The WH Transition Thread --- all things Trump to Biden until Inauguration

[Rex]

Should we have an Official Department of Transportation Thread? I'm glad to see all this excitement about bike lanes and trains

[mister d]

Yet one is still demonstrably better than the other.

This isn't the argument. It never was.

[mister d]

(Although it really does sum up the whole debate leading up to the election. Rally around "not as bad" while abandoning any hope for actually good.)

[P.D.X.]

In which D implies that "hope" and "practicality" are exclusive of one another.

[mister d]

In theory or in effect?

[psunate77]

Gotta get through January 6th. Word is there are several in the Senate and Congress that may object to the results. I guess DT is putting pressure on Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Ron Johnson, Dan Crenshaw, Kevin McCarthy, Matt Gaetz to object. I guess they need one from the Senate and One from Congress to agree.

I still can’t believe how many processes there are for this. It’s ridiculous.

[mister d]

[psunate77]

Add the Football coach to the list.

[A_B]

Both Senate and House would have to agree to disqualify the results.

[brian]

Both Senate and House would have to agree to disqualify the results.

An exercising in continuing to masturbate Trump's limp dick, so basically the last four+ years in a nutshell. Sorry, Nate. It's over, bruh.

[mister d]

This is another selection that is far better than, say, picking the mayor of Hartford, having him say "I also had a personal love of the environment since childhood" with a straight face then getting told here that the environment also exists in Connecticut so just give him a chance and hope he delegates well to those more qualified.

[Brontoburglar]

psumrd77

[mister d]

Someone has obviously seen my new “I Love My College Sports Program More Than I Hate Pedophiles” t-shirt.

[The Sybian]

In which Mr D levels 'inexperienced' with 'actively destructive'.

In which Mister D makes the point that if you're hiring for a restaurant, its better to have someone who has never cooked than someone actively looking to poison you, but both are still stupid ideas relative to hiring an experienced chef.

I think Sec of Transportation is much different than hiring a chef. (I almost want to leave that sentence without explaining). I don't think you need experience in the specific field here, just someone with good management skills and someone who wants to actually accomplish goals that are good for the country, not just good for the most powerful corporations in the industry at the expense of the public good. Yes, Pete has larger ambitions than this cabinet position, but I actually believe he will do a good job. He has management experience from McKinsey and executive experience as mayor. Does it really matter that he ran a two-hub city rather than NYC? Probably not, as long as he listens to the "Deep State" experts who are career employees in the Department and understand the issues. A lot of times in executive roles, it's better to have someone from outside the industry who looks at things with a different perspective and doesn't get stuck in the old way of doing things. They have experts reporting to them, so they don't need the deep expertise on specifics. Sec of State, I'd join your complaint, but I don't think Transportation requires any deep industry knowledge or experience.

To pile on the responses to Johnnie, I don't recall anyone complaining about a similar Trump cabinet appointment, meaning a competent person with a career in public service and no record of endorsing the polar opposite views of their Agency's mission. The complaints have come from putting in the CEOs of the largest companies regulated by an industry with a history of calling for the abolishment of the Departments they are in charge of. There are too many horrendous Trump nominees to pick out a few, but I don't think anyone complained about competent public servants selected to positions. The closest example that comes to mind is Rick Perry, who at least had a history of government work, but he is not only a complete moron, but campaigned on abolishing the Dept of Energy, or would have if he didn't forget the name of the Department he ran on abolishing. Then after being nominated, he was shocked to learn that the Dept of Energy controls the nuclear arsenal. He fucking ran on abolishing an Agency without bothering to learn what it does, for fucks sake! There are no similarly situated Trump appointees we criticized. Ben Carson, maybe, but my critique was that he is also a moron with no ability to comprehend the role, and no history of government service, and a disdain for government subsidies, which is the mission of HUD.

[Steve of phpBB]

Deb Haaland is far from the most qualified candidate to head the Department of the Interior. And her appointment smacks of a political reward.

I am 100% in favor of it. (Well, maybe 95%. I'm concerned about the ever-shrinking Dem majority in the House.)

[A_B]

I think it was clear pretty early on that they weren't hiring anyone worth a damn in that administration.

[TT2.0]

Guys I'm pretty sure the gay guy knows how to run a train

[Steve of phpBB]

I don't think you need experience in the specific field here, just someone with good management skills and someone who wants to actually accomplish goals that are good for the country, not just good for the most powerful corporations in the industry at the expense of the public good.

That, and being the mayor of a city like South Bend for eight years provides way more than zero experience. I don't know how familiar some of you are with either South Bend, or cities like South Bend that operate as a regional hub, or with municipal/county/regional government, or how the federal DOT works. But transit is a major part of being a mayor of a place like South Bend. You deal with local street-level issues, but also regional transit issues, and highway construction that involves DOT and FHWA.

