President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. isn’t waiting on Trump to hand him the reins. In fact, he’s moving on with his top national security picks.
On Tuesday, his transition office noted that Biden plans to name “the first Latino to lead the Department of Homeland Security, the first woman to head the intelligence community and a former secretary of state, John Kerry, to be his international climate czar,” the New York Times reports.
The plan is for the soon-to-be president to nominate Alejandro Mayorkas to be his secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and Avril Haines to be his director of national intelligence.
Where has John Kerry been? Who knows, but I can tell you that he’ll be named the special presidential envoy on climate. Biden will nominate Antony J. Blinken to be secretary of state and Jake Sullivan as national security adviser.
Biden is also expected to nominate “Linda Thomas-Greenfield to be ambassador to the United Nations and restore the job to cabinet-level status, giving Ms. Thomas-Greenfield, an African-American woman, a seat on his National Security Council,” the Times reports.
And why is Biden naming his staff when President Trump has yet to concede? Because he’s the goddamn president-elect of America and it doesn’t matter what Trump or his followers say because the votes have been cast and y’all lost.
And I’m not trying to rub it in; I’m trying to pour white cookout lemonade in the wound.
There is a difference.
The Times notes that Biden has kept a commitment to diversity, including both race and gender, which, when it comes to foreign policy and national security, has been overly represented by white men.
But as The Root’s Ishena Robinson pointed out in her piece, “Fuck Rahm Emanuel”...I mean, “Rahm Emanuel Reportedly Being Considered for Biden’s Cabinet, a Choice That Would Be a Slap in the Face to Black Voters” in which she wrote:
It would knock the air out of any hope that Biden as president will be more than just not-Trump, and head up an administration that promotes at least some progressive policies that will better the lives of the most marginalized in this country.
Ultimately, Biden selecting Emanuel for his cabinet would be a decision to betray the people who keep showing up for a democracy that so often does not show up for them.
You hear that, Biden?
No, seriously, do you hear that, Biden?