Remember 2015? Remember the summer of 2015, when we were chuckling about Donald Trump’s candidacy, and everyone was placing a bet on when he would drop out of the race? Remember when Trump would just say random things, like “Sure, I would love to have Sarah Palin in my future cabinet”? Yeah. I guess the joke’s on all of us. Because now that we’re looking at a Trump administration in the bloated orange face, it seems like Donald Trump actually is considering Sarah Palin for a cabinet position. Palin endorsed Trump in a word-salad-y, nonsensical speech back in January of this year, then she mostly disappeared from the campaign. But she’s baaaack. And Trump is considering her for Veteran’s Affairs.
Sarah Palin is under consideration for secretary of veterans affairs, a close Palin aide and a top Donald Trump transition official told ABC News. The Palin aide said that Palin recently told Trump transition officials, “I feel as though the megaphone I have been provided can be used in a productive and positive way to help those desperately in need.”
The Department of Veterans Affairs is the largest government agency, with over 300,000 federal employees and a budget of $182 billion for 2017.
Palin’s son-in-law and Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer posted a SarahPAC video to his Facebook page earlier this week, with excerpts from a speech she gave that heavily focuses on her work with veterans and her connection to the community. Her eldest son, Track Palin, served in Iraq in 2008. The video, which is not new, seems to clearly show her interest in the position, and in the speech she hits the VA “bureaucracy,” saying it is “killing our vets.”
The speech includes Sarah Palin’s ideas on reforming the VA, including improved health care, using military skills to return to the workforce and securing their benefits. The speech also includes a criticism of Barack Obama.
“Stop blaming the victim and wake up, Mr. President,” she says. “While Christians bow our heads to pray for you, radical Islamists want to cut off your head. The only thing standing between us and savages, it’s the red white and blue, it’s the United States military. And if you love freedom, thank a vet. Thank them. Honor them.”
Of course, Sarah Palin was also the person who blamed President Obama for her son’s PTSD (Track served under George W. Bush’s administration) and she used Track’s PTSD as an excuse for his violent assault of his girlfriend. Obviously, Sarah Palin should not be allowed anywhere near any kind of government bureaucracy, but hey… we knew this was coming. Trump told us he would consider her for a cabinet position a year and a half ago. Which brings me to the real point: believe what the autocrat says. Believe that Donald Trump is going to try to do everything he promised, from bombing the sh-t out of other countries, from revoking the citizenship of protesters, to deporting millions of undocumented immigrants, to creating a Muslim registry, to punishing women who get abortions and more. Believe him when he says things.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Gag. I am livid, because my husband and I voted for HRC. I am livid at those who voted for him, at those who voted 3rd party well knowing it wasn’t going to lead anywhere, at the apathetic voter. Livid at the direction of our country. I am just hoping these four years go by quickly.
But it felt really good for those people to make their little protest votes!
I am genuinely curious about whether or not Trump voters are experiencing buyers remorse, or any fear concerning Trump now that this is real. I don’t so much wonder about third party voters because I doubt they see this as their “fault”. Are they still as confident? Do they feel like their lives are more hopeful now that their reality TV hero is soon to be running our country? I have the impression that many Trump voters believed their lives would improve once Trump was elected. So, are they feeling great now? I am also really curious about what will happen a year from now, when their lives are the same or worse.
Judging by the comments I see, they share their idol’s same sense of narcissism and immaturity. Because they “won” and that’s all that matters.
*eyeroll*
Someone told me that Minnesota Public Radio had an informative piece about Rump Regret; I tried to find it but couldn’t. They talked with a psychologist about how when his “win” was an abstract and unlikely event, his would-be supporters were able to approach it one way, but in the cold, harsh light of morning, it looked another way.
I keep wondering when reality will meet delusional Brexiteers but it doesn’t seem to have happened yet.
But we have a rabid right wing press that is continuing to feed them not only with hate but also with entirely unachievable expectations.
So I’m not expecting to feel positive any time soon.
They regret it when he cancels Obamacare and their insurance goes down in flames along with it. There was a news article a few days ago citing that the main beneficiaries of Obamacare were minorities and poor, uneducated white people. Yes the very same people (not the minorities) who voted this guy in!
