Fictional Cabinet Nominees Seem Appropriate For Trump's Fictional World

Since President Elect Trump tells more lies than truths, it seems appropriate for him to have fictional cabinet members to match the fictional world he lives in.  He's already extolled Hannibal Lector as though he was a real person.  Which got me thinking about a where Hannibal would fit in the cabinet.  And then what a whole cabinet of fictional characters might look like.  

Such a cabinet would have benefits - though I'm still trying to figure out who will benefit most.  Probably Trump, but perhaps the rest of us will too.

• These nominees won't testify in the Senate saving Trump the embarrassment of scorching questioning of his picks and saving the upper house many, many hours and saving GOP Senators the embarrassment of debasing themselves and their honor to defend Trump's picks
• Though it's possible that before long they can be recreated virtually to testify
• The nominees don't have actual records that can be dug up by journalists trying to uncover their past misbehaviors 
• Though perhaps scholars of literature and film will be called upon to write opinion pieces about them.  
• Trump can probably have them serve without getting approval of the Senate at all.  
• And none of these appointees will take actions to block Trump's will, nor will they take action to forward it.  

This is merely a list I came up with.  My grandkids helped with a few of the nominees.  A couple of friends made excellent suggestions too.  But if readers feel they have better nominees, or alternatives if any of these can't or won't serve, be sure to let me know.  

Some of these nominees, most everyone should know, or at least have heard the name.  Others are a bit more obscure.  But they all can be easily googled.  There is one that has an asterisk because more than one person bears that name.  But I'll remind you it's a fictional character and there is only one that I know of that clearly first the position.  

I would also remind readers that this blog is called "What Do I know?" and a key theme is how we know what's real and what's true.  Many people, myself included, have said that Trump's followers live in a fictional world.  We point at evidence such as climate change, and scientific research on a variety of other subjects from medicine to crime, demographics, and paleontology, to name just a few. 

But within a society, truth, ultimately, is what the vast majority of the population believes it to be. And sometimes there's a gap between the truth that people profess and the truth their eyes (and other senses) tell them.  Hans Christian Anderson's story The Emperor's New Clothes gives us that example.  

Different religions believe their holy books describe truth.  Truths which are not compatible with the truths of the holy books of other religions.  Yet hundreds of millions of people believe without a doubt the different truths of the different major holy books in the world.  

So by electing Trump, many USians have created a reality that we will all have to endure.  It's a reality in which Donald Trump is president.  A man who, in his first presidency build pieces of 'wall' along parts of the US border with Mexico, which the Mexican government didn't pay for.  

There were also over a million US residents who died of COVID, many of whom would have lived if Trump had lived in a different mental world.  And more people will die in Trump's second presidency because that's how his world thinks it should be, or because the laws of science in my world, won't bend to his will.  

Time To Try The Granola. Why People Should Stop Buying The Republican Brand

Suppose you're still buying the same brand of cereal your mom bought for you.  

But after years of loyalty, you've noticed that it no longer tastes or crunches the same, the boxes are smaller, they're only 2/3 full, and they cost way more.  The ingredients list lots of chemicals now.  Your stomach feels queasy after eating a bowl.  But at the store, your brain is wired to put  that brand in your cart.  .  

A friend says she's stopped buying that brand and now eats Brand Y granola.  "Granola," you reply, "that's hippie food."  

It's time to review your old prejudices and find out that granola is much better than that old brand you cling to without satisfaction.  

I suspect a lot of Republicans keep voting R because it's how they were raised.  Voting Democratic is like eating granola, even though they know that the R brand isn't what it used to be.  Plus they keep hearing  how evil the D brand is.  

But they've met Democrats, people at work, school, the gym.  They seem like ok people, on the surface anyway.  Some are even married, have kids, work, own homes, pay their bills on time, watch football and baseball, even hunt, and other 'normal' things. They don't appear to be the evil terrible people R politicians and media say they are.  

Republicans, your brand is no longer what it once was.  I know it's part of your identity.  But like any brand that has deteriorated over the years, it's time to let go.  

It's no longer the party of Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower.  Or even Nixon, Reagan, or the Bushes.  

