What Trump’s Cabinet Picks Tell Us

Donald Trump feuded with the Republican establishment during his presidential campaign, but as president-elect he is mending fences with them, larding his cabinet with billionaires, fans of trickle-down economics, and anti-government, anti-science ideologues. Climate change deniers? Check. Proponents of dismantling public education? Check. Advocates for privatization, lowering taxes for the haves, and keeping the minimum wage low for the have-nots? Check, check and check. I almost wonder if it would be better not to have these agencies than to have people running them who want to turn them against their own missions.

Trump voters responded to his mantra of jobs, jobs, jobs, and his pledge to help the little guy and stick it to elites. But that doesn’t square with his nomination of business executive Andrew Puzder to serve as secretary of labor. Puzder has shipped jobs overseas, promoted replacing workers with robots and fought increases to the minimum wage for low-wage workers like those at the fast-food restaurants his company owns. His company was fined for wage theft and required to pay back pay to workers after an investigation by the very department he may lead. You don’t make America great by trampling workers’ right to earn a living.