Jr., in my judgement, is Von ShitzInPantz’s most dangerous nominee by far given his conspiratorial thinking and embrace of junk science. I am not a mental health professional but I think it would behoove the Senators involved in his nomination hearing to explore the possibility that his adolescent narcotics addiction may have permanently distorted his ability to think rationally.
And I would implore all Americans that don’t have an immediate death wish and want to live to be reasonably old to contact their Senators and encourage them to oppose his nomination.
It would be great were all four divisions of Bobby World suffer a defeat by having Bobby rejected, but unfortunately Republicans today are more of the Roll Over And Play Dead style. They are as unlikely to challenge Trump as the Fascist Party was to challenge Mussolini.
The Kennedy clan has advocated nepotism for generations. The most egregious event was appointing RFK as Attorney General for his brother. Before 1961, that ran against the traditions of the U.S. established by George Washington. After the JFK administration the ban was enacted into law.
Obviously you haven’t read much history. Nepotism has been around for millennia and there has never been a truly merit based system. As the saying goes, “it’s not what you know so much as who you know.”
1) “Millenia” encompasses thousands of years, 2) nepotism exists in all levels of government, to some extent, as well as public and private companies and non profits, the reality is that connections between people matter in the choices we make as humans, 3) the reality is that John Quincy Adams and George Bush would likely not have advanced to become President if not for their fathers’ having been President, 4) I was originally responding to an assertion that RFK was not qualified, not talking about trump, who we all know is horrifically corrupt.
John Q. Adams and G.W. Bush were not appointed to president by their fathers. They were elected, which is not nepotism and not corrupt.
My wife and I and most of our friends worked in the U.S. Government for many decades, in the Executive and Legislative Branches and the military. We are unaware of a single instance of hiring a close relative. It is illegal.
Sad to see you leave The Bulwark, Marc. Your reporting is excellent and always informative. I see things from you I haven’t seen elsewhere. Good luck at Axios!
It just seems that Kennedy has realized that the only path to power for the family since the glory days of the three brothers is to grab on to the indiscriminant Trump and pull up anyone else you can with you. The tragedy of the Kennedy family becomes a farce today.
This is true, but RFKjr is living in the past, and seemingly wants to resurrect Camelot. No doubt as a son of an assassinated leader, he has lived with a level of grief that most of us will never encounter. That grief and perhaps wanting to turn back the clock to before it all happened drives him to seek power through the only path he sees as avaliable to him.
Terrific reporting, Marc, thank you. I'm stocking up on popcorn.
The insider's remark about RFKjr factions: "These groups, the adviser noted, undermine and undercut each other and anyone else they perceive as threatening to their interests" - gosh, ya just hate to see it.
Tom Cotton standing firm on objecting to Bobby's D-i-L tho? Nah, he'll fold like a limp dish rag if Trump says "boo." And Cotton having doubts about her fitness for the job - isn't that the one unifying characteristic defining Trump's nominees & appointments?
As for potential infighting at CIA between Amaryllis & John Ratcliffe, what's a little dissention & confusion at the top of our chief foreign intelligence & security agency? Those battles for pecking order were so entertaining on The Apprentice; I'm sure Putin and Xi will be endlessly amused.
Lastly, re: Bobby's interest in the JFK assassination, I hope he's not ignoring Deep Fluoride or a renegade group of dentists working in cahoots with a shadowy figure referred to as Mr. T. Decay
Oh yes. That’s one of the reasons why I say we have no idea what’s going to happen. They might go right back to the crabs in a bucket scenario, except infinitely more vicious than the last go-round.
There’s also no way to foresee the collateral damage from the infighting. We could see random policy shifts based on nothing more than who is winning the internal battles.
I have to admit it is disturbing to continually see evidence that America is not getting a first, second, or even a third thought in the upcoming Trump administration. It's all everyone's personal grievance, advantage, or conspiracy.
