OPINION:
Many conservatives nearly had a heart attack when a Politico article surfaced earlier this week about Ivanka Trump wanting to take on climate change as her pet project, and invited environmentalists such as Al Gore and Leonardo DiCaprio to Trump Tower to talk policies with her and her president-elect father.
“A very powerful person has the ear of the president-elect and supports this whole climate change nonsense,” radio talk show host Mark Levin lamented, calling both Ivanka, and her husband Jared Kushner “liberal Democrats” and saying he was “very, very concerned” about the report.
Rush Limbaugh had a similar reaction, but said he wanted to wait to see what was really going on before drawing any conclusions.
Apparently, nothing. A few days after the report, Donald Trump named Oklahoma AG Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Mr. Pruitt is a climate change denier and ardent detractor of the EPA and President Obama’s abuse of power there.
Mr. Trump is showing he’ll talk to anybody, but when it comes to policy, he’s adopting hard-line conservative activists to his Cabinet.
And that’s all that matters. Record, not rhetoric.
His labor secretary pick, Andy Puzder, has been lauded by The Wall Street Journal for knowing “that workers will benefit from less government intervention, which is why he’s the right man for the Labor job after eight slow-growth years that have left millions of workers desperate for a raise.”
Betsy DeVos, who Mr. Trump has selected as education secretary, was called a “conservative reformer,” by the National Review, who as a “decades-long education reformer..has worked quietly behind the scenes to create opportunities for every student to flourish, regardless of zip code,” by advocating for school choice.
Georgia Rep. Tom Price, Mr. Trump’s chosen Health and Human Services secretary, is a doctor who will be able to dismantle Obamacare — he’s already written legislation to replace it.
“Trump’s new cabinet pick is horrible news for Obamacare and Medicare,” a headline from leftist blog Slate read, regarding the selection of Mr. Price.
Sounds like good news to me.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, Mr Trump’s AG nominee, is a rock-solid conservative who has championed desegregation cases in his home-state of Alabama, prosecuted Klan members, worked on a bipartisan bill for criminal justice reform, and is a leading advocate for a federal crackdown on illegal immigration.
“President-elect Donald Trump has picked Sen. Jeff Sessions to serve as the 84th Attorney General of the United States — and he couldn’t have made a better choice,” wrote Hans A. von Sparkovsky, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation and former Justice Department official. “Throughout his career, Sessions has demonstrated unshakable commitment and fidelity to the Constitution, the rule of law, and protecting the freedom and liberty that is our birthright as Americans.”
Mr. Trump has vowed to return strength to our military — and he delivered in his choice of retired Marine Gen. James Mattis as head of the Pentagon.
Gen. Mattis, who has been called the “most revered Marine in a generation” by the Marine Corps Times, is the personification of strength. A choice quote: “I come in peace. I didn’t bring artillery. But I’m pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: If you f—k with me, I’ll kill you all.”
Wilber Ross for Commerce and Steven Mnuchin at Treasury have caused some consternation among conservatives, but both men are self-made billionaires who understand the world of private finance and the global economy. Both have close personal ties to Mr. Trump, and will execute his vision of dismantling international trade deals while fostering a pro-growth business environment — two promises which may sound contradictory to some — but Mr. Trump delivered to the people on the campaign trail.
I am very encouraged by the Cabinet picks Mr. Trump has made thus far, so I don’t care who Ivanka Trump talks to or brings into Trump Tower. I encourage her to take up her pet projects and be a bridge of communication to the left.
So long as no policy’s made in doing so.
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