The rich, the conflicted, and the crazy: Trump’s swamp creatures

swamp
Swamp

How awful is the lineup of appointees to Donald Trump’s cabinet? More awful than we could have imagined, I’m afraid. In the continuous drip, drip, drip of appointments, it’s easy to fret over individuals and lose sight of the bigger picture: Cumulatively, the new cabinet is a rogue’s gallery of rich billionaires with giant conflicts of interest, promoters of discredited economic theories, deniers of scientific facts, and just plain unqualified people.

Kevin Drum, at Mother Jones, has gathered them all into a chart that highlights their “swampiness,” their craziness/scariness, and their wealthiness. I’m sure he meant it to be funny. Certainly some of Trump’s nominees are  laughable. [Trump demonstrated, in no uncertain terms, his give-America-the-middle-finger attitude when he announced Rick Perry as his nominee for Department of Energy.] Unfortunately, the net effect for our country is anything but humorous. And, undoubtedly, there are more un-funny appointments to come. Brace yourself.

Here’s the chart.

drum