I would be very happy if no "normal" public servant takes a job in the Trump administration

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Why would anybody want a normal person to give an abnormal leader like Trump a false patina of normalism?


We don't need any Franz Von Papens


Trump needs to be exposed for who he is and who he is is a neo-fascist demagogue with delusions of grandeur.

[Ninga]

1. Spot on! nt

[TwilightZone]

2. I completely misread how this was going to go.

I really thought he would fill his cabinet with competent (if conservative) people to make him look reasonably normal and because he's incapable of handling the day-to-day functions of the presidency. He even talked about doing that during the later stages of the campaign. I'll have people who know how to do this stuff, blah, blah. Great people.

I really didn't think he'd find the worst person for every position and sabotage his own presidency.

[BainsBane]

3. I disagree

No one is served by having the entire administration be completely incompetent. We have to live with the asshole for the next four years. I rather he not fuck up everything and plunge the nation into crisis. The vulnerable always suffer the most in crises.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

4. How does putting a veneer of normalcy on an abnormal person work out in the end?

A lot of Germans thought they could normalize Hitler, and some of them ended up in the dock at Nuremberg.

[BainsBane]

5. I'm not talking about that

I am saying I would like some of the administrative departments to be headed by reasonably competent people.

Think of Katrina because of the mess the Bush administration made of FEMA.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. I respect you but I can not support anything or anyone who legitimizes Trump.

He must be resisted by any peaceful means necessary and people of good will need to stay as far away from him as possible. Good people who get close to Trump will be made bad. They will not make Trump good.

[BainsBane]

7. I don't think it's legitimating him

I think someone like Romney thinks of it in terms of serving the country.
The man will be president. He has to staff government. We can't just boycott our government. It's there. We have to deal with it, as horrifying as the situation is.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. If he takes Romney

If he appoints someone ostensibly normal like Romney as Secretary Of State the compliant and prostrated media will say Trump isn't so bad. That's the last thing we want.

[BainsBane]

12. The media has no credibility

and clearly the deplorables pay not attention to normal media.

And I feel quite certain Trump will make it impossible for most people to say "he's not that bad."

If Romney or someone else half reasonable can keep Trump from bungling his way into some pointless war, I'm all for it. Ultimately, the country must come before politics. Lives could be at stake.

[metalbot]

13. Let's take your argument to an extreme

And assume that the bureaucracy that runs the government says "we're not working for him". At that point, social security checks stop, Medicare stops paying, and doctors start to refuse service.

That's good, I guess, according to your logic, because it is a peaceful means to delegitimize trump?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

14. I was referring to Cabinet officials.

I was referring to Cabinet officials. I was not referring to the permanent bureaucracy. With that said I cited Franz Von Papen in my original post. He was a German leader of some note who believed he could be a normalizing influence on Hitler. History showed he failed miserably. He ended up in the dock at Nuremberg for his efforts but was acquitted.

If Hitler was successfully opposed at the beginning tens of millions of lives would have been saved and every continent , save one would not have been thrown into war.


If you want to prop us Trump that is your right. I will resist him peacefully with every fiber of my being. We have seen this movie before. It didn't end well.

[Starry Messenger]

9. I agree with Bains.

If we become a failed state in two years, in every sense of the word, we will have nothing to build off of when we do get government out of the hands of this hot mess.

It's a sad day when I am praying that he picks Romney for State, but I also don't think Mittens wants nuclear war, the lowest bar I can set at this point.

[annabanana]

10. Bainsbane is right.

the stakes are too high, the potential for death and destruction is too high

[DemocratSinceBirth]

11. I want him to make the worst picks imaginable and so far he hasn't disappointed me.

Except for Nikki Haley. While I disagree with her on a lot of things she doesn't seem horrible and/or abnormal.