-Many of President Trump's nominees
to top government positions have been questionable,
but perhaps none more so than his choice to head
the Department of Energy, Rick Perry,
who once wanted to abolish the very agency he's now leading.
So we decided to take a break
from the breaking news of the day and see how he's doing.
It's time for "The Check In."
♪♪
[ Bell dings ]
Now most people were probably surprised that Donald Trump
nominated former Governor of Texas, Rick Perry,
to lead the Department of Energy,
as he was once Trump's rival in trying to get
the Republican nomination for President for 2016.
In fact, Perry even called Trump's candidacy
a cancer on conservativism.
And Trump countered with some of his trademark insult comedy.
-I see Rick Perry the other day, and he's so --
You know, he's doing very poorly in the polls.
He put glasses on so people will think he is smart.
[ Laughter ] And it just doesn't work!
You know, people can see through the glasses.
But he's got the glasses, the whole deal.
"Oh-oh, oh, Trump, huh."
-The list of reasons to dislike Trump is long, I know,
but I'm gonna add the laziness of his impressions.
"Oh, oh-ho-ho-uh..."
[ Laughter ] That could be anybody.
[ Imitating Trump ] Meanwhile, you got Marco Rubio. Oh...uh...
[ Laughter ] Then Ted Cruz is like oh...uh...
[ Laughter ]
[ Normal voice ] Now the great irony in Perry's nomination
perhaps lost only on Trump is that the Department of Energy
is one of the agencies Perry said he wanted to abolish
back in 2011 when he was running for President.
That is, before he forgot it was the agency he wanted
to get rid of.
-It's three agencies of government when I get there that
are gone -- commerce, education and the, uh...
what's the third one there? Let's see.
-You can't name the third one?
-The third agency of government I would do away with,
education, uh, the, uh...
[ Laughter ] -Commerce.
-I...commerce, and let's see. -Oh, my.
-I can't. The third one, I can't. Sorry.
[ Laughter ] Oops.
-Now, that should have been it.
[ Laughter ]
That should have been the last time anyone saw Rick Perry.
Once you Bill Buckner a debate like that,
you should be the answer to a trivia question, at best.
The only thing worse would be if you straight up didn't know
the voting age or when election day was.
-Those of you that are -- will be 21 by November the 12th,
I ask for your support and your vote.
-[ Groans ] [ Laughter ]
No, it's 18 to vote, and Election Day was November 6th.
So we didn't know the agency you wanted to abolish
or when election day was or what the voting age is,
but surely -- surely Rick Perry knows where he is
at any given time.
-There are many other states that embrace those conservative,
uh, values -- the approach that we've taken over the years.
I'm in one today in Florida. You look at South Carolina.
You look at Florida.
[ Laughter ]
-Okay. But that, guys...
[ Cheers and applause ]
I know it seems like we're piling on, but that has to be
the most embarrassing clip of Rick Perry. What's that?
There are more? How many more? Thousands more.
All right, well, let's just go with one more
for the sake of time.
-Rick Perry!
♪♪
-♪ Ice, ice baby ♪
♪♪
[ Cheers and applause ]
-That's the guy currently in charge of our nuclear arsenal.
No, not Vanilla Ice.
Vanilla Ice would be a step up.
[ Laughter ]
Now you would think that Rick Perry would take the time
to familiarize himself with the kind of work
the Department of Energy, whose budget exceeds $30 billion does.
But according to the "New York Times,"
when then-President-elect Trump offered Perry the job...
Imagine finding out after you accepted a job that
the job description included managing nuclear weapons.
I got pissed when I found out mine included animal segments.
[ Laughter ]
So Perry accepted a role he was confused about, and then somehow
made it through the confirmation process.
Although we shouldn't be surprised, as the Senate also
confirmed Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education,
already resigned Tom Price
for Secretary of Health and Human Services,
and a haunted doll as Secretary of Commerce.
But we would hope that once he officially had the job,
Perry would try to learn more
from someone like his predecessor,
Dr. Ernest Moniz, a nuclear physicist.
Interesting fact -- Moniz became a nuclear physicist
when his high school guidance counselor
took a look at him and said it's either that
or Ben Franklin impersonator.
[ Laughter ]
But according to a source cited in a "Vanity Fair" report
from July, Perry barely spent any time with Moniz.
According to the reporter's sources, he writes that Perry...
But in Perry's defense, he doesn't doesn't really need
to be an expert in nuclear energy when his boss
already has such a good handle on it.
-You know what uranium is, right? Think of nuclear weapons
and other things, like lots of things are done with uranium,
including some bad things.
-Perry saw that and thought,
"Oh, he's already up to speed. We're good."
But reports started surfacing back in the summer
that Perry had fallen out of favor with Trump
and that Trump was actually looking to replace him,
which is also when this happened.
-Russia's messing with U.S. politicians again,
but this time, it's Russian pranksters,
and they tricked Secretary of Energy, Rick Perry,
into believing he was having a conversation
with the Ukrainian Prime Minister.
-That's right. Russian pranksters pretending
to be the Prime Minster of Ukraine...
...with Perry. A 20-minute prank call.
Even the Jerky Boys would say, "hey, man, this is fun,
but we have places to be." [ Laughter ]
And we don't know for sure how Perry recovered from that
and won Trump back over, but it may have something to do
with Perry's new controversial energy proposal
which would basically force consumers to subsidize old,
failing coal and nuclear power plants
that would otherwise likely be obsolete.
According to reports and analysis, this plan would...
So why provide this preferential treatment to aging industries
at the potential expense of millions of consumers?
Well, according to reports, Perry's plan...
Ah, yes, Bob Murray, the litigious coal tycoon,
who apparently needs this administration's help so much,
reports say that his company, Murray Energy...
Ugh. Imagine if your whole livelihood
came down to Rick Perry.
It's like when the Vietnam War came down to Forrest Gump.
[ Laughter ] But it's not just Perry.
And of course, as with other government agencies,
Trump has made other questionable hires
at the Department of Energy, like bringing in
Eric Trump's brother-in-law, Kyle Yunaska, for example.
Yunaska, who's the brother of Eric Trump's wife, Lara Trump,
was recently promoted to the position
of Chief of Staff for the department's office
of Energy Policy and Systems Analysis.
Sounds like a pretty important job for someone who must have
an impressive background in energy policy.
Well, according to "Newsweek," Yunaska's...
Okay, fine, but is there anything else on his résumé
that shows he's qualified? Let's see. Oh! There.
Reports say...
And there's a picture.
That's him on the end. -Oh!
-Now for someone who works for the Department of Energy,
it's not exactly reassuring that he doesn't even have the energy
to get off the ground. [ Laughter ]
So we have inexperienced leaders seemingly beholden,
special interests, and family members
getting top jobs at the Department of Energy,
So at this point, if something goes wrong, the only explanation
I guess we should expect is, uh, what's the elegant phrase
I'm looking for?
-Oops. -That's what I thought.
This has been "The Check In."
♪♪
[ Bell dings ]