https://www.dailykos.com/stories/20...eterans-Affairs-doesn-t-have-the-chops-for-it
Just because Rear Admiral Dr. Ronny Jackson told Donald Trump what he wanted to hear about his height, weight and cognitive abilities, it doesn't make him qualified to head Veteran Affairs, the job he has now been tapped to do. The Washington Post writes:
"Jackson is a career naval officer who was an emergency trauma doctor in Iraq before spending the past 12 years as a White House physician. But his résumé lacks the type of management experience usually expected from the leader of an agency that employs 360,000 people, has a $186 billion annual budget and is dedicated to serving the complex needs of the country’s veterans.
“It’s great that he served in Iraq and he’s our generation. But it doesn’t appear that he’s had assignments that suggest he could take on the magnitude of this job, and this makes Jackson a surprising pick,” said Paul Rieckhoff, chief executive of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America."
It seems that Jackson agrees with that assessment himself.
"After aides gauged his interest in recent days, he hesitated to take on such a big job."
But Trump liked him ever so much, so forget about the vetting process.
"...the president continued to push and told his senior staff Monday that the doctor was his top choice. A senior White House official described an informal interview process, without the extensive vetting that typically accompanies a Cabinet selection."
Somehow the White House has reportedly been caught off guard by the blowback over putting someone with zero experience in charge of one of the federal government's biggest bureaucracies, which also happens to serve our nation’s vets and notoriously be in a state of disrepair.
Jackson's confirmation will now be added to the stack of contentious Trump nominations that will play out in Congress over the coming months. Naturally, Trump never even ran the idea of Jackson past his Senate GOP colleagues, who are also a bit miffed about Trump's personnel chaos becoming the centerpiece of their agenda in the run up to the midterms.
"“We are doing our homework on Dr. Jackson,” said Amanda Maddox, spokeswoman for Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, which will hold Jackson’s nomination hearing. Trump called Isakson after announcing that he had picked the doctor to replace Shulkin, she said.
“His name was never floated around,” Maddox said, “so we are doing our due diligence.” [...]
Senior Senate Republicans have privately expressed frustration over the personnel battles that have raged since the beginning of Trump’s presidency and recently told the White House that they did not want to have to consider a series of nominees this year, according to aides and officials who have heard the complaints."
Too bad, ladies and gents—this is the guy who now owns your party because you've sold your souls to him.
Just because Rear Admiral Dr. Ronny Jackson told Donald Trump what he wanted to hear about his height, weight and cognitive abilities, it doesn't make him qualified to head Veteran Affairs, the job he has now been tapped to do. The Washington Post writes:
"Jackson is a career naval officer who was an emergency trauma doctor in Iraq before spending the past 12 years as a White House physician. But his résumé lacks the type of management experience usually expected from the leader of an agency that employs 360,000 people, has a $186 billion annual budget and is dedicated to serving the complex needs of the country’s veterans.
“It’s great that he served in Iraq and he’s our generation. But it doesn’t appear that he’s had assignments that suggest he could take on the magnitude of this job, and this makes Jackson a surprising pick,” said Paul Rieckhoff, chief executive of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America."
It seems that Jackson agrees with that assessment himself.
"After aides gauged his interest in recent days, he hesitated to take on such a big job."
But Trump liked him ever so much, so forget about the vetting process.
"...the president continued to push and told his senior staff Monday that the doctor was his top choice. A senior White House official described an informal interview process, without the extensive vetting that typically accompanies a Cabinet selection."
Somehow the White House has reportedly been caught off guard by the blowback over putting someone with zero experience in charge of one of the federal government's biggest bureaucracies, which also happens to serve our nation’s vets and notoriously be in a state of disrepair.
Jackson's confirmation will now be added to the stack of contentious Trump nominations that will play out in Congress over the coming months. Naturally, Trump never even ran the idea of Jackson past his Senate GOP colleagues, who are also a bit miffed about Trump's personnel chaos becoming the centerpiece of their agenda in the run up to the midterms.
"“We are doing our homework on Dr. Jackson,” said Amanda Maddox, spokeswoman for Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, which will hold Jackson’s nomination hearing. Trump called Isakson after announcing that he had picked the doctor to replace Shulkin, she said.
“His name was never floated around,” Maddox said, “so we are doing our due diligence.” [...]
Senior Senate Republicans have privately expressed frustration over the personnel battles that have raged since the beginning of Trump’s presidency and recently told the White House that they did not want to have to consider a series of nominees this year, according to aides and officials who have heard the complaints."
Too bad, ladies and gents—this is the guy who now owns your party because you've sold your souls to him.