Your brain is telling you it's time, but this is all you've known since you were a kid.  It's so hard to make a change, but it's time to face the reality that the R brand isn't the brand your parents raised you on.  It's now a toxic scam.  Time to try the granola.  

Trae Crowder - A Comic Treasure

I get to see Trae Crowder comment regularly because I follow him on Spoutible (yes, check it out, it's one of the Twitter exit ramp sites that actively works to prevent bots and abusive behavior, run by a Black IT guy - Christopher Bouzey).  

But I realized that some of my readers may not have encountered Trae.  I don't know anyone who talks this way and I wonder how many others who do, share Trae's political leanings.  I hope, a lot.  So, if you don't know Trae, do watch the video from his Youtube channel.

As he says on here, he's basic gig is being a standup comedian.  I definitely would go see him (and many others would too) if he came to Anchorage.  

Fundraisers - Great Way To Meet Candidates - Also Get Your Mail In Ballot Soon

 Our mail in ballots came several days ago.  The primary is August 12.  It's an open primary - all the names will be on the ballot and the top four (if there are that many)
will go on to the ranked choice ballot at the November general election.  

Anchorage has moved to vote by mail, so everyone gets ballots sent.  

The primary and general in November are  state elections so if you want to vote by mail, you need to request a mail ballot.  

You can do so online here.  But hurry (deadline is August 10) so you get the ballot on time.  If you don't get a mail in ballot, you can go to your regular polling place.  But check to be sure it hasn't moved.  

I've been to several candidate fundraisers this summer.  These are great ways to meet candidates, to ask them questions, and just get a feel for them.  You don't have to give them a check, but if you decide you like them, a donation is always welcome.  

 

One was for Ted Eischeid who came close to winning his NE Anchorage seat in 2022 - he was 72 votes short, in a district where Democrats won handily for US Rep, and State Senator.

Ted's a retired teacher, so education is a priority issue for him.  His opponent voted NOT to override the Governor's veto on education funds.  The override needed just one more vote!!

Another one for Calvin Schrage.  He's an incumbent, but it's probably a close race.  He's on the right in the blue shirt, with his campaign manager Erik Gunderson.  

And finally, just this week a fundraiser for three state Senate candidates - two from Fairbanks - Sen. Scott Kawasaki whose district was made much redder in the last redistricting.  I got to know Scott while I was blogging the legislature back in 2011.  A good man.  And Savannah Fletcher, an attorney, and she's Presiding Officer of the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly.

Matt, Scott, Savannah

The Anchorage candidate was Matt Claman.  Matt's wife was a colleague at the University, so I've known him for a long time.  He wanted the Fairbanks candidates to get some Anchorage exposure.  

Matt pointed out, when he spoke to the crowd at the fundraiser, that Alaska is the only state in the country that has multi-party (Democrats, Republicans, Independents) coalition majorities in the state House and Senate.  And that keeps us from going to either extreme.  

They'll be a lot more fundraising and campaigning between now and November.  I encourage people to go to fundraisers.  It's one of the easiest ways to meet the candidates in your districts. As I said, a donation is not required, but if you like the candidate, donate what you can.  Five dollars is good if that's the limit of your budget.  We don't currently have any limits on campaign contributions so you could give $10,000 too.  And some people are giving more than that.  

Talk to them, ask them hard questions, tell them your priorities (after you ask questions, not before).  

Kamala Harris As New Presidential Candidate - UPDATED

 I wrote a couple of posts strongly defending Biden staying as the Democratic presidential candidate (for example.)  I had several serious concerns should he drop out of the race:

1. Chaos that would result as various potential candidates jostled for the nomination and the impact on Black voters if Harris wasn't the candidate.
2. Issues over who had access to the money that had already been collected
3. Questions about whether a new candidate would be listed on the ballots of all states. 

I acknowledged that Biden was getting on in years (as is the GOP candidate) and that he clearly did not do well in the debate with Trump, but was worried the three concerns listed above would doom a new candidate.  I was also concerned that some of those calling for Biden to step aside - people who normally are politically savvy - might have had personnel encounters with Biden that revealed more than a single debate's worth of issues.  And I also heard people who said it was the money people who were pressuring other Democrats to get rid of Biden.  

