Here is a short list of Departments and Agencies Trump is weakening or destroying; it’s only taken him 15 months and 5 days.

The most egregious of Trump’s appointments initially, was Scott Pruitt as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt was the Attorney General of Oklahoma. He was and is owned by big oil. He worked to allow unlimited fracking in his state, while filing multiple lawsuits against the EPA, the very agency he leads today. In addition Pruitt has committed multiple criminal acts with the use of tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars. Once he traveled to Morocco to lobby for a company which manufactures liquefied natural gas. He and his staff traveled first class at the cost of more than $40,000 to taxpayers.

Jeff Sessions will be remembered as the worst Attorney General in American History. His white supremacist beliefs support his repeal of rules instituted by his predecessors to force the justice system to treat all accused men and women equally. Sadly, by altering these laws, he is encouraging the incarceration of more minorities for longer periods of time.

Trump’s third National Security Adviser, John Bolton, is a proven lunatic whose answer to everything is war. He is in his position for a single reason; Bolton and Trump are like-minded and ignorant about everything.

Old man Wilbur Ross’ only qualification as the Secretary of Commerce is his banking experience, and his close relationship with Vladimir Putin. This billionaire was once the head of the Bank of Cyprus. This bank is controlled completely by Vladimir Putin. Like the others, he has no prior experience in government.

Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, is a billionaire who never stepped inside of a public school until she became a member of Trump’s cabinet. She is altering rules regarding sexual assault in our universities to protect the accused and weaken the efforts of women who file charges against these men. Her goal is to end our public school system and replace it with a voucher program which would force all of our nation’s children to attend private or charter schools.

Trump is a devout racist. Ben Carson was a pediatric neurosurgeon. He is now Trump’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. The only reason Trump placed him in that position is because he is his token black man. The truth is that Carson is actually a white man in black face.

Ryan Zinke is satisfying his personal ambition of destroying our nation’s national parks as the Secretary of the Interior. He has also wasted tens-of-thousands of dollars in unnecessary travel expenses. After Hurricane Maria destroyed Puerto Rico, he was instrumental in the hiring of a company from Montana to work for FEMA and perform the needed repairs. This company had only two employees and no experience. They were replaced. However under the failed “leadership” of Brock Long, little has been accomplished in more than six months.

The Secretary of the Treasury is Steven Mnuchin. He is another billionaire, and is spending taxpayer money rather than his own to travel all over the world. He made his fortune on Wall Street by foreclosing on more homes than the head of any other bank in America. He is partying at the expense of the American people.

To end this short list; there are dozens more; I offer you Mike Pompeo. Pompeo is a Trump crony who will be the next Secretary of State if confirmed. The reality is that Pompeo does not believe in diplomacy; he is another war hawk. Under former Director, Rex Tillerson, the State Department has been severely weakened, and appointing Pompeo will not ease or aid the situation. It is virtually a defunct agency today.

Trump’s administration has experienced a 34 percent turnover rate; the highest in history by far, especially considering the fact that he has been in office for only 15 months and five days. The closest percentage of turnovers stands at 11 under Bill Clinton’s administration over an eight year presidency.

Op-ed by James Turnage

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