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In Yet Another Twist Almost Too Bizarre To Be Believed, Trump’s Nominee For Defense Secretary Leaves Before Facing Hearings
Which begs the question: is there a ever vetting process beyond Trump just likes the guy?
Patrick Shanahan’s qualifications for the job were roundly questioned when Trump first named him acting Defense Secretary. Not so much because he didn’t have intricate knowledge of defense systems and the military, but because of his deep ties to a single contractor: Boeing, where he’d spent more than 3 decades before coming over to the Trump Administration.
Shanahan seemed to have risen above that initial doubt and proven to be a good egg. And seemed to default a lot less on the world stage toward belligerence and threats of violence than Trump’s National Security Adviser John Bolton or Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. (And usually, it’s the other way around.)
Shanahan went so far as to put out a strongly worded admonition to the armed forces as a whole, after a Navy destroyer bearing John McCain’s name was deliberately concealed during Trump recent Japan visit. (An incident Trump says never happened.) In it, Shanahan wrote:
“Regardless of whether civilian employees may engage in political activity, they may never…
