Late in 1960, president-elect John F. Kennedy stepped outside his stately Georgetown home aside his charismatic younger brother, Robert Kennedy, and addressed a gaggle of eager journalists. There, he announced the appointment of his attorney general: his brother Bobby.
Many criticized JFK for appointing a woefully inexperienced neophyte to an extremely important cabinet position while others simply condemned this blatant nepotism. However, this appointment irked vice president-elect Lyndon Baines Johnson arguably more than anyone else, and in 1967, LBJ signed into law a bill that prevented the president from appointing any immediate family members to the cabinet and perhaps even the White House staff although the statute does not explicitly state that.
Now 50 years later, LBJ’s petty attempt to prevent Bobby Kennedy from holding office in the cabinet may hurt president-elect Trump, who has relied heavily upon his three eldest children and son-in-law as key advisers.
As a result, the Trump transition team headed by Mike Pence faces an unusual predicament: when their candidate has isolated nearly all members of the party and who has made a career based on the words “you’re fired!”, who would willingly join the administration of this man?
Thus, the transition team had to commit one of the cardinal political sins: just appoint anybody who says yes, regardless of their loyalty to the president.
For example, Trump appointed South Carolina governor Nikki Haley as ambassador to the U.N., but just several months ago in March, Trump tweeted, “The people of South Carolina are embarrassed by Nikki Haley!” Haley too flung back insults after President Obama’s State of the Union address earlier this year when she said that Trump, although without ever directly using his name, would threaten “the dream that is America” for others.
Haley is not the only former foe to have a coveted seat in the cabinet. Trump has even tossed around the idea of Gov. Mitt Romney for a variety of positions including Secretary of State, the very same man who made the following remarks about the president-elect, according to CNN:
“Donald Trump tells us that he is very, very smart. I’m afraid that when it comes to foreign policy he is very, very not smart.”
“This is an individual who mocked a disabled reporter, who attributed a reporter’s questions to her menstrual cycle, who mocked a brilliant rival who happened to be a woman due to her appearance, who bragged about his marital affairs, and who laces his public speeches with vulgarity.”
“Dishonesty is Trump’s hallmark.”
“Think of Donald Trump’s personal qualities, the bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd third grade theatrics. We have long referred to him as ‘The Donald.’ He is the only person in the entire country to whom we have added an article before his name. And it wasn’t because he had attributes we admired.”
“Here’s what I know. Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He’s playing the members of the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House and all we get is a lousy hat.”
While I have little experience serving in public office, even I can recognize that Romney likely would not be the most loyal and dutiful cabinet member in American history.
But we must recognize the desperation of the Trump transition team. To their own dismay, Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich can not hold every public office (and I promise you would not want them to). The Trump team just does not have a lot of support within their own party and within America.
Luckily for those of us who did not want to see a Trump White House, we can rejoice that a cabinet full of disloyal men and women who have repeatedly criticized Trump’s actions and policy plans may be able to slow the progress of initiatives such as the 2000 mile long wall across the Mexican border, the repeal of ObamaCare and the destruction of the TPP and Iran Nuclear Deal. It may be just a small victory, but sometimes you have to just take what you can get.
– Mary Orsak – Assistant News Editor –
