When I saw that Pete Hegseth had been nominated as Secretary of Defense, I thought it was a joke. When I told this to my wife, she laughed. Then we learned that this is accurate. Like many people the only thing we knew about Pete Hegseth was watching him on Fox News. But five minutes of research shows that he has a degree from both Princeton and Harvard. He also had the rank of Major in the Army National Guard and has significant combat experience. In addition, he wrote a book about the problems with a woke military. Suddenly it became obvious that Pete Hegseth might just be the best possible choice for Secretary of Defense.
This was followed by the nomination of Matt Gaetz to be Attorney General. The Senate has not refused to confirm a cabinet appointment since 1989, when they rejected John Tower. Tower had a reputation for heavy drinking and womanizing. I will be shocked if Matt Gaetz becomes Attorney General. Gaetz is not stupid, so he knows this. He instantly resigned from congress, which conveniently stopped the Ethics Committee report. In the meantime, Trump has appointed several people that are causing heartburn among Democrats and anxiety among at least some Republicans. For example, Tulsi Gabbard for DNI and Robert Kennedy Jr. for HHS secretary. RINO Republicans can’t just reject all of Trump’s nominations, so perhaps Matt Gaetz is a sacrificial lamb. If they reject him, it will be much harder to make a case for rejecting all the others.
One thing is certain, Trump learned his lesson last time, when he appointed people with strong support from the Washington Establishment, but not necessarily people loyal to his plans for the U.S. Presidency. Some of them, such as John Kelly, belonged on the enemy list. Trump isn’t going to play the game this time. He is appointing people who are not part of the establishment and he is directing them to fix things. Hold on to your seat belt.
Trump won in a landslide and he has a mandate to change things. Republican Senators up for election in a couple of years would be wise to keep that in mind. In the meantime, there are reports of panic in the DOJ with people preparing to leave for greener pastures. There are also reports of the Pentagon trying to desperately distance itself from DEI programs. This reminds me of when I ran a nationwide claim department. I would identify an office with less than standard performance. So, we would send a notice that I would be arriving with my team in the near future to conduct an audit. This included a list of claim files we would be auditing. Miraculously, when I showed up in about six weeks, the audit went very smoothly because most of my concerns had been addressed and fixed. That, of course, was the whole point.
History tells us that appointments as General Officers and Admirals are political. But when war comes, these are not necessarily the people needed to achieve victory. Just ask Abe Lincoln about that. Many of our current General Officers and Admirals rose through the ranks during the Obama and Biden Administrations. Need I say more?
Trump is focused on fixing that. I don’t know or really care if Matt Gaetz becomes Attorney General. I just hope, for Pete’s sake, that this will make it more likely Hegseth is confirmed to be Secretary of Defense.
TDM