"During the campaign, Trump promised Kennedy he would disclose all of the records concerning the assassination of his uncle, former President John F. Kennedy, in 1963. [T]he 1992 JFK Records Act . . . mandated disclosure of all documents in the case by 2017. . . . Kennedy, who is convinced that the CIA was involved in his uncle’s assassination, has advocated for Fox to help lead the agency in part to ensure those records are disclosed."
Tom Cotton and the rest of the trumpers are perfectly fine with all trump's unfit nominees--except Amaryllis Fox Kennedy for the CIA. Why is Cotton, an avatar of the far-right, going to the mattresses to stop her, despite her favor with trump? Those of us old enough to know the history of 1963 (and Watergate) might have some thoughts.
I certainly do. And I remember 1963 very well. What I don't remember tho is why I was at home. I was watching the whole thing on TV with my parents and i remember them crying. I was 7 years old, so maybe 🤔 I don't remember it correctly, but it seems to be very clear in my child's mind.
The history of 1963 is well known. There is still, despite more conspiracy theories than one can count, no evidence that anyone other than Lee Harvey Oswald was responsible for the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
Simply amazing. I suspect Cotton may want his wife to have a job here perhaps the same one. As for Cotton he has repeatedly proved his disloyalty to America and the Constitution, no one should be surprised that he is all in for those like Kennedy and Gabbard because of the damage they will do to America.
There is sadly an endless parade of people who are most unfit for a position being greenlighted here, for dismaying reasons.
1. they have shown loyalty to Trump, so he wants to reward them.
2. they have shown a willingness to do whatever Trump wants them to do, including appear on tv regularly and spout his toxic lies about a variety of topics, hate on the media, and generally pretend they're not the swamp creatures they actually are, and/or
3. actively work to weaken the departments they head, by gutting the career professionals, putting in their own sub-stooges for Trump, and attacking various outsider groups, to highlight Trump's theatre of cruelty, which is what his voters want: people to be punished, for supposedly victimizing his voters, and of course the Victim-in-Chief, Trump himself.
It's going to be a long, long 4 ++++ years of Darkness, anti-science, anti-facts, anti-rationality, anti-civil rights, anti-environment, anti-democracy, anti-accountability, and that's the short list.
When I read Project 2025 with a political book club group I saw this as a recipe for turning the US into a third world country. Somehow these oligarchs that bankrolled this, and the judges that allowed them to do so, are lacking imagination as to how shitty things can get in the US with these appointments carrying out Trump's dirty work for him of running the country into the ground, while he grifts as much as he can while once again avoiding legal consequences for his actions.
The US is like the Titanic with too many people willing to go down with the ship.
4. They are telegenic, straight out of Central Casting and Fox News. Except for a notable few like border czar Homan, necessary as background to elevate the more lovely players.
I'm certain that this country will look a lot like an airliner after it's made an unplanned landing on the side of a mountain. Chaos, bodies, and it ain't flying again.
I’m afraid you’re right. And it won’t take too long. Questions is, will Trump voters hold the incompetence and calamities against him, or one of his usual scapegoats?
The level of entitlement is truly staggering.
Jr., in my judgement, is Von ShitzInPantz’s most dangerous nominee by far given his conspiratorial thinking and embrace of junk science. I am not a mental health professional but I think it would behoove the Senators involved in his nomination hearing to explore the possibility that his adolescent narcotics addiction may have permanently distorted his ability to think rationally.
And I would implore all Americans that don’t have an immediate death wish and want to live to be reasonably old to contact their Senators and encourage them to oppose his nomination.
If all these gems were to be published (assuming our democracy survives) they would certainly be interesting reading for future historians.
It would be great were all four divisions of Bobby World suffer a defeat by having Bobby rejected, but unfortunately Republicans today are more of the Roll Over And Play Dead style. They are as unlikely to challenge Trump as the Fascist Party was to challenge Mussolini.
