Apparently there isn’t a lot of thought going into President-elect Donald Trump’s picks for cabinet positions. Now, before you scream “No sh*t!” consider how much work would have had to have gone into making some of the most dastardly choices – if one’s goal was to infuriate and hyperventilate the masses. If Trump was simply spit-balling it, you would think that he would hit on a couple of good ones by accident. Perhaps Marco Rubio has risen the ranks to accidentally be “one of the good ones” if that is the case – and he is, kind of. But according to The New York Times, which specializes in making the Trump-camp sound sensitive and introspective, Donald Trump really is going by the gut and not taking much time.
From the report:
President-elect Donald J. Trump chose his attorney general almost on a whim, in the sky between Washington and Palm Beach, Fla. He scoffed at a candidate for the Department of Homeland Security, then abruptly changed his mind. His defense secretary pick was a snap judgment during a slide presentation at Mar-a-Lago. Much of the action has taken place under the chandelier in the tearoom at Mar-a-Lago, where Mr. Trump surveys his potential Cabinet nominees on giant video screens.
A slide presentation? Old school. Solid. Only to then land on Matt Gaetz? Was the question at hand, “Who is the one loyalist least likely to be confirmed by the Senate an thus will serve as a test case regarding loyalty?” Because that would have been one hell of a slide show – Gaetz really is ideal in that context. And that one alone. There are other considerations, though:
He flicks through shortlists that his transition team, led by the billionaire Howard Lutnick, has drafted over the past months. If Mr. Trump shows an interest in a candidate, the presentation is designed to allow him to immediately watch videos of the potential nominee’s TV appearances — essential for any would-be Trump cabinet official. The president-elect is picking people he considers true loyalists, with little regard for whether they can pass Senate confirmation.
Damn right. Noem, Hegseth, Gaetz, Gabbard, they are going to have the single best-looking cabinet in history, it will be great, again and again.
Turning a bit more serious and much much darker, there is another factor at work. The picks are likely being done with such recklessness because deep down, none of them really matter. Trump is not putting people in place to run these departments, they’re there to break them. Matt Gaetz isn’t being told to make DOJ “great” so much as make an utter mockery of it. Fire everyone, bring in their own people – few of whom know how to do anything but stamp out liberals. Right now, political vandalism likely sounds fun to many Trump-supporters who blame the system for everything wrong. And yet they only know of this America, the great one, built up over centuries, inclusive of all – not what they’re proposing, certainly not what it will look like in five to ten years. Additionally, there is only one way to confirm that Homeland Security is broken. And there are no do-overs when that point comes, either.
The single most harmless explanation is that the nominees don’t matter because all of it is going to be run from the White House anyway. That is fine so long as one is fine with an authoritarian autocrat at the controls, a proposition that seems almost like a fair trade given the above alternative. Of course, that also assumes that the Justice Department will serve Donald Trump’s personal needs and devolves from there. It gets indistinguishable at some point.
The cabinet picks likely are being made on a whim. But have no doubt. Every single person put in place on January 20th and every single hour at which they’re working, has been meticulously planned over years – Project 2025. So much so that even Donald Trump himself really ought to see that nearly everyone in this sea-change is disposable to the cause, nearly everyone. So why not pick nearly anyone? Only the plan matters, much more so than the people offered up as players.
Try to get the Senate to confirm that plan if you want to see real deliberation. They damn sure won’t vote on a whim.
God Bless:Â I can be reached at [email protected] and @JasonMiciak
The way I’m seeing this that a little bird told the Donald that Vance was likely to swing the 55th amendment axe at his neck.
So, to avoid that, appoint Trump dedicated ultra-loyalists so that Vance can’t get the 60% support in cabinet
Make that the 25th Amendment (I’m a lousy typist)
“Only the plan matters, much more so than the people offered up as players.”
Bingo!
They’re just pawns, interchangeable and of value only while they move around along with the master’s wishes.