An error-littered letter she sent to Harvard University about wokeness and curriculum concerns was returned to her with all of her many grammatical and spelling mistakes corrected.
Mullin is from Oklahoma and ran his family's plumbing business until he decided to enter politics. During a Senate committee hearing in 2023, he challenged Teamsters Union President Sean O'Brien to a physical fight,
telling him "Quit the tough guy act in these senate hearings. You know
where to find me. Any place, Any time cowboy". Mullin has a reputation for angry outbursts ad aggression. He received an associate plumbing degree in 2010 from Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology. After the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal ICE agents in Minneapolis, Mullin
called Pretti a "deranged individual" in a Fox News interview.
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Currently Trump's unnecessary war with Iran still rages. Nobody seems to know what Trump's aims are and Trump doesn't seem to know either. Perhaps he had better ask hiss boss - Netanyahu to explain. In the meantime who are America's peace negotiators? Why, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and a former business friend from the world of real estate - Steve Witkoff. Both men are supremely unqualified to perform such difficult diplomacy. They lack the moral compass, political experience and intelligence that characterised the work of Joe Biden's Secretary of State - Anthony Blinken.
And as for James David Vance - let's not go there.
I guess that the preponderance of amateurs at the top of the US government is unsurprising when you consider that the oaf who appointed them is himself an amateur in the political sphere. He was a property developer who courted plenty of controversy and oversaw some spectacular failures in that field and then later he chaired a reality TV series. Hardly the perfect background for someone who is charged with leading one of the most significant and powerful nations on Earth. It should come as no surprise that his knowledge is as shaky as his judgement.
Amateurs - all of them! Would you want amateurs running a hospital, a school or a bread factory? Of course not - so why is it okay for a bunch of amateurs to "lead" what was once known as the greatest nation on Earth?
Red sent me here. I did not expect an essay on our national politics, and it was long, but I couldn't help but read it all. Well done! You nailed it. Now if we Americans could just figure out what to do about it. I was out " protesting " today. I am 81 but i can still stand/sit on a street corner.
ReplyDeleteRound up your Democrat friends and tell them to get off their couches and vote blue. Too many think "my single vote won't make any difference" but in this case it will. Tell them to spread the word to other democrats to get off THEIR couches and vote blue and so on.
DeleteMaybe I'm naïve, but I have hope that things will be different after the midterms, unless "something" happens sooner.
ReplyDeleteWhile what you say is all quite true, I would not underestimate the bureaucrats under them, who may well be more competent. Are we watching a permanent decline of a once great country?
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about the McMahon letter. Very amusing.
It is beyond belief, but unfortunately true. Their actions will affect us all for decades to come, particularly the those taken by the non health secretary RFK jnr. Scott Bessent made billions in his private corporate life, yet hasn't got a clue about the economy in relation to a country.
ReplyDeleteAmateurs indeed. A more useless bunch of degenerates would be hard to find.
ReplyDeleteTen out of ten for gathering together the relevant facts, you must have worked hard. The truth is all there and yet it was allowed to happen. Incredulous as we may be, nothing happens to get rid of these horrible people. Except that Trump is shut down through some of his most foolish acts by the judiciary. America is in desperate need of help but it has to be from the inside. God help Charles, doubt he will be the saviour.
ReplyDeleteIt is baffling that the American people voted someone like DT into power when there are obviously people with more experience and integrity out there. Money seems to get people the top jobs and loyalty keeps them there.
ReplyDeleteVery well said, Mr. P. Sadly, you know more about the terrible state of US politics than a good many Americans. Therein lies our problem. I often feel I must apologize for my country.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you.
ReplyDeleteIt is strange how people can look at the same fact pattern and come up with completely different views. For example, Labour was responsible for the downfall of Johnson, and Lyse Doucet when reporting from Tehran does impart news from there she only bashes Trump.
Still I guess it was be a more boring place if we were all rationale.
Doucet’s book The Finest Hotel in Kabul is an interesting read.
River is right: amateurs and degenerates. And I would add first-class grifters to that list of descriptors. And last night’s farce of yet another assassination attempt? And that was after watching that idiot sleep through another press conference. So many of these fools are dangerous but Kennedy particularly so, I think, b/c his dismantling of our health system, and the research organizations that are supposed to be supporting it, will be so long term. It is beyond the pale at this point. And has been for a long time.
ReplyDeleteWhen you have a dementia suffering Adderall addicted boss, you also get the scum at the bottom of the barrel.
ReplyDelete