Betsy DeVos Was One of Trump’s Chosen to Destroy the Agency They Served

I doubt that I would receive one argument that the Donald Trump administration was the least qualified and most incompetent in the history of the United States of America. Beginning at the top, Trump failed to possess a single attribute making him qualified to lead a nation of 331 million Americans. He remains a failed businessman and never led others to a successful venture in his life. He knew nothing about the workings of government and displayed that inadequacy for four years.

Fact: Trump chose his closest advisers and cabinet advisers based on the demands of big business, who paid for his illegitimate presidency, orders from Vladimir Putin, and the demands from the RNC, who sought to reward its largest contributors.

Scott Pruitt was appointed Director of the EPA. He was chosen by the petroleum industry for the sole purpose of weakening and possibly destroying the agency created by another Republican President, Richard Nixon, on Dec. 2, 1970. Pruitt’s history as the Attorney General of Oklahoma involved suing the EPA multiple times in support of the gas and oil industry.

Former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson was Trump’s first Secretary of State. He had zero experience in government. However, he was a close personal friend and business associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin once gave him the highest honor awarded to a non-Russian friend of the State. After he could no longer stand Trump’s angry and unreasonable demands, he offered his resignation in 2018.

Steve Bannon, Trump’s first policy adviser, was the CEO of Breitbart, a fascist blog and radio broadcast supported by billionaire Robert Mercer. Mercer was Trump’s campaign financier in 2016 from August until the November 8 election. Mercer has close ties to several Russian Oligarchs.

With the exception of Secretary of Defense James Mattis, each member of Trump’s inner circle was chosen for him to reward their support for a destructive Republican agenda.

His most egregious nominee might have been Betsy DeVos. DeVos, like the others, was woefully unqualified. However, as a billionaire, she stood out as a consistent donor to Republican candidates. She and her husband donated tens of millions of dollars to right-wing extremists over the years.

However, as Secretary of Education, she did have an agenda: to destroy public education in America. Over a four-year period of time, she was obviously in support of funding Christian Private Schools with taxpayer money. She attempted to defund our inner-city schools and force Black and Hispanic children to attend Christian schools in the suburbs, busing them miles away from their homes.

Today DeVos continues her bigoted efforts to destroy our public school system. This is what the out-of-touch billionaire had to say a few days ago.

“I personally think the Department of Education should not exist,” DeVos told the crowd in Tampa, Florida, per the Phoenix.

This should not surprise you. DeVos was the least qualified, spoiled rich person to hold any office in history.

Trump’s administration was composed primarily of millionaires and billionaires, and with the assistance of Moscow Mitch McConnell, our nation is no longer based on a system of capitalism; it is a full-fledged plutocracy. Our country has reached a point where about seven percent of all Americans control the lives of 93 percent. These super-rich men and women own an entire political party, recently adding the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

If you have any doubt that our November election is the second most important in history, I failed to make my point. Right-wing politicians are the enemy of the American people. Removing these old, white men from office would be a critical step to returning to democracy in America. This is your country, not theirs.

Op-ed by James Turnage, Novelist

Sources:

AXIOS: Betsy DeVos calls for abolishing the Department of Education; by Julia Shapero
Truthout: Bernie Sanders Calls Betsy DeVos Worst Education Secretary in US History; by Jake Johnson
Ballotpedia: Donald Trump presidential Cabinet

Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Gage Skidmore’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image by Sgt. 1st Class Jimmy McGuire for the Wyoming Army National Guard Courtesy of DVIDS – Public Domain License