Rick Scott (State of Florida)

By now it’s pretty obvious that President Donald Trump hires the worst possible person for the job. It’s not the best people, it’s the worst. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is a great example. She’s in charge of the Education Department even though she has never worked in public education, either as a teacher or an administrator. Her track record in education consists of lobbying to get government money for religious schools and wrecking the education system in her home state of Michigan. Even though DeVos lobbied heavily for the expansion of charter schools in her state, the academic outcomes of the students in these schools only showed a minimal increase.

“The results of this free-for-all have been tragic for Michigan children, and especially for those in Detroit, where 79% of the state’s charters are located,” said Valerie Strauss in a Washington Post article. “A yearlong Free Press investigation found that 20 years after Michigan’s charter school experiment began, Detroit’s charter schools have shown themselves to be only incrementally stronger, on average, than traditional public schools. They have admirable graduation rates, but test scores that look nearly identical to those of public schools.”

Now, DeVos seems to be trying to do the same thing on a national scale. Her lack of experience in education is obvious anytime she opens her mouth. She recently embarrassed herself when she claimed bigger class sizes could enhance a student’s experience. She also cited no information to back this up.

But DeVos isn’t the only one. Hope Hicks, the vapid former head of White House communications, had never worked in politics before Trump tapped her to oversee media for his campaign. Previously, she worked as a model and did PR for the Trump organization. And we all know how that turned out.

Trump is also rumored to be considering naming former Kansas Sec. of State Kris Kobach as “immigration czar.” Kobach is a white nationalist who pioneered voter suppression laws in his home state. FOX News commentator Lou Dobbs recently urged Kobach to start detaining migrants in prison camps! I dread to think what he will do with the powers of the federal government behind him.

“Scott resigned as CEO in July 1997, less than four months after the inquiry became public. Company executives said had Scott remained CEO, the entire chain could have been in jeopardy,” said PolitiFact. The wise residents of Florida decided to overlook this small fact and elected him twice as governor and recently made him a senator. But that was a regional issue. Now Trump wants to put him in charge of overhauling health insurance? Scott represents everything wrong with the system. He oversaw a company that drove up costs. That’s the exact problem with health care in this country.

Trump often seems to hire the first person he knows, because it doesn’t require much thought. He once tried to make his personal pilot, John Dunkin, head of the Federal Aviation Administration.

However, Trump’s latest choice is shocking. He has tapped Voldemort look-alike Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) to oversee the GOP’s nonexistent replacement for Obamacare. If that doesn’t scare you, Scott’s background should. Before he became governor of Florida, Scott served as CEO of Columbia/HCA, a health insurance company. Just before he resigned, the company settled a case with the government for overbilling Medicare to the tune of $1.7 billion! And it wasn’t a moment too soon, according to PolitiFact.

“Scott resigned as CEO in July 1997, less than four months after the inquiry became public. Company executives said had Scott remained CEO, the entire chain could have been in jeopardy,” said PolitiFact.

The wise residents of Florida decided to overlook this small fact and elected him twice as governor and recently made him a senator.

But that was a regional issue. Now Trump wants to put him in charge of overhauling health insurance. Scott represents everything wrong with the system. He oversaw a company that drove up costs. That’s the exact problem with health care in this country. Since it’s run as a for-profit business, the only way companies can make money is by squeezing the consumers. That kind of track record doesn’t fill me with confidence.

Also, Scott is your average hypocritical Republican. While he might claim he’s for smaller government, he makes sure government contracts line his pockets. As governor, he signed an executive order requiring everyone on public assistance and all state employees to be drug tested. And it just so happened Solantic, the company that got the contract for the testing, was owned by his wife! As I’ve said before, Republicans claim they hate the government, but they love those government checks. Scott’s drug testing crusade turned out to be a waste of time and money. Only 2 percent of the people tested were found to have drugs in their system. But Scott’s wife’s company got $400,000 worth of business. The state also spent $400,000 defending the case after they were sued by the ACLU.

It’s amazing someone with Scott’s track record managed to get elected governor and a U.S. senator, but the idea of him crafting national health care policy is plain ridiculous. Whatever plan he concocts is likely to provide poor service while further enriching him. Scott has a track record of ripping off the government, let’s not give him another chance.

The long-term goal of these shysters overseeing major government agencies is to deliberately run them into the ground. Then conservatives can turn around, declare these organizations are incompetent and farm out their duties to contractors — who also happen to be their cronies. DeVos’ brother, Erik Prince, a long-term operator of mercenary companies like Blackwater, has lobbied Trump to outsource America’s wars claiming he can run them better. But Prince is really after a bigger share of the Pentagon’s military budget.

In the real world, if you screw up royally, like DeVos and Scott, it’s usually the end or at least a black mark on your career. But not in Trump world. Run a company into the ground and Trump moves you to the front of the line.