Well, I was wrong.  The new candidate has stirred a level of enthusiasm for a presidential candidate I last saw at the Alaska Democratic caucus in 2008, when the Begich Middle School was packed - seriously packed like a sardine can - with people who had come out to caucus for Obama.  

The people working on all this - including Biden and Harris - made sure the three issues I listed above were resolved before the announcement.  Clearly they made sure Harris was the only candidate and the issues about the money - with her as candidate - apparently was not an issue.  And getting the new nominees on the ballot apparently will not be a problem.  Which makes sense since the Democrats haven't had their convention yet anyway.  

Yesterday I signed up for the White Dudes for Harris call this afternoon (Alaska time) and watched cavalcade of (mostly) white men explain from different perspectives why they were supporting Harris.

Singer Josh Groben

      

 There was an alternating pattern of politicians/officials and celebrities - mostly actors. 

New Orleans Mayor Landrieu

Others included:  Pete Buttigieg, Illinois Governor Pritzker, Wisconsin Gov. Tim Walz,

Actor Paul Shearer

Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, California Rep Adam Schiff, 

Actor Rob Lowe

Actor Joseph Gordon Levitt,  Actor Sean Astin (Patty Duke's son), Rep. Steny Hoyer, and others.  (You can tell by the money amounts listed on the screenshots that I don't have them all up in the right order.  Well maybe it's not clear enough, but the totals were on the blue/red bar on the right.)

North Carolina Gov Roy Cooper

 It went on for about three hours and they said that there were 170,000 participants.  Though the white dudes were not nearly as generous as other groups.  By the end there was about $4 million donated, which pales compared to the - STOP - 

I went back to check on the numbers for the White Women's call.  Different sources give different numbers.  BBC said $3 million in one hour.  The Hollywood Reporter writes that

 "Author Glennon Doyle shared on Friday [the call was Monday] that the call raised over $8.5 million so far."

So the $4 million raised in the three hour call was actually significant.  

Most of the celebrities who participated talked about activism they're involved with such as unions or spoke about why different issues were important to them.  

I'd note that I 'registered' Sunday, but never got a link to the Zoom call.  I tried again just before the call.  I couldn't figure out how to skip the donation page.  Maybe you couldn't.  Maybe that's a way to screen out saboteurs.  I wasn't pleased and donated the lowest amount - $25 - though I guess I could have done my own custom donation, based on amounts listed on the bottom of the screen.  But even then I had trouble getting to the Zoom link.  Eventually I found a link to the Youtube live page.  I would have contributed more once I got on if I hadn't been forced to pay before getting on.  (And perhaps there was a way that I didn't see.)

So, despite my earlier Keep Biden stance, I'm a happy camper.  I know I wouldn't want to keep the hours and travel schedule a president keeps and that Biden's already done this for four years.  Now he can be an elder statesman rather than possibly die in office.  

And there appears to be a great deal of enthusiasm over Harris being the candidate, while it appears that Trump's pick of Vance - who apparently was pushed on him by Peter Thiel and perhaps Elon Musk - isn't working out as well as Trump might have liked.  

Hillbilly Elegy is still on Netflix and we watched it the other night.  I'm not sure it's the most flattering portrait. Perhaps he thinks his rise from poverty and abuse are admirable - and I'm sure they are - but he comes across as pitiful in many scenes.  And I'm not sure how accurate a portrayal of his life the film is.  I doubt Trump has seen the film because he hates weak losers (which is how the young Vance is portrayed in many scenes).  If he did see it, it would support the idea that he chose Vance because of the financial support from Thiel and other tech billionaires. This is going to be a troubled relationship.   

UPDATED July 30, 2024

I got this as part of an email from Ross Morales Rocketto and Brad Bauman, who organized the White Dudes for Harris call:

"Over 193,000 people attended the kickoff call

We raised $4.2 million dollars last night for Harris for President

Over 150,000 folks signed up to join White Dudes for Harris

And our twitter account was banned…no joke, Guess we got under someone’s skin yesterday ;)" [emphasis added]

It becomes clearer each day that Musk bought Twitter to be an election influencer.  

This Sure Was A Convenient Assassination Attempt

I started to write first impressions of the shots toward the ex-president Saturday night, but I decided to wait til there was more information.  

As I wait, there really isn't a lot more so far.  Days later.  

