A Game Played At The Highest Level

Perhaps it’s a little early to note, but associating with Trump is rather like Chutes and Ladders. Consider the fate of Alabama Senator Luther Strange:

1. AG (Attorney General) for the State of Alabama.
2. Temporarily appointed to the Senate seat held by Jeff Sessions (more about anon).
3. And just last Tuesday, the loser of the GOP primary race for the permanent replacement of Sessions.

In a couple of months he’ll be out of work.

Or consider his predecessor, Jeff Sessions:

1. The distinguished Senator from Alabama, if holder of retrograde views on marijuana.
2. Nominated and confirmed as AG of the Nation, surely a high achievement.
3. Then: Hated and Despised by Trump after recusing himself from the Russian investigation.
4. Soon to be fired?

I’ve had a theory that Trump is so angry at him that he has NOT fired the man, simply so he couldn’t turn around and run for his old Senate seat again. Now that the primary is over, would Sessions run as an independent? Could he be elected even against a Democrat at this point?

And then there’s Dr. Tom Price, current HHS Secretary:

1. 12 years as Representative for Georgia’s 6th.
2. Selection as HHS Secretary.
3. Now caught up in a misuse of public funds scandal. His only hope is that his former colleagues continue to find ethics scandals to be invisible.

Will he have gone from Representative to Unemployed soon?

And an up and coming entrant might be Interior Secretary Zinke:

1. One term as the lone Montana Congressional representative.
2. Nominated and confirmed as Interior Secretary.
3. Has provoked outrage since taking over at Interior, which is not surprising since the League of Conservation Voters gave him a score of 4% during his tenure as Representative.

If he were tipped out of the Cabinet, he could run against current Montana Rep Gianforte – but he’d have to risk getting punched out, a sad ending to his short and undistinguished political career. “Bounced by Gianforte” is not a good political epitaph.

All in all, it’s beginning to look like associating with Trump is equivalent to getting the Black Death.