Why Trump is trying to outrage Washington with his controversial Cabinet picks

By CNN

Published November 13, 2024 9:00 PM

CNN

Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN

(CNN) — Donald Trump’s increasingly provocative Cabinet picks have left some Republican senators aghast and Washington in shock.

But they really shouldn’t. Because the outrage is the point.

The president-elect reached a new level on Wednesday, announcing Florida Republican Matt Gaetz — one of his most zealous agents of disruption, who, like him, was once investigated by the Justice Department — as his pick for attorney general.

Tulsi Gabbard, the one-time Democratic presidential candidate, who now shares Trump’s belief that the intelligence community has been weaponized against him, will be America’s new top spy, if confirmed as director of national intelligence.

The latest selections for Trump’s MAGA dream team caused such a stir that they almost overshadowed the pick of Fox News anchor Pete Hegseth to serve as defense secretary on Tuesday night.

But they are perfectly in tune with Trump’s campaign trail promises and political project. The dismay engulfing establishment elites contrasted with the euphoria rocketing through conservative networks and social media among Trump fans. The president-elect draws political strength from his position as an outsider scourge of the establishment, and if his picks are confirmed by the Senate — a huge if in the case of Gaetz — they will be tasked with his mission of defenestrating government and driving out those Trump sees as enemies.

Trump won the election and has a mandate for change. And these and other picks are proof of a president-elect who is increasingly powerful and cares little for the critics who warn his second term poses a threat to the rule of law.

‘God-tier trolling’

Trump’s short-lived former first-term communications director Anthony Scaramucci told CNN’s Jake Tapper that the president-elect’s personnel selections were purposely meant to “own the liberals.” Paraphrasing Trump’s intent, he added: “‘Let’s pick some triggering people.’ And those are the triggering people.”

Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman agreed, telling CNN’s Manu Raju of the Gaetz selection: “It’s just kind of like a god-tier, kind of trolling, just to trigger a meltdown.”

Gaetz — who had been under a House Ethics Committee investigation — resigned from Congress on Wednesday in the wake of Trump’s announcement. The committee, which had been probing allegations that he “engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct” — was due to meet this week to vote on releasing a report, potentially as soon as Friday, CNN reported. But with Gaetz leaving, it’s unclear if the information will ever become public. The Florida Republican has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, including ever having sex with a minor or paying for sex. The Justice Department, which had pursued a yearslong sex-crimes investigation into him, ultimately decided last year not to pursue criminal charges against Gaetz.

Millions of the president-elect’s voters agree that his own legal troubles are not the result of criminal wrongdoing but of years of victimization by the Justice Department. They think the Russia investigation in his first term was hatched by the intelligence agencies to destroy him. Trump voters want entire layers of government bureaucrats fired, think regulations contribute to their own economic problems, worry about millions of border crossings by undocumented migrants and oppose Pentagon diversity programs. Trump is their agent of change. And his lightning bolt picks for top government jobs are his lieutenants in that effort.

Hegseth, Gaetz and Gabbard pose questions about Trump’s motivations and the direction of his second administration that begins on January 20, not least because of their professional, ethical or experiential qualities, or lack of them.

Is Trump looking for an attorney general to ensure the administering of fair justice? If so, would he have chosen Gaetz, who had been under investigation? But the president-elect’s intentions were clear in his announcement of his intent to nominate him: “Few issues in America are more important than ending the partisan Weaponization of our Justice System.” Trump’s statement seems to play into his long-term aspiration to find an attorney general who defends him and targets his enemies.

Gaetz was a leading proponent of Trump’s attempts to steal the 2020 election and has called for the abolition of the FBI, the DOJ and other agencies unless they “come to heel.” In this light, the Gaetz pick seems most like a gesture of contempt for the Justice Department, the prosecutors who work there and the rule of law.

“This is an outrageous pick. There is no way around it,” CNN legal analyst Elie Honig, a former assistant US attorney, said on CNN International.

News that Hegseth had been picked to lead the Pentagon rocked Washington the night before the Gaetz pick and sparked similar questions about Trump’s motives. The Fox News star has a military record marked by valor after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. But he has little of the deep experience in high-level strategy, international diplomacy and national security that is normally required of those in charge of the planet’s most powerful military. He, therefore, risks being outmatched on a call with a grizzled Russian or Chinese defense minister if he was called upon to defuse a sudden crisis. But Hegseth’s years on Fox demonstrate that he’s highly qualified to lead a culture war inside the Defense Department given his condemnation of diversity programs, women serving in combat and advocacy for Trump to free service personnel accused of war crimes.

Gabbard also has a distinguished military record. But she appears to have been picked to lead the DNI because of her suspicions of the covert community as Trump seeks to clean out what he calls “corrupt actors” he views as disloyal. Among the former Hawaii congresswoman’s many clashes with the US intelligence community are her doubts that Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad was guilty of war crimes after a chemical weapons attack. And she was accused of “parroting” false propaganda from America’s premier espionage adversary, Russia, by no less than Utah GOP Sen. Mitt Romney.

Not all Trump’s picks are contentious. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, his selection for secretary of state, has drawn skepticism over his conversion to Trump’s America Firstism, but many of his fellow senators regard him as a serious thinker on foreign affairs, especially on China. And the president-elect has earned the right to choose who he wants to help him fulfill his mandate.

But like most of Trump’s other staff picks, Gabbard, Hegseth and Gaetz share several things in common. They are unfailingly loyal to the president-elect. They are all avid proponents of the stunt politics that he pioneered as a social media provocateur. And if the 45th and 47th president is intent, as he says, on a second term of “retribution” — they look like they may be willing to honor his orders.

The next shoes to drop?

There was a growing sense in Washington on Wednesday night that with the Gaetz pick at least, Trump may have overreached for the first time as president-elect, even with normally supportive Republicans.

One of his few GOP critics, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski called the Florida Republican an “unserious candidate” when asked by CNN about his chances for confirmation. Maine Sen. Susan Collins, another rare Republican Trump critic, said she was “shocked” to hear the news and noted there would be an extensive background check by the FBI over the impending nomination. Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst said that Gaetz “is going to have a lot of work to do.”

The Gaetz selection created an immediate crisis for South Dakota Sen. John Thune, hours after he won the leadership of the incoming Republican majority. Thune is certain to come under severe pressure from the president-elect to ensure that Gaetz is seated at the Justice Department.

The former and future president’s allies were already rallying around Gaetz and warning of consequences should he be blocked by the Senate conducting its constitutional role of advise and consent. “I love Matt Gaetz,” Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville said, warning that it would be risky for senators to vote against him.” He added, “We got all 53 Republicans — you’re going to tell me that one Republican is going to vote against one of Trump’s team? If that happens, it ought to blow us all up. It’s crazy,” Tuberville said. (CNN has not yet projected the Pennsylvania Senate race, which is headed to a recount, leaving the GOP at 52 seats.)

A president-elect who feels liberated from constraints after his election victory may not yet be finished rocking the boat with positions yet to be announced, including secretaries of the Treasury and Health and Human Services. It is no wonder Trump started this week demanding GOP senators acquiesce to his demands for recess appointments for nominees if they cannot win swift confirmation.

Trump has set up the first test of whether there will be any pushback from a new Republican Senate majority against a president who believes he will be all powerful once he’s sworn in.

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