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Even though the election is over, the future of the executive branch is not yet set in stone. Since his election, there has been speculation regarding who President-elect Donald Trump will choose for positions like secretary of state and the head of the Department of Homeland Security. Over the past few weeks, Trump’s nominations and appointments to his cabinet have been streaming in. For some, Trump’s choices are a glorious reflection of his ideals and platform — for others, they pose a legitimate cause for concern.
Steve Bannon for Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor
Steve Bannon at Bloggers briefing Oct. 19, 2011. (Don Irvine via Wikicommons)
Stephen Bannon has arguably been the most controversial Trump appointment to date. Bannon was the executive chair of the hyper-conservative, alt-right news website Breitbart News before entering into politics as the chief executive officer of Trump’s campaign.
Bannon has described himself as “anti-establishment,” which makes it unsurprising that he was a top choice for Trump. Under Bannon’s leadership, Breitbart News became “the platform of the alt-right,” a term used for the new conservative movement. The movement is supported by the likes of conservative author Ann Coulter, as well as Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. The term “alt-right” has been seen as a disguise for racism, a more subtle way to describe horrific prejudice.
The fact that Steve Bannon, a soon-to-be chief adviser to the most powerful man in our country, is a voice for this movement is terrifying to me — and it should be to any empathetic human. Bannon’s Breitbart ran headlines like “Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy,” “There’s No Hiring Bias Against Women in Tech, They Just Suck at Interviews” and “World Health Organization Report: Trannies 49 Xs Higher HIV Rate.” This kind of overt hate and the alienation of whole groups of Americans is not only just saddening and reprehensible, it is dangerous.
The role of “Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor” is not well-defined. Historically, each president has denoted the responsibilities of their senior counselor, if they’ve even had one. Many speculate that Bannon will not only have a large role in Trump’s communication efforts, but that his responsibilities will likely reach beyond that. It’s been said by Trump that Bannon and his chief of staff, Reince Priebus, will be equals in his administration. This approach is highly unorthodox, since the chief of staff is typically the single most powerful member of the president’s cabinet.
There is also dark humor to be found in Bannon’s appointment. Bannon was once a banker for Goldman Sachs — the firm that Hillary Clinton gave a paid speech to, for which she was ridiculed for by Trump preceding the election.
Reince Priebus for Chief of Staff
Reince Priebus at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Gage Skidmore via Wikicommons)
The president’s chief of staff is historically the power-wielder in any administration. The chief of staff overlooks the rest of the cabinet members and sets the president’s agenda. Preibus was formerly a Republican National Committee chairman and he was also an adviser to the Trump campaign.
Priebus’ nomination is interesting because it demonstrates how Trump, to some degree, is trying to please establishment Republicans. Priebus also has many friends in Congress, including House Speaker Paul Ryan.
Trump announced Priebus’ and Bannon’s appointments at the same time, and has said that they will hold equal positions of power. Bannon being self-proclaimed in his anti-establishment sentiments, and Priebus being a solid part of the Republican establishment, has led some to believe that Trump has set up an angel and devil on his shoulders. However, others are still convinced that there are actually two devils.
Betsy DeVos for Education Secretary
Betsy DeVos at the Houghton County Republican Victory Center in 2005. (Keith A. Almli via Wikicommons)
Trump has chosen Betsy DeVos to be his secretary of education. DeVos is a philanthropist, fundraiser and activist, mainly in her home state of Michigan. She has been noted as having a highly entrepreneurial, laissez-fairre sense of education, and has been a relentless supporter of charter schools, which are privately run but publicly funded. She is a supporter of the voucher system of schools, in which students are given a voucher to go to any school, private or public, including schools run independent from the state, often by for-profit and religious organizations.
DeVos will likely push for an influx of charter schools and voucher programs. These pushes should be taken with caution. On a federal review of Michigan’s schools — Michigan being relevant because it is the state in which DeVos possesses her political power and lobbies for charter schools — an “unreasonably high” number of poor-performing schools were charter schools. Charter schools do not have much proven success.
Voucher systems, too, have little proven efficacy. In Louisiana and Ohio, where state-wide voucher systems have been studied, students who participated in these programs showed stark declines in performance on academic tests.
DeVos’ agenda is likely not great for the future of public education. There is hope, however, that none of this will come to fruition due to the fact that Congress must approve of her appointment before she officially holds the position. And even if her appointment is confirmed, DeVos will have to work within budget constraints as well as have her policies passed by Congress to push her radical ideas.
Other appointments to-date
Steven Mnuchin for Treasury Secretary
Elaine L. Chao for Transportation Secretary
Sen. Jeff Sessions for Attorney General
Michael T. Flynn for National Security Adviser
Tom Price for Health and Human Services Secretary
Wilbur Ross for Commerce Secretary
Mike Pompeo for Director of the CIA
Gov. Nikki Haley for Ambassador to the U.N.
James N. Mattis for Defense Secretary
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Kim Habicht at kim.habicht@colorado.edu.
