Yes, Trump’s Cabinet picks are shaking up Washington. That’s the whole point | Opinion
You may have noticed that many of the selections for the gathering Donald Trump Cabinet are eliciting reactions ranging from distaste to outright alarm. You may have also noticed conservatives smiling broadly at both the selections and those reactions.
Trump’s picks, as the saying goes, are upsetting the right people. And that doesn’t mean just Democrats. History will record that both Trump presidential victories were fueled by his successful challenges to the establishment layers of both parties. As he gathers his pirate ship filled with a feisty mixture of hand-picked MAGA allies, some dinosaur Republicans are as irate as Kamala Harris voters.
The blink-and-you-missed-it Matt Gaetz nomination for attorney general surely inflamed the left but also annoyed old-school GOP elites still frosted over his sabotage of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. This was a reaction steeped in self-absorption. Most Republican voters have forgotten that entire chapter, aided by the satisfying performance of McCarthy’s successor, Mike Johnson.
Democrats may not feel a sting of loss at the defection of Tulsi Gabbard, but her arrival as director of national intelligence has not been welcomed by the Nikki Haley wing of the GOP, with its thirst for endless years and dollars devoted to Ukraine.
Whatever the source of the criticism, the ruffled feathers are evidence of where we are headed: an administration in which many long-standing norms are about to be exploded. While Trump benefited from voters preferring him on the top two issues — the economy and the border — his reliable base was joined by less partisan voters in seeking a variety of delicious disruptions.
Millions of Americans are tired of sclerotic bureaucracies packed with unelected officials wielding unchecked power. There is additional fatigue from decades of failure under both parties to address a power-hungry regulatory state, a swamped and confused immigration system and a bloated Pentagon slowed by dalliances into social experimentation.
As sore losers nitpick over the lack of “experience” in some Trump Cabinet picks, they conveniently forget that people with long résumés guided the nation into these various ditches in the first place. Maybe it’s time for some fresh eyes.
For example, it is true that Pete Hegseth does not approach the secretary of defense title steeped in years of military budget analysis or weapons systems assessments. But he brings a combat veteran’s mindset and the most important attribute of all: the spine of a leader. He has made clear he will guide the Pentagon back to its prime goal, assembling the most effective military possible in a dangerous world. This will involve unplugging various political whims that have distracted from that goal and relieving top brass who have clouded their service with devotion to a woke agenda.
The appetite for reform is so pronounced that some Trump picks are enjoying a free pass that would be disqualifying in less urgent times. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. finds conservative favor as health and human services secretary due to his quest for transparency in the public health infrastructure and his opposition to vaccine mandates. These are strong enough attributes that many are willing to completely overlook some of his past pronouncements favoring abortion rights.
But his comfort zone is the same enjoyed by Gabbard. While they are both recent Democratic candidates for president, they enjoy a deep well of trust that they will abide by the oldest rule in White House etiquette — the expectation that the moment you arrive, you serve at the pleasure of the president and are expected to fall in line with his agenda.
The Trump agenda involves far more than a predictable reset of Republican flavors following a Democrat term. He will rattle cages at every level of government, seeking to rein in some operations and eliminate others. Critics complaining about Linda McMahon for education secretary must not have gotten the memo that she does not need years of experience in the maze of education bureaucracy when her main task may be to dismantle it.
A futile recurring slam of the Trump picks is that their prime qualifications seem to involve “loyalty to Trump,” as if Barack Obama and Bill Clinton surrounded themselves with saboteurs. One would actually hope this Trump administration is more loyal to him than his first, which was peppered with opportunistic troublemakers and narcissists who thought they could shape him to their will. They learned otherwise.
What observers of the new Trump White House should learn is that his goal has not been to gather a team defined by loyalty to him but rather by loyalty to his goals — reshaping much of how government works, what it prioritizes and how well it serves the citizens.
This is why he won. And to the delight of some and the chagrin of others, he tends to deliver on what he has promised.
This story was originally published November 23, 2024 at 3:32 AM with the headline "Yes, Trump’s Cabinet picks are shaking up Washington. That’s the whole point | Opinion."