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Editorial: The ideological Team Trump

 
President-elect Donald Trump has been meeting with candidates for his Cabinet.
President-elect Donald Trump has been meeting with candidates for his Cabinet.
Published Dec. 9, 2016

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency sued it over power plant emissions standards, champions the fossil fuel industry and hates environmental regulations. The education secretary is the first to hold the job who never attended public schools or sent her children to one. The attorney general fights voting rights protections, the Health and Human Services secretary opposes the Affordable Care Act and the HUD secretary rips government safety nets that help the poor.

Welcome to President-elect Donald Trump's administration, where loyalty is the top priority and no experience is required. The main qualifications for a top job appear to be being a general (three), a billionaire (four, not counting the president) or outside the mainstream before Trump won the election (too many to count). Extra points are awarded for outrageous statements made during the campaign, which could help former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani revive his chances of being nominated by Trump as secretary of state this week.

The emerging picture of Trump's team is deeply disturbing and stands to create a federal government at war with its own policies. The president-elect, considered firm but flexible on many positions and non-ideological, has assembled an ideologically driven administration poised to turn the nation hard right. There is a stunning lack of diversity, moderation or acknowledgement that this remains a deeply divided nation where Hillary Clinton's nationwide advantage over Trump is nearly 2.7 million votes.

Elections have consequences — and the consequences of last month's election are going to be far more damaging than Trump's tweets attacking the media, the unions and Saturday Night Live. The faint hope has faded that a new president with no experience and no appetite for policy papers would surround himself with reliable, stable hands. With few exceptions, the team Trump is assembling is as unprepared and unsuited for their new jobs as their boss.

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, Trump's pick to run the EPA, is a climate-change denier. He has helped lead lawsuits challenging EPA regulations on water pollution and carbon emissions, and he is far too cozy with the fossil fuel industry to be trusted with this job to protect the water we drink, the air we breathe and the environmentally sensitive lands we revere. Imagine Pruitt holding Mosaic accountable for protecting drinking water after the enormous sinkhole opened at its phosphate operation in Polk County, or ensuring agricultural interests and developers pay for polluting the Everglades.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has no experience in public education and little regard for traditional public schools. She is a wealthy, fervent activist for charter schools, vouchers and sweeping school choice. Of course, Florida already embraces those options and feels the effect of politicians who starve public schools, encourage kids to leave them and waste their passion attacking the teachers union. Imagine DeVos visiting one of south St. Petersburg's failing elementary schools filled with predominantly black, poor kids, then declaring it "education malpractice'' and demanding better as former Education Secretary Arne Duncan did last year.

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HUD Secretary Ben Carson, who considered himself unqualified to lead a federal agency before changing his mind, was right the first time. The Department of Housing and Urban Development is supposed to embrace programs that give struggling Americans and communities a helping hand, which is the opposite of Carson's you're-on-your-own philosophy. Imagine him standing with Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn in a joint effort to replace old public housing projects in West Tampa.

There are notable exceptions on Team Trump. Vice President Mike Pence and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus know their way around Washington. Defense Secretary James Mattis is generally well regarded, although it would help if Trump quit calling the retired four-star general "Mad Dog.'' At least Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, is a known quantity who served as Labor secretary under President George W. Bush.

The bright spots are few, and the Senate confirmation hearings should be vigorous. Trump has treated the appointment process as another television reality show, and there will be real consequences across Tampa Bay, Florida and the nation. The Labor Department secretary is a fast-food executive who opposes significantly raising the minimum wage and expanding overtime. The head of the Small Business Administration co-founded World Wrestling Entertainment. Let's hope the president-elect's choice as secretary of state has broader experience and favors real diplomacy rather than staged body slams and headlocks.