Trump, defying media predictions, chooses mostly seasoned Capitol veterans such as Marco Rubio

The media warned for months that Donald Trump would have “no safeguards” in a second term and would likely award top jobs to a bunch of right-wing lunatics.

Instead, yesterday he chose Marco Rubio as secretary of state, a 14-year Senate veteran and son of Cuban immigrants who informally advises him on foreign policy.

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The president-elect also tapped a number of Hill veterans who are conventional conservatives, who agree with him on key issues and who might as well have been appointed by Mitt Romney.

Also yesterday, Trump chose Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota, as secretary of Homeland Security, after she overcame the dog shooting incident that eliminated her from the veepstakes.

Trump made these appointments at full speed, just a week after the election. He stayed away from television and did not post any inflammatory messages. He is trying to demonstrate that he is serious about governance by getting to work.

In the past, presidents and presidents-elect have appeared on air, praising their candidate or perhaps two, and yielding to a brief speech of gratitude from the elected officials. But Trump seems to ignore all this.

Not all of the top positions have obviously been filled, but even some top Democrats welcome Rubio's choice (while some in the MAGA movement are disappointed). He is undoubtedly a hawk and will be the face of American foreign policy as he travels around the world.

President-elect Donald Trump is photographed in front of the White House. (Getty Images/AP Images)

Of course, he said terrible things about Trump, who derided him as Little Marco, when they both ran in 2016. I watched Rubio on the floor that year and it is a very charismatic speaker.

But the two men have long mended fences. Rubio attempted to promote immigration reform a decade ago within various Senate groups, but has since distanced himself from the effort.

I keep seeing chyrons on TV that, almost accusingly, say Trump is hiring “loyalists.” Excuse me, do you think Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton didn't hire loyalists? Presidents want aides who generally agree with them and who don't turn into troublemakers. Biden has hired longtime advisers such as Ron Klain, Mike Donilon and Steve Richetti.

From a conservative perspective, when Biden hired top officials who wanted to strengthen environmental rules, boost unions, and spend hundreds of billions of dollars to emerge from the pandemic, it represented a radical departure from Trump 1.0. Now, Trump will reverse many of Biden's policies with the stroke of a pen.

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The other picks so far: Upstate New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, a member of House leadership and impeachment advocate, was chosen as UN ambassador.

Trump also chose former Long Island congressman Lee Zeldin to lead the EPA. He is a traditional conservative who has fought against excessive environmental regulations and earned a 14 percent lifetime rating from the League of Conservation Voters. He told Fox News that the administration would “roll back regulations” that cause “hardships” for businesses and “force” them to locate overseas.

After that, Trump nominated Florida Republican Congressman Mike Waltz, a former Green Beret, as White House national security adviser, which does not require Senate confirmation. He is a China hawk and a Ukraine skeptic. “Stopping Russia before it drags NATO and thus the United States into war is the right thing to do,” Waltz wrote. “But the burden cannot continue to rest solely on the shoulders of the American people, especially while Western Europe gets a free pass.”

Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, attends a campaign rally for former President Donald Trump at Trump National Doral Golf Club July 9, 2024 in Doral, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

These are serious people who know how Washington works.

By the way, Trump reduced what should be a very small Republican Party advantage in the House by choosing two members. But in Rubio's case, Gov. Ron DeSantis can appoint a replacement who would serve until the midterm elections.

As I write this, Trump has just named Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate, as ambassador to Israel. Huckabee has led numerous delegations to the country and is staunchly pro-Israel.

And after I filed that document, Trump named Bill McGinley, who worked on election integrity for the RNC and was general counsel to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, as his White House lawyer.

And after dropping the insert, another announcement: John Ratcliffe being selected for CIA director. The former Texas congressman, known for criticizing the FBI as biased against Trump, became his director of national intelligence in 2020.

Last night, Trump made his first hire at Fox News. Pete Hegseth, an Army veteran and co-host of “Fox & Friends Weekend,” has been named secretary of Defense. Trump noted that Hegseth had served tours in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan, received two Bronze Stars and had just published the best-selling book “The War on Warriors.”

Trump attempted to have him confirmed the previous year, but Ratcliffe withdrew after Republican senators and former intelligence officials raised concerns about him, amid media revelations that he had embellished his efforts prosecutions in immigration and terrorism cases. So it's certainly seen as a highly partisan choice.

The two appointees who can fairly be described as aggressive extremists — critics would say extremists — are Stephen Miller and Tom Homan — both hired to take care of Trump's top priority, the border.

Miller, who led immigration policy during Trump's first term, has been promoted to deputy chief of staff, and even that title doesn't reflect the influence he will have as a trusted member of the inner circle. He pushed the extremely controversial family separation policy.

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Homan, who led ICE during the first term, is called the border czar. When asked if there was a way to avoid separating families, as happened last time, he said yes: deport them all together.

He told a conference over the summer: “The Washington Post can do all the stories on me they want about 'Tom Homan kicking people out', he's really good at it!” They haven't seen shit yet! ​​Wait until 2025! »

Miller and Homan will be tasked with carrying out mass deportations of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States, or at least starting the process so the president-elect can claim he kept his promise. Critics call this goal completely unrealistic.

There are now others who will also benefit from enormous influence. Elon Musk, who gave $119 million to help Trump, is now the most powerful private citizen ever – heading a commission on waste, posting hundreds of messages on X, attending Trump’s call to Volodymyr Zelenskyy – while seeking billions of dollars in federal contracts.

Trump said last night that Musk would lead a government efficiency department – he promised to “send a shockwave through the system” – with help from former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

Tom Homan, former acting director of U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE), speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, United States, Thursday 22 February 2024. (Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

RFK Jr. will get a title, but Trump must decide whether to accept his highly controversial ideas on vaccines and eliminating fluoride from water systems. He also threatened to fire FDA officials who waged a “war on public health,” saying the agency removed products such as raw milk, ivermectin and vitamins.

And of course, JD Vance will be a particularly active vice president and heir.

Still to come: the top jobs of Treasury Secretary and the extraordinarily sensitive post of Attorney General. I also want to know who will be the press officer!

One of the reasons we experience weeks and weeks of skepticism about negative coverage is that every journalist on the planet now has to run mandatory stories about Donald Trump.

Whether they cover sports, religion, work, housing, entertainment, courts, energy, television, schools, or crime, they should write about the impact of the 47th president, keeping in mind the mind that it weighs on everything.

Just since yesterday:

Washington Post: “Trump vowed to shut down the Education Department. What would that mean? »

New York Times: “Trump's 'Drill, Baby, Drill' Goes Two Ways for Oil Companies. »

And: “Universities wonder if they will be the “enemy” under Trump”

But my favorite: “What the Trump Presidency Means for the Alcohol Industry.”

(Trump doesn't drink, but all industries want less regulation.)

There's also this headline from Drudge: “Woman Divorces Husband Over Voting.”

As the Mirror reports, “A man said he couldn't believe his wife was prepared to 'ruin our whole lives' after she filed for divorce because of her vote for Donald Trump.

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The distraught husband wrote on social media that he was left without saying that the marriage could collapse because of politics.

I suppose a family separation policy takes many forms.