Building a cabinet

My husband is always busy in our basement. He’s building cabinets, what he likes to call units. They’re not so much for us anymore, since we’re ancients who are winding down. But now, thankfully, he’s got plenty of new clients, although regretting that his workshop produces his handcrafted designs for use only in America. If he would expand to Israel, business would be even more productive.

Of course, calling this a business is a total misnomer. All expenses are borne by him (us actually). This is a hobby, a definite nonprofit, whose designs can be found in most of the homes our children and grandchildren occupy. He just completed a piece (if that sounds pretentious, well, so be it!) for the Upper West Side apartment of our daughter Lori and her husband, Michael. It’s a completely custom creation for their entry foyer and has a dual purpose. Hidden away in its back is a hollow section for recycling their daily New York Times. Facing front is a comfortable chair to perch upon when putting on or removing footwear on entering or leaving their shoe-free home. Very practical but also constructed with their decor in mind. Lots of planning and consulting with the new owners went into the design, which was perfectly measured to fit precisely into limited space. Priceless! Ready for immediate delivery!

I think about all the planning and serious attention to detail that always goes into these projects, which are on display in family homes in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, and Massachusetts, not exactly an international grouping but well represented in America’s Northeast Corridor.

This leads me to wonder why our president is so incautious and unconcerned about his own cabinet building. We could intuit that his choices would be devastating and actually destructive, designed with the first priority of paying obeisance to him as one would to a deity. Surely we all expected that, but I doubt that any of us expected him to sweep so low. His very first appointment, which even he could not sell, was to be the disgraced former congressman Matt Gaetz, a lawless Floridian, accused of sex trafficking, bribery, and drug abuse, to become attorney general of these United States. The ironies are more than profound. Gaetz removed himself from consideration after being informed that there were not even enough Republicans to push the nomination through. Unfortunately it did not deter Trump from finding a surfeit of other completely unqualified candidates for other cabinet posts to be pushed through the nominating process.

Where does one start in calling out this destructive crew? My cup runneth over! No one could do this injustice justice!

As a great-grandmother, someone whose focus is always on the health and safety of our nine great-grandchildren, and who is in the eager and delighted phase of awaiting three more within the next few months, I start with the award for worst possible choice of a president for a cabinet position, Robert Kennedy Jr., now serving as chief of Health and Human Services.

I join with the many members of the Kennedy family in expressing the shock and pure negligence of this appointment. And, like you, I have witnessed Trump’s personal ignorance about matters pertaining to human health, thereby making him totally unsuitable to select a head for this critically important department. This was undoubtedly an overt political move in which our precious children, our treasured babies, with their manifold needs, were cast aside as if they were victims of Pete Hegseth!

Strong evidence exists that Kennedy saw himself as a rival to Trump. He wanted to be president. So Trump made a quid pro quo arrangement that would give Bobby Health and Human Services if he would back out of the presidential race. Done deal!

Trump was the guy during the throes of the covid epidemic who thought drinking bleach could be an effective treatment for the deadly virus. I saw faces of medical professionals drop in shock the day he made those remarks on live television. Of course, drinking bleach might rid you of covid, but at a notoriously high price!

Trump also displayed his lack of medical knowledge when he declared that Tylenol causes autism in babies when ingested by their mothers during pregnancy, a repeatedly unproven statement.

His outspoken and duped comments about vaccine dangers, and his own lack of knowledge about scans administered to himself recently display a remarkable level of unsophistication.

Now, however, suddenly he’s an expert on hepatitis vaccines, a supreme authority. His unfounded remarks are suitable only for the most ignorant and unread. Reputable doctors, none of whom serve on Kennedy’s team, disagree with Trump, Kennedy, and their advisors.

But who better to be in charge of hiring our nation’s health czar than Trump? And who better to serve than RFK Jr?

You couldn’t make this stuff up. It would be trashed if it were only, mercifully, fiction!

Another leader of a department in Trump’s cabinet is the supremely arrogant secretary of the Department of Defense, who prefers his title to be the secretary of the Department of War, a designation that should strike fear within the American public. Hegseth is now being challenged by some in Congress for possible war crimes, but will, no doubt, be cleared. He, like Trump, is a petty and vindictive man whose unsuitability for his government job was clear from his confirmation hearings. His personal history and alcoholism should have been clues that he was inappropriate, but in the present environment, where being unsuitable is a primary condition of employment, he will certainly not be terminated.

Hegseth began his tenure with an egregious judgmental error that would have seen him removed in any normal administration. This was, of course, his transmission by an unapproved app known as Signal of what should have been identified as top secret classified information, shared with his wife, other parties, and a magazine editor, an accidental inclusion that clearly demonstrated Hegseth’s incompetence. Nonetheless, he was supported by Trump, and retained his position.

His further exploits in possibly illegal shootings at sea, which have already resulted in over 80 deaths, are still under congressional discussion, but have, yet again, earned the support of Trump.

The rest of the cabinet is no better. Several have been accused of self-spending jaunts, using departmental funds for little luxuries like private jets! All are unwilling to challenge Trump, fearful for their jobs. Watching a cabinet meeting is like a viewing a parody on TV. Long-winded speeches praising Trump, who struggles before the cameras to stay awake.

America, where are you hiding? Please emerge before it’s too late. Hurry!

Rosanne Skopp of West Orange is a wife, mother of four, grandmother of 14, and great-grandmother of nine. She is a graduate of Rutgers University and a dual citizen of the United States and Israel. She is a lifelong blogger, writing blogs before anyone knew what a blog was! She welcomes email at rosanne.skopp@gmail.com