I can see so many ways Palin will abuse her authority and misspend govt money. Lucky for us, the federal bureaucracy will probably catch her in all kinds of fishy things.
Cindy, these are people who voted for him even after all the crap he did and all the crazy things he said. Their faith is blind, and they will support him and whatever unqualified crackpot yes-wo/man he puts in office… up until the time it starts affecting their wallets. They have no foresight. They don’t want to see what these things mean for our country.
I honestly forget who it was, but someone retweeted a message of regret from a Trump voter who was suddenly (post-election) very afraid that Trump would take away her Obamacare, and captioned it “I just threw a grenade into my own house! I hope it doesn’t go off!” That, for me, summed it up perfectly.
@Cindy: My mom and stepdad are still on board with him, even after conversations I’ve had with them about cutting disability and medical, which would render me unable to remain independent. At 37, I’d have to move in with them. And they’re comfy with it. Because Republican.
My dad, on the other hand (whom I’ve never been very close to), seems to have some remorse, especially after having the same convo with him.
Daffodil – I love that. It reminds me of another one I saw saying: I totally understand the Bernie supporters who are disappointed and now voting for Trump. Once I went into a restaurant and order Diet Coke but they only carried Pepsi products so I set myself on fire.
Aimena – He is starting to walk back the anti-Obamacare stances. He went from repealing it to maybe it could use a few tweaks. He did say he thought the pre-existing conditions part was a good idea and should stay. So *fingers crossed*
Unfortunately, I don’t think a lot of Trump voters will regret their votes. When disability and medical care get cut, the repubs will blame it on Obamacare and brown people, and the Trumpsters will believe them. I read that many of them are already believing the lies about the 3 million illegal voters.
Also, Medicare and Social Security privatization will probably be gradually phased in, so it will be years before people will figure out that they cannot afford to retire or get sick.
I wish they had buyer’s remorse, but a lot of his supporters feel emboldened by his rhetoric, or are cut from the same misogynistic, bigoted/racist cloth.
Mexicans are rapist
Grab them by the pussy
She would mot be my first choice, believe me
…and yet, despite the fact he’s never held public office or has no government experience at all, he said all these disgusting things and more, and he still got in. It boggles my mind.
One of the sweetest, kindest, smartest women I know and respect is a fervent Cheeto supporter and posted eloquently on FB how Hillary is the worst, and now even after the election posts how #imwithhim. It makes it hard for me to look at her now as she’s so pro woman, fair and would not put up with misogyny or bullying from anyone towards anyone. By supporting him, she supports things that, I though, she stood against.
Don’t know where I was going with this little rant, but, anyway I hope those who don’t have buyer’s remorse now, will have buyer’s remorse once his presidency takes shape and it becomes clear that running the country like he ran his companies doesn’t work.
For the sake of the country, I hope he succeeds, but at the same time, that means it’s like open season for racist, bigoted, women hating pigs to spread their brand of hate with impunity.
I don’t think it’s fair that here in my last few twilight years I have tolerate Trump nonsense, and then they throw in that empty headed twit Palin. Just not fair.
You should be livid at the mindless cattle that voted for Trump simply because he was the GOP candidate even though they knew he should not be President of the United States. You should be livid at those who chose to NOT to vote. You should NOT be livid at those how made a conscious decision to voice themselves through the system the founding fathers put into place for this country.
No, I didn’t vote for Trump nor third party, but at least the third party put some thought into their vote.
Yes I am upset with the outcome but I am an American. And I hope that he does a great job and proves us all wrong simply because I want what’s best for this country, its citizens and my children. Plus, let’s not forget our system of checks and balances. This is the last rodeo for the GOP if Trump goes apeshit. So it’s in their best interest to keep him in check and stable.
I was very very upset at all my friends when Pres. Obama won and they exclaimed their dismay and made ridiculous comments about moving. I swore I would never sound like them.
Trump can either make or break the GOP and the GOP knows that.