It's possible that some lone Republican 20 year old decided to take his AR15 out to where Trump was speaking, climb up on a roof about 150 yards from the ex-president, with a bunch of people seeing him and pointing him out to police and the Secret Service.  It's possible that at the very last minute a local cop saw him and ducked and then the kid shot wildly at the ex-president before a Secret Service sniper shot him.  

It's possible he heard this InfoWars with Ivan Raiklin and Alex Jones discussing how assassinating Trump would absolutely win the election for the Republicans.  Maybe he heard them last February, or more recently, and when Trump came to speak an hour from his home, he decided to act.  

But I think about the Nazis and the Reichstag fire in 1933.  It never was clear that the Nazis arranged for the fire themselves though there are historians who believe they did.  Whether they did or not, they used it to their advantage.  

"[It] induced President Paul von Hindenburg to issue the Reichstag Fire Decree suspending civil liberties, and pursue a "ruthless confrontation" with the Communists.[1] This made the fire pivotal in the establishment of Nazi Germany." [from Reichstag Fire link above]

A Trump attempted assassination that he survives pretty much unscathed the weekend before the NRC convention.  Two days before Judge Cannon dismisses all charges against Trump in the confidential documents case on what most legal experts are saying are crazy grounds.  

This is not nearly as far-fetched as the pedo pizza parlor.  

Really, how did the Secret Service around Trump know the sniper was shot dead?  How did they know there wasn't another sniper?  They didn't, yet let Trump stay there on the stage long enough for him to do his fist pumps.  He should have been hustled away to cover.  Unless. . .

I'm not saying this is what happened.  But I'm leaving it there until it's looked into more thoroughly.  It is as plausible as the lone 20 year old Republican getting through security long enough to shoot at his party's presidential candidate.  

The reporting has been terrible.  The Anchorage Daily News ran a national story today which still alleged that Crooks had donated $15 to a progressive get-out-the-vote campaign in January 2021.  How many 17 year olds make political contributions?  How many Republican 17 year olds make political contributions to progressive campaigns?  This story was already debunked by Sunday if not sooner, when people found another man named Thomas Crooks, a 60 something Democrat, who lives in Pittsburgh and is credited with the contribution.  But, sure.  I don't know that for certain.  

I don't doubt that the Biden team can get a lot more votes than the Trump team.  I am concerned that the party that tried to overturn the election in 2021, will do everything it can to suppress voting, fiddle with voting machine counts, and everything they can think of to throw the election for Trump.  

A Beto O'Rourke interview laid out the many ways the Republicans in Texas have blocked Democrats from voting - from purging the rolls, to putting one polling place in Black neighborhoods, forcing voters to wait in 8 hour lines to vote.  

How one has to pass a test and get certified to register voters, and you have to do that in every county separately.  They're doing this, he said, because they know whites are no longer the majority in Texas and it's only a matter of time.  And if Trump wins this election, they will be able to put off the inevitable forever.  

There are plenty of ways to get involved.  One of the easiest is postcardstovoters.org  This technique - writing post cards to left leaning citizens who don't regularly vote - has gotten lots of people to vote in recent elections.  

Project 2025 Table of Contents + Links For Info On Each Author

The Heritage Foundation has the 800+ page Project 2025 posted online.  It outlines the steps to be taken when President Trump takes office. While Trump recently said he knows nothing about Project 2025, this is clearly untrue [how unexpected].  Many of the authors of sections of the report worked in the Trump administration.  

I recently read someone who suggested downloading a copy of the report because now that it is getting attention in the media and is likely to become a target in the president campaign, they might take it down.  So I've downloaded it and you can download it here.  I promise you this will become the focus of much attention in the election.

As I said, there are over 800 pages.  So as my first blog post about this (well I think I've mentioned it), I'm just offering you the table of contents.  

My value added is that I'm adding to each author a link to info about them.  

But I warn you.  As I'm doing this I realize that somebody - the Heritage Foundation? - appears to have done a good job of scrubbing info about these people off the internet. Others are highlighted on friendly websites, like the Heritage Foundation itself.  But even there you can get information.  Newspaper articles and government documents are still up in some cases.  

So minimally you'll get a sense of who these people are, but Google searches don't net much on these folks, except the most well known.  The Wikipedia entries often have lots of footnotes that take you to more information.

