del
11-14-2016, 09:19 PM
by hiring the alligators
On Sunday, that team announced (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/14/us/politics/reince-priebus-chief-of-staff-donald-trump.html?_r=0) that Reince Priebus, the head of the Republican National Committee, the Party’s principal fund-raising and organizational arm, will serve as Trump’s White House chief of staff, while Stephen Bannon, the former Goldman Sachs banker and head of Breitbart News, the controversial alt-right Web site, will serve as Trump’s chief strategist. And, on Monday, Bloomberg News reported (http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/trackers/2016-11-14/mnuchin-said-recommended-for-treasury-sec-by-trump-s-team) that the transition team had recommended for the post of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, another former Goldman Sachs banker, who served as Trump’s chief fund-raiser. The hiring of Priebus shouldn’t have come as a surprise: he supported Trump throughout the campaign. Similarly, the idea that Trump, as President, would banish all the money men and billionaires who support and bankroll the Republican Party was always dubious in the extreme, and since the election it has been shown to be an utter sham. On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported (http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/11/11/trump-taps-lobbyists-and-top-donors-for-senior-transition-roles/) that “at least a half dozen major Washington lobbyists and three top fundraisers for Mr. Trump’s campaign have been tasked with heading key portions of Mr. Trump’s transition team. . . . In many cases, the lobbyists are selecting administration officials for departments that will affect the interests of firms they represent.”
The Journal report helpfully listed some of the lobbyists, the special interests they represent, and the duties they have been assigned. Martin Whitmer, who shills for the Association of American Railroads and the National Asphalt Pavement Association, is leading the transition’s “transportation and infrastructure” team. In the magazine this week, my colleague Jane Mayer wrote (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/11/21/aftermath-sixteen-writers-on-trumps-america#mayer) about Michael Catanzaro, a veteran lobbyist for oil and gas firms who is overseeing “energy independence,” and Mike McKenna, the president of the lobbying firm MWR Strategies, who is overseeing appointments to the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Both men count Koch Industries as clients.
The denizens of K Street, Washington’s notorious lobbying corridor, have charitably agreed to help Trump “drain the swamp,” as he has put it. Trent Lott, the former Republican Senate Majority Leader, who resigned from the Senate in 2007 and set up shop as a lobbyist representing big corporations, including foreign ones, offered up perhaps the quote of the week in an interview (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/11/us/politics/lobbyists-trump.html) with the Times’ Eric Lipton. “Trump has pledged to change things in Washington—about draining the swamp,” Lott, whose clients have included Airbus, the European aircraft manufacturer, and Gazprombank (https://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/09/02/15450/russian-bank-hires-two-former-us-senators), a big Russian bank, said. “He is going to need some people to help guide him through the swamp—how do you get in and how you get out? We are prepared to help do that.”
http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/donald-trumps-great-bait-and-switch
On Sunday, that team announced (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/14/us/politics/reince-priebus-chief-of-staff-donald-trump.html?_r=0) that Reince Priebus, the head of the Republican National Committee, the Party’s principal fund-raising and organizational arm, will serve as Trump’s White House chief of staff, while Stephen Bannon, the former Goldman Sachs banker and head of Breitbart News, the controversial alt-right Web site, will serve as Trump’s chief strategist. And, on Monday, Bloomberg News reported (http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/trackers/2016-11-14/mnuchin-said-recommended-for-treasury-sec-by-trump-s-team) that the transition team had recommended for the post of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, another former Goldman Sachs banker, who served as Trump’s chief fund-raiser. The hiring of Priebus shouldn’t have come as a surprise: he supported Trump throughout the campaign. Similarly, the idea that Trump, as President, would banish all the money men and billionaires who support and bankroll the Republican Party was always dubious in the extreme, and since the election it has been shown to be an utter sham. On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported (http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/11/11/trump-taps-lobbyists-and-top-donors-for-senior-transition-roles/) that “at least a half dozen major Washington lobbyists and three top fundraisers for Mr. Trump’s campaign have been tasked with heading key portions of Mr. Trump’s transition team. . . . In many cases, the lobbyists are selecting administration officials for departments that will affect the interests of firms they represent.”
The Journal report helpfully listed some of the lobbyists, the special interests they represent, and the duties they have been assigned. Martin Whitmer, who shills for the Association of American Railroads and the National Asphalt Pavement Association, is leading the transition’s “transportation and infrastructure” team. In the magazine this week, my colleague Jane Mayer wrote (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/11/21/aftermath-sixteen-writers-on-trumps-america#mayer) about Michael Catanzaro, a veteran lobbyist for oil and gas firms who is overseeing “energy independence,” and Mike McKenna, the president of the lobbying firm MWR Strategies, who is overseeing appointments to the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Both men count Koch Industries as clients.
The denizens of K Street, Washington’s notorious lobbying corridor, have charitably agreed to help Trump “drain the swamp,” as he has put it. Trent Lott, the former Republican Senate Majority Leader, who resigned from the Senate in 2007 and set up shop as a lobbyist representing big corporations, including foreign ones, offered up perhaps the quote of the week in an interview (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/11/us/politics/lobbyists-trump.html) with the Times’ Eric Lipton. “Trump has pledged to change things in Washington—about draining the swamp,” Lott, whose clients have included Airbus, the European aircraft manufacturer, and Gazprombank (https://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/09/02/15450/russian-bank-hires-two-former-us-senators), a big Russian bank, said. “He is going to need some people to help guide him through the swamp—how do you get in and how you get out? We are prepared to help do that.”
http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/donald-trumps-great-bait-and-switch