No, Trump can either make or break the US and many Americans know this. The slight window of hope (or at least maybe it won’t be so bad) was brutally shut with Bannon. The circus of depraved clowns that have followed have just been icing on the cake.
It’s obvious that Trump and his supporters don’t actually like America or the Constitution. What they want is a country where they can do whatever they want which in this case is only have white and rich people.
Yeah, I see her chin implant’s not working out too well.
She is looking pretty rough.
Yeah looks like her face is melting. Its scary
Oh my lord. She was a handsome woman (sorry, Celebitchers, that’s as positive and substantive as I can go for her), but that looks horrendous. Is that real? Is that a bad angle? Isn’t a chin implant held in place by something?
I think it’s fillers. She was looking rather….skeletor-esque? meth-y? for a while there.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen fillers migrate that badly, though perhaps she didn’t go to a legit doc.
She always looked unattractive to me because of the shat that came out of her mouth. Now Tiny Fey and Julianne Moore, they looked handsome!!
Is that what it is? It is more than a chin implant. Something has gone very strange and wrong with her face.
I will never forgive McCain for foisting this nut job on us.
And now we can all forgive him for supporting Rump even feet why he said about Gold Star families and POW. The man made it through years in captivity in which his safety, health and life were in question every day and he can’t stand up to honest to god fascism? The mind reels.
As a Woman Marine Vietnam Era I am appalled that Mr. Trump would even consider Sarah Palin for Secretary of Veteran Affairs. I have enough problems with the current establishment to think she would be considered to head this most important Government Agency is so ridiculous would be a dishonor to fellow vets. She has no idea of what a Veteran needs or how to help this Agency straighten out the problems…. I have been using their services for more than 20 plus years and have lost my husband also a vet to their services. Yes, they killed my spouse. Hopefully I will not be subject to the same fate. However I did experience a coma from being in their care. I certainly hope my claim for 100% disability gets resolved after years of being ignored..
I am so sorry for your terrible experiences. You and your spouse deserved better.
how exactly did they kill your spouse?
And if believing him leads to despair? 😥
Believing him does indeed lead to despair, so I’m with you. As are many of my friends. Last night was the first night since election night that I got nearly a full night’s sleep. Not that there isn’t still so much to keep me awake at night, but I think my body just finally shut down for a bit. I foresee this insomnia and despair lasting for quite some time.
I am sleeping at night but the second that alarm goes off in the morning I feel the heavy weight of our new reality sink in once again.
I rock back and forth among disbelief, anger, nausea, and dark black humor at thinking of my mother, who voted away my daughter’s Obamacare, trying to get private insurance using vouchers at the age of 86 with metastized cancer when Medicare is changed , then back through the whole spectrum. The Fascist is doing a Nazi-esque “Victory Tour” where his rabid supporters will chant “Lock her up,” and “Build that wall.” Bringing us all together, for sure.
Christ. I’m just sick.
Keep in mind what he wants and what he can do are two different things. He doesn’t have a clue how the government works. He has not been picking people that know how all this work either. He is turning to Obama for tutoring on how to be president. He doesn’t have the legislative support because he wants to interfere with their cushy post-office jobs. Draining the swamp is a romantic notion but it just leaves you with angry, muddy alligators. Also, democrats have been watching a master class of political obstruction.
I don’t know how this stuff still shocks me but my mouth dropped when I read “standing between us and savages”. Calling all Muslims savages because they practice a different religion than you should disqualify you from public office. Wonder how long it will take her to quit this?
I no longer care about the hypocrisy I hope Obama’s midnight resolutions are able to severely limit the powers and autonomy of the Executive Branch.
Sorry to here about your sleeping difficulties Esmom.
Eheheh. Minority leader Chuck
Schumer and Trump are frenenemies from way, way back and they’ve clashed already over a lot. As well, Schumer knows how to work political levers–Trump…not so much. Tough Brooklyn poor kid vs. spoiled Queens rich lunatic–those battles are gonna be epic. 🙂
Ah, yes, Track served. A choice between go to jail or enlist after Track and some of his buds drained the antifreeze from several schoolbuses during a harsh winter. The blocks cracked during the freezing night and resulted in costing Wasilla thousands of dollars in repairs. Good ol’ Sarah and her hillbilly clan.
