A few thoughts on a few of Trump’s cabinet nominees

One lovely thing about being an opinion columnist — especially a conservative columnist — is that sometimes the proverbial crap is flung from both directions.

On one side, leftist college faculty look up my social media accounts to leave mean comments telling me I’m a horrible person for the way I vote. How original.

On the other side, my conservative commentary, rare in the world of legacy journalism, disappoints important conservative leaders. On Tuesday, Iowa GOP chair Jeff Kaufmann reportedly told a Republican women’s group in Cedar Rapids during his usual tirade against The Gazette that “ … when they do have a Republican writer, half the time they attack other Republicans!”

To be fair, Kaufmann could have also been referring to Gazette Editorial Fellow David Chung, a former elected member of the Iowa GOP State Central Committee, no stranger himself to a bold opinion. (One of several reasons why Chung and I are pals.)

Alas, I have a feeling Kaufmann’s rant was about little old me.

Here’s a news flash for you, Pops: I don’t work for you.

OK, that’s not very polite. Allow me to apologize for failing to meet Kaufmann’s approval: I’m sorry, Mr. Chairman, for all the things I wrote when I was telling the truth.

Anyway, in the spirit of writing things that will earn the ire of both sides, I thought I would share some thoughts on just a few of the nominees put forth so far by once-and-future President Donald Trump. That is, if it’s all right with the esteemed Chairman Kaufmann. Here goes.

MATT GAETZ FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL: I LIKE IT

I realize that former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration over three weeks ago. That’s why I like it.

Thirteen months after he led a coup that ousted Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., from leadership, Gaetz resigned from the House immediately following the announcement of his nomination. Gaetz had been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for allegations of sex trafficking and illicit drug use.

Gaetz’s resignation from Congress stopped the Ethics Committee’s probe in its tracks, as it only has jurisdiction over sitting members of Congress. The controversy, which included testimony from a woman in her 20s who said that Gaetz had sex with her at a party when she was 17 years old, still proved too much for too many GOP senators.

Seeing no path forward, Gaetz whipped out the “distraction” excuse (a word which has its own meaning in politics) and withdrew. Though technically reelected to another term in Congress, he will not rejoin when it convenes next month.

So, let’s review, with a hat tip to Chung, who called Gaetz’s nomination a “win-win” in his own Gazette column: The MAGA base gets its due from Trump via the outside-the-box pick. Trump gets credit with the base but is spared that particular round of confirmation drama.

Gaetz wiggles out of a scandal, gets praised by the base, and as a bonus — gets a talk show on an echo chamber cable network! His reliably red district gets a chance to be represented by someone good for more than just sticking it to the libs, McCarthy gets vengeance in the form of schadenfreude, and I get to picture the vindictive grin on McCarthy’s face.

Chung is right — everybody wins. Except, perhaps, His Excellency Jeff Kaufmann, who takes offense that I dare criticize another Republican.

KRISTI NOEM FOR HOMELAND SECURITY: MEH

Again, I risk upsetting His Eminence Jeff Kaufmann for again criticizing other Republicans: I’m not wild about Kristi Noem for … well, any cabinet position, to be frank.

In September 2023, the Daily Mail published a lengthy expose about Noem’s rumored affair with Corey Lewandowski, a Trump campaign adviser and former campaign manager who, like Noem, is married (to someone else.)

The affair has been such a poorly kept secret that through a contact in Trump World, even the snotty opinion writer for this worthless liberal newspaper Jeff Kaufmann loves to hate knew about it before the story came out.

Noem would hardly be the first politician whose extramarital dalliance is splashed in the news.

But when multiple current and former staff tell the expose’s authors of past instructions not to share Noem’s private schedule with her own husband, and that as a result of her jet-setting around the country with Lewandowski on political trips they “often had no idea where she was, or even if she was in state or out of state, she would simply disappear,” that’s not juicy gossip. That’s a leadership issue.

But hey, if Noem and Lewandowski are still schtupping, then her moving out east might bode well for their relationship.

To be fair, Noem has actually been to the U.S.-Mexico border, which indeed matters in any role of which border security is a key element, as Vice President Kamala Harris recently discovered the hard way.

