CAN YOU FEAR ME NOW? – How trump Has Betrayed His Anti-Insider-Elites Pledge

Earth to trump supporters:

At the heart of donald trump’s unlikely electoral victory was his pledge to rid Washington of corruption, cronyism and insider dealing. And you bought it.

Now, before the glow of victory’s even faded, he’s already broken—no, annihilated—that promise. Intentionally, blatantly, shamelessly—right in front of your perhaps well-intentioned, but short-sighted, eyes.

        Are these the real-deal, straight-shooting, friend-of-
        the-working-class outsiders you pictured when you 
        heard trump's pledge?

Don’t buy it? You tell me. Are these the real-deal, straight-shooting, friend-of-the-working-class outsiders you pictured when you heard trump’s pledge? (List thanks to Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen, in a Jan. 10, 2017 article in the Huffington Post):

    •    MIKE PENCE, Vice President – has strong ties to Koch Industries and raked in eye-popping sums from the finance sector, construction industry, pharmaceutical industry and chemical industry

    •    REX TILLERSON, Secretary of State – spent his entire career at Exxon Mobil, which is not just among the world’s largest oil companies, but the corporation most responsible for spreading climate denial and intimidating climate activists

PHOTO: Wall Street Journal

    •    STEVEN MNUCHIN, Treasury Secretary – longtime Goldman Sachs executive who, through a hedge fund, took over the failed IndyMac, turned it into One West and went on a foreclosure rampage, engaging in robosigning and other abuses such that one judge found the bank to have engaged in practices that were “harsh, repugnant, shocking and repulsive”

    •    GEN. JAMES MATTIS, Secretary of Defense – has spun through the revolving door, leaving the military to serve on the board of General Dynamics, a multinational military contractor, and the scandal-ridden Theranos, a start-up company which misled investors and consumers about its blood-testing technology

    •    JEFF SESSIONS, Attorney General – has a racist record that disqualified him from a federal judgeship three decades ago, and a record of gentle treatment of the finance, tobacco and other industries

    •    BETSY DEVOS, Education Secretary – a billionaire scion whose husband is heir to the Amway fortune, who is a purveyor of extremist education privatization proposals, and who has herself invested in for-profit education companies

    •    ELAINE CHAO, Secretary of Transportation – served on the board of directors of Wells Fargo during the cross-selling scandal, as well as a half dozen other corporate boards

    •    GARY COHN, Director, National Economic Council – Led Goldman Sachs as it profited off the housing market collapse in part by misleading its own clients

       These folks are not your equals. They are not your 
       boss's equals, not your boss's boss's equals, not..well, 
       you get the idea.

PHOTO: Denver Post

    •    SCOTT PRUITT, Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – believes that climate science is “far from settled,” has repeatedly sued the agency he will be tasked with leading, and as Oklahoma attorney general sent letters to federal agencies that were literally drafted by Devon Energy, one of the state’s largest oil and gas corporations

    •    STEVE BANNON, Special Adviser to the President – once ran and may maintain undisclosed business or other ties with Breitbart.com, a far-right, racist website, and is a former Goldman Sachs executive

    •    LINDA MCMAHON, Administrator, Small Business Administration – as World Wrestling Entertainment CEO helped ensure the wrestling industry remained largely unregulated, putting the health and safety of wrestlers at risk

    •    ANDY PUZDER, Secretary of Labor – the long-time mogul in charge of the Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. fast-food chains, companies known for being anti-worker and anti-union, and who opposed many or all of the most important recent, pro-worker initiatives of the Obama Labor Department, including a rule to ensure that workers are properly compensated for overtime

               He has financial holdings that give him a direct 
               stake in many of the matters about which he will 
               be advising the president.

    •    WILBUR ROSS, Secretary of Commerce – a billionaire whose firm has profited from buying distressed firms and cutting workers’ benefits

    •    CARL ICAHN, Special Advisor to the President on Regulatory Affairs – the emblematic corporate raider epitomizes predatory corporate capitalism, with financial holdings that give him a direct stake in many of the matters about which he will be advising the president

So there you have it. By the most conservative of the media’s estimates (Bloomberg), these “independent,” “non-elite” “friends-of-the-working-class” have a net worth of over $6 billion. And every single one of them now has a role in government that, by all appearances, could benefit them at the expense you and your family.

These folks are not your equals. They are not your boss’s equals, not your boss’s boss’s equals, not…well, you get the idea. Do you think they give a good God-damn about your working-class concerns?

If you believe that, I’ve got a chunk of land in a another swamp you might be interested in.