Are you McKidding?

VIEWPOINT

By RALPH HARDIN

Evening Times Editor

When Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, it was largely on the appeal of the idea that he had promised to “drain the swamp” — that is, get rid of the career politicians and bring people to Washington with him from outside the realm of mainstream politics.

You can argue the merits of that idea and you can argue the level of success that did or did not bring the Trump administration, but you might have noticed that he did not use such terminology in his 2024 campaign. Maybe it was because it was simply understood that since he did it the first time, he would do it this time around. Or maybe he realized that he actually needed a few experienced politicians with him if he’s going to be able to pull off some of his agenda items.

Or maybe, just from looking at things, it’s all a crap shoot…

See VIEWPOINT, page A5 VIEWPOINT

From page A4

I will not sit here and claim to be an expert on all things politics and policy, so maybe I’m not qualified to judge Trump’s cabinet picks. But there are certainly some head-scratchers. Some make sense, like Marco Rubio as Secretary of State. He knows Trump’s mind and he has some ideas of his own, so sure. Mike Huckabee will certainly be well-versed in Holy Land diplomacy in his new role as ambassador to Israel. And then…. well, it gets dicey.

While there are no official prerequisites to being in any of these appointed roles, you’d think they would at least make sense, right? There had to have been better choices for Attorney General or Medicare & Medicaid Director, right? But whatever. Like I say, I’m no expert — except for at least one pick. Linda McMahon has exactly zero business being in charge of anything, let alone the U.S. Department of Education. She has no teaching degree, very limited classroom experience, was kicked off of a Connecticut school board for lying about her teaching credentials, and oh yeah, helped her slimy pro prestling promoter husband cover up dozens of sex scandals and other improprieties over decades of their ownership of WWE, including some onoing cases that are just gross.

But sure, put here in charge of our children’s education…