2016 Nov 19^th

Donald Trump has named retired Lt. General Michael Flynn as his national security advisor. He has also named Senator Jeff Sessions as his Attorney General and Mike Pompeo to be Director of the CIA.

We begin with Flynn, whose appointment to the Trump White House is not helpful if draining the swamp is a goal. Though Flynn is not a lobbyist himself, his company, Flynn Intel Group, is registered with Congress as a lobbying organization, and has a registered lobbyist on its staff. On election day, Flynn published an opinion piece for The Hill urging U.S. support for Turkey’s controversial strongman president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and pushing for the extradition of Erdogan’s political rival, Fethullah Gülen, who now resides in Pennsylvania. “From Turkey’s point of view, Washington is harboring Turkey’s Osama bin Laden,” Flynn wrote.

There is also a photo of Flynn having a black tie celebratory dinner sitting right next to Vladimir Putin. They are celebrating the anniversary of RT, the Putin controlled Russian news service. What a great pick for a national security advisor…if you are Vladimir Putin. Incidentally, no senate confirmation for Flynn’s position is required. Trump gets whomever Trump wants!

Senator Jeff Sessions’ appointment as Attorney General does require Senate confirmation. This fine southern gentleman was turned down by the senate for a judgeship some thirty years ago because of his bigoted remarks. Many believe that it is unlikely that Sessions, if confirmed by the senate, would take any action to stop the resurgence of racial bigotry. There are right wing web sites that claim Sessions desegregated Alabama schools. Indeed he did prosecute the schools that refused to desegregate but the 1964 civil rights act passed by a Democratic president gave him the legal requirement to do that.

The senate might bang his confirmation around fora bit but the senate is a club whose members, when called upon, will support each other. Sessions will be confirmed.

The final pick for head of the CIA is Congressman Mike Pompeo from Kansas. He is one smart cookie, first in his class at West Point and a Harvard Law graduate. He has been very critical of Hillary Clinton but the CIA is supposed to concentrate its efforts outside the United States. That can include Benghazi but perhaps a presidential pardon for Hillary Clinton will permanently de-fang the like of this smarty-pants.