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Avoiding Armageddon: Surviving Trump and His Cabinet of DeplorablesEric Hafter, MA/Social Studies Department ChairDr. Michael Krop Senior HighJanuary 15, 2017As Donald Trump continues to name White House staff and Cabinet members and announces significant policy decisions via Twitter, we can only hope that the world survives his presidency. His “let be an arms race” Christmas comment sounds like the most extreme saber-rattling from a bygone Cold War era. The suggestion that the U.S. can win another nuclear arms race with the Russians, especially one led by someone as psychologically unstable as Trump, is enough to make anyone shutter. As we take pause to review the potential disasters emanating from the personnel taking shape in the next administration, the only real solace is that, four years hence, the world never faces annihilation.Maybe someone with limited language proficiency (e.g. “bigly”) needs a medium with a 140-character limit to best express his views. However, the president should be the last person to depend on such a medium to communicate ideas to the public. Earlier last month, Trump announced an apparent significant foreign policy shift through Twitter when he acknowledged the possibility of American recognition of Taiwan as the legitimate government of China. If he follows through, Trump will alter a four decade-old bipartisan policy that most experts endorse as offering stability, even as China’s trade and monetary policies hinder America economically. Then the arms race tweet. Two potentially critical policy changes vis-à-vis the two other great nuclear powers and both announcements issued via Twitter. Apparently, both pronouncements were rendered without consultation of current policy makers and with limited intelligence briefings. In terms of both content and process, Trump generates dubious policies. We can only hope that his decisions do not lead to outright conflict in the next four years.Civil rights will likely suffer in a Trump Administration. Trump’s first questionable personnel decision came during the campaign when he chose the outspokenly anti-gay governor of Indiana, Mike Pence, as his running mate. Pence led a conservative anti-gay think tank, endorsed using HIV-AIDS money to fund “conversion therapy,” and signed a “religious liberty” law allowing discrimination against gays. Minority rights took another hit when Trump named controversial mastermind of the alt-right, white nationalist Stephen Bannon, as chief strategist. With Pence and Bannon, Trump sent a clear message that his administration not only endorses but empowers racial extremism. Jeff Sessions, nominee for Attorney General, was rejected for a federal judgeship by a bipartisan Senate Judiciary Committee because of a long history of racist behavior and beliefs, including comments that the only problem with the Ku Klux Klan was marijuana use among members. While civil rights likely deteriorate the next four years, averting nuclear holocaust might be the only consolation.Trump’s choice for Secretary of State, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, enjoys considerable influence in Russia and raises important questions about Tillerson’s contempt for long-standing foreign policy. The most noteworthy example of Tillerson’s disdain of government policy occurred in June when he attended a major investment conference in St. Petersburg at a time when sanctions were in effect as a protest of Russian incursions into Ukraine, when the Obama administration called on American executives to boycott the conference. Tillerson was the only notable exception. Apparently, profits exceeded the national interest. Tillerson stands to gain a $185 million stock vestment upon his retirement, which is all but certain now that the Cabinet position is within his grasp. The best case scenario might be one that focuses on avoiding war with the Russians in the near future.Public education will likely suffer when Betsy DeVos takes over as Education Secretary. As chair of Michigan’s American Federation for Children, a school-choice advocacy group that supports programs and laws that allow spending public money for private school tuition, DeVos endorsed vouchers and charter schools. The most extensive urban charter program exists in Detroit where parents have abundant choice but little quality. For over a decade, the test scores of those schools continue to be among the lowest in the state yet their charters get renewed. Clearly, DeVos supported the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act mandating school “improvement” plans based on test scores with sanctions based on unrealistic rates of "adequate yearly progress." If DeVos has her way and imposes on the country what she advocated in Michigan, then maybe the country has to settle for a future of any kind provided President Trump does not lead us into a war from which there is no return.Threatening the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, and Medicaid is Trump’s nominee for Health and Human Services, Rep. Tom Price. An outspoken critic of Obamacare, Price’s record includes support for changes to Medicare and Medicaid. Price defended changes in Medicare that would allow doctors to avoid fee limits by signing contracts with patients. He has also backed amending antitrust laws that would expand doctors’ bargaining power in negotiations with insurance companies. Price espoused schemes to shift Medicare away from its unrestricted commitment to pay for medical services and toward a fixed government contribution for each recipient, which could be used for either private insurance or traditional Medicare. According to health experts, the likely outcome would increase costs for some beneficiaries or limit the amount of care they receive. As we likely witness the deterioration of medical care, the only comfort will come if we literally survive the next four years.Finally, environmental accomplishments will suffer under the new administration. By selecting Scott Pruitt to manage the Environmental Protection Agency, Trump heralded a renewed steadfastness to not only support the fossil fuel interests and corporate profits but to do it in way that demolishes any progress made to save the planet from human destruction, including the EPA itself. Pruitt, a climate change denier, joined 19 other states attorneys’ general in 2011 challenging the EPA’s regulation of mercury pollution emitted by oil- and coal-fired power plants. As Oklahoma’s Attorney General, Pruitt sued the EPA 14 times (with 8 pending cases) and he is well connected to the fossil fuel industry. If Trump’s Twitter wars and his cabinet selections are any indication, then the best Americans can hope for in the next four years is a world still intact. This overly sensitive man launches unnecessary overreactions to virtually every criticism via Twitter---a potentially perilous characteristic for one with nuclear access codes. As we witness the decline of civil rights, the deterioration in the quality of education, and the corrosion of public health, the world will have to claim victory for its very existence four years hence. ................
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