Donald Trump has made some cabinet choices that have confused and upset even his closes congressional allies, and there’s a reason for that, according to a CNN reporter.
Trump’s choice for Tulsi Gabbard to be the nation’s top spy and for Fox News anchor Pete Hegseth to be defense secretary have caused some outrage, but nothing comes close to the former and incoming president’s choice for Matt Gaetz to be Attorney General.
But “they are perfectly in tune with Trump’s campaign trail promises and political project,” according to senior CNN reporter Stephen Collinson.
“The dismay engulfing establishment elites contrasted with the euphoria rocketing through conservative networks and social media among Trump fans,” he wrote. “The president-elect draws political strength from his position as an outsider scourge of the establishment, and if his picks are confirmed by the Senate — a huge if in the case of Gaetz — they will be tasked with his mission of defenestrating government and driving out those Trump sees as enemies.”
But even beyond that, according to Collinson, “outrage is the point” of the picks.
“The latest selections for Trump’s MAGA dream team caused such a stir that they almost overshadowed the pick of Fox News anchor Pete Hegseth to serve as defense secretary on Tuesday night,” he wrote before quoting Trump’s short-lived former first-term communications director Anthony Scaramucci in saying that “the president-elect’s personnel selections were purposely meant to ‘own the liberals.'”
Collinson also quoted Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman as saying, “It’s just kind of like a god-tier, kind of trolling, just to trigger a meltdown.”
Read the full report here.
