With seemingly nothing else better to report with regards to U.S. politics Tuesday, CBS Evening News chose to whine about how President-Elect Donald Trump’s cabinet is comprised of millionaires and billionaires. “He's nearly finished with his cabinet, and outside national security, the billionaire president has surrounded himself with billionaires,” remarked Anchor Scott Pelley leading into Julianna Goldman’s report.
“As he traveled the cross the country on his thank you tour, President-Elect Donald Trump touted his choices for his cabinet and inner circle, a team historians say is the richest in U.S. history,” Goldman reported, as if it was somehow tainting Trump’s presidency.
“How rich? CBS news estimates seven of Mr. Trump's picks are worth a combined $11.5 billion,” she exclaimed, before rattling off the net worth of Trump’s selections:
Betsy DeVos, nominated for secretary of education, comes from a family worth more than $5 billion. Linda McMahon, picked small-business administrator, has family wealth worth $ 1.2 billion. And Vincent Viola, Mr. Trump's choice for army secretary, is worth $1.77 billion… Steve Mnuchin, Mr. Trump’s Treasury pick, has been estimated to be worth as much as $655 million.
Goldman leaned on Senator, and failed presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders to slam Trump. She played clips of Sanders on CBS’s Face the Nation where he chided Trump for their wealth and claimed he could not properly fight the political establishment with them on board. “Critics, like Senator Bernie Sanders, say Mr. Trump's choices fly in the face of his populist campaign message,” she argued.
The CBS reporter seemed to try to dismiss the idea that these wealthy people could care about the poor, “[Steve Mnuchin] and Commerce Secretary Nominee Wilbur Ross, worth $2.5 billion, recently said they were attuned to the plight of working Americans.” She then played a clip of Ross discussing how all jobs are not created equal, the set up painted the comments as somehow out of touch.
Wrapping up her report she noted that cabinet members do tend to be rich, but touted former presidents, saying, “Neither President Obama nor President George W. Bush had a single billionaire in their first cabinet.”
The left’s demonization of success and wealth originates from a false belief that the rich became so through underhanded and unethical means, especially those who associate with the right. It’s an extension of the belief expressed by President Barack Obama that “you didn’t build that.”
Transcript below:
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CBS Evening News
December 20, 2016
6:36:45 PM EasternSCOTT PELLEY: Well, one month from today, Donald Trump will be inaugurated. He's nearly finished with his cabinet, and outside national security, the billionaire president has surrounded himself with billionaires. Julianna Goldman reports.
[Cuts to video]
DONALD TRUMP: Are we doing a good job with our cabinet and our people?
JULIANNA GOLDMAN: As he traveled the cross the country on his thank you tour, President-Elect Donald Trump touted his choices for his cabinet and inner circle, a team historians say is the richest in U.S. history.
TRUMP: And one newspaper criticized me "Why can't they have people of modest means?" Because I want people that made a fortune because now they're negotiating with you. Okay?
GOLDMAN: How rich? CBS news estimates seven of Mr. Trump's picks are worth a combined $11.5 billion. Betsy DeVos, nominated for secretary of education, comes from a family worth more than $5 billion. Linda McMahon, picked small-business administrator, has family wealth worth $ 1.2 billion. And Vincent Viola, Mr. Trump's choice for army secretary, is worth $1.77 billion.
BERNIE SANDERS: I guess got a-- they have a few poor millionaires on it, but mostly it's billionaires.
GOLDMAN: Critics, like Senator Bernie Sanders, say Mr. Trump's choices fly in the face of his populist campaign message.
SANDERS: When you don’t appoint a cabinet of billionaires to be taking on the establishment.
GOLDMAN: Steve Mnuchin, Mr. Trump’s Treasury pick, has been estimated to be worth as much as $655 million. He and Commerce Secretary Nominee Wilbur Ross, worth $2.5 billion, recently said they were attuned to the plight of working Americans.
WILBUR ROSS: It's also not true that all jobs are created equal. A guy who used to work in the steel mill now flipping hamburgers, he knows it's not the same.
[Cuts back to live]
GOLDMAN: Having millionaire and billionaire cabinet secretaries is not unprecedented. They tend to attract slots at the Treasury and Commerce Departments, but, Scott, neither President Obama nor President George W. Bush had a single billionaire in their first cabinet.
PELLEY: Julianna Goldman on the transition. Julianna, thank you.