ETA I mean freezin’ and costin’ not freezing and costing.
Forgive my ignorance, what does ETA mean?
Edited to add.
Edited to add
I didn’t know that, thanks
Nor did I, thanks
Way to go ‘Merica. The shit storm rolls on.
Palin should be the ambassador to Russia, since she can see it from her house.
Oh wait, cozying up to Putin is Trump’s Job.
Electoral College, are you seeing this?
Ha! That as she puts lipstick on her pig. Way to go Donald, what else can you do to us. Nightmare….
You realize she never said that, don’t you? Tina Fey said it in SNL while spoofing her,
She did say Russia can be seen from a site in Alaska and she’s right — it can, Now all of this didn’t make her qualified in any way to support foreign relations, but still,…
She did NOT away you can see Russia from her house,
http://www.snopes.com/politics/palin/russia.asp
NO Donald….you were doing great up to this point. Sarah is NOT the person for the job…or any job in your administration. She comes off as an air-head. Don’t ruin your good start to this four years…with her on board! You need someone IN the military for that post…or with a long history of military background.
Uh, so, how are things where you are? “Good start”? What world are you in?
The world where people would like Nazis to be in power is my guess.
Betsy, I was thinking the same thing. He hasn’t made one decent appointment to date. So, no, not a good start. And, Palin? To even consider this dimwit for any office is just ridiculous.
White men are back on top again! Yay!
*chants*
USA! USA! USA!
Exactly what good start are we witnessing. She falls right in line with his other deplorable picks. His cabinet is going to dismantle every single institution we hold dear. Its really exciting to think about how terrible america will be in a matter of years.
His health and human services choice wants to eliminate the ACA, Medicare, and Medicaid and slash hospital funding. His education choice wants to close schools. So no, not doing great before this one
Don’t forget the racist Attorney General!
His education choice has never worked in the school system. More frighteningly, her brother is Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater.
Or a doctor…psychologist…psychiatrist…you know, anyone who could actually address some of the needs of today’s veterans. But hey! Sarah’s son served as a way of getting out of jail time and she hasn’t failed to bring it up to make herself look better (or blame Obama for giving vets PTSD) since. Also, she once said some nice things about Trump. So, that’s all the experience one needs.
Those are needed in the VA itself. Since he has no problem hiring bankers, he should have gone with a former insurance company CEO/CIO/CTO so claims are expedited and they finally move to digital and don’t have to keep reenforcing floors of the room containing an insane amount of paper recorders with no consistent filing system. They would be able to get the branches of the military to use consistent paperwork, know how to negotiated with providers and pharmaceutical companies, implement a system without numerous cracks to many vets fall through and run it like an efficient and effective business. It is a mess now.
Sarcasm? Delusion? ‘Fess up, please.
Great start?!?!? Not sure whether to laugh or cry at this comment.
trolling.
As a disabled vet, the Palin appointment would make veteran’s organizations go nuts. My local chapter’s FB is already speaking out against Palin. WE, veteran’s, want a qualified VETERAN in that job or at least someone with experience in the medical field who understands veteran’s issues. Not some word-salad-y mouthpiece who would probably quit after 6 months.
His previous appointments? Bannon – a Nazi. Sessions – a racist. Petraeus – convicted felon who can’t keep his mouth shut regarding classified information.
Yeah, stellar appointees.
Good start? A neo-Nazi as his top advisor. A KKK admirer as his Attorney General. A man who foreclosed on 36,000 Americans, picking out mostly minorities to do this to. A Secty of the Dept of Education who hates teachers and public schools.
Excellent job, Donald Trump! Good work.
Don’t forget putting climate change deniers in full force- shutting down the EPA and NASA climate research. Now Russia and SA are in collusion to ramp up gas prices to justify more drilling in US.
Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
It is so disrespectful to veterans to even consider someone as incompetent as Palin for the post. I need to get my Xanax refilled. Trump is putting me over the edge.
They voted for him at a two to one margin. I hate to say it, but they will get to reap what they sowed.
