It’s Bad

Not gonna shock anyone here to learn that the national security team is looking very, very bad. A president picks cabinet members because he needs to pay off factions within the party, draw upon reserves of legitimacy, take advantage of real administrative talent, or because he just gets along with them personally. When the cabinet fails the President fails… which is something that Donald Trump is fully aware of and has enunciated repeatedly in public!

Rubio: Conservative, conventional choice. Probably doesn’t know where the bodies are buried at State but is sufficiently prestigious and relevant to protect the interests of the department and be its voice in intra-governmental debates. Seemed to be a sop to establish good relations with Senate Republicans, and maybe he still even is but the rest of these folks… In terms of substance we can probably expect a bit more focus on Latin America this time around, but he’ll do fine in other areas. I know MAGA people are upset about this one.

Hegseth: What the ever-living fuck? US Secretary of Defense is probably the single hardest job in the world to do well. Nobody really thinks of “good” SecDefs like they do at State; rather, it’s just a list of dudes who failed somewhat less badly than some other dudes. Hegseth will not be well-respected in the uniformed military. He has no knowledge of or power base within the Pentagon. He has no independent reserve of prestige. He has no experience managing large organizations. I’m wrong a lot but I’ll eat my hat if Hegseth isn’t fucking terrible at this job. And what faction of the GOP does this buy off? It’s a terrible choice and I expect Trump will rapidly come to regret it.

Gabbard: Owning the libs, I guess. Gabbard has little experience in intelligence and no relevant managerial experience. She’s hated by the entire community because of her ties with Russia and Syria. I’m guessing that many folks are saying to themselves “What if we got someone even worse? There is no one any worse. It is very difficult to impose one’s will upon the intelligence community and the only folks who can do it are people who understand how the system works. I expect Gabbard will outlast Hegseth because Trump likes owning the libs, but she’ll be completely useless.

Ratcliffe: Seems to be the only really good choice here. Has experience and a biography, has done the job before, and evidently has the trust of the President. Obviously bad on substance but from Trump’s point of view it makes sense.

Let me reiterate; Trump knows what happens when a cabinet fails. Putting a loyalist in each position displaces resistance rather than replacing it. I’m not shocked by Gabbard but I am shocked by Hegseth. And there’s a good argument that Hegseth is still only the third worst cabinet nomination floated today! Who’s going to have the time to cleanup Hegseth’s mess when RFK Jr. is melting down in the next office over?

I am not shocked by the magnitude of the terrible so much as I am fascinated by its details.