PROJECT 2025 TABLE OF CONTENTS

 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.......................................................................................................ix

THE PROJECT 2025 ADVISORY BOARD................................................................xi

THE 2025 PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION PROJECT: A NOTE ON “PROJECT 2025”.....................................................................................xiii

AUTHORS....................................................................................................................................xv

CONTRIBUTORS..................................................................................................................xxv

FOREWORD: A PROMISE TO AMERICA..................................................................1

Kevin D. Roberts, PhD

SECTION 1: TAKING THE REINS OF GOVERNMENT...........................19

1. WHITE HOUSE OFFICE.....................................................................................................23

Rick Dearborn

1. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES..................................................................................................43

Russ Vought

1. CENTRAL PERSONNEL AGENCIES: MANAGING THE BUREAUCRACY..............................................................................69

Donald Devine, Dennis Dean Kirk, and Paul Dans    [Can't find much on Kirk. Given the photo, this could be the guy.]

SECTION 2: THE COMMON DEFENSE...............................................................87

1. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.........................................................................................91

Christopher Miller

1. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY......................................................133

Ken Cuccinelli

1. DEPARTMENT OF STATE..............................................................................................171

Kiron K. Skinner

1. INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY......................................................................................201

Dustin J. Carmack

1. MEDIA AGENCIES.............................................................................................................235

U.S. AGENCY FOR GLOBAL MEDIA.................................................................235

Mora Namdar

CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING......................................246

Mike Gonzalez

1. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT........................................253

Max Primorac

SECTION 3: THE GENERAL WELFARE..........................................................283

1. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE..........................................................................289

Daren Bakst

1. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION...............................................................................319

Lindsey M. Burke

1. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AND RELATED COMMISSIONS..................................................................................363

Bernard L. McNamee

1. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY.......................................................417

Mandy M. Gunasekara

1. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES................................................................................................449

Roger Severino

1. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT....................................................................................503

Benjamin S. Carson, Sr., MD

1. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR...........................................................................517

William Perry Pendley

1. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE........................................................................................545

Gene Hamilton   [Hamilton was an aggressive advocate for expanding family separation prosecutions ]

1. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND RELATED AGENCIES............................................................................................581

Jonathan Berry

1. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION...............................................................619

Diana Furchtgott-Roth

1. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.............................................................641

Brooks D. Tucker

SECTION 4: THE ECONOMY......................................................................................657

1. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE................................................................................663

Thomas F. Gilman

1. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY........................................................................691

William L. Walton, Stephen Moore, and David R. Burton  [Not sure this is the same William L. Walton, probably]

1. EXPORT–IMPORT BANK................................................................................................717

THE EXPORT–IMPORT BANK SHOULD BE ABOLISHED.....................717

Veronique de Rugy

THE CASE FOR THE EXPORT–IMPORT BANK..........................................724

Jennifer Hazelton

1. FEDERAL RESERVE..........................................................................................................731

Paul Winfree  [See this also from a Wikipedia footnote]

1. SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION..................................................................745

Karen Kerrigan

1. TRADE.......................................................................................................................................765

THE CASE FOR FAIR TRADE................................................................................765

Peter Navarro

THE CASE FOR FREE TRADE...............................................................................796

Kent Lassman

SECTION 5: INDEPENDENT REGULATORY AGENCIES................825

1. FINANCIAL REGULATORY AGENCIES................................................................829

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION AND RELATED AGENCIES......................................................................................829

David R. Burton

CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU....................................837

Robert Bowes  [Couldn't find much]

1. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION................................................845

Brendan Carr

1. FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION.......................................................................861

Hans A. von Spakovsky

1. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION.............................................................................869

Adam Candeub

ONWARD!................................................................................................................................883

When I was about halfway through this list, Google got me to this Twitter thread, that was written to point out that while Trump claims to know nothing about Project 2025, many, if not most, of the authors were in his administration.  Most significantly, he adds photos.  

Trump is desperately claiming he has “no idea who is behind” Project 2025.

Here are some of the top Trump advisors and allies who are behind his Project 2025 agenda.

🧵 pic.twitter.com/HJck9lOJO6

— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) July 9, 2024