Rick Perry Might Head The Energy Department He Famously Couldn't Name

The team handling President-elect Donald Trump's transition to take over the federal government is doing... an interesting job so far. They're working on stuff like how they're going to round up millions of immigrants and create a registry for Muslims in this country, regardless of what the Constitution says. They're also making tons of hires for the most powerful jobs in government. On Thursday, reports said former Texas Gov. Rick Perry might head the Energy Department, you know, the one he forgot the name of in the 2011 GOP primary debate.

In all fairness, Perry has grown quite a bit since 2011. He got glasses. Those make him look smarter. He also did a turn under the glittering disco ball on Dancing With The Stars recently. He's a totally different dude now.

Remember, when Perry forgot the name of the Department of Energy, he was trying to name the departments of the federal government he would abolish if elected president.

"When I get there there’ll be three agencies I'll end: commerce, education..." Perry told debate moderator John Harwood, according to Mother Jones. And the third? "No," Perry said, struggling to name the last department he wanted to eliminate. "Oops."

It was the Department of Energy. His plan was to eliminate the Department of Energy. Now, for mysterious reasons known only to Trump loyalists huddled atop Trump Tower, a report surfaced Thursday suggesting Perry is under consideration for Energy Secretary, according to The Hill.

Energy policy was one of the hallmarks of Perry's political career. In 2014, Perry sent President Barack Obama a letter trashing his administration's energy policy, accusing him to waging a war on coal and called environmental regulators "a den of activists," according to the Austin American Statesman. The letter was panned as being based on biased, trade-group statistics and merely a ploy to re-assert himself into national politics ahead of his disastrous and short-lived second run for the White House in 2016, the Statesman added.

Now Perry could be poised to head up a department he's on the record saying he feels has no role in the government. Awesome.

But one factor that could be working against Perry's eventual appointment to the Trump cabinet are the many criticisms he hurled at the now President-elect during the 2016 primary campaign. Perry called Trump a "cancer on conservatism" and a "barking carnival act," according to a report from Town Hall. But after it looked like Trump would secure the GOP nomination, Perry started singing a vastly different tune about The Donald, telling CNN's Dana Bash in May, just before the conventions, that he would have been open to running on the Trump ticket as Vice President, according to Town Hall.

“I will be open to any way I can help," Perry reportedly told Bash, TownHall reported. "I’m not going to say no.”

Yep, the Trump transition team is doing a fantastic job. Can't wait to see what they come up with next.