Trump’s Transition Twitters On

Following a hippie protest at Hampshire University, Trump tweeted that those that burn the US flag should be punished and have their citizenship revoked. Previous attempts at banning flag-burning (Hillary Clinton co-sponsored a bill to ban it in 2005) have been ruled unconstitutional and attempts at introducing a constitutional amendment have gone nowhere. So, instead of focusing on the distraction that is Trump’s twitter handle we will move on to his new cabinet picks:

• Trump picked former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao as Transportation Secretary. While usually a fairly mundane pick Chao will be responsible for Trump’s expansive infrastructure bill, a key campaign promise, as well as figuring out how to deal with new technologies like self-driving cars and drones. Democrats welcomed the pick.
• Trump’s pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) was greeted with less enthusiasm. Republican Congressmen and orthopedic surgeon Tom Price has been one of Obamacare’s fiercest critics and will be at the forefront of the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. Price is one of the few Republicans that actually has a plan to replace Obamacare that goes beyond throwing a tantrum and threatening to repeal it. He has also proposed legislation to weaken Medicare and Medicaid and proposed defunding Planned Parenthood.
• After running a campaign where he promised to “drain the swamp” and end the revolving door between politicians and the private sector Trump decided, meh, psych! and appointed Steve Mnuchin, an ex-Goldman Sachs guy and hedge fund CEO as Treasury Secretary. This is the second Goldman Alum Trump puts in his cabinet which is ironic when you consider that Trump targets Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein in this campaign ad. 
• Trump still hasn’t picked a Secretary of State yet with his team protesting a possible Romney pick. Trump met with former general David Petraeus and said he was impressed with the man. The irony could not be greater however, considering that Petraeus was fired as head of CIA for leaking confidential information to his mistress and Trump ran his entire campaign attacking Clinton’s supposed inability to handle confidential information. Maybe it’s fine because Petraeus is a dude?