Over one week ago, Donald J. Trump was re-elected, making him the 47th president of the U.S. Since then, trump has been doing what any president elect would do — reward those who supported him and begin making appointments to various political positions.
President Trump named Steven Witkoff to be a special envoy to the Middle East on Nov. 12, someone who essentially acts as a surrogate when the secretary of state is unable to deal with matters in the region. Considering how delicate the situation in the Middle East is right now, one would expect Trump to select a highly skilled diplomat with a wealth of experience in the region.
Well, Trump tends to avoid doing what he most likely should do.
Is Witkoff a senator? An ambassador? An experienced federal employee? Maybe an expert on governments and politics in the region?
None of the above.
Steven Witkoff is a real estate tycoon and enjoys playing golf with Trump. The person reading this article is likely as qualified as Witkoff is to be a special envoy to the Middle East.
Historically, the incoming president fills the federal government and their cabinet with individuals from their party, people who supported them on the campaign trail, and more generally, people they think will excel at the position that they are assigned. This has been the standard since the nation’s founding, yet Trump is once again tossing aside convention and good sense in his latest political appointments.
The problem is, regardless of their political ideology, Trump is now putting people who are grossly under qualified in positions of significant power.
Another outstanding example is Pete Hegseth, who Trump has selected to serve as his secretary of defense. To be fair to Hegseth, Hegseth is a veteran who experienced combat in both Iraq and Afghanistan. But, by no means does that make him qualified to be the secretary of defense.
Some readers are probably thinking — how did Trump select a random veteran to fill this very important position?
The answer is simple. After Hegseth’s military career died down — though, he is still in the Minnesota Army National Guard — he started a new career as a political pundit on television for Fox News. A political pundit has been selected to be the next U.S. secretary of defense.
We also can’t ignore Matt Gaetz, the 42-year-old Florida congressman and attorney who was recently nominated by president elect Trump to serve as attorney general. This pick is especially head-scratching because so much about Gaetz embodies the very things that MAGA brand Republicans resent about politicians and the “swamp.” Gaetz’ family is involved in both politics and business and he has been embroiled in a series of scandals that all point to the kind of sketchy, self-serving and dissolute behavior that is now so commonly associated with the political elite and the “deep state.” Pending his new appointment, Gaetz resigned from Congress on Wednesday, just days before a scheduled vote to release an ethics report about him involving allegations of sexual misconduct, illicit drug use and obstruction of justice.
Palling around with a convicted sex trafficker and going on a lavish trip to the Bahamas in which Gaetz was accused of having sex with a 17 year old and paying for sex — though federal investigators decided not to proceed with any charges— is exactly the kind of unscrupulous behavior that I imagine corrupt politicians engaging in when people refer to Washington as a “swamp.”
Even staunch MAGA Republicans have decried Gaetz in the past. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., publicly denounced Gaetz in 2023 for showing videos of his sexual encounters on the house floor.
“This is the guy that the media didn’t give the time of day to after he was accused of sleeping with an underaged girl, and there’s a reason why no one in the conference came and defended him because we had all seen the videos he was showing on the House floor,” Mullin said in an interview with CNN in 2023.
And why should the American public trust Gaetz to be the nation’s top prosecutor? Does being a MAGA Republican intent on turning the justice system back on Democrats exempt him from the shame and impropriety of his past behavior?
Apparently Trump thinks so.
Trump has every right to put his supporters and fellow Republicans in positions of power. But, putting grossly inexperienced and, in the case of Matt Gaetz, grossly amoral individuals in charge of some of the most important governmental positions in the United States is concerning, dangerous and potentially the worst move Trump has made as president.
