Sharpton blasts Trump over amount of Black nominees

President-elect Donald Trump has taken the nation by storm as he has appointed several cabinet members to join in on his administration. The Rev. Al Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network (NAN), has not held back on his opinions about the nominees and absence of Black appointees. Sharpton is far from pleased about the lack of African American representation within high-level administration or Trump’s cabinet. Simply put, there is only one African American cabinet member so far—Scott Turner as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
“Trump spent this campaign selling himself to Black voters, especially men, by peddling sneakers and implying his criminal convictions would resonate with our community,” said Rev. Al Sharpton. “In the two weeks since Donald Trump was elected to a second term, he has put forth a dozen troubling nominees, yet the most alarming factor in his proposed cabinet is that not a single candidate is Black.”
Former reality television star and current co-host on Fox Business, Sean Duffy, is the most recent who has been added to Trump’s cabinet. Other members include Susan Miles and a controversial choice that has caused public uproar, Matt Gaetz, who recently withdrew as Attorney General pick due to allegations of drug use and sex trafficking. Pete Hegseth and Robert F. Kennedy are also facing similar sexual misconduct allegations as some of the public question all three of their qualifications for high-level governmental titles. Rev. Al Sharpton goes on to say:
“Instead of meeting the demands of more Black voters who supported him, Donald Trump has proposed an Attorney General nominee wrapped up in an ethics probe over trafficking allegations and a Health Secretary whose views on vaccines and other safeguards could devastate our community. Right now, it appears that the self-proclaimed ‘best president for Black America since Abraham Lincoln’ has lost interest in us. The president-elect needs to put his money where his mouth is if he actually wants to deliver for Black America.” A few of the people Trump has selected so far, as of Sunday, include
• Attorney General, Matt Gaetz (Gaetz
stepped aside last week and was replaced by
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi)
• Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles
• Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi
Gabbard
• Secretary of Health and Human Services,
Robert F. Kennedy
• Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth
• Secretary of State U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio
• Ambassador of the United Nations, Elise
Stefanik
• White House Press Secretary, Karoline
Leavitt
• Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche
• White House Communications Director,
Steven Cheung
• U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of
New York, Jay Clayton
• White House Counsel, William McGinley
• U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Arkansas Gov.
Mike Huckabee
• National Security Adviser, Florida Rep.
Mike Waltz
• “Border czar,” Tom Homan
• Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy,
Stephen Miller
• Secretary of the Department of Energy,
Chris Wright
• Secretary of the Department of Veterans
Affairs, Doug Collins
• Secretary of Interior, Doug Burgman
• Secretary of Homeland Security, South
Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem
• Director of the Central Intelligence
Agency, John Ratcliffe
• Environmental Protection Agency
Administrator, Lee Zeldin
•Secretary of the Department of Commerce,
Howard Lutnik
•Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon
Trump and his controversial plans to “Make America Great Again” are intensifying as he seemingly plans to deliver on many of his talking points, such as the deportation of immigrants, the erasure of LGBTQ+ rights/enabling anti-trans policies, and enforcing police immunity—which can heavily affect African Americans who have historically experienced police brutality—without what seems like the help of Black cabinet members due to not choosing any.