The Bootlicker Cabinet

Bill Kristol: “There’ve been a few spectacularly bad nominees, picked to lead key departments where they would do real and dramatic damage to the nation. One of these, Matt Gaetz, nominated for attorney general, has already withdrawn. The three others—Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence, Pete Hegseth at Defense, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at Heath and Human Services—should not be confirmed. And who knows—maybe they won’t be.”

“But the challenge we face over the next four years—and it is a real and difficult challenge—isn’t posed by the spectacularly bad nominees. The challenge is all the routinely bad nominees.”

“There’s plenty to say against many of these picks. They don’t know much, they’re mediocre, they’re mostly election deniers, and so on. But the core problem is they’re weak. They’ll do what Trump wants, and they’ll do it unquestioningly.”