I think this has got to be a net positive. Brownback is quitting as governor of Kansas to take a “religious freedom ambassador” position in the Trump admin. I’m sure he’s still going to try his hardest to ruin people’s lives, but surely he’ll have less capability to do so. Not least because State will be an empty shell if Trump gets his way.
https://twitter.com/govsambrownback/status/890362633039335424
I’m sure the first thing he will do is look at combating prejudice against Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, Hindus, and Sikhs as well as Christians.
I’ve never heard of religious freedom ambassador? Is it something they just thought up?
And yes, it will mean freedom to discriminate against anyone who isn’t a WASP.
Yup. It’s a golden parachute job.
Well this is interesting -
Laura
4589
I like Josh Marshall’s assessment of Trump:
Not to diminish any of the other horrifying stuff in that article, but this part is not completely unusual for the political-appointee heads of agencies.
Sure, Obama appointed hugely-qualified people with advanced degrees who could actually make informed decisions based on their own industry experience, and that was GREAT… but unusual. For the most part, political appointees are there to lightly oversee agencies full of professionals who do the real work. The appointees travel around the world being put up in nice suites at great hotels and deliver keynote speeches written by the aforementioned professionals. Back at the office they put in four to six-hour days that often involve long lunches with other political appointees.
This isn’t always a bad thing. If they’re even a moderately-competent manager, those four-hour days are plenty to make sure that things are running smoothly and that their direct underlings are doing the hard work that keeps an established agency running.
But any agency - even a well-established one - can have a crisis, and of course you want someone halfway competent to be there in that crisis to at least give the APPEARANCE of steadfastness… even if they’ve done practically nothing beforehand.
So wait a minute, there has literally been no internal communication of this trans restriction? Not even an inter-office memo? Just the tweets?
Evidently that’s it as far as communication.
Trump has the most open and transparent administration - ever. His team (and us) know what is up, when he chirps it, or someone (including his son) release/leak it.
ShivaX
4594
Remember the GOP isn’t sexist.
When people are no longer on good terms, true colors shine through, bright and clear.
Good insight from Marshall, in particular:
But it’s not just them. It’s a general malady. Trump is exposing our collective rot. The rotten flock to him. And there’s so much rot to go around.
Could you have imagined that the Boy Scouts would need to apologize for the behavior of the President of the United States? That day is here.
http://scoutingwire.org/chief-perspective-presidential-visit/
But for our Scouting family at home not able to see these real moments of Scouting, we know the past few days have been overshadowed by the remarks offered by the President of the United States.
I want to extend my sincere apologies to those in our Scouting family who were offended by the political rhetoric that was inserted into the jamboree. That was never our intent. The invitation for the sitting U.S. President to visit the National Jamboree is a long-standing tradition that has been extended to the leader of our nation that has had a Jamboree during his term since 1937. It is in no way an endorsement of any person, party or policies. For years, people have called upon us to take a position on political issues, and we have steadfastly remained non-partisan and refused to comment on political matters. We sincerely regret that politics were inserted into the Scouting program.
That is such a non-apology.
Nesrie
4599
There is clearly a problem with the scouts if they just start chanting whatever Trump spews instead of standing there looking horrified with the rest of humanity.
Even that crappy “apology” might anger the prez.
Oh and it turns out Randall Stephenson (BSA president) is chairman/CEO/president of AT&T.
While President Trump argued against the merger on the campaign trail last year, he hasn’t done much to suggest an opposition to it lately (aside from tweeting insults at Time Warner-owned CNN).
Bloomberg points out that Trump’s antitrust nominee is still awaiting confirmation, and he could change the review’s outcome if he gets approved in time. The report says that he’s not a fan of putting behavioral conditions on mergers, like the ones the department is apparently exploring. But that suggests his possible arrival might only help the deal along — without any stipulations.
Timex
4601
Eh, they’re little kids.
They don’t really know what any of that crap means. You can throw a few thousand kids in front of almost anything and they’ll cheer if your tone is right.
The adults there are the ones at fault.
Nesrie
4602
Yeah I was in girl scouts. If some asshole started chanting nigger on the stage, I guarantee I would not repeat it. the scouts are also not all “little” kids. Stop excusing everyone Timex. Sometimes you actually have to stop the train-wreck from happening instead of watching it. My scout leader would not need to tell me it was wrong. Not everyone there is five.
Clay
4603
I agree with both of these points. The leader of the Scouts should have stepped in and stopped Trump. But in reality – who is going to step in front of the President of the United States and tell him that he’s being inappropriate? That’s a pretty scary position to be in. I don’t envy the Scouts leader being in that position but also think that if you’re going to have the guts to stand up to bullies, you have to do it regardless of who the bully is.
