After reports in the last month or so that he would shutter the doors of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, President Trump has finally made a related move. Reports are circulating this morning that Trump will name New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to lead a new drug commission currently being labeled the White House Office of American Innovation (OAI).
Aside from attempting to tackle our country’s crippling opioid epidemic, the new commission, which will be co-chaired by Trump’s son-in-law and rumored Christie nemesis Jared Kushner, will reportedly have “sweeping power to overhaul the federal bureaucracy and fulfill key campaign promises — such as reforming care for veterans and fighting opioid addiction — by harvesting ideas from the business world and, potentially, privatizing some government functions.”
“We should have excellence in government,” Kushner explained in an interview from his West Wing office. “The government should be run like a great American company. Our hope is that we can achieve successes and efficiencies for our customers, who are the citizens.”
Chris Christie, who has been committed to choking out opiate addiction in his state and the country as a whole, will occupy a similar role within the Office of American Innovation. According to an anonymous source close to the situation, Christie’s role will be part-time and on a volunteer basis, allowing the New Jersey Governor to finish up his final term without having to step down.
President Trump isn’t scheduled to formally announce the new office, and Christie’s role within it, until later on this week.
Initial analysis states that the Office of American Innovation will work without outside influence inside the West Wing, answering only to President Trump. Some view the OAU as a “SWAT team” of sorts, composed of carefully selected consultants and former titans of industry. The goal in creating a team like this is to work outside the normal parameters of politics to introduce a new thought process into government. Business leaders like Apple’s Tim Cook, Tesla’s Elon Musk, and Microsoft’s Bill Gates have already met with the new office on numerous occasions.
“All Americans, regardless of their political views, can recognize that government stagnation has hindered our ability to properly function, often creating widespread congestion and leading to cost overruns and delays,” Trump told The Washington Post. “I promised the American people I would produce results, and apply my ‘ahead of schedule, under budget’ mentality to the government.”
credit:marijuana.com