At work everyone is pretty shell shocked still, but it is slowly dawning on everyone that we are the people who will be fighting for the rights of Trump voters.
Sadly, we’re not fascists and won’t stand by idly and let the worst happen. We’ll do our best, but we’re going to be very bitter for the next four years.
I have to say that I find ‘sadly, we’re not fascists….’ to be kind of a baffling sentence!
It was sarcasm. Unlike Trump, we won’t willingly let people suffer because it serves our polictical agenda.
Ha. Sorry. I have a three week old and plead exhaustion.
Megan, me too re Xanax. And I’m not kidding. Everything is awful!
Those Veterans deserve someone better than her. My god this is bad.
Even veterans who voted for Trump don’t want this bimbo.
Not to defend her, but for all her faults, bimbo isn’t a term for her.
And this is exactly who they voted for.
The USA are turning more and more into a big fat joke. Sorry. Very funny though.
Where ever it is that you live, you can and will be hurt by all this “entertainment.” Whether or not the USA was due for a comeuppance is a separate issue, but don’t think you can distance yourself from the consequences of this election.
Just imagine the diplomats he’ll post. Good God, foreigners shouldn’t laugh.
There isn’t a country on this planet that won’t be affected by this election. I do have to admit, the hiring of Sarah Palin is the first laugh I’ve gotten out of this election.
@Ankhel
most diplomats are career. Meaning they join (in fact, they are called the diplomatic corps and have ranks, just like military, just not widely used), and they serve at the pleasure of any president. So, unless he begins to dismantle the DoS, the diplomats will be the same.
Most Ambassadors are also career diplomats: they have a union that guarantees that only a certain percentage of ambassadors can be political appointees. Of course, with Trump, who knows if unions will even exist, but for now…
Those diplomats (usually only ambassadors) who are political appointees are usually sent to swanky allied countries, such as Italy or France (where not much diplomacy is needed and they can carry out a decorative function), or to some small and “insignificant” tropical islands.
So, Secretary of State aside, diplomats will still be doing their jobs just fine.
Sarah Palin isn’t just a laughable bigot. She’s slightly paranoid, mean and a real backstabber. She has SO many work conflicts behind her. Giving her the reins of a large institution means poisoning it, bit by bit.
@Timbuktu
Not sure if that’ll reassure the “swanky allies” who’ll have to deal with the knobheads…
@Timbuktu, but they all have to carry out his policies. And he could alter the hiring and promotion policies. For years, Reagan hired men into the State Department and CIA who had low scores or even flunked the exam over women with high passing scores and women who were hired, were not promoted. That policy didn’t change until a settlement agreement late in his second term. I could see Trump behaving in a similar manner.
@Lightpurple
I never said he can’t make the life of diplomats a living hell. I was responding to “diplomats he will post”. He won’t be “posting” many diplomats as it stands, in fact, most diplomats already have their postings as far into the future as 2018-2019, so for at least half of Trump’s first term, most diplomats will be pursuing their career course as it has been set under President Obama and Secretary Kerry.
After that, what he can and will do is anyone’s guess.
@Ankhel
Well, in those countries, Ambassadors usually fulfill a merely decorative function: host dinners, attend state functions, cut ribbons, etc. So, even if they are horrible people, they should be fairly harmless.
Deputy Chief of Mission is usually the guy (or gal) running the actual Embassy when the Ambassador is a political appointee, since political appointees don’t have the faintest idea of what it takes to run an Embassy. And as far as I know, DCM-s are always career diplomats.
Here’s hoping he will bow out because he would rather hold onto all of his conflict-of-interest business interests. Add to that the upcoming lawsuits. Someone is surely making a list of possibilities for impeachment and waiting for Trump to trip over one. Palin is no surprise, just another terrible choice.
No, don’t hope that. Don’t leave us stick with Pence. He knows how government works and has core principles and they are all terrible. My favorite description was he is “a man who looks like he is from the 1950’s and thinks like he’s from the 1650’s. That woman had a miscarriage? Hold a funeral for the fetus and drown the woman in the lake.”
