The left and their lapdog media are losing their tiny leftist minds over Donald Trump’s cabinet picks. But, once again, it is columnist and historian Victor Davis Hanson to the rescue to explain it in the most perfect analysis.
I won’t waste any time with my take on it because VDH is unmatched in this. So, here you go…
Trump, His Disrupters, and a Chance to Return to Normalcy?
Many of Trump first-round picks share some common themes.
One, many, who were in the past victimized by government bullies and cowardly bureaucratic grandees, or proved sharp critics of the administrative state, are now, in karma-style, in charge of the very agencies that hounded him.
So, Elon Musk, perennial target of government regulatory functionaries, was once policed, but now he polices the bureaucratic police.
Robert Kennedy, Jr., proposed overseer of government health programs, was often blasted as a crank by the subsidized scientists and the administrators within HHS whom he will now direct.
Pete Hegseth fought the military DEI machinery while a solider in the ranks and wrote a book about the corruption of the Pentagon. He will now, if confirmed, run the Pentagon.
Tulsi Gabbard was improperly put on a national security travel watch list as a supposed security threat—and now will be a guardian of our security as Director of National Intelligence.
Tom Homan was derided by the Biden administration and its Homeland Security minions as a fanatic border hawk; now he will run ICE and deal with the detritus of Biden fanaticism on the border.
Two, none of these appointments are traditional swamp creatures. Few rotate from the think tanks. This time around there are no retired “Wise Men” or retired four-stars. Few are Uniparty magnificoes revolving back into high government from their DC university or New York corporate and investment waystations. None are DEI, cover-our-identity-politics-base candidates.
By design, their past government service resumes are thin—few past undersecretaries of these or special assistant to those. And there are not a lot of suffixed alphabetic letters or prefixed long-winded titles that adorn their names.
In other words, they are vaxed from the sort of acculturated administrative state mindset that has alienated and terrified the citizenry.
Three, they all share a reputation from the mainstream media, bicoastal elite, or administrative state guardians as a little “out there” or even “crazy” and “nuts”, whether RFK, Tulsi Gabbard, or Pete Hegseth. So, their opponents rightly fear they are immune from mainstream media disparagements, the usually leftwing generated hoaxes, and beltway tsk-tsk scorn.
Fourth and finally, they are not radicals or nihilists. Rather, they are reformers who are trying to trim or eliminate bloated government machinery, or return institutions and agencies to their normal functions and original missions. In contrast, the last few years of Biden governance chaos and near insurrection were abnormal—and dangerous.
Trump, His Disrupters, and a Chance to Return to Normalcy?
Many of Trump first-round picks share some common themes.
One, many, who were in the past victimized by government bullies and cowardly bureaucratic grandees, or proved sharp critics of the administrative state, are…
— Victor Davis Hanson (@VDHanson) November 16, 2024
If you want a way to explain the situation, you can’t do any better than this.
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