Trump plunges into 'swamp' he promised to 'drain'

Donald Trump promised to "drain the swamp" if elected president. But judging by his Cabinet picks, he's fishing from that swamp, not draining it.

Of the dozen people Trump has nominated for Cabinet positions, five are either former or current members of Congress, worked for previous administrations or now hold office. One is a former executive at Goldman Sachs, the sort of Wall Street firm Trump said was "part of the global power structure" that had hurt working-class people.

One is a general, another is a governor, and one is married to the top Republican in the Senate. Almost all are white. All but three are men.

"This isn't draining the swamp," Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said this week. "It's stocking it with alligators."

And it's far from what Trump repeatedly pledged during the campaign. In an Oct. 18 campaign speech where he outlined a series of reforms, Trump said, "decades of failure in Washington, and decades of special interest dealing, must come to an end. We have to break the cycle of corruption, and we have to give new voices a chance to go into government service."

"He ran against people who rigged the system, but he's going to rig it even further," said Robert Weissman, president of the Public Citizen advocacy group. "When you bring in people like billionaire investors and lobbyists, you're embodying the problem that you alleged that you were going to cure."

Here is a look at the people Trump has picked to "break the cycle of corruption."

Attorney general:

Sen. Jeff Sessions

Even though Trump mocked Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton for putting in three decades of public service during which "nothing's changed," he nominated Sessions, R-Ala., to be the nation's top law enforcement official. Sessions has served twice as long in the Senate as Clinton did and has spent almost four decades -- his entire adult life -- in public service.

Why Trump picked him: Sessions was the first senator to support him and has long backed the sort of tough immigration laws Trump rode to victory. Both want to start by deporting criminals who are in the country illegally.

Change-making potential: California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, worries about how Sessions will decide what constitutes criminal behavior worth deportation. In a call to Courage Campaign activists this week, de León wondered whether it will be a "mom who has a taillight out?" Backed by a GOP Congress and president, Sessions' power will be immense.

Treasury secretary: Steve Mnuchin

In August, Trump said, "We can't fix a rigged system by relying on the people who rigged it in the first place." So it seems odd that he nominated Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs executive who went on to found a hedge fund. He then bought a distressed California bank, renamed it OneWest Bank and turned it into a "foreclosure machine" that foreclosed on 36,000 homeowners in California, according to the California Reinvestment Coalition. Sixty-eight percent of the foreclosures were in communities where more than half of the population were people of color, a 2015 coalition study found.

Why Trump picked him: Trump called Mnuchin "a world-class financier, banker and businessman, and has played a key role in developing our plan to build a dynamic, booming economy." Even if he is a Wall Street guy. Then again, President Obama nominated two former Wall Street executives to be Treasury secretary, and President George W. Bush tapped one, too.

Change-making potential: Hours after being officially nominated, Mnuchin was promising to cut the corporate tax rate from 35 to 15 percent, which the GOP-dominated Congress will probably back. He also promised middle-class tax cuts. But nonpartisan analyses of Trump's tax plan said it would blow a massive hole in the federal budget and disproportionately benefit the wealthy. Consumer protections laid out in the Dodd-Frank law governing Wall Street could be in jeopardy, too.

Health and Human Services secretary: Rep. Tom Price

Trump's pick is a Tea Party conservative who has spent a dozen years in the House representing a suburban Georgia district. Before that, the orthopedic surgeon was a state legislator for several years.

Why Trump picked him: Price, in Trump's eyes, is "exceptionally qualified to shepherd our commitment to repeal and replace Obamacare and bring affordable and accessible health care to every American."

Change-making potential: Price not only loathes Obamacare and wants to dismantle it, he knows health care policy and has proposed one of the more detailed GOP plans to replace the Affordable Care Act. Much of it is included in House Speaker Paul Ryan's "A Better Way" policy blueprint that will be the GOP's road map to passing conservative legislation. He also is strongly antiabortion rights, co-sponsoring a bill that passed the House last year that would ban abortions after 20 weeks.

Housing and Urban Development secretary: Ben Carson

By Trump's standards, the upside of possible nominee Carson is that the retired neurosurgeon is not of Washington. The downside: "Dr. Carson feels he has no government experience, he's never run a federal agency. The last thing he would want to do was take a position that could cripple the presidency." Carson's business manager said that last month.

Why Trump picked him: Carson, who is beloved by the GOP base for his inspirational rags-to-riches biography, is a possible pick because he stood by Trump early -- even after Trump alluded to Carson's "pathological temper" during the campaign.

Change-making potential: When asked recently on Fox News "What do you know about doing this?" Carson replied, "I know that I grew up in the inner city and spent a lot of time there and dealt with a lot of patients there." And while he knows little about housing policy, he wrote last year that he loathes part of the Fair Housing Act. Carson still hasn't accepted the offer.

Education secretary:

Betsy DeVos

During the campaign, Trump said that because he was "totally self-funding" his campaign -- that was false -- he wouldn't have to bring the donor class into his administration. Except, apparently, for DeVos, billionaire heir to the Amway fortune and a longtime GOP donor.

