Donald Trump's Cabinet Nominees a Truly Toxic Swamp

Donald Trump's cabinet nominees signal a war on working people, the poor, people of color, immigrants and women. In response, People's Action has launched an all-out effort to oppose these nominees that will engage its entire family of affiliates across 30 states.

People's Action has joined with allies nationwide in hosting resistance assemblies to insist that Congress reject nominees whose policies would put Americans in jeopardy, and begin planning future action. These assemblies will take place from December 14 to December 18.

After promising to help families, Trump's proposed cabinet is filled with billionaires, family-fortune heirs, a white supremacist, right-wing zealots, anti-government crusaders and a hedge-fund manager who foreclosed on a 90-year-old woman over 27 cents.

They intend to auction our health care off to insurance corporations, shred our democracy, and destroy a nearly 200-year history of public education. In short, Trump has broken his promise to "drain the swamp" in Washington in favor of turning the swamp truly toxic.

"What Trump's cabinet appointees have in common is a track record of working in their own self-interest, not public service, and amassing personal fortunes, not fighting for working families," said LeeAnn Hall, co-director of People's Action.

The appointments are not final and the nominees must still be approved by the U.S. Senate.

"Donald Trump campaigned on draining the swamp, instead he's flooding it with Wall Street bankers and corporate lobbyists. How does appointing the bankers that we taxpayers bailed out signal change?" said George Goehl, co-director of People's Action.

"We are teaming of with other progressive organizations to pressure legislators to reject nominees with values so starkly opposite of the values of America's families and working people," said Goehl.

People's Action has been planning and leading resistance assemblies in auditoriums, churches and coffee shops around the country to help people who are scared or angry make sense of this moment and make concrete plans for the work ahead.

A look at the some of the appointees paints a undeniable picture of what's ahead:

Housing and Urban Development Secretary: Ben Carson
Carson is a neurosurgeon with no experience managing a complex agency, or developing housing policy on homelessness or discrimination. He believes it's up to charities and neighbors to take care of poor people, not the government. He likened a HUD initiative to promote racially integrated housing to "failed socialist experiments." He has compared gay rights advocates to pedophiles and bestiality supporters, and he opposes same-sex marriage.

Treasury Secretary: Steven Mnuchin
As the founder of OneWest, Mnuchin built his personal fortune on the backs of people thrown out of their homes during the 2008 financial crisis, while taking bailout money from the federal government at the same time. His bank went after a 90-year-old woman's home over a 27-cent underpayment. His firm's behavior was called "harsh, repugnant, shocking and repulsive" by a judge. One employee of Mnuchin's foreclosure firm admitted robo-signing 6,000 documents a week to be presented as false evidence in court.

Health and Human Services Secretary: Tom Price
Price is obsessed with repealing the Affordable Care Act, privatizing Medicare, and slashing Medicaid, guaranteeing the loss of health insurance for 22 million, including children and retired people. He's against women's right to choose and LGBTQ health protections. He's a member of the ultra-conservative Association of American Physicians and Surgeons which aims to keep government fully out of health care.

Education Secretary: Betsy DeVos
A billionaire married to a Amway heir, DeVos dreams of dismantling public schools, while promoting a charter school system with little public accountability that has been a disaster in Detroit. DeVos blamed Michigan workers earning too much for the state's economic problems - which Trump recently repeated in suggesting Detroit jobs should move to states where workers would be paid less. The DeVos family bankrolled campaigns against marriage equality and supporting tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations.

Attorney General: Jeff Sessions
Sessions was rejected by GOP as federal judge for his racism and support for "whites-only" voting. He falsely prosecuted black civil rights workers for helping people vote and praised the Supreme Court decision gutting the voting rights law. He opposes equal rights for LGBTQ people and supports mass deportations of immigrants. He's been praised by KKK Grand Wizard David Duke, and called a "hero" by Neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer.

Secretary of Transportation: Elaine Chao
When she was labor secretary under George W. Bush, Chao opposed increasing the minimum wage and cut enforcement budgets that protect workers on the job and in their paychecks. Some question her willingness to support laws that now require federal contractors on transportation projects to pay fair wages. Plus, Chao has advocated deregulating the fossil fuel industry when we need a transportation system less dependent on climate change-inducing energy sources.