Andy Puzder is a masterly pick for Trump's Secretary of Labor, given that the real objective is to wreck the Department of Labor.
If you can't find an extant slave owner for the job, picking a crony capitalist whose interests are to keep labor as cheap as possible is a fantastic move.
Puzder owns fast food restaurants, well known for their excellent wages and benefits and career prospects. He is opposed to any substantial increases in the minimum wage (it would hurt his wallet). He also cares so much about his workers that he has opposed rules which would make more workers eligible for overtime pay. You see, if workers are paid more, then Puzder will hire fewer of them. In 2012, Puzder's own salary and other compensation amounted to $4.485 million. But did he demand overtime pay? You bet your ass he did not.
Puzder, the newest member of the demolition derby administration, is also going to be the guardian of women's rights in the labor market! I can't stop laughing.
Here's how much he loves us women:
Consider the infamous Carl’s Jr. ads. You may remember them—the spots featured scantily-clad celebrities like Kate Upton and Paris Hilton eating the company’s burgers in graphic closeup. The ads, which have been repeatedly compared to porn, inspired boycotts and criticism.So. Puzder wants to use ads to teach young boys the proper objectification of women.
Puzder’s response? “We believe in putting hot models in our commercials, because ugly ones don’t sell burgers,” said the CEO in a 2011 press release. “We target hungry guys, and we get young kids that want to be young hungry guys.”
But then Donald J. Trump broke that thin veneer of pretense we had going for a few decades, the idea that out-and-out sexists just might suffer some negative consequences. Now pretty much anything goes in the grab-your-burger-and-pussy administration.
Also, there is this: Puzder joins the growing group of men in the Trump administration who have been accused of assaulting women. Perhaps the accusations are baseless? Who knows for sure, but I'm still agog at the lack of screening the Trump transitioning team demonstrates.
On the other hand, Trump himself sets an example of how women are going to be properly judged in the new Trump Reich: Hotness matters and that's it. A bit like curries on a menu.
Oh, and one more question: How is this administration shaping up to help those angry white working class voters in the Rust Belt who voted for Change? I guess change they are getting.