Agree. We are truly damned for the next four years.
I hate both but I think we’re still better off picking them off one at a time, dealing with each one as they come up. As Pence will be doing a lot of the heavy lifting anyway, might as well flush him out into the open. Trump’s cult of personality is a serious threat to the republic. Pence won’t have that kind of demagogic appeal.
And in any case, it remains important to remove people from office if they have violated the law, so we don’t get to overlook. The most important thing is to say “Laws matter.” Things sure have gone downhill that way since Ford pardoned Nixon.
“Which brings me to the real point: believe what the autocrat says.”
Which is 90% of the reason I believe the election was rigged: he kept telling us, repeatedly, it was rigged. And I believe him.
Seriously–the math on this has never added up, unless you factor in tampering and vote suppression. It makes no sense so many polls and major media outlets got this so wrong.
That’s what I said, too.
After her those stump events pre-election it was rumored she was drug addicted, there really didn’t seem to be any other possible conclusion! Trumps doling these positions out favoring loyalty over qualifications. It’s going to be a loooong 4 years….
So the circus begins!
Trump’s awfulness has actually made me think, “Hmm, maybe Sarah Palin wasn’t as bad as I remember.”
Nope, they are both equal piles of garbage. Pure, undiluted, 200-proof white trash.
All the crazy Trump is surrounding himself with is a very specific type: Power-hungry. Not driven, not ethical, just deep voids willing to do anything to anyone in order to get more power. Those are the kinds of people who end governments.
Yep that is his cabinet to a t.
Scary stuff….
It’s like he sits around like, “Who can I pick that would be absolutely terrible for the country and world????? They’re hired!”
Scott Senator Centerfold Brown must be so upset with this news. He thought that job was his!
Dumb and Dumber.
This whole idea of his is obscene. I will not invoke either of them by mentioning their names here. Evil lives in this country and PROSPERS.
I come from a military family. Just about every male in my family has been the military, a tradition going back at least 100 years. One that hopes to continue with my son who wants to join the Navy in 8 years. I don’t want her, Trump or anyone he even remotely thinks is a good idea to have anything to do with Vetrens or the military. Its a slap in the face and a kick to the groin to all the amazing men and women who have served, are serving, and will serve.
Ugh thinking of Trump as the “leader” of the military who weaseled his way out of serving.
This is a bit out of date, but it is a good listing of chickensh1t warmongers. It’s truly astounding(NOT!!!)how many of them are Republicans.
http://www.nhgazette.com/chickenhawks/
Hiring more reality stars for the the white house? Sounds like a very Trump idea. Let’s drive the country inot the ground and reverse all our progress-brilliant!!
She shouldn’t be in charge of ANYTHING. But at least it’s not education or the environment? I don’t know, I’m grasping at straws here.
She could handle the White House Christmas Trees. It’s simple, shallow, signifies hollow military appreciation and patriotism (on certain designed ones) it is a perfect reflection of her traits.
She is at least Jessica Simpson dumb and could be convinced that’s the role of the Secretary of the Interior. It still makes me laugh that she went on and on complimenting Gale Norton about the design and decor of the White House. Almost as good as Stephen Hawkining making it clear to Eddie Redmanye that he was an astronomer not an astrologer because Eddie was uncomfortable with the long silence when speaking with him, on top of being nervous to met him for the first time as the actor that would be portraying him. So he started rambling about how close there early January birthdays were and that they were both Capricorns.
I’m not a vet myself, but I suspect they’d want an ACTUAL vet to run their agency. Or like was mentioned above, at least someone with medical/mental health experience. Or at the very VERY least, someone with policy and political experience beyond a half-term try at being governor. God, what a shit show this is all turning out to be.
IKR? If you are going to appoint someone with no experience or qualifications for running a federal agency serving millions of people, why not appoint instead her son-in-law Dakota Meyer, a real vet and someone who understands REALLY what veterans have been through and are going through???
In fairness, one of the right-leaning sites I read broke down that information and said if you’ll notice, this information is coming from Palin-friendly sources and not the Trump campaign. She reached out, she leaked she’s interested in a cabinet position.