[govmentchedda]

Guys I'm pretty sure the gay guy knows how to run a train

Gold!

[DaveInSeattle]

Someone is going to get killed before this is over...

‘Prepare for war’: A local GOP official goes all-in with election conspiracy theories

A bigger issue for the GOP is that this type of insane rhetoric is also ingrown in the party. In fact it’s being voiced right now by one elected Republican right here in Puget Sound.

“Prepare for war,” state Rep. Robert Sutherland, R-Granite Falls, wrote to followers Monday on his Facebook site, after declaring that “Joe Biden is not now, nor will ever be my President.”

“Is the ‘coup’ against the sitting President the start of a second ‘Civil War’ here in the USA?” Sutherland posted earlier, adding it would be “righteous” if Trump used the military to hold onto his presidency by force.

“What good and decent person would not conduct a war to defend Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of happiness, their families, their neighbors?” he said.

“This is about America. It’s being destroyed by evildoers. Patriots, will you join with me? I need to know. Lets raise the banner.”

[BSF21]

I don't think you need experience in the specific field here, just someone with good management skills and someone who wants to actually accomplish goals that are good for the country, not just good for the most powerful corporations in the industry at the expense of the public good.

That, and being the mayor of a city like South Bend for eight years provides way more than zero experience. I don't know how familiar some of you are with either South Bend, or cities like South Bend that operate as a regional hub, or with municipal/county/regional government, or how the federal DOT works. But transit is a major part of being a mayor of a place like South Bend. You deal with local street-level issues, but also regional transit issues, and highway construction that involves DOT and FHWA.

Don't waste your breath. Anywhere that's not Chicago Detroit or St. Louis is a hopeless little backwater dot on the flyover map. You know that. This state doesn't even have a Major League Baseball team for fucks sake. How could we even begin to comprehend large carroadways or flying machine parking spots?

[mister d]

Wilmington DE has a mayor and buses AND a train station that serves both regional and Amtrak trains. So if we're starting a list from a point of "actually, Buttigieg is qualified because he was mayor of a city of 100,000", that's atleast one to put above him. I bet there are more.

[Nonlinear FC]

In which Mr D levels 'inexperienced' with 'actively destructive'.

In which Mister D makes the point that if you're hiring for a restaurant, its better to have someone who has never cooked than someone actively looking to poison you, but both are still stupid ideas relative to hiring an experienced chef.

I think Sec of Transportation is much different than hiring a chef. (I almost want to leave that sentence without explaining). I don't think you need experience in the specific field here, just someone with good management skills and someone who wants to actually accomplish goals that are good for the country, not just good for the most powerful corporations in the industry at the expense of the public good. Yes, Pete has larger ambitions than this cabinet position, but I actually believe he will do a good job. He has management experience from McKinsey and executive experience as mayor. Does it really matter that he ran a two-hub city rather than NYC? Probably not, as long as he listens to the "Deep State" experts who are career employees in the Department and understand the issues. A lot of times in executive roles, it's better to have someone from outside the industry who looks at things with a different perspective and doesn't get stuck in the old way of doing things. They have experts reporting to them, so they don't need the deep expertise on specifics. Sec of State, I'd join your complaint, but I don't think Transportation requires any deep industry knowledge or experience.

To pile on the responses to Johnnie, I don't recall anyone complaining about a similar Trump cabinet appointment, meaning a competent person with a career in public service and no record of endorsing the polar opposite views of their Agency's mission. The complaints have come from putting in the CEOs of the largest companies regulated by an industry with a history of calling for the abolishment of the Departments they are in charge of. There are too many horrendous Trump nominees to pick out a few, but I don't think anyone complained about competent public servants selected to positions. The closest example that comes to mind is Rick Perry, who at least had a history of government work, but he is not only a complete moron, but campaigned on abolishing the Dept of Energy, or would have if he didn't forget the name of the Department he ran on abolishing. Then after being nominated, he was shocked to learn that the Dept of Energy controls the nuclear arsenal. He fucking ran on abolishing an Agency without bothering to learn what it does, for fucks sake! There are no similarly situated Trump appointees we criticized. Ben Carson, maybe, but my critique was that he is also a moron with no ability to comprehend the role, and no history of government service, and a disdain for government subsidies, which is the mission of HUD.

This is all very well said. Some of it I had crafted in my head and just don't have the energy to clack out on the laptop. The bolded part, in particular, was what really pissed me off in terms of comparing a pick like Bootedge-edge to a moron like Perry.

[Rex]

I think pretty much every Cabinet post is best filled by a politician or CEO (or foundation or university president or the equivalent). In other words, somebody who emphatically does not get stuck in the weeds.

