Don’t make me laugh…
I really can’t get over the headlines I’m seeing these days, as Trump nominates hugely unqualified and/or corrupted individuals to key cabinet positions.
Because there’s nothing “shocking” about it. It’s to be expected. It would be shocking if he didn’t.
This is precisely what Trump said he would do. And while he didn’t name names at the time, none of this should come as the slightest surprise.
Are there that many people still out there — on both sides — who are really in the “he’s gonna say it, but he’s not really gonna do it” camp?
Because:
- Trump’s already got quite a record for placing wildly not qualified or compromised people into key posts with lots of really significant responsibilities. But his first time to Washington, he didn’t know a lot of people so he accidentally appointed a few who sort of could grasp the task at hand. Now he does know a lot of folks. And all of his appointments meet Trump’s #1 qualification big time: they all constantly say nice things about him. It’s like a boss I once had (actually not who you’re thinking, everybody who knows me), who once said: “don’t do what you would do in your job, do what you think I would do.” Except with these choices, Trump doesn’t even need to say that.
- Trump has often also put people in charge of departments and agencies of who harbor deep grievances against the departments and agencies of which they’re in charge. And then he lets them eat away at them from the inside. It’s smart. An implosion is a much more effective way of tearing something down than an explosion.
Matt Gaetz, Tulsi Gabbard, Hegseth all fit that bill.
Gaetz at conservative Republican convention earlier this year:
“We get rid of…the F.B.I., DOJ, every last one of them, if they do not come to heel.”
Hyberbole? I guess maybe now we’ll see.
Does Trump truly consider these people to be “the best people”. I think he does. Because they express undying love and loyalty to him.
Do Trump’s biggest big money supporters consider them to be “the best people”? Depends what your ultimate objective is. So of course not. But if you want to watch American society crumble as you build utopian islands for the super-rich while everyone else lives in a Fallout dog-eat-dog landscape, they’re exactly the people you want, too.
And Trump’s taken quite a bit of ridicule for appointing not one but two people to head his newly coined Department of Government Efficiency. But actually this is smart too.
Because I’m prepared to predict one of those people is not long for Trump’s world. Ever since Elon Musk started jumping around on rally stages, Trump has not done much to conceal his obvious personal disdain for the guy. And Musk’s immediate usefulness has expired with Trump’s successful election. But Trump owes Musk.
However, since — as I’ve contended before — Musk’s in this mostly to amuse himself, he’s going to get bored just hanging out at Mara Lago, with Trump paying less and less attention to him.