Ok, Trump Administration rant time. Let me explain why shipbuilding is screwed. I have been offered at least a half dozen jobs in this Administration. I did not ask for a single one. I did not lobby for a single one. They came to me & I reluctantly said yes, I will serve my nation. Fingerprints. Background investigations. Interviews with security agents. Legal reviews. Selling my entire stock portfolio, hundreds of man hours. All for jobs I never wanted. And all of it stonewalled by some SES somewhere that cabinet members can’t push through. Technically I’m still “in processing” for one of them, an SGE position, but my “Management Support Officer” stopped answering emails & calls in April. Ghosted. Fine. IDC. But there is one job I have asked for since Trump pulled ahead in the Republican primaries: Deputy Commandant of the US Merchant Marine. It matters to my service & it is the office legally in charge of shipbuilding. All three front runners for the Commandant position promised to fight for me. The problem was that @SecDuffy, like every other cabinet member, refused to fire the previous SES & staff. And nobody hates anyone in DC more than @PeteButtigieg’s former staff hates me. So DOT staff still loyal to Pete said “hell no,” and Duffy handed the job to a congressional staffer instead. A guy who left the Merchant Marine at O3. “He’s extremely smart, John” “Everyone loves him” “This guy is really going to fight for our nation” “He has a law degree” Fine. Have him call me, I said. He refused. Never once dropped a dime. And guess what happened? He abruptly quit. He didn’t just quit. He left to make bank as CEO of a lobbying firm representing FOREIGN SHIPPING interests. I realize I’m “toxic.” I realize half of DC hates me. I understand my wife is a liberal who has donated to Democrats. I get that WAPO has run articles explaining what a terrible person I am. I get that I can be an ahole. I happen to think the secretaries of the services SHOULD be very nice people. The deputies should be aholes who get sh!t done. That’s how a ship works. The captain is nice. The mate is not. But that’s not what angers me. I don’t want to move to the swamp anyway. I enjoy making lots of money. What angers me is that there are extraordinarily talented people who have donated thousands of hours to this fight, loyal to the Admin, whom PPO & Duffy still won’t nominate. @brentdsadler, who launched the working group that became the SHIPS Act and works at the most pro-MAGA think tank in DC. Dr. @mercoglianos, universally loved, knows more about the USMM than anyone alive, and a decorated USMM war veteran. @TomDansCFA, who has fought for the USMM for years and whose twin brother masterminded Project 2025. @Admiral_Foggo, a four star who could be collecting board fees & instead works tirelessly at a nonprofit to get ships built. @cdrsalamander, who has been fighting DEI and fighting for USMM ships for twenty years. @maphumanintent, already in the administration, already served as an assistant secretary. The list goes on and on. AND THIS POSITION REQUIRES NO SENATE CONFIRMATION. It’s a direct appointment. Yet it has sat vacant for MONTHS. And not just vacant. The entire community endorsed a candidate, an active duty Navy officer. @HungCao_VA pushed for the guy himself. But there was lawfare against him. DoW investigated it. The court dismissed it as BS. He has worked in the White House. He works on sensitive intelligence right now. PPO still refused to take the chance. “The press might find out and hang us.” F “the press” NOBODY IN THE PRESS gives two sh!ts about the USMM. Nobody except gCaptain which loves the guy. “Too much political risk.” So now we wait for them to find another useless staffer DOT can horse trade for broken promises of cooperation. CONGRESS can’t even pass the SAVE Act. And nobody wants this job, not even me anymore. So we don’t have the #1 position that can push to unite Navy & USMM shipbuilding.