Even as he enlists House Republicans in an attempt to block Joe Biden from becoming president and swears he’s going to serve a second term, some small part of Donald Trump clearly understands that, come January 20, 2021, he’s going to be out on his ass. We know this because when he’s not trying to overthrow democracy, Trump has devoted most of his time to working on initiatives designed to save his ass and those of his allies, to screw his successor, to leave the country in significantly worse shape than how he found it, and to generally flip off millions of Americans. Yes, in his final days in office, Trump is finally becoming “presidential”!
Pardons, obviously, both for his adult children and himself, seem likely to figure extremely high on the to-do list. Also a top priority: destroying the environment (by letting oil companies drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge); enraging foreign powers such as China (by reportedly prepping new sanctions that create an extremely toxic situation for Biden); and creating a situation in Afghanistan and Iraq that could embolden insurgent forces (by drawing down troops in a slipshod, premature way). And of course, he’s appointing ridiculously, comically unqualified loyalists to various high-profile boards and committees, in a move that seems to serve no other purpose than a giant “fuck you” to anyone still clinging to the quaint notion that prized government roles should go to people who have a single clue what they’re doing.
Per Politico:
In addition to never holding a briefing with the press, Grisham is probably best known for being a top Trump sycophant, claiming that former White House chief of staff John Kelly was “totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great president” and agreeing with Trump’s characterizations of his critics as “human scum.” So that obviously qualifies her to sit on a board that advises the arm of the government that provides “scientific evidence on which to ground education practice and policy and to share this information in formats that are useful and accessible to educators, parents, policymakers, researchers, and the public.”
Bondi, you may recall, accepted a $25,000 donation from Trump and then proceeded not to pursue fraud claims against Trump University. Among her other qualifications for sitting on the Kennedy Center board: joining a “lock her up” chant at the 2016 Republican National Convention; making debunked claims about Joe and Hunter Biden; and supporting Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud during the 2020 election. What a priceless contribution to the arts she’ll make!
And who could forget the robust résumé Hope Hicks brings to the table, what with her time working for the Ivanka Trump Collection and her job telling “white lies” on behalf of the president of the United States. That’s classic Fulbright material right there. (It’s not clear if Trump has an appointment lined up for Kayleigh McEnany, but it seems only fair that she should get a similar gig to Hicks but on the board of the Rhodes Scholarship, after boasting to the press that Amy Coney Barrett had been a Rhodes Scholar when, in fact, she’d merely gone to Rhodes College, which is in no way affiliated with the award.)