RFK Jr.'s Revenge: Trump's Controversial Health Secretary Pick Is Payback for COVID

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/heather-digby-parton/112181/rfk-jr-s-revenge-trump-s-controversial-health-secretary-pick-is-payback-for-covid

RFK Jr.’s Revenge: Trump’s Controversial Health Secretary Pick Is Payback for COVID
by Heather Digby Parton | November 17, 2024 - 6:23am

— from Salon

snip//

Link to tweet

It is mind-boggling that such a person could be put in charge of the vast US government health care agencies. But all signs say that's exactly what's going to happen because the Republican Senate is composed of MAGA cultists and/or inveterate cowards who are going to try to blame the Democrats for making the confirmations difficult so they can say they have no choice but to allow Trump to give them all recess appointments.

It seems clear that the only way these people will not be appointed is if Trump changes his mind and withdraws the nomination. And he has no reason to do it. Trump will never have to run for president again and, in his mind, his legacy is secure as the greatest president, maybe the greatest human, who ever lived. If he feels like rewarding people who supported him, he can do that — but it's purely at his discretion and he is not a generous person. Unless someone has something on him that's so devastating that it will destroy him, he is completely without restraint. He's already a convicted felon, a fraudster, a sexual assaulter, a proven pathological liar who stole classified documents and refused to give them back so it's hard to imagine what that might be. At this point, Donald Trump believes he is invincible.

And what that means is that he no longer has anything to lose and there are only two things he really cares about. It's not taxes or tariffs and it's not even mass deportation. Sure, he'll do those things if he can but they were mostly arguments for getting elected so he'll leave that in the hands of his henchmen and take credit for whatever they manage to do. What he really cares about is money and revenge, the same things he's always cared about.

He's worth billions and he's got the richest man in the world opening up his checkbook. He can now concentrate on what really makes him happy — vengeance. That's what he's hiring these crackpots to do for him. He wants payback against the DOJ for all the investigations, the military brass for refusing to abandon their oaths when he wanted them to, the intelligence community for saying the Russians were helping him, and the scientists and health professionals who exposed his lies during the pandemic. They all made him look stupid and he won't rest until they pay for it.

The following quote is making the rounds on social media in light of these absurd Cabinet nominations:

“Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.” - Hannah Arendt in “The Origins of Totalitarianism”

I don't think I expected totalitarianism to come in service of one very petty narcissist's wounded ego but it appears that that's what's happening. And right now there doesn't seem to be any will to stop it.

[Irish_Dem]

1. Author is correct. This is about revenge and payback.

Trump told RFK jr to "go have fun" with the American health care system.

Trump is enjoying the hell out of this.

[Hugin]

2. Every crumb of what is transpiring is driven by Trump's...

Insatiable need for revenge, payback, and retribution. Every crumb. Around the periphery there are those who are leveraging Trump’s malleability and the chaos by whispering in his ear, “I have an idea that will make them pay for how they have wronged you.” Of course, these schemes are geared to enrich the opportunist gadfly whispering.

There is no plan beyond the pain. There is no end point. It’s all about the cruelty. We are ALL targets and simultaneously collateral damage.

[pfitz59]

3. Trump's rationale

Pick the person most intent on destroying an agency and nominate him or her.

[Martin68]

4. Stating the obvious.

[MagickMuffin]

5. And * humiliates Bob by making him eat Mickey Ds

Because jr told the whole world that * is unhealthy. So, what does * do gets a photo opt for the whole world to see.

* is an extremely vengeful “person” you’d think people would understand that. But alas power makes people blind to their ambitions.

[NNadir]

6. A telling quote from Arendt. n/t.