A Confederacy of Trump Dunces

Trump's national security picks are a win for Moscow, Beijing and Tehran.

When you thought the circus couldn't get any more absurd, news broke as I sat down to write this…and it’s a wild unforced error on Trump’s part. Donald Trump intendeds to appoint Matt Gaetz as Attorney General of the United States.

What. The. Actual. Hell?

I'll have plenty more to say about Matt Gaetz in the coming days. Suffice it to say, he's wholly unfit—morally, professionally, and personally—to manage a roadside diner, let alone the nation's top law enforcement agency. Trump's motive is transparent: he wants someone who will wield the Department of Justice as a weapon against his political adversaries, and Gaetz fits that bill all too well.

This is a selection of the lowest possible order. Gaetz is a degenerate, is tied to a teenage prostitution ring, was part of Tallahassee’s “The Game”¹, has a history of DUIs, is hated by even his MAGA colleagues in the House, is the current subject of an ethics investigation. I haven’t even covered the dead guy found strangled in Matt’s dorm room.

Attorney General In Waiting Matt Gaetz

Now that I've vented let's take a hard look at the early contours of Trump's prospective national security team. Spoiler alert: it's a gallery of sycophants, pretty boys, inexperienced showboats, and ideological extremists.

Take Marco Rubio, for instance, Trump's pick for Secretary of State. Once a fierce critic, Rubio has morphed into a compliant acolyte. He'll be sitting across from some of the world's most cunning and ruthless leaders, and not one of them will regard him as a serious negotiator with genuine authority. Even to his former supporters, Rubio has shown that his courage falters when the stakes are high.

The situation is equally dire with the other defense and intelligence appointees. As Tom Nichols aptly tweeted, "Right now, there are people in the Russian and Chinese ministries of defense who cannot believe how fast they've hit the jackpot." He's spot on.

After Rubio is Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense.

A Fox News weekend host with a background in the National Guard, Hegseth has served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and holds a degree from Princeton. However, he has never managed an organization of any size. Even intellectually engaged and brilliant managers have a learning curve that seems almost perpendicular the minute they walk through the doors of the River Entrance.

The Department of Defense is a colossal entity, overseeing nearly $900 billion, thousands of programs, global interests, and the lives of almost two million service members. It's not a role for the unprepared or inexperienced. Hegseth's primary concern seems to be combating "wokeness" within the military, which is hardly the most pressing issue given the existential threats posed by nations like China, Russia, and Iran.

Then there's the selection of Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence, eliciting disbelief among intelligence professionals. Gabbard's pro-Putin foreign policy positions (against Ukraine, against sanctions on Russia, pro-Syria) have raised eyebrows now she could be entrusted with the nation's most sensitive intelligence operations. This appointment risks undermining the trust and safety of those who risk their lives to gather intelligence critical to national security.

Other nominees are equally concerning. Michael Waltz, a former Green Beret and Congressman from Florida has been tapped as National Security Advisor. While his military service is commendable, the role demands a vast depth of experience and strategic insight beyond a congressional backbench.

John Ratcliffe returns as CIA Director. His previous tenure was unremarkable except as Trump’s point man against the imaginary Deep State, and there's little to suggest this time will differ. As one CIA veteran told me, "To say he's not worldly is putting it mildly."

But will these nominees be confirmed?

Yes.

Most of them likely will be, even without Trump’s promised “Acting” positions strategy to avoid confirmation hearings. With John Thune stepping into Mitch McConnell's shoes, the Senate may well smooth the path for Trump's cadre of ill-suited appointees. Some of them — the criminally adjacent Gaetz, for one — will have a harder skate than others, but no one should expect the GOP Senate even to slow them down too much.

Many of these appointments are already causing unease among the Gentry GOP in Washington, both in the conservative media and elected office. They’re watching Trump appoint people incapable of executing the most consequential jobs…but more than capable of embarrassing the country or leaving our nation exposed to the real risks of a hostile world.

The Gentry GOP has no excuses. This is what they voted for, writ very ugly and very large.

Steve Jobs once said, "A-level people hire A-level people; B-level people hire C-level people." Trump's selections epitomize this adage in the worst possible way.

1. You can google it, but it’s vile.