But what has earned Noem this role is not necessarily her qualifications but her loyalty to Trump. Welcome to politics. We didn’t start the fire. It was always burning since the world’s been turning.

MARCO RUBIO FOR SECRETARY OF STATE: EXCELLENT

Speaking of loyalists, anyone who decries Trump’s picks out of dislike for loyalty appointments is probably glad to see Antony Blinken take his leave.

Before he was President Joe Biden’s Secretary of State, Blinken was a senior Biden campaign adviser who commissioned a letter signed by 51 former intelligence officials one month before the 2020 election. The letter falsely suggested that a laptop owned and abandoned by Sleepy Joe’s son Hunter bore the fingerprints of a Russian disinformation operation designed to bolster Trump’s re-election chances.

The bogus letter was used to discredit allegations that the then-Vice President used his position to benefit his son’s business dealings, evidence of which the laptop was said to contain.

Ex-Acting CIA Director Mike Morelli, who signed the letter and solicited 50 more signatures, testified later that he was asked by Blinken to arrange the letter and would not have thought do so on his own. He also admitted that he did so to help Biden win the election.

Morelli had been a top contender for Biden’s CIA director until a key Democrat voiced opposition. Blinken, on the other hand, was confirmed as Biden’s Secretary of State only three months after contriving the letter of spies who lie and would go on to oversee the U.S.’ disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan before the year was out.

There are many better suited for the role of nation’s top diplomat than someone who sees no problem with orchestrating such blatant and consequential lies. But Trump’s pick for Secretary of State, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, isn’t just better suited. He’s highly qualified.

Rubio played an understated role during Trump’s first term advising the President on policy matters related to Latin America, to the degree that it earned him the label of “virtual secretary of State for Latin America” from the New York Times in 2019. Rubio’s confirmation is likely to be a smooth one, as multiple Democrats have voiced praise for Rubio’s understanding of foreign policy and even confirmed their support.

LINDA MCMAHON FOR SECRETARY OF EDUCATION: GOOD

Linda McMahon, former CEO of Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment, was the head of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term and now co-chairs his transition team. McMahon has been nominated to lead the Department of Education, an executive department that Trump and many supporters want to see eliminated and its operations transferred to other departments or state education bureaus.

Though criticized for having little experience, McMahon does have some background in education policy. With an original career plan to become an educator, she obtained her teaching certificate upon graduating college. She was also on the Connecticut Board of Education in 2009 and is a longtime trustee at a Division 1 university in Connecticut.

One school administrator noted how McMahon, in contrast to other “corporate leaders,” was in no hurry to put her personal positions ahead of her willingness to learn and understand a system. With her strong support for reforms such as school choice and charter schools and her existing experience in reducing government waste, I’m optimistic about what McMahon will bring to the table.

The National Education Association, the largest teacher’s union in the country, says that educators are “appalled” at the selection of McMahon. For parents whose children’s education has been negatively affected by the political strong-arming for which the NEA and other groups are notorious, that’s a ringing endorsement.

LORI CHAVEZ-DEREMER FOR SECRETARY OF LABOR: WHAT THE HELL?!

Republicans’ improving relations with labor unions should never come at the expense of sound policies in business and commerce.

The Protecting the Right to Organize Act, an omnibus bill that would rob freelancers of their right to contract independently and give big labor unions a massive amount of unchecked power, is the opposite of sound business policy. Trump’s pick for Labor Secretary, Oregon Congresswoman Lori Chavez DeRemer, is one of only three Republicans who voted in favor of the deceptively-named PRO Act.

Anyone who supports policies that take away worker’s rights to that degree has no business (pun intended) serving atop the Labor Department.

My apologies to His Holiness Jeff Kaufmann for slamming Big Labor’s new best friend.

Naturally, this is an incomplete list. I’ll be back with more thoughts on more of President-elect Trump’s nominees next Sunday. Hopefully His Regalness Jeff Kaufmann, Supreme Authority on Qualities of Good Republicans, can handle it.

Comments: 319-398-8266; althea.cole@thegazette.com