Is newly-elected President Donald Trump unraveling the… so-called deep stateor is he nominating unqualified loyalists serve in his cabinet?
It’s a question that both Republicans and Democrats are asking.
Sometimes, as expected, Trump will make decisions that will cause Republicans to cheer and Democrats to complain. Other times he does things that make both parties shake their heads.
If I can predict one thing for the next four years, it’s that Trump will be unpredictable. His cabinet choices illustrate that fact.
Trump picks Kennedy, Gaetz, Hegseth and Gabbard
In about the time it takes to receive an Amazon package, Trump has made a slew of cabinet choices that are shaking both the right and left.
From Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of Health and Human Services, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., as attorney general to former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, as director of national intelligence, which even Republicans didn’t predict these choices.
Former U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard attends a campaign rally in Pittsburgh on November 4, 2024.
Some of Trump’s choices make sense. Tom Homan as “border czar” and Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., as national security adviser are both extraordinary choices. Both men are qualified to fill these positions.
Trump also chose himself SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy as co-leaders of the new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. It’s one of the best ideas I’ve seen an elected leader come up with in years. If DOGE does half of what Musk has promised, the initiative will create real change and serve the American people well.
But Trump’s other choices are surprising, disappointing and downright terrible.
On Thursday, Trump announced that he has chosen Kennedy to lead HHS. Kennedy is notoriously skeptical of public health initiatives anti-vaccine. Like other nominees, Kennedy is a close ally of Trump, but he lacks the experience to lead a massive organization like the Department of Health and Human Services.
The decision to choose an anti-vaxxer to lead the nation’s largest healthcare organization is reckless, irresponsible, and an insult to America’s healthcare professionals. My only consolation is the knowledge that the Senate will likely reject Kennedy’s nomination.
Opinion: I voted for Trump. Your insults won’t change my opinion.
In a more conventional decision, at least by Trump’s standards, President-elect chose Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota, as secretary of Homeland Security, the third largest Cabinet department. I have no doubt that Noem is intelligent, but I don’t understand how governing the sleepy state of South Dakota qualifies her to lead such a large and influential organization.
Trump could have chosen from dozens of more qualified men and women for such a crucial role. Noem and Trump are friends and allies. This smacks of ring-kissing loyalty.
As Secretary of Defense, Trump chose Pete Hegseth, a 20-year veteran of the National Guard who is best known as the host of ‘Fox & Friends Weekend’. I like Hegseth, who went to Harvard and Princeton and received two Bronze Stars for his military service. He also has a huge one “We the People” tattoo on his forearm. What’s not to love?
It’s obvious podcasts and his book”The war against warriors‘ that Hegseth plans to rid the military of ‘wokeness’ – valuing social status over qualifications and results. I share his controversial view that women should be restricted from frontline combat roles.
As a soldier, Hegseth knows perhaps better than anyone what our military is made of and what it needs to remain a global superpower. Yet the Ministry of Defense, the largest employer in the United States is enormous. The Pentagon’s 2023 budget was $776 billion. Hegseth lacks the management and leadership experience for such a robust role.
If his nomination goes through, Hegseth will soon find out he’s no longer on television. If confirmed, I hope he leans on the expertise of those around him as he makes real change at the Pentagon.
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Trump’s choice for Gaetz, that one resigned from Congress Wednesday, right after his appointment was announced, as the attorney general is by far his worst yet. He has little experience as a lawyer and is known in Congress as a jerk.
Even worse, the House Ethics Committee has been research into Gaetz for sexual misconduct, drug use and accepting inappropriate gifts.
Trump bypassed thousands more qualified lawyers, law professors and legal experts to choose Gaetz. The Federalist society alone, it is teeming with conservative lawyers who would have been more than qualified for such a role.
Gaetz’s nomination also smacks of “Hey, we’re friends!” It’s as if Trump is the team captain of the fifth grade dodgeball team and chooses all his friends as his first players.
Is Trump unraveling the ‘deep state’ or is he just choosing friends?
I never really believed in the existence of the ‘deep state’, the theory that the will of an elected president can be thwarted by bureaucrats. But Trump believes in it, and so do millions of other Republicans.
And Trump has made unraveling the deep state his mission. A report from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics found that Trump posted on Truth Social 56 times about his plan to crush it over a span of about 15 months.
Trump last year posted on Truth Social that he would commit himself to the ‘dismantling of the entire globalist neo-conservative establishment that continually drags us into endless wars’.
Trump and many conservatives also believe that national security and intelligence agencies are weaponized against him and others. In an interview in August, Trump said called government employees ‘devious’ and ‘dishonest’ and promised to hold them ‘accountable’.
Opinion: Trump can fix what Biden broke. But he must seize the moment and stay on task.
So is Trump nominating men and women who have never held such high positions because they will drain the swamp and force government agencies to be more efficient and serve the people better? Or does Trump simply choose people who are more loyal to him than to the rule of law?
As a Republican, I’d like to believe it’s the former. Washington is bloated and inefficient and needs to serve the people again. But it certainly looks like Trump is having a blast choosing which of his friends will serve in positions of power, regardless of their credentials.
Anyway, welcome to the new Trump administration. He will not do anything as it has been done before.
Trump’s Cabinet choices will either be the start of a necessary shake-up in the way government operates or the start of a disastrous four years.
Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist at USA TODAY. She lives in Texas with her four children. Sign up for her newsletter, The Right Trackand receive it in your inbox.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump chooses Kennedy and Gaetz. What the hell is he thinking? | Opinion