Congress is Not the Solution

President Trump’s Cabinet consists of nineteen appointees, each requiring Senate confirmation. Five are former members of Congress. If it is recognized that “Congress is the problem, not the solution,” why so many members of Congress in the Cabinet?

Mike Pompeo, Rep. Kansas, CIA.  Our intelligence agencies operate as exclusive clubs that are dominated by “professional” civil servants. They know, as one CIA executive told me, “how to take care of guys like that.” In other words, what skills–particularly survival skills–does Mike Pompeo bring to the CIA’s shark tank? A more effective appointee might be someone who served at CIA and was fired, or voluntarily left in response to the stupid ways of the CIA’s “professionals.”

Mick Mulvaney, Rep. South Carolina, OMB.  Mulvaney is an interesting appointment because of his fiscal conservatism. But, there is little evidence that he brought his principles to his appointment at OMB.

Ryan Zinke, Rep. Montana, Interior Department.  A hunter and woodsman, Zinke is another former military officer in an Administration top-heavy with former Generals. So much money passes through Interior and GSA that a better pick might be someone in finance and law enforcement.

Tom Price, Rep. Georgia, HHS.  What did former Cong. Price learn about government service when he served in the House? Whatever it was had nothing to do with how a Cabinet officer should follow government regulations.

Jeff Sessions, Sen. Alabama, Attorney General.  Sessions was the first Senator to support Donald Trump and earned this appointment.