Odd Choice

As I have written before, my husband and I live in Utah, have done for 26 years now. We're not here for religion but for rock climbing although my husband doesn't do much of that any more and certainly not right now as he is still recovering from his arthroscopy. But we have been here long enough to have had experiences with the local culture. That includes some encounters with the newly announced ambassador to Russia, Jon Hunstman.

All sorts of people thought Huntsman was a reasonable alternative to what was seen as a far right Republican slate. Most of us who had lived under Huntsman's relatively brief tenure as Utah's governor knew he wasn't ready to be president. Now you have to understand that here it isn't necessary to have honest accomplishments as long as one is male, Republican, and Mormon. It also helps if one comes from a family seen as putting a good face on Utah and Mormons. So we more or less understood that Jon Huntsman was a handsome smiling face, son of a very rich man, but not much more than that.  The only initiative that Huntsman succeeded as governor in putting through our state legislature was a flat tax that completely removed any burden of excess taxes from rich folks. So now, since Huntsman, everyone in Utah pays the same rate regardless if they are rich or poor. Given the egalitarian nature of early Mormon settlers, this fits in to their plan for the kingdom of Zion.

Huntsman did go on a mission to Taiwan as a teenager and did learn basic Mandarin. So as an ambassador to Singapore and China he made a little bit of sense even though he has no experience running a business, and the experience of running even a state government was out of his grasp and out of his expertise. Everyone extolled his degree from the Wharton undergraduate program at Penn even though his father had purchased that enrollment and that degree through generous gifts to the school. After all, Huntsman had never completed high school. My husband did his graduate degree at Penn and because of that we were often invited to Penn alumni events here in Utah. Huntsman attended many of the same events and at one he was invited to speak. Since at the time many people, not just Utahns, were touting him as a viable presidential candidate we were interested in what he had to say.

Both of us were flabbergasted at the speech. We couldn't decide if he was on drugs or just plain crazy. There was no content to his speech but beyond that there was no continuity. Words didn't follow words in logical order, ideas were isolated like helium balloons in the ether with no tie to statements. It was one of the more bizarre spectacles I have witnessed and husband and I walked out shaking our heads and giggling.

Now Trump has named Huntsman ambassador to Russia. He doesn't speak Russian, but he has the other requisite accomplishments. He is rich, although all of his money comes through his father; he got a degree from Penn with about the same level of work and glory as Trump's, and his wife and daughters know how to wear false eyelashes. Huntsman Chemical also has multiple contracts with Russian providers.