Noah Rothman
National Review, Nov. 12, 2024
“All this is nerve-wracking to those who believed they were getting in Trump a capitulatory advocate for global retrenchment.”
It’s axiomatic that personnel is policy. That can be overstated, but Donald Trump’s cabinet picks do provide us with some clues about how his next administration will govern.
What is the through line that connects Marco Rubio and Michael Waltz, Elise Stefanik and Kristi Noem, Susie Wiles and Stephen Miller? It’s not their many shared ideological tendencies — certainly not when it comes to foreign affairs (which is the portfolio many of these nominees will manage). It’s not their complementary managerial styles or their personal demeanor. It’s loyalty. That’s what they can lay a convincing claim to, and that’s what was lacking in Republicans, such as Mike Pompeo and Nikki Haley, who’ve been shown the door.w
If loyalty matters more than the contours of any one particular policy item, we can assume that Trump’s second term will look a lot like the first. Beyond trade and immigration — areas where his passions lie — Trump’s appointees will probably have latitude to set U.S. policy. That’s making some of Trump’s true believers nervous. They thought they were electing the architect of America’s grand retreat from the world stage. But Trump’s cabinet picks suggest that something else is in the offing.… [To read the full article, click here]
