Trump Shuns Sarah Palin, Picks Cathy McMorris Rodgers For Interior Secretary

Zero Hedge ^ | 12/09/2016

[SeekAndFind]

In what is being touted as further diversification of the president-elect administration, Donald Trump is expected to name Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) to lead the Interior Department, according to reports. McMorris Rodgers gets the nod ahead of Sarah Palin and Harold Hamm.

The candidates mentioned for the Interior Secretary were... 

• * Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor, 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee
• * Jan Brewer, former Republican Arizona governor
• * Forrest Lucas, founder of oil products company Lucas Oil
• * Harold Hamm, Oklahoma oil and gas mogul, chief executive of Continental Resources Inc
• * Robert Grady, venture capitalist, partner in private equity firm Gryphon Investors
• * Mary Fallin, Republican Oklahoma governor
• * Ray Washburne, chief executive of investment company Charter Holdings
• * Cathy McMorris Rodgers, U.S. representative from Washington state and Republican Conference chair

But as The Hill reports, Trump will tap McMorris-Rodgers, a five-term Republican who represents eastern Washington and is the chair of the House GOP Conference, to lead the department, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

McMorris Rodgers is a vice chair of Trump’s transition team and the highest-ranking woman in GOP leadership. She formally met with Trump on Nov. 20. Her office declined to comment Friday. 

 

If confirmed by the Senate, McMorris Rodgers would lead the 70,000-employee, $12 billion Interior Department, which manages federal lands for both preservation and energy and mineral development, controls offshore drilling and oversees national parks.

 

She would be Trump’s point person on public lands energy development, something Trump said he wants to expand as president. 

 

Trump opposes the Obama administration’s moratorium on coal leasing on federal lands and, in a September speech, proposed a “top-down review of all anti-coal regulations issued by the Obama administration,” an effort that would include the Interior Department.   

 

Trump’s transition website said he “will encourage the production of [fossil fuels] by opening onshore and offshore leasing on federal lands and waters.”

 

Trump, though, has professed a view of federal land ownership that is relatively moderate compared to some conservatives. 

 

In a speech this week, he said he would follow the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt and “conserve and protect our beautiful natural resources for the next generation including protecting lands.” 

 

During his presidential campaign, he said he “[doesn’t] like the idea” of transferring federal lands to states because “I want to keep the lands great, and you don’t know what the state is going to do. I mean, are they going to sell if they get into a little bit of trouble? And I don’t think it’s something that should be sold." 

McMorris Rodgers is a booster of hydropower and has pushed legislation to tackle forest fires in the West. 

She has voted in favor of expanding fossil fuel development on public lands and in federal areas off-shore. She opposes efforts to change the royalty rates on federal coal mining, something pushed hard by Obama’s Interior Department, and voted for a GOP budget that would allow the sale of public lands to mining companies. 

In the past, she has introduced legislation to require congressional approval before the president can designate a national monument, and a bill directing the Bureau of Land Management to release public lands it holds that it has deemed not suitable for wilderness status.

[Raycpa]

I was hoping he’d appoint Ron Swanson.

[Jim W N]

We who are on the Right and in the Right can sniff out these covert interlopers.

[Buffalo Head]

"Also it looks like Giuliani and Christie are out of the running for cabinet positions."

I suspect that one or the other will be offered the top FBI position shortly after January 20 when Trump has a serious discussion with James Comey.

[proud American in Canada]

‘Palin was a moron to attack Trump’s Carrier deal as “crony capitalism”...’

_______________________________________

Wow, I missed that bit of news! Why would she do that?

I thought they were close; didn’t they share a pizza at the beginning of the campaign?

[Cedar]

I've always said Sarah Palin is too good a person for corrupt Washington D.C.

She would have been a great pick for this position. But as others have already said, Sarah has much influence anyway for the good, not only in the U.S., but also world-wide. She stands for the Lord and Christian values. I appreciate the tremendous influence she is...definitely a light in this dark world.

[Democrat_media]

There still could be some place for Palin. Library I heard

[deport]

Palin on Trump Carrier deal

take your pick of articles

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=&bih=&q=palin+on+trump+carrier+deal&gbv=2&oq=palin+on+trump+carrier+deal&gs_l=heirloom-hp.3...1495.10816.0.11071.37.11.5.21.23.0.163.1394.2j9.11.0....0...1ac.1.34.heirloom-hp..17.20.1254.NfqSrrfbUA0

[catnipman]

“If you think a billion-dollar “public works” project is conservative, than I guess you think W and Hussein were conservative stalwarts too.”

whatever, dude. you should never have been unbanned, still trying to pick fights over “True Conservatism™”. You really should just go over to therightscoop.com and post there. I think you’d be much happier.

[Mase]

How to make soap.

[fortes fortuna juvat]

He may not want the constant distracting “press drama” that would occur in appointing Palin to something. It could get in the way of getting something done.
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I think that’s a very perceptive observation, and more than likely right on the money.

[ChessExpert]

“If she does not, it may be because her characterization of the Carrier deal as “Cronyism” may have ruled her out.”

I remember that. I read her exact words, and it was not that bad. Her words were misrepresented in the subsequent headlines.

[Artcore]

Maybe Sarah doesn’t want the job. She’s pretty effective right where she is at . . . as a king maker.

____________________________________

Sorry, but Sarah didn’t make Trump.

[fortes fortuna juvat]

for the next 4 years! People would forget Trump was the President
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
LOL. I don’t think anyone in the world is going to forget that Trump is the President, but Sarah is a lightning rod for controversy, and probably this is a distraction Trump does not want mucking up his administration.

[fortes fortuna juvat]

McMorris Rodgers is about as conservative as a turnip. She is Paul Ryan in a skirt.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I don’t know anything about her, but if she is as you say, why do you suppose Trump picked her?

[Organic Panic]

Did Palin ask to be picked for any position in Trump’s administration? If so great. But if not, it wasn’t a snub. In my opinion Palin is best being a free lance attack dog. She is an expert at manipulating social media and the media whores. For 9 years the libs have told us she’s the stupidest person ever, the worst person ever, a nobody, insignificant, a liar etc... BUT, she can control the news cycle for 2 weeks with a single facebook post.

Press secretary would be a blast though....

[fortes fortuna juvat]

She joined Free Traitor Mark Levin in that attack, a boneheaded move that now sees her shut out completely.
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I suspected she committed political suicide the moment I read her remarks about the Carrier initiative. On the other hand, maybe we have it backwards and she already knew she was going nowhere in Trump’s administration before she stepped in it.

[FreedomStar3028]

Sarah Palin had nothing to do with Trump winning the WH.

She has already been hyper-critical of him.

No idea why people praise her here.

[FreedomStar3028]

They shared a pizza? Isn’t that a codeword for some really sick stuff?

[FreedomStar3028]

Probably because Palin is a quitter.

[fortes fortuna juvat]

That shrill, shrieking sounding voice at his early rallies must have really turned him and his homeys off. It was off the scales bad.
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So true. She came across to me as an embarrassment, and it saddened me because I was one of her avid supporters early on. But during the campaign she just seemed way too frantic or frenzied for my tastes.