It happened. Whether it was your greatest nightmare or a dream come true, the seemingly impossible has come to pass—Trump will be the next president of the United States. Some are elated, some are full of ire, but everybody’s asking the same question—what now?
Well, not much.
Trump officially becomes president on January 20, which means we don’t get to see the wall or the deportation of Mexicans and Rosie O’Donnell—yet. Right now, Trump gets to pick the people to lead his cabinet, who in turn would govern specific domains of government under Mr. Trump. The appointment of these positions is understandably quite important, since these men or women will be responsible for allocating funding and creating policies. For example, the attorney general prosecutes cases that involve the government, and gives advice to the president and heads of the executive departments when needed. Who might those people be, you ask?
Donald Trump has announced the nomination of Alabama senator Jeff Sessions as attorney general, Kansas congressman Mike Pompeo as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and retired Lt. General Michael Flynn to serve as his national security adviser.
So who are these people, and what do their appointments hold for the future of America?
According to the National Journal, Jeff Sessions was ranked “the 5th most conservative US senator in 2007”, and it means exactly what you’d probably expect. For starters, he is anti-abortion. In 2005 when the US was deciding to go to war in Iraq, Sessions strongly advocated for that motion, and even went as far as to say that anti-war protesters “did not represent the American ideals of freedom and liberty”. He voted against a Senate amendment to a House bill that prohibited cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment or punishment of individuals in the custody or under the physical control of the United States Government. He also voted against the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Repeal Act in 2010, which would allow gays to serve openly in the military.
Let’s move on to analyzing the new director of the CIA, Mike Pompeo. You’d expect him to be as well-learned as the head of one of the most powerful agencies of the world is supposed to be, but perhaps not. With regard to climate change, he stated in 2013, “There are scientists who think lots of different things about climate change. There’s some who think we’re warming, there’s some who think we’re cooling, there’s some who think that the last 16 years have shown a pretty stable climate environment.” Despite the almost universal agreement of scientists on global warming, Pompeo still finds grounds for skepticism, because continuously breaking temperature records year after year constitutes as ‘stable climate’, I guess. As per your usual Republican, he is also against abortion (except when the mother’s life is at risk, however).
Mike Flynn is where Trump starts to break the conservative mould, as he is a registered Democrat. Well, not really. While not wholeheartedly agreeing with waterboarding like his conservative counterparts, he states that “he would be reluctant to take options off the table”. When asked if he would support Trump’s stated plan to kill the families of suspected terrorists, he replied by saying, “I would have to see the circumstances of that situation”. What becomes really polarizing are his comments about Muslims, stating on Twitter that “fear of Muslims is RATIONAL”. I wonder what will be in store for the Middle East now that Flynn is now a national security adviser. Fortunately, he doesn’t seem to be too trigger-happy, as he describes America’s reliance on drones as a “failed strategy” that just fuels more conflict.
In short, these are the three appointed cabinet members by Donald Trump. If there’s one thing you can say about Trump’s new cabinet members, it’s that they are vastly different from their predecessors, in both ideals and background. With the desire for change being so lauded throughout the elections, Americans believe that Trump and his posse will bring about a very different version of America. Many worry whether certain rights, such as regarding legal abortions, will be maintained, and with the current climate of American politics, these worries are well-founded.
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