I have no opinion of the individuals that President-Elect Donald Trump has nominated for his cabinet. In general I believe that, barring some severe impediment, presidents deserve to have their cabinet appointments confirmed for good or ill. There’s plenty of room for criticism but to my eye the criticism of those he’s picked reflects chagrin the Mr. Trump was elected at all more than it does on the individuals nominated (with the possible exception of Matt Gaetz). Recognizing that Trump’s cabinet only reflects those who have been nominated rather than the final list, I wanted to point out some things.
| Office | 46 | Generation | 47 | Generation | |
| President | Joe Biden | Silent | Donald Trump | Baby Boom | |
| Vice President | Kamala Harris | Baby Boom | JD Vance | Millennial | |
| Secretary of State | Anthony Blinken | Baby Boom | Marco Rubio | X | |
| Secretary of the Treasury | Janet Yellen | Baby Boom | Scott Bessant | Baby Boom | |
| Secretary of Defense | Lloyd Austin | Baby Boom | Pete Hegseth | X | |
| Attorney General | Merrick Garland | Baby Boom | Matt Gaetz | Millennial |
Much of the comment has centered around how Mr. Trump’s nominees are loyalists. Like it or not there is nothing unusual in that. It has been true of nearly every president, especially in the last 30 years. What leaps out at me are:
- There are no members of the Silent Generation among Mr. Trump’s nominees. I believe that is the first time that has been the case (Wilbur Ross/Commerce was Silent Generation in Trump’s first cabinet) since Reagan’s first term.
- How many people over 70 there are in Joe Biden’s cabinet. There’s a big difference between a Baby Boomer born in 1946 (Yellen) and one born in 1964 (Harris).
- There are Millennials among the nominees for the first time.
If Trump’s nominees are confirmed, this cabinet will mark a real changing of the guard from Silent Generation and Baby Boomers to Generation X and Millennials.
I wish Trump had picked better people. Yes, all new Presidents want loyal people – in that respect, Trump isn’t unusual – but some experience and competence are also warranted.
Trump is, IMO, prioritizing loyalty above other factors. The fact that he intentionally announced that Haley and Pompeo (two people with real experience who endorsed Trump) would not get any appointments in his administration gives his game away. It’s completely unnecessary to publicly announce who you won’t pick, except to make an example and send a message to others.
Even giving Trump the greatest possible benefit of the doubt he has a problem. He’s got the combined power of the nomenklatura against him.
Dave
Perhaps. But as I’ve said. Now it’s on him, just perform. The rabid squealing like a stuck pig (see OTB) is just speculation and infantile reaction. He’s not that powerful. It will be ok.
Can anyone really criticize him as someone burned in his first by vipers in the weeds? Comey?
Go read Taylor at OTB. Call suicide watch. Totally over the top. Go look at 2016, 2017,2018. Was the United States of America on the edge of catastrophe?
Get a grip folks.
No one here said it was a catastrophe, simply noting that he is nominating people who arent qualified. Add RFK to the list. He may be the worst of the bunch. I think most people know that he believe vaccines cause autism but he also believes psychiatric drugs are responsible for school shootings and that poppers cause AIDS. The list of stuff he believes without and basis in sound evidence or even basic physiology is kind of long. His understanding of biology and medicine is about what you would expect for someone with degrees in history and law, very weak.
I would have said Hegseth before RFK was nominated. Short time on active duty. Has never managed a large organization or budget. Wont be up on current issues. Just a figurehead.
Steve
I don’t get why RFK Jr. has gotten so far. Maybe I’m too young, but I can’t think of anything about him that merits national attention besides the Kennedy name and just being a weirdo. This would be like a Democrat appointing Marianne Williamson to HHS.
Anyway, I don’t have a catastrophic view of these appointments. They are generally really bad, but massive bureaucracies are extremely difficult to manage and steer by competent people with inside knowledge and respect and prestige within their respective domains – which are things almost none of these picks have. Trump seems to think these are like divisions in a business, and he can just appoint a loyal hatchetman at the top to clean house. I think Trump will come to regret many of these appointments, even assuming they make it through Senate confirmation.