Why Trump picked her: Even though DeVos endorsed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in the GOP primary, Trump said he sees her as someone who will "break the bureaucracy that is holding our children back so that we can deliver world-class education and school choice."

Change-making potential: If confirmed, it would be hard to find an education secretary so committed to school choice, options other than public schools. And backed by a GOP Congress and White House -- many of whom want to fold the entire department -- she could have a lot of power in elevating charter and private schools and school voucher programs.

Commerce secretary:

Wilbur Ross

Billionaire private equity investor Ross is known for taking chances on distressed industries. Working-class voters in Ohio may appreciate how his 2002 investment in a dying steel operation there saved jobs. But some West Virginians blame him for not responding to hundreds of safety violations at his Sago Mine, where 12 miners died in a 2006 accident.

Why Trump picked him: "Wilbur Ross is a champion of American manufacturing and knows how to help companies succeed," said Trump, who has promised to bring back lost coal- and steel-industry jobs. "Most importantly, he is one of the greatest negotiators I have ever met."

Change-making potential: Ross said the nation needs to be "tougher" when making trade pacts, ensuring that any deal improves America's trade deficit. But if tougher negotiating means putting tariffs on goods coming from unfriendly trade partners, Ross could find himself defending an international trade war.

Transportation secretary: Elaine Chao

Chao is a special type of Washington insider. Not only was she the only member of President George W. Bush's Cabinet to serve two terms, as secretary of labor, she also is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Why Trump picked her: If Trump indeed wants to pass an infrastructure bill, which could mean jobs in the industrial heartland for Americans that supported him, Chao's experience and her McConnell connection could come in handy.

Change-making potential: High, if Chao's infrastructure plan brings in jobs. But getting Trump's plan through the Tea Party-influenced House will be tough.

United Nations ambassador: South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley

Haley is Trump's nominee, even though she criticized him during the primary for not speaking out more forcefully against the Ku Klux Klan and for contributing to "irresponsible talk." Trump ripped Haley for being "very weak" on immigration.

Why Trump picked her: Haley is a young star in the GOP and one of the party's few women of color in a top role. Trump said he likes that she "is also a proven deal maker, and we look to be making plenty of deals."

Change-making potential: Given Trump's penchant for ill-informed, off-the-cuff remarks -- like questioning America obligations to NATO -- Haley will have a lot of long days at the office defending some of those international deals.

CIA director: Rep. Mike Pompeo

Another Washington politician, the three-term Kansas GOP representative was one of the loudest voices accusing Clinton of wrongdoing in connection with the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Several investigations cleared her.

Why Trump hired him: Trump praised the Harvard Law School-educated Pompeo -- who graduated first in his class at West Point -- as someone who "spent his life fighting for the security of our citizens."

Change-making potential: Huge, as Pompeo wants the federal government to return to the bulk collection of phone records. Pompeo was very critical of an investigation by California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein that criticized the CIA's harsh interrogation tactics. Pompeo said the report, "made America less safe, that is this release will ultimately cause Americans to be killed."

National security adviser:

Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn

Even though Trump repeatedly said that he knows "more than the generals" about Islamic State during the campaign, he tapped a retired general to be his top adviser on security.

Why Trump picked him: He was Trump's national security adviser during the campaign, and they share many strong views about Muslims. Trump has called for banning all Muslims from entering the U.S. -- a position he has since softened somewhat -- and Flynn believes "radical Islamic terrorism" poses an existential threat to the U.S. He once tweeted: "Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL."

Change-making potential: Would a more aggressive stance toward Islamic State mean more U.S. military personnel in combat situations in the Middle East?

Chief of staff: Reince Priebus

Next to the president, there is no bigger job in an administration than chief of staff. And there is no bigger insider than Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Why Trump picked him: Because Priebus was steadfastly loyal to Trump throughout the darkest days of the campaign, even when establishment Republicans wanted nothing to do with Trump.

Change-making potential: Low, given his establishment pedigree.

Defense secretary: Gen. Mike Mattis

During his victory-lap rally Thursday in Ohio, Trump confirmed that Mattis, a retired Marine general and visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, is his pick to be secretary of defense.

Why Trump picked him: Mattis, who led the U.S. Central Command from 2010 to 2013, supports Trump's position that the country's "disengagement" from the Middle East under Obama has led to the rise of Islamic extremism there. He comes highly recommended by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. "They say he's the closest thing we have to Gen. George Patton, and it's about time," Trump said of Mattis.

Change-making potential: While Mattis comes highly recommended, he also disagrees with Trump on Russia -- Mattis takes a tougher stand on Russian military advances -- and he's not ready to tear up the Iran nuclear deal, as the president-elect has suggested. He co-edited a new book, "Warriors and Citizens: American Views of Our Military," with another Hoover fellow, Kori Schake, a senior policy adviser to the 2008 McCain presidential campaign who voted for Clinton "with great reservations." Another big difference with Trump: Mattis doesn't own a television.

Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicle's senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli

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