Another question is taking on added urgency: How far will Trump go in exacting the revenge he promised against his political opponents after the impeachments, indictments and a conviction on which he anchored his campaign? Cabinet appointments expected in the coming days, including for the attorney general, will shed light on this
President-elect Donald Trump is already making a show of power everywhere, showing that he may try to overturn Washington’s checks and balances and leaving foreign leaders scrambling to come to terms with his victory. Early signs from Mar-a-Lago, the Florida club and estate where Trump is building his new administration, suggest that when he returns to the White House in January, buoyed by a landslide victory and a Democratic mandate, he will act with maximum force.
Trump has already taken to social media to order Senate Republicans running in this week’s majority leader election to approve recess appointments for his Cabinet nominees, and all three candidates have quickly signaled they are open. to the idea. He is indicating that he plans to impose a Republican monopoly on power, if Republicans gain control of the House, with unchallenged authority. He sees Congress, not as a separate and equal branch of government.
MUSCLE INCLUSION
For example, Trump’s decisions herald a new administration infused with outside populism rather than conventional power brokers. He, for example, ruled out Cabinet posts for Mike Pompeo and Nikki Haley, who both held top foreign policy posts last time out. On Sunday, he offered the job of US ambassador to the United Nations in New York, Rep. Elise Stefanik, two familiar sources told CNN.
And his inclusion of billionaire tech visionary and rabble-rouser Elon Musk in a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about how Trump’s unorthodoxy will defy every governing convention. A president-elect can call anyone he wants. But since Musk has massive contracts with the US government, his mere presence alongside Trump — for whom he campaigned vigorously and promoted at X, which he owns — represents a massively obvious conflict of interest.
THE “CLEANING” OF THE REPUBLICANS
Speculation about future Supreme Court positions and possible retirements is highlighting the potential of the next president to extend the dominance of the ultra-conservative majority he built in the middle of the century. Federal workers are now fearing an expected purge of career bureaucrats by Trump allies eager to install political appointees who won’t hesitate to enforce orders that could chip away at state and central government regulatory authority. And CNN reported last week on discussions at the Pentagon about how the military would respond to any order to deploy against Americans, after Trump’s warnings as a candidate that he could break taboos about using force on American soil.
REVENGE AGAINST “ENEMIES”
And another question is taking on added urgency: How far will Trump go in exacting the revenge he promised against his political opponents after the impeachments, indictments and a conviction on which he anchored his campaign? Cabinet appointments expected in the coming days, including for the attorney general, will shed light on this. “I don’t think any of that is going to happen,” House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan insisted Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
However, Jordan has already formally warned special counsel Jack Smith, who led the federal criminal investigations into Trump, to withhold the records in order to leave open the possibility of a congressional investigation. Trump’s best political bet may be to use all his capital on his first 100-day agenda. But his eternal mantra is to face enemies.