It’s only twelve days since the election and the president-elect has already put forth a menagerie of characters to serve in his cabinet and high ranking jobs. His choices so far include a bomb-throwing clown for Attorney General, a vaccine skeptic and sometime wack-job for Secretary of Health and Human Services, a lightweight Fox New celebrity for Secretary of Defense, and a former congresswoman given to conspiracy theories for Director of National Intelligence who would never be given a security clearance under normal circumstances. There’s more to say about these nominees but suffice to note they are grossly deficient in credentials for such positions at best and downright scary at worst. Only Donald Trump would unabashedly put their names forth.
What’s going on? Clearly Trump is playing games for his own reasons and enjoyment without regard to the serious nature of the business at hand. His nomination of Matt Gaetz for Attorney General and the others is a ploy to assess the politics of the Senate and bring it completely under his control. Recently, for example, he suggested that the Senate might adjourn so as to let him make interim appointments – the goal being to eliminate the constitutional “advise and consent” power of the Senate in appointments. All of this is part of what will be a continuing effort on his part to center federal power in the Executive branch generally and in his hands specifically. He truly envies the absolute power of contemporary dictators such as Vladimir Putin, Viktor Orban, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong Un.
Another thing, in appointing the likes of Matt Gaetz, Trump is saying “F**K you America” as his former attorney Ty Cobb said recently. It’s all about ego and power, he’s got it and you don’t. He won and you lost. But deep down it’s about the respect he has never gotten in New York and elsewhere from establishment figures and his social superiors. His Ivy League degree, his money, his gilded buildings, and his beautiful women don’t cut it. He’s still the bombastic, crude upstart he always has been and will be. He’s Cornelius Vanderbilt being snubbed by the Astors. His outlandish nominations say screw the elites!
It’s going to be a long four years.