Donald Trump shakes things up with shock Cabinet choices

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President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet picks are becoming increasingly outlandish, which could partly explain the problem.

Attorney General? Rep. Matt Gaetz, the right-wing provocateur who is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for allegations of sexual misconduct.

Secretary of Defense? Pete Hegseth, a Fox News weekend host who served in the Army National Guard.

Director of National Intelligence? Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman who has expressed sympathy for Russia.

Some of them are designed to shake up Washington, said Scott Jennings, a Republican and senior CNN political commentator who appeared on CNN after Gaetz's surprising choice. Other Trump picks, like Sen. Marco Rubio for secretary of state, are more conventional.

Jennings said no one should underestimate Trump's ability to move some of these candidates through the Senate now that he's seeking office after winning the presidential election.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Florida Democrat who served with Gaetz in both the Florida Legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives, said it should not be surprising that Trump would choose Gaetz, who has been one of Trump's most effective defenders in Congress.

Rep. Gaetz is a surprise choice for attorney general

Gaetz is known for his scorched-earth tactics in the House and was instrumental in ousting House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year for negotiating with Democrats. It could be controversial enough to challenge even Trump's ability to get an attorney general confirmed.

Matt Gaetz knows exactly what to do with the attorney general's office, Moskowitz said, emphasizing that Gaetz is loyal to Trump and competent. He added that Gaetz will be the most powerful attorney general in American history.

Trump has previously expressed a desire to radically change both the national security apparatus and the Justice Department, which he still accuses of being responsible for the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Trump previously demanded a fast-track around the Senate confirmation process when he encouraged Republicans to support the concept of recess nominations for his picks.

It would be a major development for Republican senators to support such appointments, which can be made when the Senate is out of session. Ten years ago, Senate Republicans took the Obama administration to the U.S. Supreme Court, winning a unanimous ruling and securing their constitutional ability to have a say in who runs the U.S. government.

At the time, Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican who has become a major Trump ally, called President Barack Obama's attempt to use a recess appointment to operate the National Labor Relations Board a attempting to circumvent Congress and ignore the Constitution in order to achieve his controversial political agenda.

Now it's a bit embarrassing that some Senate Republicans want to give Trump the power to make recess appointments without their input, after he requested it over the weekend.

Recess appointments are temporary hires that may last a year or two. The goal is speed since time is already running out for Trump's next presidency.

We know that President Trump will only have four years to reshape our federal government, Senator Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa, told Fox Business.

Four years is perhaps optimistic. Each of the last three presidents Obama, Trump and Joe Biden scored major legislative victories in the first two years of their presidency before losing control of the House in a now-normal backlash against presidents in office.

Republicans are on track to gain a 53-47 majority in the Senate if they win the race in Pennsylvania, where Republican candidate David McCormick holds a slim lead. That should give them enough votes to pass any Trump nomination, even if some Republican senators are scratching their heads at Hegseth's choice.

Wow, said Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

WHO? asked Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, according to NBC.

Interesting, said Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

Others were supportive. Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma praised Hegseth for not being politically correct.

The requirement is that President Trump can nominate the person and the Senate can confirm them. I trust President Trump's decision, Mullin told CNN's Jake Tapper on Wednesday.

Mullin was less convinced by Gaetz's choice.

He needs to come to the Senate and sell himself, Mullin said. There are a lot of questions.

If there's a growing theme in this new Trump administration, it's that the president-elect wants to quickly go big, rewriting some of the rules of Washington, seizing more power so the president can circumvent the Congress and shaping the federal bureaucracy.

Daniel Farber is a professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and the author of a book on presidential power. He told me in an email that there has been a long-term trend of presidents trying to consolidate power within the executive branch.

One thing that has kept this from becoming extreme is that most presidents understand that they need competent, experienced staff across government to carry out their agendas. I don't think Trump has that view, he said.

Reports from a special committee tasked with reassessing generals' loyalties are off the charts and could place Trump-approved generals in the Pentagon.

Then there's the selection of Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk to lead a new Department of Government Effectiveness, cross-branded with Musk's favorite cryptocurrency, DOGE.

Kaitlan Collins details challenges Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would face in possible new roles

Many are wondering where these two businessmen will find $2 trillion to cut from the sprawling federal government. Trump promised they would find a way to dismantle the federal bureaucracy, but they currently have no official powers or mandate from Congress. Musk said there would be an online suggestion box and they could also show how government money is being wasted.

There are ways Trump could give official power to Musk and Ramaswamy or even formally hire them without forcing Musk to divest from Tesla and SpaceX, but this reveals that Trump does not appear to be pursuing those options, according to lead researcher Norm Eisen in governance. He studied at the Brookings Institution and also served as an ethics official in the Obama administration.

This is the beginning of the end for them, Eisen predicted of their relationship with Trump, pointing to the many recommendations from government commissions that have long been forgotten without any action. Trump doesn't really want to share with strong personalities who could be rivals.

Meanwhile, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the vaccine skeptic who supported Trump, wants wide latitude on U.S. health policy but apparently could not be given a Cabinet role.

When it comes to recess appointments, there are indications that top Senate Republicans will not want to cede their power to influence appointments so easily.

All candidates vying to become Senate majority leader when Republicans take the majority in January have expressed some openness to the idea of ​​recess appointments, including the eventual winner, Sen. John Thune of Dakota South.

But when he spoke to reporters at the Capitol after winning the job Wednesday, Thune emphasized that the Senate has an advisory and approval role in the Constitution.

While Thune didn't dismiss the idea of ​​recess appointments, he made it clear that senators weren't giving up on anything yet.

We want to make sure our committees hold confirmation hearings as they usually do, he said, although he cautioned Democrats against clogging up the process too much or Senate Republicans will explore all the options.

Thune also promised that Republicans would respect the legislative filibuster, the custom by which a minority of senators can override most legislation.

The Senate, as you know, is, as its founders designed it, a place where the minority has a voice in our process, he said.

Anyone who remembers 2017, the first year of Trump's first term, when Republicans occupied the House, Senate and White House as they will next year, will remember that Trump regularly complained about the filibuster at at the time as an obstacle to the adoption of legislation. pass.

CNN predicted Wednesday that Republicans will hold a majority in the House, but it will almost certainly be far less than the majority Republicans held when Trump first governed. This means it will be more difficult to pass legislation with only Republicans.

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