Republican Elaine Chao speaks out against Trump racist insults

Republican stalwart Elaine Chao and her husband, Sen. Mitch McConnell.

It took a long time, but finally, Elaine Chao publicly responded to Donald Trump's racist taunts.

Chao, who was Secretary of Transportation on Trump's Cabinet, resigned from her post after the Jan. 6 insurrection, which deeply troubled her. At the time, she said, "it has deeply troubled me in a way that I simply cannot set aside." 

Not surprisingly, that didn't sit well with Trump. It opened the door for Trump's not-so-subtle slurs, insulting Chao as “Coco Chow” or Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell’s “China-loving wife.”

“When I was young, some people deliberately misspelled or mispronounced my name. Asian Americans have worked hard to change that experience for the next generation,” Chao told Politico in a statement.

“He doesn’t seem to understand that, which says a whole lot more about him than it will ever say about Asian Americans.”

Until this week, Chao, a loyal Republican, refused to criticize Trump.

The last straw apparently was Trump's suggestion that his former Transportation Secretary may have been responsible for President Joe Biden bringing classified documents with him to his post-vice presidency office in D.C.’s Chinatown neighborhood.

Chao's response comes after 11 Asian American elderly were killed in a mass shooting in Monterey Park, California and another 66-year old Asian American man fatally shot seven agricultural workers in Half Moon Bay. The deadly tragedies occur in a seemingly never-ending attacks against Asian Americans, which many have partially attributed to Trump's anti-Chinese slurs in blaming China for COVID-19 and reinforced his beliefs by calling the pandemic the "Kung Flu" or "China Flu."

Trump's spokesperson, Steven Cheung, told Insider: "People should stop feigning outrage and engaging in controversies that exist only in their heads."

Cheung also repeated Trump's rhetoric about Chao.

"What's actually concerning is her family's deeply troubling ties to Communist China, which has undermined American economic and national security," Cheung told Politico.

Chao immigrated to the US when she was a child from Taiwan. Her family founded the Foremost Group, a large shipping company based in New York. She went on to graduate from Harvard Business School and served in multiple Republican administrations, and was the first Asian American woman in a presidential Cabinet as Labor secretary for George W. Bush and Transportation secretary for Trump.

Trump's anti-China rhetoric also makes it difficult for the Republican Party trying to woo increasingly influential Asian American voters from the Democrats. The two Asian American Republicans in Congress, Young Kim and Michelle Steel, both representing Southern California districts, remain silent on Trump's slurs.  In the 2020 Presidential election, the AAPI Republican PAC did not endorse Trump. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell votes against his own inter-racial marriage

Senator Mitch McConnell and his wife former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao.

Senator Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, voted against the Respect for Marriage Act, which includes the protection of interracial marriages, despite being married to former US Secretary for Transportation Elaine Chao, who is Taiwanese American.

The Respect For Marriage Act would repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act and would require each state to recognize marriages that are valid in the state where they were performed.

The RFMA was introduced out of fear that the conservative-majority Supreme Court, which earlier this year overturned Roe v. Wade, might do the same thing to the long-standing Loving vs. Virginia ruling that legalized interracial marriage and the Obergefell vs. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.

McConnell, who was re-elected by the GOP Senate Minority Leader last week, never really explained his opposition to the RFMA, but Senate watchers speculated that it was his opposition to the same-sex marriage provision that prompted his nay.

He was equally mum when Trump delivered his racial slur against his wife via social media as he was criticizing McConnell's apparent support for some other Democratic legislation. However, on CNN, former McConnell aide said Trump's comments were out of line. "This is outrageous, it's beyond the pale, every Republican ought to say so," he said.

Trump insulted McConnell's wife in a post on his Truth Social website last month, calling Chao McConnell's "China-loving wife, Coco Chow." He also said McConnell had a "death wish" for backing "Democrat-sponsored bills," in the same post.

Despite McConnell's opposition to the RFMA, the Senate on Nov. 16 advanced legislation moving it closer to becoming law.

The 62 to 37 vote was a crucial test of support for the RFMA. With the backing of 12 Republican members, the Senate easily cleared the 60-vote procedural hurdle needed to move the legislation forward. Drafters of the plan were optimistic it would garner enough backing from the GOP after a bipartisan group of senators added amendments to the bill to include protecting religious liberty.

