Trump Fills Three Posts And Signals His Pro-Russian, Anti-Islamic, Anti-Immigrant Agenda

The first three appointments in the new Trump administration have been made and they are even worse than can be imagined, if that is possible. General Michael Flynn has been named National Security Adviser. He perfectly represents what we can expect from the Trump administration, a noxious combination of conflicts of interest, racism, xenophobia, and ignorance. Flynn has been receiving classified briefings since last summer while at the same time consulting for foreign companies and has also been feted in Moscow by the Russian propaganda network RT. Flynn has called Islam "a political ideology based on religion" and during the campaign retweeted a blatantly anti-Semitic remark. Finally, he seems to be an avid consumer of fake news. He has also supported the Muslim ban. Flynn was fired as the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency a few years ago, reportedly for abusive and irrational management and it is reported that many current intelligence officers believe that Flynn is compromised by Russia and those officers have already prepared their letters of resignation. Those letters will probably soon be submitted as the National Security Adviser is not a position that requires Congressional approval.

For Attorney General, Trump has put forward Senator Jeff Sessions. Sessions is named after two Confederate heroes so his racial views will come as no surprise. Sessions' past racist comments scuttled his bid for a federal judgeship in the 1980s so it will be interesting to see how the Republican Congress reacts to him now during his confirmation hearings. I expect that we will hear that Trump is entitled to be able to fill his cabinet with people he would want which is a slight change from the GOP position with Obama. Sessions' past comments included statements such as calling black attorney who worked for him as US Attorney "boy", that the NAACP and ACLU were "un-American", "communist-inspired", and trying "force civil rights down the throats of people", and agreeing with the statement that a white lawyer defending a black man "was a traitor to his race". Needless to say, he supported the gutting of the Voting Rights Amendment by the Supreme Court and is a hardliner on immigration.

The final position filled was for CIA Director and Trump has nominated a Congressman from Kansas name Mike Pompeo. Right now, Pompeo seems to have the least objectionable background compared to Flynn and Sessions, which is not saying much, but his positions are certainly ominous. He opposed the nuclear deal with Iran, believes the NSA's broad monitoring of US citizens' communications is legal, and has accused American Muslim leaders of being complicit in crimes committed by other Muslims.

If these three are any indication, which they most definitely are, Trump is going all in on his anti-Islamic and anti-immigrant agenda and will definitely be cozying up to Putin and Russia. Funny, but that is exactly what he campaigned on and so many people did not believe he would actually follow through. For those that haven't already learned, they should know better now.