Nov.21

electoral-vote.com

Dem 47

   

GOP 53

A Cabinet of Vipers

The first Republican president famously had a cabinet consisting of a team of rivals. The next Republican president is busily outdoing Abraham Lincoln by assembling a team of vipers. Members of Lincoln's cabinet were merely jealous of each other. Members of Donald Trump's cabinet have completely different views of what is important about their jobs and the world. It will probably not be all smooth sailing.

The cabinet picks so far fall into three groups, as follows:

• MAGAts: Matt Gaetz, if confirmed, would try to burn down the DoJ—or what is left of it after all the senior lawyers quit in disgust. Then Donald Trump and his buddies would know that no matter what laws they broke, the eviscerated DoJ probably wouldn't come after them, and even if it did, it would be too weak to get convictions. Pete Hegseth wants to wage war on the Pentagon, eliminating generals whose cultural views don't align with his master's and reducing the role of women in the military. After all, piloting a drone is man's work. Border Czar Tom Homan and immigration "expert" Stephen Miller would crack down on immigrants and deport millions of them. All of these people are true-blue MAGA worshippers.
  
  
• Conservatives: The first Trump administration was stocked with normal conservative Republicans, both generals and civilians. Think: Jim Mattis, Steven Mnuchin, and John Bolton. Trump will be careful not to have too many of them this time, although he has already picked a few, including Marco Rubio, and Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Michael Waltz (R-FL). These people are all defense hawks. They want to project U.S. power around the world. That could be a major source of tension, as the MAGAts want to pull up the drawbridge and withdraw from the world. If the world burns, that's the world's problem, not theirs. If Putin wants to incorporate Ukraine into Russia, all the more power to him. And if he wants Poland and East Germany back, that's their problem.
  
  
• Renegade Democrats: Elon Musk, Robert Kennedy Jr., and Tulsi Gabbard are loose cannons. They each have their own agenda. They could easily clash with the MAGAts. Gabbard is an isolationist who thinks Rubio is a warmonger. They'll get along just peachy. Who knows, Trump might even get the idea of televising cabinet meetings as a reality show with the officers battling each other for supremacy.

None of these groups have any respect for the others. On top of that, there will be the usual rivalries. The first two groups will despise Musk for buying his way into Trump's inner circle and for his likely conflicts of interest. He plans to gut the government, but it is a safe bet that those parts of the government that give his companies big fat contracts will somehow be magically spared. It could be a rough ride. (V)