The RFMA passed the House of Representatives in a bipartisan vote in July.

Because of the amendment, the House will take another look at the bill before going to President Biden's desk for his signature. The White House urged passage of the measure.

"The right to marriage confers vital legal protections, dignity, and full participation in our society," the White House budget office said in a statement. "No person should face discrimination because of who they are or whom they love, and every married couple in the United States deserves the security of knowing that their marriage will be defended and respected."

Interracial marriage has become increasingly common in the United States: today, 17% of new marriages in the US are interracial, and “mixed race” was the fastest growing demographic category according to the 2020 census. Despite this increased acceptance, however, the recent increase of racism and hate crimes has created a challenging environment for many of those families.

Chao drew Trump's ire when she disapproved of the attempted coup on Jan. 6 and resigned her post five days later, the first administration official to do so in protest.

“I think the events at the capitol, however they occurred, were shocking. And it was something that, as I mentioned in my statement, that I could not put aside,” Chao said.

“And at a particular point, the events were such, that it was impossible for me to continue given my personal values and my philosophy,” she continued.

Chao added that “I came as an immigrant to this country. I believe in this country. I believe in the peaceful transfer of power. I believe in democracy. And so … it was a decision that I made on my own.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao resigns because of the attempted coup

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao

The only Asian American in Donald Trump's Cabinet resigned Wednesday because of the attempted coup by Trump supporters Tuesday.

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announced her resignation in a tweet to employees in the Dept. of Transportation in which she cited the "traumatic and entirely avoidable" violence at the U.S. Capitol on that occurred Wednesday when radical right Trump supporters broke into the Capitol in an attempt to thwart the certification of the Electoral College votes.

In a posting to the department, Chao said, "It has deeply troubled me in a way that I simply cannot set aside." Her resignation will be effective next Monday.

Thus far, Chao is the highest-ranking member of President Trump's administration yet to resign following the deadly mob violence at the Capitol, fueled by Trump's own support of the crowd gathering in protest of his election loss.

The controversial former Attorney General William Barr, who had already left his office last month, said Wednesday that his former boss was responsible for “orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress,” calling his former boss’ actions “inexcusable.”

In resigning, Chao, who is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, is the latest administration figure to leave in protest of Trump's actions. Others who resigned include: Stephanie Grisham, chief of staff to first lady Melania Trump; Sarah Matthews, a deputy press secretary; and Matt Pottinger, the deputy national security adviser.

After a six-hour delay of the certification process, Congress returned to their chambers and officially approved the Electoral Collge votes for President and Vice President, officially proclaiming the winner to be President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

House investigating Sec. of Transportation Elaine Chao

SCREEN CAPTURE

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and her father, James Chao.

ASAM NEWS

A House committee suspects Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao of making decisions to benefit her family’s own business interest.
The House Oversight Committee launched its investigation Monday following reports from both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times about potential conflicts.

“The Committee is investigating several allegations relating to your service as Secretary of Transportation, including troubling questions about whether you are using your office to benefit yourself or your family,” read a letter from the committee’s leadership.

Chao, 66, is accused of making decisions in her official government capacity to benefit her family’s shipping company, Foremost Group, to “increase its influence and status with the Chinese government,” including by sitting for interviews with Chinese media outlets where she appeared to represent both the U.S. government and Foremost Group. China has reportedly provided hundreds of millions of dollars in low-interest loans to the company.

She also faces allegations of initially failing to divest her shares in the Vulcan Materials, a company which received significant funding from the Transportation Department.

Additionally, in June, reports emerged that Chao, the highest-ranking Asian American in the Donald Trump administration, was using her office to bolster projects benefiting her husband, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in his home state of Kentucky.

The Transportation Department issued a statement defending Chao, saying “Media attacks targeting the secretary’s family are stale and only attempt to undermine her long career of public service.”

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill, who sits on the committee, said Tuesday that Chao's actions are part of a problematic pattern within the administration.

