Days before the November 8th election, the biggest question from Democrats was not if their candidate would win (which in their minds was never in doubt), but how Trump would handle losing. Would he concede with grace, or would he go down kicking-and-screaming, like a toddler whose favorite toy was taken away? Talk about a vicious role reversal.
Ironically, now more than a month removed from Election Day, it seems the Democrats are the ones in desperate need of a group pacifier. In whatever scenario they envisioned for how Trump would lose the election, the Left has surely surpassed it with their fits of screaming about “Russian hacking” and “fake news” costing them the election.
Adding to their PESD (post-election stress disorder) has been Trump’s excellent picks for his cabinet; demonstrating a clear commitment to reforming how the Executive Branch operates. This stark change from the previous two administrations, in which government power was vastly extended across the board, has created a reaction similar to that seen in 1980, when the full extent of the political reset from the Jimmy Carter years became apparent with Ronald Reagan’s cabinet selections.
The hard reality of not only losing the election, but losing an important tool to pushing their agenda by using regulatory rulemaking to bypass Congress, has sent liberals into a full-blown conniption fit. Meanwhile, conservatives and the working class finally catch a breath of fresh air.
Here is a look at just a few of such picks:
As I have written previously, Trump’s nominee for U.S. Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, will shift the focus of the Justice Department away from the current Administration’s witch-hunts among local police departments, and its politicization of priorities within various substantive divisions within the Department. Sessions comes from a more traditional, real-crimes based approach to federal law enforcement policy, and will work to reduce the footprint of the Department in control over local police departments, and refocus its priorities on proper federal law enforcement issues.
At the EPA, Trump’s nominee, Scott Pruitt, looks to reform what has been one of the worst offending agencies in abusing its regulatory power to push a partisan agenda. In so doing, Pruitt would start putting taxpayer dollars into environmental programs that foster genuine conservation and protection of natural resources, rather than continuing to prosecute political wars against coal and in support of “global warming” – hallmarks of the Obama Administration for the past eight years. This could mean an end to onerous environmental regulations, such as the Clean Power Plan and overbearing CAFE standards; it would also mean a big boost to jobs in industries such as agriculture and energy, which would be freed from regulatory burdens that inhibit growth and innovation.
The Labor Department is also due for serious reshaping with the nomination of Andrew Puzder, Chief Executive of CKE Restaurants. Unlike the typical career bureaucrat at Labor, whose closest connection to job creation has been through academic treatises and pro-union regulations, Puzder is responsible for employing tens of thousands of working-class Americans. Because of this experience in the private sector -- specifically in the restaurant industry where labor regulations, like raising the federal minimum wage or Obama’s recent overtime rules, determine the fate of millions of jobs -- Puzder will be a crucial voice in curtailing oppressive labor regulations.
Trump also nominated Betsy DeVos, a champion of school choice, to head the Department of Education – a perfect fit for her at a department that under both Obama and Bush, attempted to extend its reach from Washington into the classrooms of communities across America. The appointment of DeVos harkens back to the days when the GOP was actually serious about keeping control of school districts in the hands of local communities. It is unlikely we will see anything the likes of “No Child Left Behind” coming from a Department of Education headed by DeVos.
Predictably, of course, these and other Trump cabinet picks have thrown the Left into fits of rage. Nary has a single Democrat stepped forward to ponder that perhaps having a job creator as Secretary of Labor might make some sense. Who on the left has the guts to recognize that EPA need not be an industry killer in order to protect the environment within the bounds of federal jurisdiction? And, with the Left held hostage by the Black Lives Matter movement, there is no room to acknowledge that an Attorney General who actually supports good local policing benefits all citizens.
Watching the Left melt down in agony over Trump’s cabinet choices will be a humorous side show; but the tangible benefits that will result from what the President-elect is doing will be magnificent to behold.