[mister d]

This is all very well said. Some of it I had crafted in my head and just don't have the energy to clack out on the laptop. The bolded part, in particular, was what really pissed me off in terms of comparing a pick like Bootedge-edge to a moron like Perry.

Which, again, no one is doing no matter how often people claim we are. I've put two other picks in here the last two or three days to contrast with "see, Biden is picking some people with backgrounds that pass a quick logic test".

[Steve of phpBB]

Wilmington DE has a mayor and buses AND a train station that serves both regional and Amtrak trains. So if we're starting a list from a point of "actually, Buttigieg is qualified because he was mayor of a city of 100,000", that's atleast one to put above him. I bet there are more.

I don't know as much about Wilmington as I do about South Bend - is it simply one city in a mass of population? Is it a hub for a larger area?
Does Wilmington drive the decisions about regional transit, or is there another entity "above it" so to speak?

How long has Wilmington's mayor served? How smart is he? Was he a Rhodes Scholar? Is he interested in transportation? Does he have a reputation as a hard worker? Is he motivated to do a good job? Will he hire smart people and listen to them? Does he want to be Secretary of Transportation?

Because, yes, it is quite possible that the mayor of Wilmington is among the many, many, many people who are qualified to serve as Secretary of Transportation.

[Nonlinear FC]

Wilmington DE has a mayor and buses AND a train station that serves both regional and Amtrak trains. So if we're starting a list from a point of "actually, Buttigieg is qualified because he was mayor of a city of 100,000", that's atleast one to put above him. I bet there are more.

everything is binary.

[Nonlinear FC]

This is all very well said. Some of it I had crafted in my head and just don't have the energy to clack out on the laptop. The bolded part, in particular, was what really pissed me off in terms of comparing a pick like Bootedge-edge to a moron like Perry.

Which, again, no one is doing no matter how often people claim we are. I've put two other picks in here the last two or three days to contrast with "see, Biden is picking some people with backgrounds that pass a quick logic test".

I guess I don't get what Johnnie was saying, then. Sure seemed packed with false equivalencies, but maybe I'm just not understanding the point.

[mister d]

Is he interested in transportation?

Fuck, this one is a trip up. He is interested (what mayor isn't), but it started in early college rather than childhood which leaves him in a clearly weaker position. Back to the drawing board.

[Steve of phpBB]

Is he interested in transportation?

Fuck, this one is a trip up. He is interested (what mayor isn't), but it started in early college rather than childhood which leaves him in a clearly weaker position. Back to the drawing board.

So, is your point that being interested in transportation issues is not relevant to whether someone would make a good Secretary of Transportation?

[mister d]

Clearly that's my one and only point, Steve.

[Johnnie]

I guess I don't get what Johnnie was saying, then. Sure seemed packed with false equivalencies, but maybe I'm just not understanding the point.

That when your team does a thing, it's quite alright. No matter the thing.

But if someone dares criticize said thing, how fucking dare you and the actual false equivalency is "Did you see what the other team did first? This isn't as bad! Give this thing a chance!"

Then add in the piled on nuance that if you don't fall in line you're the problem, not us. And also political dealings are ok, since it's your team.

Did I really have to say all that?

[mister d]

[Johnnie]

I like the time when he started taking on a drawl when speaking at an event in Texas after he dropped.

[P.D.X.]

Whoever argued that Pete isn't a douche when we had this discussion 6 months ago is sooooo getting owned right now haha

[mister d]

"He may be a douche and I admit he's not remotely the most qualified, but that doesn't mean I won't defend him over several days."

[P.D.X.]

just when I thought you were all strawmanned-out

[The Sybian]

"He may be a douche and I admit he's not remotely the most qualified, but that doesn't mean I won't defend him over several days."

If you can tell me why direct transportation industry experience is a big deal, I'm happy to listen. I gave a long response as to why I don't think it is and think Pete has a decent background for the role. Something like State, Defense, maybe Energy, you need some knowledge. Transportation, I think management and executive experience, along with a willingness to rely on expert advice is more than sufficient. Would hiring the head of the NYC MTA be a better choice? I have know idea, but I don't think direct experience in the industry is a big deal at Transportation. I'm curious how many previous Secretaries came from a transportation background.

[mister d]

Relevant experience is always preferable to a lack of relevant experience. As for the MTA head ... who knows. Is s/he uniquely bad or does the budget/funding and DeBlasio and everyone else involved make it an impossible job?

I'd turn that question around ... pick the five cities you think have the best run transportation systems in the country and then construct an argument for how Buttigieg could possibly be more qualified than any of those five.

[sancarlos]

Don’t mean to interrupt this scintillating Buttigieg discussion. But, I just wanted to note that the nominee for Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm is a native of San Carlos, California. I don’t know whether or not she is qualified for the position.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled bickering.