"Unfortunately, there's a pattern in the Trump administration where Cabinet official after Cabinet official appears to be using their public office oftentimes for private gain. And that's the concern here as well," he told CNN's Kate Bolduan

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Trump names 12 to AAPI advisory commission

After two years in office, Donald Trump is getting around to nominating new members for  the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Trump announced Friday (Jan. 17) his intent to appoint the 12 following individuals to be members of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

• Michelle Park Steel of California, and upon appointment to be designated co-chair
• Paul Hsu of Florida, and upon appointment to be designated co-chair
• Jennifer Carnahan of Minnesota
• David B. Cohen of California
• Grace Y. Lee of Michigan
• George Leing of Colorado
• Jan-Ie Low of Nevada
• Herman Martir of Texas
• Prem Parameswaran of New York
• Amata Coleman Radewagen of American Samoa
• Sean D. Reyes of Utah
• Chiling Tong of Maryland

The majority of the President Obama-appointed members resigned en masse almost two years ago in protest to Trump's policies and rhetoric that they interpreted as anti-immigrant.

The new commissioners will join the five members who did not resign. They are 

• Ravi Chaudhary
• Billy Dec
• Bill Imada
• Lorna May Ho Randlett

Trump also announced his intent to designateTransportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao to be Co-Chair of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. The other co-chair is Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. 

The office of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders works with the President’s Advisory Commission on AAPIs and Interagency Working Group on AAPI issues including data disaggregation, language access, workforce diversity, and capacity building.

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Candidate remains blind to racial namecalling resorts to racist namecalling to energize his base

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A scene from a Don Blankenship commercial.

USUALLY I TRY TO IGNORE individuals who are out-and-out racists -- because it's a waste of time and energy trying to change their views -- but, when that person is running for U.S. Senate, it's pretty hard to ignore him.

Candidate Don Blankenship is one of these people who have come out of the woodwork because Donald Trump's racist rants have emboldened them to no longer hide their views. He is one of three Republicans running for the U.S. Senate to represent West Virginia

I've met exactly two people from West Virginia and I have to say that I've been pretty impressed, but just like those two people can't represent the whole state, Blankenship can't -- I fervently hope -- represent the good people of that state.

Now, I'm not a fan of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel -- far from it, his complicity in the enabling of Donald Trump's views, especially on immigration issues makes him part of the government swamp and why Congress has not been able to do anything on immigration. However, Blackenship's desperate attacks on the incumbent's family -- because his wife is Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, should have remained in the gutter from whence it came.

As reported in AsAm News:

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Don Blankenship escalated his racial attacks on the mixed-race family of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, reports CNN.

In his ad, Blankenship refers to Chinese as “China people” and calls McConnell “cocaine Mitch” and his “China family.”

“Swamp captain Mitch McConnell has created millions of jobs for China people, while doing so, Mitch has gotten rich,” Blankenship says in the ad transcribed by Time. “In fact, his China family has given him tens of millions of dollars. Mitch’s swamp people are now running false negative ads about me. They are also childishly calling me despicable and mentally ill. The war to drain the swamp and create jobs for West Virginia people has begun. I will beat Joe Manchin and ditch cocaine Mitch for the sake of the kids.”

According to Time, Blankenship claims McConnell’s father-in-law has given the Senator and his wife millions of dollars and that cocaine was found on a ship owned by the father-in-law’s shipping company. That shipping company is American and based in New York.

“There’s no mystery to what Mr. Blankenship is doing,” said Rep Judy Chu in a statement published in the South Pasadenan. “It is intentional race baiting. I condemn his comments and urge him to stop going down this hateful and divisive path. Unfortunately, one of President Trump’s legacies seems to be the lesson that stoking racial resentments and xenophobia are effective tools for winning an election.” 

Blankenship is in a three way race for the Republican nomination to represent West Virginia. The primary is Tuesday, May 8. 

He has a checkered past. He spent a year in prison after 29 people were killed in an explosion at a mine owned by Massey Energy. Blankenship served as CEO and his company was cited for numerous mine safety violations. 

“By using racially insensitive rhetoric to target Secretary Chao and her family in order to take cheap shots at Senator McConnell, Mr. Blankenship is 

perpetuating the hateful stereotype that being Chinese means you cannot also be a patriotic American. That this kind of rhetoric has been used to justify persecution of Jews and Catholics, the imprisonment of innocent Japanese during World War II, and more, and should give anybody pause,” said Chu.