The Kennedy clan has advocated nepotism for generations. The most egregious event was appointing RFK as Attorney General for his brother. Before 1961, that ran against the traditions of the U.S. established by George Washington. After the JFK administration the ban was enacted into law.
Sorry, Bobby Kennedy was brilliant.
Agreed.
It was still nepotism, which should never have happened. "Brilliance" is irrelevant to corruption.
Obviously you haven’t read much history. Nepotism has been around for millennia and there has never been a truly merit based system. As the saying goes, “it’s not what you know so much as who you know.”
That is not true in American history. Aside from the openly corrupt Donald Trump, can you name another U.S. president who has pulled such a stunt?
1) “Millenia” encompasses thousands of years, 2) nepotism exists in all levels of government, to some extent, as well as public and private companies and non profits, the reality is that connections between people matter in the choices we make as humans, 3) the reality is that John Quincy Adams and George Bush would likely not have advanced to become President if not for their fathers’ having been President, 4) I was originally responding to an assertion that RFK was not qualified, not talking about trump, who we all know is horrifically corrupt.
John Q. Adams and G.W. Bush were not appointed to president by their fathers. They were elected, which is not nepotism and not corrupt.
My wife and I and most of our friends worked in the U.S. Government for many decades, in the Executive and Legislative Branches and the military. We are unaware of a single instance of hiring a close relative. It is illegal.
Scummy top to bottom.
Bulwark should never employ someone who is used by trump and GOP to get their message out. This isn't reporting, it's stenography.
Sad to see you leave The Bulwark, Marc. Your reporting is excellent and always informative. I see things from you I haven’t seen elsewhere. Good luck at Axios!
It just seems that Kennedy has realized that the only path to power for the family since the glory days of the three brothers is to grab on to the indiscriminant Trump and pull up anyone else you can with you. The tragedy of the Kennedy family becomes a farce today.
Most of the Kennedy family bitterly opposed RFK Jr.'s junk science and Presidential campaign.
This is true, but RFKjr is living in the past, and seemingly wants to resurrect Camelot. No doubt as a son of an assassinated leader, he has lived with a level of grief that most of us will never encounter. That grief and perhaps wanting to turn back the clock to before it all happened drives him to seek power through the only path he sees as avaliable to him.
Mark, we will miss your reporting at The Bulwark. Good luck at Axios!
Terrific reporting, Marc, thank you. I'm stocking up on popcorn.
The insider's remark about RFKjr factions: "These groups, the adviser noted, undermine and undercut each other and anyone else they perceive as threatening to their interests" - gosh, ya just hate to see it.
Tom Cotton standing firm on objecting to Bobby's D-i-L tho? Nah, he'll fold like a limp dish rag if Trump says "boo." And Cotton having doubts about her fitness for the job - isn't that the one unifying characteristic defining Trump's nominees & appointments?
As for potential infighting at CIA between Amaryllis & John Ratcliffe, what's a little dissention & confusion at the top of our chief foreign intelligence & security agency? Those battles for pecking order were so entertaining on The Apprentice; I'm sure Putin and Xi will be endlessly amused.
Lastly, re: Bobby's interest in the JFK assassination, I hope he's not ignoring Deep Fluoride or a renegade group of dentists working in cahoots with a shadowy figure referred to as Mr. T. Decay
Putin's response to dissention and confusion is mysterious falls from open windows.
"They all are covered in each other’s blood ... "
That's going to be the hallmark of this administration. It's straight-up mob dynamics: a small core of hardened loyalists in the middle of a snakepit.
I have thought exactly that for some time now.
Icky though
Horrible. We won't be getting any kind of governance for a while, let alone good governance.
However, it may mean they can do far less damage while they try to knife each other in the back.
Oh yes. That’s one of the reasons why I say we have no idea what’s going to happen. They might go right back to the crabs in a bucket scenario, except infinitely more vicious than the last go-round.
There’s also no way to foresee the collateral damage from the infighting. We could see random policy shifts based on nothing more than who is winning the internal battles.
