Madsplaining: The Trump Cabinet
This time, it's personnel
A string of announcements from Donald Trump last week set hair on fire left, right and center. Showing that he is intent on compiling one of the more disruptive cabinets in recent memory, his nominations reflect his stated intention to drain the bureaucratic morass in Washington. There might have been less controversy if he had asked the Village People to run his administration – that YMCA Trump dance might just bring world peace, you never know. But commentators say his picks reveal that he has learned lessons from mistakes he made staffing his first administration.
Trump has been criticized for choosing loyalists who lack experience, lack polish or lack moral character. Some of that is true, some of that is irrelevant. But noticeably, they all speak like adults (for example, here, here and here) and it is clearly triggering for anyone who has gotten used to politically correct speech. Cancel culture and safetyism has lulled us into fake niceness all these years, to the point that anything expressed bluntly or unapologetically sounds harsh and mean.
The list of key appointments so far is here, but the ones that drew most consternation were Florida congressman Matt Gaetz for Attorney-General, former veteran turned Fox presenter Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense, former Democrat congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence and Robert F Kennedy Jr for Health Secretary.
RFK, Hegseth and Gaetz are all accused of various sexual transgressions. (Yes, Gaetz seems to be a particular piece of work.) Some are known, some may be known soon and some may be a beat up. Gabbard is accused of being a Russian stooge. The Biden administration used her stance on Ukraine and the way Russian media has written favorably about her ideas as enough reason to surveil her and others. But whatever moral high ground Democrats may claim, they will have hard time defending their own record. With recent examples of lying, lawfare, insider trading, entrapment, adultery and just generally being weird, it is hard to now disqualify Trump’s picks because they aren’t bastions of goodness. You may blame Trump’s uncoventional ways for lowering the moral tenor of Washington, but it could also be argued that it’s simply that social media has made the Hill a glass house. Had Twitter been around through history, we would seen the scumbaggery of many politicians long ago.
The Senate will need to approve these nominations and some of them may prove more difficult than others. Newly-minted Senate majority leader, John Thune has a RINO pedigree but considering that he was an effective Whip, it is likely he will be able to do the job of garnering Senate votes for Trump’s policies and personnel appointments. Who knows? Maybe people who don’t like Trump’s agenda will leave of their own accord. At the very least, all the tumult should drive us to pray for our leaders.
For all the folks melting down at the thought of RFK on Capitol Hill, it may pay to remember that President Obama wanted to give him a job as head of Environmental Protection Agency. I guess climate issues are coded “left” and acceptable for any elite to subscribe to – climate “deniers” are a danger to humanity, after all. But “health” is coded “right” and anyone who raises concerns over our food or pharmaceuticals can be dropped in the basket with the other woo woo deplorables and dismissed. If RFK does nothing else but bring some accountability for terrible things done to our nation during the pandemic, then that would be worth it. As it turns out, Obama assumed the Senate would not approve RFK’s appointment due to a heroin possession charge. It is not clear whether that will still disqualify him today.
Surveying voter turn out for the last few elections, the record turn out for President Biden seems to be a blip. Perhaps the success of 2020 appeared to progressive elites to be a mandate to run roughshod over middle America. Now the middle has spoken. This election showed that Americans understand that Washington does not make saints of anyone; they are not expecting that. In fact, most people know that when left unchecked, power just brings out the worst. No one can say that Trump was unclear about what he intended to do before the election began and plainly, the election results show that Americans are more interested in seeing things getting done.
And since they pushed vaccines and mandates, they might just wind up with Dr Jay Bhattacharya as the head of the Institutes of Health! Rumor has it…
Many of the accusations against Trump’s nominees are in dispute, but the fact that they were even raised is a sad indictment of our nation the accusations can stick at all. Many in the new administration do not stand clearly for unborn life. Many have failed marriages, illicit affairs and no doubt other skeletons in their closets. Does that mean they are compromised? Does this mean they have poor judgement? Does that mean they can be bought? God knows. And He also knows what we face as His children as we participate in a system that disdains so much of what we treasure. We must continue to pray for truly godly men to lead our country. But for now, Dr Koontz laid out a compelling case for why waiting for a critical mass of Christians in our government before we engage politically is a losing game:
“[Waiting for] as many conservative homeschooled kids into positions of political powers as we possibly can, is…always a very limited strategy. You are waiting for the time in which you have reached a critical mass, say, in that state, or maybe in that entire country, or inside that country's political structure. Maybe that number doesn't have to be huge. As a long-term strategy, that might be okay. You just say, ‘There's going to be more of us than there are of them.’ To get more done more quickly, though, it seems wise to see if someone will be your ally, if someone will be sympathetic to you, if someone will maybe listen to you or let you influence [them]… You need to ask, not just is this person saying all these things that I love, but what will the practical effect?”
As an aside, Trump has also made waves by saying he would give “MAGA-aligned voices” (Axios’ words, not mine) access to daily press briefings at the White House. It would seem for now at least, the power of corporate media to tell America what to think is weakened and that can only be a good thing.
We are in for a wild ride. But however it turns, we must recover our ability to be citizens and build for a future beyond 2028. The good habits that were started when we were pleading with God for mercy as our country seemed to be heading full speed in the wrong direction must continue. Pray, mend, build and preach!