The fact that Blackenship qualified to be a candidate for a high office and is capable of garnering thousands of votes, speaks volumes about the state of our country. The GOP fear losing West Virginia if Blackenship wins. The situation is serious enought that Trump was convinced to weight in, telling voters to reject Blackenship and vote for one of the other Republicans.

CORRECTION: MAY 7, 9 p.m. - to clarify the GOPO candidates running for the U.S. Senate to represent West Virginia.

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Trump again eases up on white supremacists

Donald Trump is back to blaming "both sides" for the violence in Charlottesville last weekend.

OMG! It's one step forward and two steps back for Donald Trump. Can anything get more weirder?

After today (Aug. 15), we realize that his statement on Monday was just a phony baloney act to calm down those Republicans criticizing his non-statements about Charlottesville on Saturday. On Monday, he belatedly denounced, specifically, the white nationalists, neo-Nazis, KKK and those who refuse to admit the Confederacy lost the Civil War.

In an off-the-rails press conference, Trump off-the-cuff, revealed that he didn't really mean what he said on Monday. He said, “Not all of those people were neo-Nazis, believe me,” he said. “Not all of those people were white supremacists by any stretch.”

Trump’s remarks — which put the largely peaceful counter-protesters in Charlottesville on a par with the white supremacists they assembled there to protest — are a return to his widely criticized remarks from the weekend.

RELATED: Kick out the alt-right from the White House

Trump went on to defend the “Unite the Right” rally’s decision to protest the removal of a monument to Confederate general Robert E. Lee, suggesting that this was a slippery slope to toppling statues of founding fathers and slave owners George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

Did Donald Trump ever take an American history class?

In a press conference, Trump equated George Washington and Thomas Jefferson with two Confederate generals. He asserted that most of the people in Charlottesville to protest the taking down of a statue of Confederate Gen. Lee. "This week its Robert E. Lee, I wonder, I notice  Stonewall Jackson coming down. I wonder, is it George Washington. Is it Thomas Jefferson the following week?" 

Really? The former two were trying to create "a more perfect Union" while Lee and Jackson were trying to destroy our country.

An unidentified Asian man was seen marching with the white
supremacists in Charlottesville, VA.

Standing awkwardly behind Trump throughout the presser was Sec. of Transportation Elaine Chao, the daughter of immigrants and wife of Senate GOP leader Sen. Mitch McConnell. McConnell has been one of Trump's targets since the Trumpcare bill failed to pass the Senate.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Earlier versions of this post incorrectly named Elaine Chao's cabinet position.)

Though he was roundly criticized for his impromptu press conference which reportedly caught his staff by surprise, at least two people in America were pleased with what Trump said.

“Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth,” tweeted David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan leader. Richard B. Spencer, a white nationalist leader who coined the term alt-right was equally thankful in his tweet, “Trump’s statement was fair and down to earth.”

Rep. Bobby Scott, a Filipino/American congressman for Virginia, tweeted today (Aug. 15), "I am extremely disappointed to see @realDonaldTrump miss another opportunity to help the country heal after the events in #Charlottesville"

After researching the Charlottesville media coverage, on second thought, maybe Trump was right. Not everyone of the Unite the Right rally was a white nationalist. There was at least one Asian male seen marching with the neo-Nazis, KKK and white supremacists. 

Who is this guy? Anybody?

The video taped by an ACLU staffer caught the videographer by surprise. Later in the day, the Asian man was spotted again with the white nationalists confirming his affiliation with the demonstrators.

Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., one of Trump's consistent critics, (his Twitter account has been blocked by Trump and Ivanka) had this to tweet:

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Hearings to begin for Trump's team; AAPI opposition to Chao

Who will fill these seats in the West Wing?

IF THAT OLD ADAGE is true: "You can judge the character of a man by the friends that he chooses," then our country is in for a rough ride not only for the next four years, but for decades to come.

Two months after his upset electoral (not popular) victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton, President-elect Donald Trump shows no signs of mellowing, facing reality or moving to the political center. It appears the Trump we saw on the campaign trail is the same Trump we'll see in the White House.

His post-election speech vowing to be president for all Americans is ringing hollow. The people he has chosen to surround himself with have serious questions about their positions and past actions.

