Trump appointees

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I was disturbed to put it mildly by Bondi’s non answer but realized that this is a lost cause.
The constitution had a remedy that was not followed. The Senate could have convicted him and barred him from running for office again but failed.

Prosecutors could have kept on prosecuting after Trump won but seemingly unanimously believed doing so would be unconstitutional even though nothing in the constitution specifically does not prohibit it. But those with a lot more knowledge the me disagree with me.

The last chance to hold Trump accountable was the voters. We had the Democrats and Never Trump Republicans and the mainstream media bringing up this issue for four straight years(remember the “spectacular” televised Congressional hearings?). Voters who agreed that the election was stolen and other voters who thought Trump’s actions were bad but other issues were more important combined to set a precedent of getting bigly rewarded for trying to overturn an election. All we can do is live with the consequences of that precedent.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who's nominated to become the next health secretary, asked the federal government to revoke its authorization of all COVID-19 vaccines in May 2021, just as vaccinated Americans began returning to a sense of normalcy after pandemic lockdowns.

The request came via a citizen petition filed by Kennedy and Meryl Nass on behalf of Children's Health Defense, a group founded by Kennedy that advocates against the recommended vaccine schedule for children.

The petition, first reported by the New York Times, asked the Food and Drug Administration to "revoke Emergency Use Authorizations for existing COVID vaccines and refrain from approving and licensing them.

It came five months after then-President Donald Trump proudly announced the FDA's green light of the vaccine was imminent.

The FDA denied the petition in its response three months later, saying it found "no basis" in the petition to pull the vaccines from the market.

In December 2021, Kennedy falsely claimed the COVID-19 vaccine was "the deadliest vaccine ever made."

Days before Kennedy filed his May 2021 petition, the CDC had just announced that fully vaccinated Americans could go without masks because it believed at the time immunization reduced a person's infectiousness. The agency would later reverse that decision after outbreaks occurred involving vaccinated individuals.

Pressed by an NBC interviewer in November whether he would have blocked the authorization of the COVID-19 vaccine had he been in government at the time, Kennedy said, "I wouldn't have directly blocked it."

"I would have made sure that we had the best science, and there was no effort to do that at that time," he said.

The Senate quickly confirmed Marco Rubio as secretary of state Monday, voting unanimously to give President Donald Trump the first member of his new Cabinet on Inauguration Day.

Rubio, the Republican senator from Florida, is among the least controversial of Trump’s nominees and vote was decisive, 99-0.

Marco Rubio is a very intelligent man with a remarkable understanding of American foreign policy,” Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the senior-most Republican, said as the chamber opened.

It’s often tradition for the Senate to convene immediately after the ceremonial pomp of the inauguration to begin putting the new president’s team in place, particularly the national security officials.

The Senate voted Thursday to confirm John Ratcliffe as the next CIA director under President Donald Trump, approving the second high-level appointment for the new administration.

The vote was 74-25 in favor of Ratcliffe, a former congressman from Texas who served as Trump’s director of national intelligence for the last eight months of his first term. Twenty-one Democrats joined their Republican colleagues in supporting Ratcliffe's nomination.

Republican leaders failed to achieve unanimous support to fast-track Ratcliffe's nomination to the floor earlier this week and had to jump through some procedural hoops.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he opposed Ratcliffe “not because of our political difference, which of course exists — but because I am deeply worried that Mr. Ratcliffe will be unable to stand up to people like Donald Trump and Tulsi Gabbard, who are known to falsify intelligence. As CIA Director, Mr. Ratcliffe will have to make decisions based on intelligence and fact.”

During his confirmation hearing, Ratcliffe promised to keep politics out of decisions involving intelligence and said he wouldn't use loyalty tests as a basis for hiring or firing CIA personnel.

In May 2020, Ratcliffe was confirmed to be Trump's DNI by a narrow vote in the Senate of 49-44, facing sweeping Democratic opposition due to concerns about his qualifications and concerns about exaggerating national security credentials on his resume

The Senate on Thursday voted to advance Pete Hegseth's nomination to be President Donald Trump's defense secretary, putting him on a path to final confirmation at the end of the week.

The vote was 51 to 49, with just two Republicans — moderate Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Susan Collins of Maine — voting with all 47 Democrats to try to block Hegseth. He needed a simple majority to advance to a final vote.

Shortly before the vote, Murkowski became the first Republican to publicly oppose Hegseth's nomination, saying that some of the past behavior he has admitted to demonstrates a "lack of judgment" and is "unbecoming of someone who would lead our armed forces."

After the vote, Collins said she had raised concerns directly to Hegseth about his past comments that women should not serve in combat roles.

In his confirmation hearing, Hegseth walked those comments back, telling senators he supports women serving in combat as long as standards remain high. But Collins said in her statement she is "not convinced that his position on women serving in combat roles has changed."

Still, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who has guided Hegseth through the process, declared after the vote that Hegseth will be confirmed on Friday. Asked about Murkowski and Collins opposing him, Wicker said, “I was not surprised, and I do understand.”

n a letter Tuesday urging the Senate to reject Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination as health and human services secretary, Caroline Kennedy referred to her cousin as a "predator."

Caroline Kennedy, a former U.S. ambassador to Australia and the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, said RFK Jr. was unqualified to lead HHS, which oversees 13 federal agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Among her many criticisms in the letter to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Kennedy said that “siblings and cousins who Bobby encouraged down the path of substance abuse suffered addiction, illness and death.”

