New Orleans Whoever believed that sucking up doesn’t work doesn’t have a clue to understanding the emerging Trump administration. The litmus test for thriving and surviving in Trump world is the ability to master limitless groveling, it seems. The evidence is everywhere.
Foreign leaders, remembering the first term, are reportedly reminding each other that flattery and maybe golf are the keys to Trump kingdom. Given that there are also reports that the transition team and the president-elect are slow walking signing the legally required ethical paperwork that could delay the transition of power, there may be some foreign and domestic hot shots who see that as a hint to be creative in that area as well.
The contest for Senate Majority Leader with the Republicans in charge over there now and Kentucky’s Mitch O’Connell finally stepping down in deference to the president seems to be a high school contest on who is really the teacher’s pet. The fight to replace the Senate Republicans’ leadership seems a question of who can most aggressively prove their obedience to Trump with no checks and balances. Sen. Rick Scott (Florida) pitched himself as the truest ally being now from Trump’s new home state and having established a reputation in the Senate already as a wannabe barnburner. Senator Thune (South Dakota), the No. 2 Senate Republican, and Sen. John Cornyn (Texas) are also in the running, but they’ve got some black marks on their report cards having been less than complementary at some point in the distant past. Sucking up is critical, but past grudges have to be settled, too, in the new regime.
The early short list follows these patterns. In some cases, it seems the Mar-de-Lago membership list is running HR for the incoming administration. Mike Huckabee, Arkansas’ former governor and father of the current governor who was the main press officer in Trump I, has somehow qualified himself to be ambassador to Israel on his claims to be a preacher with deep ties to the Bible. Some Congressman from New York who voted against certifying the election in 2020 may run EPA for no discernible reason other than that. They are already arguing among themselves about whether Justices Thomas and Alito should be forced off the Supreme Court for some younger blood, even though they have certainly toed the Trump line. Perhaps this is a message to them to do even more, and that’ scary, too.
` A veteran, former Congressman and TV talking head is now in line to be Defense secretary. Somehow, that doesn’t make me feel any safer. Worse, his transition teams are reportedly drafting an executive order which would create a council of some sort make of retired top officers who are MAGA-people who would be charged with overseeing appointments to top general and admiral positions and evaluating the ones in the job now on some standards of “wokeness,” as they undercut the chain of command within the armed forces on such a weird litmus test. Now, I not only don’t feel safer, I’m sure the whole country is in danger.
But, if these are the early signs in the first week before the dust has even settled and while some votes are still being counted, including ones that will affect the House majority, it’s hard not to believe that we haven’t seen anything yet, and worse is coming. When the loyalty oath is to the president, not the country, you know it’s trouble.