I just bet she is.
Speaking as a vet, I’d find this appointment appalling if it happened. Just like every other one of his appointments, but Palin would be the WORST for us vets. What does she know about our issues? She’s never served. (yes, her son has, but look at what a piece of work he is. He’s an abuser).
Sarah Palin and her spawn are the definition of white trash. She can barely form coherent sentences, she has slurred speech patterns (i.e. possible Benzo abuse) ever since she quit her job as Governor of Alaska in favor of reality television and profiting off of pop culture, in addition to being a complete idiot.
I still don’t get why nothing has happened so far regarding Comey. No further discussions, no action. Only Hillary mentioned him once as one of the reasons her campaign lost momentum and I think she is absolutely right. I heard quite a lot of people say things like “The FBI again, someone like her can’t be president etc”.
That’s what I can’t figure out. Why is no one impeaching Comey for sticking his nose in this election. It’s all very fishy.
On NPR yesterday there was a Republican member of the electoral college being interviewed and she said she just could not in all good conscience vote for Trump on Dec 19th. She talked about the reason for the EC was to stop an election of someone who was maybe either insane or a criminal. So while I know this is just me grasping hold of any hope, but is it possible, he is picking the absolute worst people he can assuming that the EC will realize they can’t vote for him? That hope and the recount are the only things letting me sleep right now.
PS – I’m not the Louisa troll from last week!
There is a possibility. He has A LOT of conflict of interests and shockingly doesn’t understand the laws concerning it or want to listen to sound advice.
However the death threats some of the EC members are getting aren’t cool.
My hope is the EC does what they are suppose to. And that is not vote for Trump. He has embolden the worst in people. The only goods thing is, I now know who this people are and I can stay away from them. I want nothing to do with my friends who voted for him. The faux Christians who couldn’t do what Jesus would do if he told them.
I can’t utter that grifter’s name. The news just gets worse and worse
Saturday Night Live is going to have a lot of material to work with.
Heh. Alec Baldwin gets (rare) high props from me because of his hilarious Twitter nyah-nyahing to Trump’s bitching about SNL being biased. 😉
My husband, 2 of my brother in laws, numerous nieces, uncle, and my dad are all vets.. Ehat a huge insult to them & every other Vet in this country. She will use that post for her own agenda (Track will have a position), totally destroy what’s left of the V.A. & walk away before Trump ever gets to his mid term.. she is a quitter. Trump obviously hates Vets & loves a narcsssistic, chaos ensuing, clueless, loud mouth, stilted vocabulary yet world salad loving, and racist quitter. I think he likes her so much cause she’s just like him, in his twisted mind he probably thinks he is doing the Vets a huge favor. But in Reality.. Trump must really hate our Vets. I pray our Country can survive the next 4 years… God help us.
Ok, am I the only one baffled by this:
“The Department of Veterans Affairs is the largest government agency”?
So, VA is not part of the DOD? So, we have an enormous DoD budget AND we have yet another largest agency taking care of DOD’s veterans? For a country that hasn’t seen a war on its territory and hasn’t really been in a position where a war was inevitable, why do we have so many veterans that need help?
I actually tried to google it and can’t find the info: but how many military members have seen combat? %-wise? Because of all the military people I know, only 1 saw active combat, back in Kosovo. Another one has a metal disability (anxiety, depression) after years of service on a submarine.
Does VA handle ALL of veterans’ affairs, including regular stuff like benefits and pensions, or do they only handle disabilities? It just seems like they should be more or less the HR department of the military, with a few exceptional and tricky cases for veterans who got hurt? Why is it such a mess, then? Can’t DoD share their budget with VA?
Honestly confused, please, enlighten me.
