EARLY RETURNS ON TRUMP’S APPOINTMENTS ARE GOOD
Donald Trump has been appointing members of his transition team, appointments that presumably foreshadow the ultimate composition of his administration. So far, I have been impressed by his choices. A case in point is Myron Ebell, who will lead Trump’s EPA transition team. The headline says it all: “Trump Picks Top Climate Skeptic to Lead EPA Transition.”
Donald Trump has selected one of the best-known climate skeptics to lead his U.S. EPA transition team, according to two sources close to the campaign.Myron Ebell, director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute, is spearheading Trump’s transition plans for EPA, the sources said.The Trump team has also lined up leaders for its Energy Department and Interior Department teams. Republican energy lobbyist Mike McKenna is heading the DOE team; former Interior Department solicitor David Bernhardt is leading the effort for that agency, according to sources close to the campaign.Ebell is a well-known and polarizing figure in the energy and environment realm. His participation in the EPA transition signals that the Trump team is looking to drastically reshape the climate policies the agency has pursued under the Obama administration. Ebell’s role is likely to infuriate environmentalists and Democrats but buoy critics of Obama’s climate rules.
This could hardly be better. It suggests that Trump is willing to stand up to the bullies in the EPA and the environmental movement generally. Fantastic news, if that really is what it means.
Perhaps the most important question about Trump’s administration is, what will his economic policies turn out to be? On the campaign trail, Trump often didn’t sound like an orthodox conservative on the economy. Yet I was encouraged by my interview with Steve Moore of the Heritage Foundation when I guest hosted the Laura Ingraham show yesterday. The first hour of the program is below. It starts with my monologue on the election, and the interview with Moore begins at 18:40.
The whole hour is interesting, I think, but the Moore interview particularly so for what it tells us about Trump’s economic policies. If you are a conservative, you will like what you hear. Steve names Larry Kudlow as another of Trump’s key economic advisers and lists repatriation, reform of corporate tax rates, repeal of Dodd-Frank and rejection of job-killing climate deals among the incoming administration’s objectives. As you will see, Steve Moore is still giddy about the economic prospects he sees as a result of Trump’s election: (use link to listen to audio)
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