President has made some perplexing choices for his cabinet. The first batch made some sense. The latest seems cloying, if not baffling and certainly stunning.
Take Matt Gaetz as Attorney General. Here Trump should have selected a lawyer with gravitas and high credibility. Surely there are many of them, who would still be supremely loyal to him. Trump called Gaetz a deeply gifted and tenacious attorney. A 42-year old Floridian with a law degree from William and Mary, Gaetz practiced law for two years, never as a prosecutor, partly tainted by one suspension. You would think that his legal shallowness and potential for not being confirmed by the Senate would influence him to for now hold on to his House seat. But he just resigned from the Congress. Perhaps Gaetz's irredeeming virtue is that he too has some sexual issues clouding his past. He will become a weapon for Trump.
The other worrisome selection is Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence. A 43-year old former Democrat from Hawaii, I'm one of many in her home state saying....what??? She did serve in Iraq, but only in the National Guard. Her key role on the Trump campaign team was preparing him for the debate against Kamala Harris. And you know badly that went for Trump.
What does the National Intelligence office do, anyway?
- The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a senior cabinet-level United States government official, required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to serve as executive head of the United States Intelligence Community (IC) and to direct and oversee the National Intelligence Program (NIP). All IC agencies report directly to the DNI.
- Thus, Gabbard will sit at every full cabinet meeting.
- Before the DNI was established, that role was performed by the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
- The first director in 2005 was John Negroponte.
The seventh and current director is Avril Haines, the first woman to hold that position. Anyone everhear of her?- Some previous directors were a Vice Admiral and a Lt. General.
- There are 17 intelligence agencies and organizations, including the CIA.
The third alarming nomination is Pete Hegseth, FOX News personality, as Secretary of Defense. Said Politico:
Pentagon officials alarmed over Hegseth’s lack of experience: ‘Would you trust him to run Walmart?’
- A $780 billion annual budget with 3 million employees.
- 1.4 million active-duty personnel.
- Commander in Chief will be Donald Trump
- Some say, next to the presidency, the DOD secretary is the second hardest job in the executive branch.
44-year old Peter Hegseth:- Princeton BA and Harvard MPP.
- Served in Iraq and Afghanistan, awarded a Bronze Star Medal and still served as an Army National Guard major.
- Political commentator for Fox News.
- Author of six books.
Not related to the above, nor our Norwegian Encore cruise, but we are just a couple of hundred miles west of Paris, so just a note that the Notre Dame Cathedral will re-open on 8December2024. Last year, one of my postings said:
Four and a half years ago I had lunch at one of my favorite restaurants in the world, the Paris La Tour D'Argent (I've also dined at their Tokyo steeple), and from my table could view the Seine and the Notre-Dame. A month later, this church burned down. At a cost exceeding a billion dollars, this cathedral might re-open at the end of the year, but could take up to 40 years to completely restore.
Typhoon Usagi brushed the Philippines, is now down to 110 MPH, will weaken into a Category 1 and skirt the southeast corner of Taiwan late Friday or early Saturday as a tropical storm.
Our Norwegian Encore will on Day 33 arrive in Zeebruge, Brussels, Belgium tomorrow.
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