Some Mississippi Gulf Coast residents are voicing concerns about a number of President-Elect Donald Trump’s picks for his cabinet. About 40 coast residents attended a rally in Gulfport on Monday evening to protest some of the nominees and their stance on climate change.
"Trump's cabinet is a joke, climage change is not a hoax!" Protesters chanted in the gathering cold and dusk in front of the federal courthouse in Gulfport, where Senator Thad Cochran has his Gulf Coast office. Organizer Jennifer Crosslin with the Steps Coalition said their major concerns were some of the nominees' ties to the fossil fuel industry and denial of climate change.
“We fear that they will continue to put profits over people and deny what is the truth, and pretty much sacrifice our communities and the future of this planet," Crosslin says. She urged those in attendance to call their senators, who will be among those who vote to confirm the nominees in the coming weeks.
“We are one of many groups across the nation that are taking a stand today," she adds. "Thousands of protesters are taking their fight to the street, the fight to protect the climate and our future.”
Crosslin pointed in particular to some of the environmental nominees. These Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt at the EPA and former Texas Governor Rick Perry for energy secretary, as well as Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State.
Long Beach resident Peter McCarthy says he also has concerns about Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama for attorney general.
“Almost all of the cabinet members that have been chosen don’t seem to reflect a very insightful treatment of the position," he says. "They are people who have been adamantly opposed to many of these agencies that now they’re going to be heading. It seems like creating an adversarial type of relationshiop fromt eh beginning poses almost no chance to succeed.”
Confirmation hearings for some nominees are expected to begin today.