And Gaetz is the worst of the bunch. He’s alienated just about everyone but Trump. And now he’s resigned from his House seat, so if he doesn’t get confirmed (and I bet he won’t), it’s sayonara or perhaps Trump will throw him some kind of bone on the WH staff that doesn’t require confirmation.
The games are in place and have begun!!
I picked RFK rather that Gaetz as I dont think Gaetz is likely to do much real damage. The Congress has already investigated the heck out of the Biden and didnt find out anything other than Hunter is a sleaze and tax cheat, which we already knew. If they bring charges against former investigates and politicians they will have to be made up, false and likely dont hold in court and then they will have to try to impeach the judges. Meh. RFK OTOH has said he will shut down entire areas of research and he will have the backing of Trump and Congress to do that.
No thoughts on Hegseth? I have more time in the military than he has and more varied having been both enlisted and officer. I have managed budgets in the hundreds of millions. That makes me way more qualified than Hegseth but no way should I be running the place. (OK, he looks way better on camera.)
Steve
steve,
I don’t know much about Hegseth. I’d never heard of him until this announcement. His obsession seems to be “wokeness” in the military, which is – at best – a minor problem (and the analog to how people on the left used to complain about the influence of Christianity in the ranks). DoD has much more pressing concerns.
On the one hand, it’s good he has military experience including combat deployments. On the other hands, we’ll, I pretty much agree with Rob Farley:
I’d caveat that only a tiny bit by saying that bringing in outsiders can often be good, but those outsiders need the kinds of skills that can allow them to be effective in an organization an bureaucracy and I don’t see Hegseth having those skills.
And, like it or not, a huge part of the SECDEF job is diplomacy – something a bombastic Fox News personality is unlikely to be good at.
I understand the idea of an outsider, but like you said they need to come from outside and bring competency with them. (We turn of Fox news occasionally to see what they are talking about, usually Hunter’s laptop, so I knew he was a weekend host and had been in the military.)
I forgot to add above that I think I agree with others who think that Gaetz is a loyalty test. Trump has to know a lot of Senators hate him, but this way he finds out who will vote for him. If that fails he can go the recess route which will be a loyalty test for Thune. If Thune fails he can go the McCarthy route. I predict we will see Thune jump 3 feet and scratch his head!
Steve
I agree with steve that “loyalty test” is the simplest explanation for the nominations.
As I have been saying for decades, the problem we face is that the federal bureaucracy is enormously in need of drastic transformation but no outsider is well-prepared to do it. It’s a paradox. My personal view is that RFK, Jr. is a nutcase but that doesn’t make it less true that our alphabet soup of federal healthcare agencies is in desperate need of reorganization. When you delve into the history of each agency you learn that each actually had distinct responsibilities but, as is usually the case with bureaucracies, what they are doing now has little or nothing to do with their original purpose. These agencies have largely become vehicles for funneling funding to the right people (“right” variously defined).
I agree that the federal bureaucracy is a Gordian knot in desperate need of cutting. I just doubt that Trump is the right guy to do the cutting.
At least we can get some entertainment out of it. RFK can appoint Dr Oz in charge of the miracle pill division and Dr Carson in charge of miracle brain supplements. Alex Jones is out of work so can be in charge on media and advertising. A true MAGA/MAHA all star team.
Steve
I prefer to think of his appointments as intentionally disruptive.
Much is being said about Gabbard being a “Russian asset “.
Who is more likely in that role? An outsider or a 30 year company man?
Smart people, young, fast learners, outsiders. Kennedy though? IDK Either.
Disruptor is the talking point. In the case of people like RFK or Hegseth they are disruptors with no real expertise in the area they are going to supposedly disrupt. If you believe that the way to disrupt and organization and have a better outcome is to randomly make changes or changes not based upon knowledge of the organizations they will run, then they are the right people for you. If you think the disruptors ought to know what they are doing then they arent.
Steve
@Steve:
My complaint against Covid treatment from someone who was there.
https://transcriberb.dreamwidth.org/10261.html
People will say, so why didn’t you help her? The signs were everywhere in the hospital, they would call the police and jail me.
And, as to the anti-vax movement, there was of course Thalidomide, and also operation warp speed, and this, the Cutter incident,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/04/14/cutter-polio-vaccine-paralyzed-children-coronavirus/