Every new administration has its priorities. Typically, these involve specific policies. But Donald Trump doesn’t care about policy. His only goal is to have the ability to exercise unbridled power.
That explains why his nomination process looks more like a patronage operation than a genuine effort to staff the government with people concerned with the country’s well being. In most areas of foreign, domestic and economic policy, Trump isn’t assembling a team of rivals so much as a group of people he finds irrelevant.
If a wealthy supporter wants a cabinet post, fine. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to HHS, no problem. Sure, they may be kooks and crackpots but as long as they falsely parrot that he won the 2020 election, Trump doesn’t care. There is no vetting, just a social media post.
Like anyone who wants to be dictator, however, Trump values direct control over the collection of intelligence and the use of force. Positions with those powers are reserved not just for supporters but for sycophants. Being a mere loyalist is not sufficient, the person must be willing to do anything that Trump wants — no debate, no questions asked. These are the henchmen of the new administration, and they are quite a crew.
Trump’s nomination of the scandal-ridden Matt Gaetz as Attorney General was widely understood to fit this model. Gaetz was unqualified for the role by any conventional measure — he has no prior prosecutorial experience, in fact he barely ever practiced law. He was a widely despised member of the House with no legislative accomplishments. He was best known for a criminal and ethics investigation into drug use and sex with underage girls.
What Gaetz had going for him was blind loyalty to Trump. He was willing to carry out every command. He was prepared to compromise the independence of the Department of Justice on a moment’s notice.
When he dropped out, Trump did not have to go far to find another suitable candidate with less obvious baggage. But on the key quality that matters to Trump — blind obedience — Pam Bondi is more of the same. Bondi was not just an ordinary election denier. She brought it to heights on par with Sydney Powell, Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis. In the absence of Gaetz, Trump assumes she will do just fine.
Most recently, Trump indicated that he would appoint Kash Patel to head the FBI. Patel is a supplicant of cartoonish proportions. He literally wrote a children’s book that casts Trump as king and himself as a wizard.
The most obvious problem with Trump’s plan is that the directorship isn’t vacant for another three years. Yet, Trump clearly intends to fire the director he appointed in his last term to replace him with a yes-man that makes other yes-men blush.
Between Bondi and Patel, Trump will be able to accomplish his top priority for his new administration: ruthless acts of retribution against his political enemies. In a sign of how far the Overton window has already shifted, it is now assumed that Trump will use the instruments of government to pursue a campaign of retribution.
The question now is not whether it will happen but…