Starting with Sen. Jeff Sessions, who will undergo a quick and hearing startingTuesday (Jan. 10) for Attorney General. The nominees to be key advisers to the President-elect will begin the Senate's Judiciary Committee hearing next week. The GOP-dominated committee is limiting the Democrats only four witnesses and a quick two-days for their hearings. A plethora of civil rights groups have expressed their dismay at the Republican rules to counter any protests. Democratic Senators seem powerless to overrule the GOP.

His Asian/American choices are stirring up criticism from the AAPI community, starting with Elaine Chao, picked to become the Secretary of Transportation. According to the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance,  Chao's pending appointment shows poor leadership and accountability to the working families and the American people.

Chao

Chao served as the Labor Secretary under President George W. Bush and is the first Asian American woman to serve in a Cabinet level position. Under her leadership in the Department of Labor, she cut safety enforcement budgets, failed to pass any new significant safety rules during her tenure, and inadequately investigated complaints of wage theft.

APALA National President Johanna Puno Hester commented: “If Chao’s time as Labor Secretary is any indication of what she’ll bring to the table as Transportation Secretary, then we can expect a term that parlays with corporate interest rather than the safety of the people and the environment.”

Chao is the third Asian American woman appointee in the Trump Administration, following Governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and Seema Verma, the founder of health policy consulting firm, as the head for Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Hester continued: “We refuse to let the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community be a racial wedge group. These women have built their careers on creating policies that serve only the most privileged. They do not accurately represent our diverse AAPI community – a community of immigrants, the poor, the underserved.”

“This is a different political climate. This is not business as usual. As people build their strategies for the first hundred days or the next four years, we must not conflate access or a seat at the table with actual power to influence policy or decision makers,” added APALA Executive Director Gregory A. Cendana on the so-called “diversity picks” in a predominately white administration. “These newest appointees – alongside Price, Devos, Sessions, and Bannon – continue to shape a Trump administration that undermines the values so central to our communities and the fabric of our country.”

Sessions is only the first of many hearings that will challenge the Democrats and communities of color who have become more integrated into the American fabric in the last 70 years.

Tillerson

Trump's pick for Secretary of State is Rex Tillerson, who had to give up his lucrative job as CEO of Exxon Mobile, the largest oil company in the world. Don't feel any sympathy for him. His disclosed personal wealth of as much as $400 million. We aren't worried about Rillerson just because he is rich. As one of the millionaire/billionaire picks by Trump, Tillerson has had no experience in international diplomacy except for those negotiated with oil-producing countries. Even many of those negotiations had to be brokered by the Dept. of State, including Hillary Clinton and Madeline Albright. He'll fit perfectly with Trump's team because he is so beloved in Russia they gave him an award. As a former Exxon CEO and with holdings (in trust) in the oil giant, he'll have to recuse himself from a lot of the Middle East negotiations - not to mention Russia - that might benefit his former company. What bothers me is his record has not a second of public service. He's spent his entire career working a for-profit businesses. I question his motivation to work for the common man and woman.

RELATED: How to protest Rex Tillerson's nomination

Stephen Bannon as the chief White House strategist is on equal footing as the Chief of Staff. As the CEO of Breightbart News, he has promoted alt-right philosophies and made white nationalism acceptable to the moderate white mainstream. “The appointment by President-elect Trump of a racist individual like Mr. Bannon to a position of authority is totally unacceptable," said Sen. Bernie Sanders. "In a democratic society we can disagree all we want over issues, but racism and bigotry cannot be part of any public policy. The appointment of Mr. Bannon by Mr. Trump must be rescinded.”

Price

Sen. Tom Price as the Secretary of Health & Human Services is a one-man wrecking crew vs. the United States' health care system for people with limited incomes, seniors and low-income families. The hallmark of Price's congressional career has been his steadfast opposition of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) and has repeatedly attempted to repeal or gut the ACA. Among Price’s most dangerous proposals are limiting tax credits for the poor, privatizing Medicare, barring federal funding to Planned Parenthood, and converting Medicaid to block grants which would pretty much negate its role as a safety net program.

Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as Trump's National Security Advisor: Nothing subtle about the retired general, an extreme anti-Islam crusader who once claimed that the Democrats wanted to institute Sharia law in Florida, a complete fabrication that he repeated over and over again in speeches across the country. Before millions of television viewers, Flynn led the chants of a raucous crowd during his speech endorsing Donald Trump. “Lock her up! Lock her up! Damn right! Exactly right!” Flynn encouraged the chanting crowd. “There is nothing wrong with that!” He was prematurely retired at age 56 because of his disruptive management style and his repeated digs at the Obama White House from his position at the Defense Intelligence Agency, his last posting. Recently, several news agencies revealed that he met several weeks ago with Heinz-Christian Strache, the head of Austria’s anti-immigrant Freedom Party, which was founded after World War II by former Nazis. Ugh!

Rick Perry, former Texas governor, has been picked to head the Department of Energy. Do you think he'll favor fossil fuel over alternative energy sources such as the wind, geothermal or the sun? Outside of taking oil money for his various campaigns and giving tax payer's money to subsidize the oil industry, Perry has had no experience on the subject. His two predecessors were physicists. Four years ago, he wanted to do away with the entire department of energy.

Carson

You would think that Dr. Ben Carson would be a suitable nominee for the Surgeon General. That would make sense, right? But, Trump fooled us all by picking Dr. Ben Carson to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He may have been a brilliant surgeon but Carson doesn't know squat about HUD and its many programs to provide housing for the poor. Alright, he was once poor and his single mother accepted financial assistance from the federal government. You would think that would give him some empathy for the poor. But, no. He's a pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps kind of guy. If he could do it, so can anybody else. As HUD chief, he could put more people out in the streets than any other appointee.


Steven Mnuchin, formerly with Goldman Sachs, has been picked to be the next Treasury Secretary. He co-founded a bank, OneWest, in 2008 and lead the company until 2015, Fortune reported. Now, OneWest is being sued for allegedly discriminating against black and Latino customers, according to a complaint filed this month by two fair housing advocacy groups. The complaint alleges the bank "kept bank branches out of nonwhite neighborhoods" and gave nonwhite customers disproportionately fewer mortgages, Fortune wrote. Between 2012 and 2013, the California bank gave zero loans to black customers in Los Angeles. He made billions over the past decades buying up companies and slashing payrolls.

Trump picked another billionaire, Wilbur L. Ross Jr., for Commerce Secretary. He made his billions using bankruptcy to protect wealthy owners while leaving workers and communities holding the bag. (Example in point: the collapse of Trump’s casino empire.) I don't see how this expertise translates into negotiating treaties. In fact, this strategy loses jobs, not creating new jobs. Foreign countries are not inefficient corporations. Threats will irk countries like China and could lead to trade wars which is not good for business. Trump needs to learn that treaties are not negotiated with winners and losers in mind. Treaties try to have a win-win outcome. Sometimes treaties have broader goals in mind, like keeping China's power and influence in check and helping countries with smaller economies from yielding to China's military intimidation.

Puzder

The Department of Labor should be renamed the Department of Bad Bosses if Andrew Puzder survives nomination. He opposes the minimum wage increase and basic worker protections that unmarried women and other members of the RAE rely upon to make ends meet. Another one of the billionaires Trump has chosen, Puzder has criticized paid sick leave policies and praised automation because machines “never take a vacation, they never show up late, there’s never a slip-and-fall or an age, sex or race discrimination case.” And he prides himself on the demeaning ads he runs for his restaurant, Carl’s Jr., featuring scantily clad women. “I like beautiful women eating burgers in bikinis. I think it’s very American.” Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich is concerned about Puzder. “I’m not saying he’s anti-worker because he’s conservative. I’m saying he’s anti-worker because he’s anti-worker.”

You might as well start carving a headstone for Medicare if Rep. Mick Mulvaney takes over the Office of Management and Budget. The Tea Party hawk calls Medicare a "ponzi scheme" wants to privatize the only healthcare insurance depended on by millions of senior citizens. He relentlessly argued that cutting retirement programs like Medicare was the only way to “balance the budget,” the Tea Party call to arms. He hasn't been shy about calling for a drastic refashioning of Medicare. Of course, as a well-heeled congressional representative for South Carolina, he doesn't have to depend on Medicare in his old age. Members of Congress have a life-long medical plan, even when they are through serving in the House or Senate.