She also accused her cousin of lacking any relevant experience for the role and said he holds “dangerous and willfully misinformed” views on vaccines. She read the letter aloud in a video posted on X by her son, Jack Schlossberg.

“Bobby is addicted to attention and power,” Caroline Kennedy said, using her cousin’s nickname. “Bobby preys on the desperation of parents of sick children — vaccinating his own kids while building a following by hypocritically discouraging other parents from vaccinating theirs.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did not respond to shouted questions from reporters on Tuesday about the letter or his confirmation hearing this week. A spokesperson told NBC News he would not be commenting.

He is set to appear Wednesday before the Senate Finance Committee for the first of two hearings.

In her letter, Caroline Kennedy referred to a 2019 outbreak of measles in Samoa as evidence of the consequences of her cousin’s anti-vaccine rhetoric. Samoa’s director general of health has accused Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of waging a disinformation campaign that stoked vaccine hesitancy at the time, though Kennedy has denied any responsibility for the outbreak.

The letter also notes RFK Jr.’s intent to continue collecting fees over lawsuits against the pharmaceutical company Merck. The suits allege that the company failed to properly warn consumers about side effects associated with its human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which reduces the risk of cervical cancer. The CDC says the vaccine has a “reassuring safety record.”

“Bobby is willing to profit and enrich himself by denying access to a vaccine that can prevent almost all forms of cervical cancer,” Caroline Kennedy wrote.

She also raised concerns about her cousin’s “personal qualities.”

“His basement, his garage and his dorm room were the centers of the action where drugs were available, and he enjoyed showing off how he put baby chickens and mice in the blender to feed his hawks,” Caroline Kennedy said. “It was often a perverse scene of despair and violence.”

Caroline Kennedy said she had refrained from speaking publicly about her cousin over the past year due to her role as a former ambassador and a desire not to comment on family members. However, she said in the letter that her father and other family members would be “disgusted” by her cousin’s actions.

“Bobby expropriated my father’s image and distorted President Kennedy’s legacy to advance his own failed presidential campaign, and then groveled to Donald Trump for a job,” she said.

“Bobby continues to grandstand off my father’s assassination and that of his own father,” she added. “It’s incomprehensible to me that someone who is willing to exploit their own painful family tragedies for publicity would be put in charge of America’s life and death situations.”

Now that The US is no longer in the WHO, this is just icing on the proverbial cake. I could be way off, but could this nomination of RFK be rejected? Hegseth just got by, by a tie breaking vote. I want to believe even some of these conservative senators have got to be considering voting no on this. Don't even get me started on Anti-Vaxxers

If Jeffrey Dahmer or Charles Manson were alive they would have also been pardoned and considered cabinet material for trump 2.0. the US is in for a wild ride.

Probably not Dahmer, as he was gay, and thus would offend the homophobic evangelical crowd. I'm sure they'd count his homosexuality against him more harshly than his serial murders and cannibalism (well, in reality, probably not... but those people just put me in a sour mood).

It was Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s turn in the hot seat as he appeared before senators for the first of two hearings to be the next secretary of health and human services.

While several of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks have stirred up controversy, Kennedy’s nomination is unique in that it has drawn opposition from those on the left and the right. The 3½-hour hearing before the Senate Finance Committee gave Kennedy his highest-profile opportunity yet to address concerns.

Vaccines: As expected, Kennedy’s long history of hostility toward vaccines was a major line of questioning. Kennedy tried to get ahead of it in his opening statement, declaring he is not “anti-vaccine or anti-industry” but “pro-safety,” as Natasha Korecki reports.

But Democrats didn’t buy it. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the ranking member of the committee, pressed Kennedy about his comments on a 2023 podcast in which he said, “There’s no vaccine that is safe and effective.” Kennedy said the quote was taken out of context.

“I support the measles vaccine. I support the polio vaccine. I will do nothing as HHS secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking anything,” he said.

Abortion: Similarly, Kennedy, a former Democrat, sought to backtrack on his past comments about abortion rights, which have been a concern for conservatives.

While he was running for president last year, Kennedy said on a podcast that he would support allowing women to have abortions at full term. Days later, he walked his position back, writing on X that “abortion should be legal up until a certain number of weeks, and restricted thereafter.”

Kennedy faced questions from senators on both sides of the aisle about his position. And he tried to align himself with Trump, saying abortion policy should be left to the states. He also added that Trump asked him to study the abortion pill mifepristone.

“I agree with President Trump that every abortion is a tragedy,” Kennedy said, a line he repeated several times at the hearing. “I serve at the pleasure of the president. I’m going to implement his policies.”

Medicaid: While Kennedy didn’t face much in the way of opposition from Republicans, he was tripped up during a line of questioning from Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., about Medicaid.

For instance, Kennedy said Medicaid premiums and deductibles were too high, saying most people who use it are “not happy.” But most people on Medicaid aren’t charged for premiums or deductibles, and polls generally show the public views the program favorably.

Bottom line: Kennedy didn’t endear himself to any Democrats, but he has yet to have any Republican senators publicly come out in opposition to him. He can afford to lose the support of only three on the Senate floor if Democrats are united against him.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., a member of the Finance Committee who was a swing vote for Pete Hegseth’s nomination for defense secretary, said after the hearing: “I’m in a presumptive lean yes position, and everything he did today hasn’t eroded that position.”