Active duty military are handled by their branch of service, which falls under the DOD, until, for whatever reason, they leave military service. Once they leave service, they are veterans and handled by the VA. There are still WWII veterans receiving services. Pensions, Benefits and benefit levels are determined through a mind-blowing level of complexity factoring in: retired military or just didn’t re-enlist, number of years service, years (what dates) of service, type of discharge, wartime, time of conflict, or peacetime, combat or non-combat during wartime, disabled, if disabled, disabled during service due to combat related, or not combat related but service related, or not service related at all. There are some benefits available to all while others are need-based with “need” reflecting income and assets. Congress determines which group is entitled to what and it changes all the time. I did a summer internship with the VA and was confused every single second
Lightpurple gave a good explanation. One point of clarification: if you retire from the military and live near a military base, you don’t have to use the VA system; you can use the military doctors and hospitals. My dad is retired military and goes to the San Antonio Military hospitals – Wilford Hall and Brooks Army Medical Center. They are both excellent facilities. He receives great medical care.
Vets get their health care from VA hospitals. And there are a lot of vets who’ve seen combat in Afghanistan & Iraq, as well as those from the WWII, Korea, & Vietnam eras.
I’m coming out of lurking mode to say that’s It’s almost as if he’s casting for a reality show. I’m so sick to my stomach over this. My son’s class is going to DC for the inauguration and I am seriously having second thoughts about letting him go. Just hearing about all the protests being planned has me worried and scared.
Could go on and on about Sarah Palin, but here’s my shallow comment: She isn’t aging well.
I thiought I was being too shallow also in noticing that
The Fair Kellyanne ain’t doing so well lately neither. 😉
Come on. This is a joke.
The one slight positive about the scary possibility of Palin getting in as Veterans’ Affairs Secretary is that it gives some protection to some Democratic Senators up for reelection in 2018. I’m in Wisconsin and our Senator Tammy Baldwin is up for reelection then. She actually gets some stuff done unlike the do nothing that go reelected thanks to the white flight voters in the Milwaukee suburbs. Her office has been criticized for how it has handled problems with VA facilities in the state, which is a problem that she inherited and a nationwide issue. McCain has been criticized for similar issues with VA facilities in Arizona and that can’t be blamed on anyone else. The whistleblower in the WI VA case came out as a very partisan Republican, undermining his credibility. I’m hoping that if the Alaska grifter gets in, it protects Baldwin and other Democrats in tough reelections, including Missouri’s Claire McCaskill. They can blame the VA problems on her and the department.
I do think that the Senate Democrats need to push back on some of his cabinet nominees. I don’t think that Betsy DeVos is worth wasting limited energy and time on, given that both K to 12 and higher education is more of a state and local issue. I do think that they could block Palin in Veterans’ Affair and Price in Health and Human Services because the first has no business being in charge of anything and the second wants to roll back Obama’s signature legislation that has benefited millions of Americans. Given the number of Democrats who are women, it’s possible that that could happen with them reaching across to less dogmatic and independently minded Republicans.
Oh please. As if she would actually work for a living. If she takes the position, you know that her underlings would be doing all the heavy lifting.
The joke would be on her in any case. If Paul Ryan has his way, he would cut the VA and increase defense spending. Good luck trying to effectively run the department on a smaller budget than they have now.
Oh my Lord. On the basis of her face, ignorant bigotry is seriously not good for the complexion!
I’ve often wondered if that’s why the KKK wear hoods?
#happytogolowtrumpstyle
Today’s Fresh Air concerns lying liar crookedtrump’s conflicts of interest. Check it out.
Since Sarah Palin (and her absurd popularity) paved the way for Trump (same folks?), this is not a surprise. Sad though.
Free Oxycontin and How to make meth for dummies to all our men and women serving in the US Military
I just got into this fight with a coworker who tried the, “He was just saying things to rile people up, he’ll be more moderate.” I told him he better hope hard on that because the alternative is horrifying. I also asked him as politely as I could if he understand how INSANE it sounds to denigrate Hillary as a traditional politician and tell people you voted for a candidate you thought was lying through their teeth. The Russian roulette of voting is what that is.
It says a lot that the Wall Street Journal (of all “people”) have been running articles about whether Trump’s policies add up/make good business sense…and conclude that most of ’em don’t. 😉 If those “everything for cash flow” guys are concerned, that’s unnerving right there.
Palin is the female version of Trump. Her word salad speeches, lack of vocabulary and compete aversion to the truth, you would think they were twins separated at birth.