In his campaign, Donald Trump railed against the corruption of modern-day Washington: Wall Street has too much power, lobbyists make all the decisions, career politicians are in it just for themselves – and the working guy has been left out in the cold. He vowed he would change all that. He would “drain the swamp.”

Well, sure doesn’t look like it from here. Steve Mnuchin, Trump’s pick for Treasury, is a Wall Street banker who made money off the foreclosure crisis. The mortgage crisis happened because no one was paying attention to risky banking. Now Mnuchin wants to remove what little regulation we’ve managed to build since the crisis, clearing the way for the wealthy to gamble with everyday people’s savings.

Trump’s pick of Rex Tillerson, ExxonMobil CEO, for secretary of state is even swampier. Exxon is presently being sued for allegedly covering up climate change evidence it has known about for decades. Remember Big Tobacco?

Exxon also has a major deal in the works with Russia’s Rosneft oil company, but it can only happen if the U.S. lifts sanctions against Russia. It’s just not OK to put Tillerson in charge of our nation’s negotiations on oil, energy and climate with countries where Exxon operates.

Now, I didn’t vote for Trump. But I agree with his supporters who want to bring U.S. jobs back and are fed up with politics as usual.

That’s why it’s up to all of us – those who voted for him and those who didn’t – to call Trump out on his picks. Let’s phone Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King to block the nominations, let’s talk to our neighbors, let’s generally raise a ruckus to say, “We don’t want these people running our country.”

Caitlin Marshall

Portland