The President Elect, Donald Trump, it turns out, is quite a trickster. What is jokester? He’s always making mischief. Now he’s using his cabinet nominations to mess with the media and also, whether he realizes it or not, by extension, mess with the American people, with a Rapid Fire series of laughably unqualified nominees for various positions, each one more absurd than the previous one. Trump is creating distractions and making a mockery of something that Republicans were supposed to consider sacred merit. You remember merit? Sure you do. Republicans invoke that word all the time when they’re trying to deny opportunities to women and people of color and defend the rights of America’s one true victim class, those poor, beleaguered white men, Republicans absolutely worship at the altar of May the best man win, with an emphasis on man, whatever people like Trump whine about the unfairness of affirmative action programs to take race into account in college admissions, or the unseemliness of President Biden promising To choose a black woman as a running mate, or the awkwardness of that same black woman later running for president herself and threatening to break the glass ceiling, or dei programs that encourage clutch the pearls diversity, equity and inclusion. Whenever any of those issues come up, the first word out of the right wing is always the same merit. See in the eyes of many conservatives, particularly white male conservatives, if the job, the slot, the gig, the nomination or the appointment does not go to a white male Well, obviously the game is rigged. Move over God for Republicans seeking to maintain the status quo, their motto has always been in merit we trust. Well, not anymore. That’s over with. There’s no more need for merit in Washington. Trump killed it, and he did it through his Cabinet picks, which looked like they came straight out of the pages of Mad Magazine. You would be hard pressed to find a less meritorious, less qualified bunch anywhere what me worry? Yes, I damn well better worry. And you should worry too if the Republican controlled Senate caves in and gives up on its role of advice and consent, preferring instead to go with acquiesce and confirm see Trump wants former representative Tulsi Gabbard, Democrat from Hawaii, a known Russian sympathizer, to serve as director of national intelligence. He thinks South Dakota Governor Christie, no one whose state is 1400 miles away from the US Mexico border would make a swell Secretary of Homeland Security. Trump loves television and celebrity, so he can’t think of a better choice for secretary of defense than Cable News host and veteran Pete hegseth, and who has a better handle on our criminal justice system than Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, an accused pedophile and sex trafficker who Trump believes would be a perfect fit for us, Attorney General. Finally, the Department of Health and Human Services protects public health, so who better to lead it than someone who made doctors consider a serious threat to public health? Robert F Kennedy Jr, the names kept coming all week long, and they were just getting worse. So I got to say, by the time we got to caddy at the end of the week, Noam was starting to look pretty good. She looked like Mother Teresa Margaret Thatcher and Sandra Day O’Connor all wrapped up into one person. What happened to the sanctity of merit? Where did that go? It looks like sometime during this carnival side show, Merritt caught the four o’clock train to get the heck out of here. It’s pretty obvious by now, the only qualification that Trump really cares about is blind loyalty to Trump and the President Elect’s motley crew of misfit toys is plenty loyal. They’re going to stand next to this guy come hell or high water. They can’t afford to let him get away. After all, given that they all lack merit, where else are they going to go? Who else is going to book this bizarre Act? As far as I know, the circus isn’t in town, or is it i.