Donald Trump’s cabinet picks are a declaration of war against the entire working class. These choices are a domestic version of the Pentagon’s “shock and awe” invasion tactics and are meant to smash any opposition.
Here’s a preliminary list of these bigots:
Matt Gaetz
Trump’s selection for Attorney General is the accused sexual predator and Florida congressperson Matt Gaetz. This pig loves Florida’s “stand your ground” law, which was George Zimmerman’s excuse to kill the Black teenager Trayvon Martin.
When the Black Lives Matter movement swept the United States, Gaetz, like Trump, wanted to suppress it. Gaetz offered to hire Kyle Rittenhouse–the killer of two anti-racist activists in Kenosha, Wisconsin–as an intern.
He is also a fan of the fascist Great Replacement theory, which claims white people are being “replaced.”
This lie was the rallying cry for Nazis to march in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 and kill the anti-racist Heather Heyer.
Gaetz is guaranteed, if confirmed as Attorney General, to carry out a witch hunt against progressive organizations and individuals, particularly those supporting Palestine. Even if individuals are found not guilty, the legal costs will be steep, and activists tied up.
Pete Hegseth
Fox News bigot Pete Hegseth is Trump’s choice to be Secretary of Defense. Hegseth’s body has tattoos associated with white nationalism and Nazis.
At the Pentagon, Hegseth will carry out racist, sexist, and homophobic attacks on GIs and civilian personnel. He wants to purge all transgender members of the armed forces.
While Trump and Hegseth are targeting Iran and China, they also want to shoot down protesters at home.
Marco Rubio
Florida Senator Marco Rubio is slated to be Secretary of State. He’s a fanatical enemy of Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and all other countries and movements that threaten Wall Street’s rule in this hemisphere.
A cheerleader of genocide against Palestinians, Rubio also threatens Iran and China. For anybody who believed Trump’s phony anti-war noises, Rubio’s appointment should be a wake-up call.
Kristi Noem
Trump chose South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to be Secretary of Homeland Security, a title that sounds like something out of the Third Reich. She gave Trump a bust of Mount Rushmore with his face on it.
(The tourist attraction, which desecrated the sacred land of the Lakota Sioux nation, was sculpted by Ku Klux Klan member Gutzon Borglum.)
Despite Noem’s gift, she was passed over to be Trump’s vice-president pick, possibly because she wrote how she shot her 14-month-old puppy Cricket because it was allegedly “untrainable.”
The classic song Mississippi Goddam was written and performed by Nina Simone. What Mississippi has been historically for Black people, South Dakota–where the Wounded Knee massacre took place–is for Indigenous nations.
Noem pushed for legislation to suppress water protectors, like those in North Dakota, who attempt to stop dangerous pipelines. That’s one reason why the governor was barred from entering the state’s nine Indigenous reservations.
The No. 1 job for Noem will be to deport millions of immigrant workers and their families. Trump wants to cancel Temporary Protected Status for immigrants from war-torn countries.
Assisting Noem in these fascist roundups will be “border czar” Tom Homan, who, in the previous Trump administration, had children separated from their immigrant parents.
Also helping to carry out these raids will be Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff. The fascist declared at the Oct. 27 hate rally held in New York City’s Madison Square Garden that “America is for Americans and Americans only.”
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Kennedy, who hates vaccines that have saved millions of lives, was picked to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. The nut job claims that the COVID-19 virus was targeted so that Chinese and Jewish people are more immune.
Michael Huckabee
The former Arkansas Governor, who had 16 people executed, was appointed ambassador to the Zionist state occupying Palestine. The Christian nationalist claimed, “There’s really no such thing as a Palestinian.”
We need millions in the streets
As outrageous as these picks are, nobody should think that Trump “can’t get away with it.” Behind Trump is a battalion of billionaires. Only a massive struggle will stop them.
Like the police murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, Trump’s fascist program will be met with resistance. Such a movement has to include unions, community groups, students, the homeless, and more. The first job will be to fight Trump’s immigration raids.
¡No Pasarán! Trump shall not pass!