
"How's that swamp draining going again?" (Photo: Defending Our Future/Twitter)
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"How's that swamp draining going again?" (Photo: Defending Our Future/Twitter)
A coal lobbyist and a Boeing executive are to be nominated to deputy positions at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Defense (DoD), respectively, making President Donald Trump's campaign promises to "drain the swamp" continue to look like a lot of hot air.
Andrew Wheeler, the lobbyist to be nominated as deputy EPA administrator, works for an oil and gas industry-serving law firm and is a registered lobbyist for Murray Energy, the largest privately-owned coal company in the country, according to The Hill. He also served on the staff of climate change denier Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), and will join several fellow former Inhofe staffers at Scott Pruitt's EPA.
Patrick Shanahan, meanwhile, is a top Boeing executive with no military or political experience. "He is, however, familiar with defense procurement from the business side," reports the Seattle Times, which notes that Shanahan "ran Boeing's military rotorcraft division in Philadelphia for two and a half years, where he was responsible for the Apache and Chinook helicopter programs as well as the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor airplane." (On Friday, it was reported that an attack possibly from a U.S.-made Apache helicopter killed 31 Somali refugees off the coast of Yemen.)
The coal lobbyist and Boeing executive join former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson and a plethora of former Goldman Sachs executives in Trump's cabinet. These latest hires continue to confirm suspicions that Trump's policy isn't so much to drain the swamp, as to fill it.
Trump's broken promises to drain the swamp weren't forgotten by observers:
"Personnel is policy," as Washington Post correspondent James Hohmann tweeted:
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Our Summer Campaign is now underway, and there’s never been a more urgent time for Common Dreams to be as vigilant as possible. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
A coal lobbyist and a Boeing executive are to be nominated to deputy positions at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Defense (DoD), respectively, making President Donald Trump's campaign promises to "drain the swamp" continue to look like a lot of hot air.
Andrew Wheeler, the lobbyist to be nominated as deputy EPA administrator, works for an oil and gas industry-serving law firm and is a registered lobbyist for Murray Energy, the largest privately-owned coal company in the country, according to The Hill. He also served on the staff of climate change denier Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), and will join several fellow former Inhofe staffers at Scott Pruitt's EPA.
Patrick Shanahan, meanwhile, is a top Boeing executive with no military or political experience. "He is, however, familiar with defense procurement from the business side," reports the Seattle Times, which notes that Shanahan "ran Boeing's military rotorcraft division in Philadelphia for two and a half years, where he was responsible for the Apache and Chinook helicopter programs as well as the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor airplane." (On Friday, it was reported that an attack possibly from a U.S.-made Apache helicopter killed 31 Somali refugees off the coast of Yemen.)
The coal lobbyist and Boeing executive join former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson and a plethora of former Goldman Sachs executives in Trump's cabinet. These latest hires continue to confirm suspicions that Trump's policy isn't so much to drain the swamp, as to fill it.
Trump's broken promises to drain the swamp weren't forgotten by observers:
"Personnel is policy," as Washington Post correspondent James Hohmann tweeted:
A coal lobbyist and a Boeing executive are to be nominated to deputy positions at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Defense (DoD), respectively, making President Donald Trump's campaign promises to "drain the swamp" continue to look like a lot of hot air.
Andrew Wheeler, the lobbyist to be nominated as deputy EPA administrator, works for an oil and gas industry-serving law firm and is a registered lobbyist for Murray Energy, the largest privately-owned coal company in the country, according to The Hill. He also served on the staff of climate change denier Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), and will join several fellow former Inhofe staffers at Scott Pruitt's EPA.
Patrick Shanahan, meanwhile, is a top Boeing executive with no military or political experience. "He is, however, familiar with defense procurement from the business side," reports the Seattle Times, which notes that Shanahan "ran Boeing's military rotorcraft division in Philadelphia for two and a half years, where he was responsible for the Apache and Chinook helicopter programs as well as the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor airplane." (On Friday, it was reported that an attack possibly from a U.S.-made Apache helicopter killed 31 Somali refugees off the coast of Yemen.)
The coal lobbyist and Boeing executive join former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson and a plethora of former Goldman Sachs executives in Trump's cabinet. These latest hires continue to confirm suspicions that Trump's policy isn't so much to drain the swamp, as to fill it.
Trump's broken promises to drain the swamp weren't forgotten by observers:
"Personnel is policy," as Washington Post correspondent James Hohmann tweeted: