Idiots in Charge

Remember Ben Carson? Who is now secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and displays all the acumen he showed while running for president. NYT, via Joe.My.God.:

Ben Carson does not like the creature comforts, at least not for low-income Americans reliant on the government for a helping hand. As he toured facilities for the poor in Ohio last week, Mr. Carson, the neurosurgeon-turned-housing secretary, joked that a relatively well-appointed apartment complex for veterans lacked “only pool tables.” He inquired at one stop whether animals were allowed.

At yet another, he nodded, plainly happy, as officials explained how they had stacked dozens of bunk beds inside a homeless shelter and purposefully did not provide televisions. Compassion, Mr. Carson explained in an interview, means not giving people “a comfortable setting that would make somebody want to say: ‘I’ll just stay here. They will take care of me.’”

Like the rest of the Trump regime, Carson has an adversarial relationship with reality. As one commenter pointed out, if someone on public assistance manages to get a job, it's likely going to be minimum wage, and even at full time, it won't be enough to make ends meet -- plus they lose things like Medicaid and their housing and a few other things, like food stamps.

But simple solutions seem to appeal to simple minds.

There's also one other aspect of this that seems to be common among contemporary Republicans. Commenter fuzzybits nailed it:

A devotee of the Paul Ryan school of compassion.