DeVos

The selection of Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education may be the most insidious choice of all. The super wealthy DeVos family have been strong advocates of charter schools and  schools vouchers. In their home state of Michigan, they are notably anti-union, especially teacher unions. Outside of those issues, Betsy DeVos has no experience as an educator or as a public servant. Her views on affirmative action in admissions, for-profit schools, or Common Core curriculum are unknown and her children have never attended a public school. The charter schools that her family has helped establish in Michigan have not improved the overall education of students. Student score below the average in national administered tests and they operate without any government oversight on content and quality. Ultimately, the anti-science, anti-intellectual attitudes of the Trump administration will produce a generation of poorly educated students, who become poorly informed voters. They would become perfect followers for the lies fostered by the alt-right, the Tea Party and the Kremlin ... and politicians who have a flare for tapping the fears of people.

One thing the billionaires and politicians on this list have in common. They would probably prefer to dismantle the agencies they are being entrusted with. Putting such examples of anti-government people in charge of government could be disastrous. They could very well  undo Franklin Roosevelt's safeguards for the poor and most vulnerable, shrink the middle class and threaten the gains of the Civil Rights Movement.

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Trump picks Elaine Chao for Secretary of Transportation

Roll Call file photo

Elaine Chao campaigned with her husband Sen. Mitch McConnel during his reelection bid to represent Kentucky.

ELAINE CHAO, who was Secretary of Labor under President George W. Bush, has been named Transportation Secretary by President-elect Donald Trump, according an official with the transition.

Chao will be the second Asian/American to be added to Trump's team of advisers. Last week, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley was nominated as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Chao’s parents were born in mainland China and later moved to Taiwan.  She came to the U.S. when she was only 8-years old and didn't speak English. During the early, transition period, “it was the kindness and the helping hands of strangers, who soon became neighbors and our friends, that helped us smooth our transition,” Chao told graduates at Indiana’s DePauw University in a 2002 address.

The nominations of Chao and Haley are pending, waiting for Senate confirmation early next year, although no one thinks the nominations will be turned down.

Chao is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel, which - of course - had nothing to do with her nomination because she has had plenty of Washington experience of her own.

At the Transportation Department, Chao would have a key role in helping Trump get an infrastructure spending bill passed through Congress and start government-backed works projects -- a role likely to be complicated by her relationship with McConnell, who will also be a critical player in any infrastructure bill negotiations.

Before being named Labor Secretary by President George W. Bush, Chao was also assistant secretary of transportation under the first President Bush, so she - unlike some of her fellow nominees such as Haley - has some experience in the subject area to which she has been named.

Chao, who served from 2001-2009 the 24th as the Secretary of Labor, is the first Asian/American woman to be appointed to a President’s Cabinet in our nation’s history. She is the longest tenured Secretary of Labor since World War II, and the only member of President Bush’s original cabinet to have served the entire eight years of his Administration.

An immigrant who arrived in America at the age of eight speaking no English, Secretary Chao’s experience transitioning to a new country has motivated her to dedicate most of her professional life to ensuring that all people have the opportunity to build better lives.

As the first U. S. Secretary of Labor in the 21st century, Chao focused on improving the competitiveness of America’s workforce by restructuring department programs to empower workers and modernizing regulations to respond to the realities of the 21st century workplace. Under her leadership, the U.S. Department of Labor achieved record results in protecting the health, safety, wages, and retirement security of the nation’s workforce.

Secretary Chao’s career spans the public, private and non-profit sectors. As President and Chief Executive Officer of United Way of America, she restored public trust and confidence in one of our nation’s premier charitable institutions after it had been tarnished by financial mismanagement and abuse. As Director of the Peace Corps, she established the first programs in the newly liberated Baltic nations and the independent states of the former Soviet Union. 

Her government service also includes serving as Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Transportation, Chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission, Deputy Maritime Administrator, and White House Fellow. Prior to her government service, she was Vice President of Syndications at BankAmerica Capital Markets Group and a banker with Citicorp in New York.

Chao has held a position as a distinguished fellow at the conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation, in addition to conducting media appearances.

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