November 19, 2024
On Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees...
I’ve been gone the past week, not to avoid commenting on Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks, but to visit friends. My take on Trump’s choices doesn’t differ terribly from others’ — some seem good, others seem not good — but I will add just one thing.
The rationale behind the more questionable nominees has occasionally come down to their loyalty to Trump. That’s understandable. Every president and president-elect prizes loyalty. In these times, however, when we often link voters to their candidate, every president or president-elect owes it to his voters not to put them in the untenable position of defending Matt Gaetz as Attorney General. Even if Gaetz’s Senate approval never comes to pass, the unseriousness of the choice — and it is objectively unserious — is a thumb in the eye of those who supported the president-elect. Same for RJK Jr. and Health and Human Services. If the president-elect thinks HHS needs a disruptor as secretary, he’s not alone. Many of his voters agree — they may even have led him to his current position. But when his nominee has said COVID was designed not to target Jewish people, Trump isn’t giving those voters a strong messenger.
We can only wait and see where this goes. But hopefully these choices receive enough pushback for Trump to see the difference between unconventional and unacceptable.