The roll-out of Donald Trump’s running mate didn’t go as smoothly as planned, which may have something to do with rumors about the Republican candidate “rolling out the names of potential cabinet members” as a way of recapturing some hype.
And who, pray tell, does the presumptive GOP nominee have in mind? Fortune reports today that Trump already has his eye on a prospective Treasury Secretary.
Donald Trump has told prospective donors that, if elected president, he plans to nominate former Goldman Sachs banker Steve Mnuchin for U.S. Treasury Secretary.That’s according to Anthony Scaramucci, a high-profile hedge fund manager and Trump fundraiser. Mnuchin, who is a former donor to Hillary Clinton, spent 17 years with Goldman Sachs, where his father also had been a prominent executive…. Earlier this year, the 53-year-old Mnuchin joined Donald Trump’s campaign as national finance chairman.
Obviously, this is a long way from being definite, and Fortune‘s report hasn’t been independently confirmed by NBC News. That said, if Mnuchin is Trump’s idea of the ideal Treasury Secretary, his nomination would be the subject of considerable controversy.
We know, for example, that Trump has spent months bashing politicians in both parties for being overly cozy with Wall Street. Trump nevertheless made Mnuchin, “who spent 17 years working for Goldman Sachs before launching his own hedge fund,” as the chairman of his campaign’s national finance team.
This was itself a departure from Trump’s alleged principles. The candidate last year slammed hedge-fund managers as “paper pushers” who are “getting away with murder.” Mnuchin is precisely the kind of guy Trump claims to have no use for.
But that’s really just part of what makes this story unique.
As Rachel explained on the show in May, Steven Mnuchin is perhaps best known for being one of the most villainous vultures of the 2008 financial collapse — up to and including having protesters find out where he lived and marching to his $26 million mansion, pleading with him not to foreclose on them as he made billions off their misery.
He’s the guy Trump has in mind to lead the Treasury Department?
Tell me again about the Republican candidate running on a populist platform.
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Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."