Why they’re terrified of Trump’s cabinet picks

Here we go again. Only a few weeks after the US presidential election, and even before he has re-entered the White House, Donald Trump has whipped up another storm of criticism.

The latest furore is over the president-elect’s nominees for his cabinet – especially Pete Hegseth for secretary of defence, Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence, Matt Gaetz for attorney general and Robert F Kennedy Jr for head of Health and Human Services. These controversial picks seemed almost designed by Trump to wind up his critics. ‘I would describe it as God-tier level trolling’, said Democratic senator John Fetterman.

Trump’s critics predictably used his cabinet picks to give an ‘I told you so’ lecture to Americans who, in their view, were stupid enough to vote for this supposedly wicked man. Millions of Americans ‘will suffer at the hands of this gallery of degenerates’, said Tara Setmayer, a former Republican communications director turned anti-Trump pundit. ‘The American electorate fucked around and now they’re going to find out.’

Not for the first time, the shrieks from Trump’s opponents are overblown. His selections are unconventional and worthy of debate, but certainly not outrageous or ‘degenerate’. Part of the reason voters elected Trump was to see him shake up Washington, and his cabinet picks are consistent with that aim. What really worries Democrats and other critics is that this time, Trump may be successful in disrupting the cosy establishment that has ruled DC for so long.

The main criticism levelled at Trump is that his selections are unqualified. For the most part, that is another way of saying that they are outside the political establishment – which is actually a plus in Trump’s and many voters’ eyes. Consider the military. Hegseth – a Fox News host and former Army National Guard officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan – may not have a career in politics behind him, but he could be the jolt that’s needed for the Department of Defense. The military currently faces a big recruitment shortfall, due in part to a new woke ethos that is turning off conservative men. From the Trump point of view, Hegseth – a culture warrior and favourite among veterans – is worth giving a shot.

Similarly, former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard may be an unconventional pick for head of national intelligence. She doesn’t have an intelligence background, but she has been a consistent critic of the national-security and foreign-policy establishment. After all the dishonest, dirty tricks coming from the intelligence community – think of the 51 spies who joined together to falsely claim the Hunter Biden laptop scandal was a product of Russian disinformation – Gabbard may be just the one to clean house. And how delicious will be her revenge. While Gabbard’s political enemies had reportedly placed her on the no-fly list, she will now be overseeing them.

Yes, Gabbard is an outsider, but the so-called adults in the room in Biden’s foreign-policy establishment have been failures. Consider Jake Sullivan, the alleged wunderkind who became national-security adviser, despite his lack of significant experience. He went on to mastermind the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. He also claimed, with brilliant foresight, that the ‘Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades’, just days before Hamas’s massacre in Israel on 7 October last year.

The Democrats are hardly in a position to adopt the high ground when you consider how many of Biden’s appointees were unqualified. Pete Buttigieg had zero qualifications for being named secretary of transportation, with his only prior experience of note being the mayor of a small town in Indiana. That showed once in office, as Buttigieg’s inept reign has included clueless responses to a supply-chain crisis and a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Then there was Rachel Levine, Biden’s assistant health secretary, who pushed to allow gender-reassignment surgeries on young people. Anyone who approved this zealous trans activist to serve in a senior government position should not be taken seriously.

The second common criticism levelled against Trump’s selections is that they are all ‘loyalists’. They will be so-called yes men and women, critics bleat, who will do Trump’s bidding with no questions asked. Trump ‘will enter office with far fewer guardrails and checks on his power than last time’, warns David Smith in the Guardian. This fear-mongering is just another variation of the pre-election yelp that Trump is waiting to reveal his inner Hitler. This is nonsense. Every president seeks to have loyalists in his closest advisory roles, so as to better implement the agenda voters wanted. That’s nothing new.

It is Trump’s agenda that the majority of Americans now want to see play out. The Biden administration’s screw-ups have led many Americans to be open to giving Trump’s cabinet nominees a chance. Biden’s treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, oversaw high inflation. His homeland-security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, facilitated an open border. Voters are understandably willing to think that virtually anyone else could do better.

Nonetheless, Trump’s selections aren’t beyond debate. Two of his picks – Gaetz and RFK Jr – are particularly poor choices. Not because they are outsiders or too loyalist, but because they are unlikely to help Trump in his mission to reform the bureaucracy.

Gaetz, Trump’s pick for attorney general, is probably most known as the subject of sexual-misconduct accusations (allegedly including underage girls) and drug use. Until last week he was a Florida congressman, but resigned from the House of Representatives upon being nominated for cabinet. As such, his resignation forced a shutdown of an ethics case against him. These allegations will no doubt be aired during his approval hearings, and they will be tawdry.

That is hardly the only argument against Gaetz, however. This would-be top law-enforcement official has never practised law in a significant way, aside from a short stint with a small firm. In any case, his legal and constitutional judgement is unsound. He previously espoused the cockamamie theory that vice-president Mike Pence had the authority to invalidate the 2020 election. He also claimed, without evidence, that many of the ‘January 6’ rioters were actually anti-Trump agitators. Right out of the gate, public trust in Gaetz will likely be very low.

After a politicised FBI and Justice Department sought to undermine Trump with its contrived Russiagate claims, it’s understandable that Trump would want to insert a loyal figure as attorney general. But there must be other loyalists than the clownish Gaetz.

Likewise, Trump’s selection of RFK Jr is somewhat understandable, given how the former Democrat and scion of the Kennedy clan threw his support behind Trump during the presidential campaign. But it is also misguided. MAGA world’s embrace of RFK Jr as an ally is quite the head-spin, given that this is the same man Trump once called a ‘liberal lunatic’. This weirdo anti-vaxxer is now presented as a kind-hearted guy who just wants to ensure that America’s kids eat healthy food and avoid growing up to be obese (hence his slogan, ‘Make America Healthy Again’).

RFK Jr has backed off his anti-vax views somewhat recently, saying he just wants people to have more informed choice. Yet as recently as last year he touted links between early vaccination and autism, a theory that has been thoroughly debunked. RFK Jr blames, without evidence, ‘wifi radiation’, fluoride in the water and consumer products for various health problems. He especially targets American farmers for using genetically modified foods, pesticides and fertilisers – and that’s a group that Trump needs to remain in his camp.

Certainly, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the US health authorities need major reform. They shut down schools and businesses, over-promised the benefits of vaccines and gave misleading advice about masks. The public, understandably, is now open to listening to sceptics. But appointing a conspiracy-theory-mongering gadfly like RFK Jr is not a constructive way to respond to that. Rather than restoring faith in health authorities, farmers and the pharmaceutical industry, he is far more likely to sow deeper distrust.

Gaetz and RFK Jr will face opposition in Senate approval hearings, and may not even be approved. If they are not, Trump has aired the possibility of making them ‘recess appointments’ – that is, to use a loophole and install them when the Senate is adjourned. That norm-defying approach would play right into the hands of Trump’s critics, who desperately want to paint him as an authoritarian.

In the meantime, the Democrats can screech about Trump’s cabinet nominees, but it seems few Americans are listening. They have cried wolf about Trump too many times. After watching the Democrats screw up so badly while in power, Americans are willing to give Trump and his band of renegade appointments an opportunity to prove themselves. The self-proclaimed ‘adults in the room’ blew their chance. Now they have to watch from the sidelines as Trump pursues his electorate-given mandate.

Sean Collins is a writer based in New York. Visit his blog, The American Situation.