Utter chaos.
I have to admit it is disturbing to continually see evidence that America is not getting a first, second, or even a third thought in the upcoming Trump administration. It's all everyone's personal grievance, advantage, or conspiracy.
Reminiscent of France in the last years of the Ancien Regime.
If they are not careful, they might not get the revolution that they think they are getting.
Just like most of the participants of the 1789 revolution who would find themselves headless during the Reign of Terror.
I would hope things won't get that ugly, but the will and wish for that is in the ether.
The crux:
"During the campaign, Trump promised Kennedy he would disclose all of the records concerning the assassination of his uncle, former President John F. Kennedy, in 1963. [T]he 1992 JFK Records Act . . . mandated disclosure of all documents in the case by 2017. . . . Kennedy, who is convinced that the CIA was involved in his uncle’s assassination, has advocated for Fox to help lead the agency in part to ensure those records are disclosed."
Tom Cotton and the rest of the trumpers are perfectly fine with all trump's unfit nominees--except Amaryllis Fox Kennedy for the CIA. Why is Cotton, an avatar of the far-right, going to the mattresses to stop her, despite her favor with trump? Those of us old enough to know the history of 1963 (and Watergate) might have some thoughts.
I certainly do. And I remember 1963 very well. What I don't remember tho is why I was at home. I was watching the whole thing on TV with my parents and i remember them crying. I was 7 years old, so maybe 🤔 I don't remember it correctly, but it seems to be very clear in my child's mind.
The history of 1963 is well known. There is still, despite more conspiracy theories than one can count, no evidence that anyone other than Lee Harvey Oswald was responsible for the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
He was the only shooter. Correct.
No disrespect Nancy, but I can't and never will believe Oswald acted of his own accord. For too many reasons to go into here
Simply amazing. I suspect Cotton may want his wife to have a job here perhaps the same one. As for Cotton he has repeatedly proved his disloyalty to America and the Constitution, no one should be surprised that he is all in for those like Kennedy and Gabbard because of the damage they will do to America.
There is sadly an endless parade of people who are most unfit for a position being greenlighted here, for dismaying reasons.
1. they have shown loyalty to Trump, so he wants to reward them.
2. they have shown a willingness to do whatever Trump wants them to do, including appear on tv regularly and spout his toxic lies about a variety of topics, hate on the media, and generally pretend they're not the swamp creatures they actually are, and/or
3. actively work to weaken the departments they head, by gutting the career professionals, putting in their own sub-stooges for Trump, and attacking various outsider groups, to highlight Trump's theatre of cruelty, which is what his voters want: people to be punished, for supposedly victimizing his voters, and of course the Victim-in-Chief, Trump himself.
It's going to be a long, long 4 ++++ years of Darkness, anti-science, anti-facts, anti-rationality, anti-civil rights, anti-environment, anti-democracy, anti-accountability, and that's the short list.
When I read Project 2025 with a political book club group I saw this as a recipe for turning the US into a third world country. Somehow these oligarchs that bankrolled this, and the judges that allowed them to do so, are lacking imagination as to how shitty things can get in the US with these appointments carrying out Trump's dirty work for him of running the country into the ground, while he grifts as much as he can while once again avoiding legal consequences for his actions.
The US is like the Titanic with too many people willing to go down with the ship.
4. They are telegenic, straight out of Central Casting and Fox News. Except for a notable few like border czar Homan, necessary as background to elevate the more lovely players.
I'm certain that this country will look a lot like an airliner after it's made an unplanned landing on the side of a mountain. Chaos, bodies, and it ain't flying again.
Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly
I’m afraid you’re right. And it won’t take too long. Questions is, will Trump voters hold the incompetence and calamities against him, or one of his usual scapegoats?
I would expect it’s the former.
I agree. But I think it will fly again. I'm afraid all his sycophants will succeed him with with glee. Keeping his dream alive.