Various media outlets are saying approximately 10 republican senators are in opposition to the nomination of Matt Gaetz for various DeceptiCon reasons.  More than likely the same ones who supported AG Merrick Garland, I digress.

Into this mix of squishy spinelessness comes former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy who has an axe to grind against his former nemesis.

WASHINGTON DC – Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy does not believe outgoing Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) will be confirmed as attorney general by the Senate after President-elect Donald Trump selected him as his nominee on Wednesday.

Some of Trump’s picks for his Cabinet, including Gaetz for attorney general and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence, have garnered strong reactions on Capitol Hill and in the wider political world. McCarthy, whose speakership was ended by a successful motion to vacate filed by Gaetz in October 2023, told Bloomberg he believes Trump’s nominees are good, except for Gaetz.

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Almost every day an intelligence community overview assessment is compiled, it’s called the Presidential Daily Briefing or PDB.

The PDB contains content primarily produced by the CIA.  However, in the modern era, the PDB is assembled and enhanced by adding information from other intelligence agencies (silos).  The Director of National Intelligence assembles it; the position Tulsi Gabbard has recently been nominated for.

The DNI (now Tulsi) compiles the information, then delivers the PDB to the President, the National Security Advisor (now Mike Waltz) and the list of people assigned by the President to review it.

The PDB is the Intelligence Community (IC) telling the Office of the President, this is what’s going on.  The PDB frames the worldview of the CIA and other agencies.

However, if the CIA/IC wants to frame policy and action to their agenda – and not to the agenda of the president/administration per se’ – the CIA/IC can shape the PDB information toward their own individual objectives. In the past several decades the CIA manipulation of the PDB became obvious.

Because the PDB was no longer considered to be an “independent” finding of fact, and was/is, instead, more of a CIA tool to shape and control the president, it became increasingly useless.

President Obama saw the traps within the CIA/IC use of the PDB and started to ignore it. Obama gave the PDB to almost two-dozen administration officials daily, essentially saying, “here this is what the CIA say is going on – check it out.” Meanwhile Obama did what he wanted to do in shaping policy, often regardless of the PDB content.

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Appearing on Fox News, DNI nominee Tulsi Gabbard discusses her perspectives on the position and her anticipation of the nomination process moving forward.  As a DNI nominee Mrs Gabbard will have to pass through the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI).

::Heavy Sigh::  I wish the interviewer would begin the questioning by asking, “what does the DNI do?”  That approach would be far more interesting than discussing feelings and reactions. WATCH:

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In this position Tulsi Gabbard will be able to find out why she was put on the DHS “watch list” within the TSA.  Additionally, I note that all of the nominations and appointments have come from within the group of campaign surrogates and campaign officials.  Perhaps that filter disqualifies anyone else.

President Trump Announces his nomination of former Democrat Representative, former DNC Co-Chair, and former Bernie Sanders campaign spox, Tulsi Gabbard, to be Director of National Intelligence.

[Source]

I’m sorry folks, we are going to have to wait to understand the thinking behind this one.  I have absolutely no idea.  Mrs Gabbard has never led any organization of scale, nor held any position of intelligence review that I am aware of.

Other than being a campaign surrogate (via RFK Jr) and very close friend of Tucker Carlson, who I’m told is one of a small group organizing the cabinet appointments; together with Donald Trump Jr, Vivek Ramaswamy, Elon Musk and Robert F Kennedy Jr. (currently living in Mar-a-Lago); I’m not sure what would be the plan for Tulsi Gabbard (maybe with guidance from Ric Grenell?).   Like everyone else, I’m puzzled.

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Newly elected Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), held a press conference today to answer questions and introduce his leadership team: Assistant Majority Leader, also called the Republican “whip” John Barrasso (R-WY), Republican Conference Chair Tom Cotton (R-AR), Republican Policy Committee Chair Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV), Republican Conference Vice Chair James Lankford (R-OK), National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-SC). WATCH:

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[Now we must focus on the very important chairmanships of the senate committees that John Thune will decide.]

In the first ballot the results were: Thune 23, Cornyn 15, Scott 13.

Scott was removed and the Senators went to the second ballot between Thune and Cornyn.

As expected, the Scott coalition split 50/50. Thune picked up 6 votes from Scott’s group.  Cornyn picked up 7 votes from Scott’s group.

Final Vote:  John Thune 29, John Cornyn 24.

It was always going to be this way.  Remember, the Senate is a silo -by design- isolated from influence of the American public.

If we want to change the dynamic, we must repeal the 17th amendment and return to the original constitutional construct: Senators appointed to represent the interests of each state, by State Legislature.

The Senate was designed to represent the interests of the State, not ‘the people’; that’s the job of the House of Representatives.

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If you look at the structure of the announcements, there does appear to be a strategy at play; yes, including the likelihood of Marco Rubio as Secretary of State.

Using the announcement of Steven C. Witkoff to be Special Envoy to the Middle East, I’ll try to put it together.

[SOURCE]

If President Trump pulls Marco Rubio out of the Senate, he opens up the position of Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI).  Rubio would love the opportunity to load his presidential aspiration resume with Secretary of State, for later use. However, this also opens the opportunity for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to appoint an interim senator who would be more MAGA-minded, trustworthy and loyal (dare I say Gaetz).

With Rubio removed from the equation of the IC problem, the issue becomes mitigating (think neutering) the Secretary of State from undermining the Trump Doctrine; which, as you know, is the key Trump foreign policy approach using economic power combined with diplomacy.

President Trump has long expressed being sick and tired of U.S. mid-east policy, endless wars, endless spending etc.  President Trump in term-1 created the Abraham Accords to establish long-term peace and stability in the region, as a countermeasure to all the prior administrations stirring shit up there.  Essentially, the Abraham Accords create peace, get us out and allow policy to focus on more pressing foreign concerns, vis-a-vis China.

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Deadline for Swamp Draining, July 4th, 2026! It’s in the announcement.

President Trump has announced the creation of a new department. The Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE (tongue in cheek head nod to the Dogecoin cryptocurrency created by Musk).  Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will be tasked with reducing the size and scope of government and completing the agenda by July 4th, 2026.

[SOURCE]

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President Trump announces via Truth Social, his intent to nominate former ODNI official John Ratcliffe to the position of Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

[Source]

Former DNI Ratcliffe passed through the Senate Intel Committee nomination process in 2019 after being blocked by Mitch McConnell in 2018.  With a prior SSCI confirmation being successful, the path to confirming John Ratcliffe as CIA Director is essentially a foregone conclusion.

As CIA Director, John Ratcliffe will control the world’s second-most powerful intelligence agency. Ratcliffe has almost no attack vectors for the internal IC apparatus to use against him, that’s why I previously thought a role in the Trump-2 intel system would be good.

Ratcliffe was/is the lead transition team member on all things related to Intelligence.  Prior rumor put him in the NatSec Advisor role, but CIA Director is a good fit.  John Ratcliffe is very stable, vanilla, no drama and can be expected to deliver on the priorities of the Trump administration.  He will work very well with the White House.

The concern would be Ratcliffe’s ability to remove the corrupt players within the darkest part of the darkest IC system.

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President Trump has confirmed his intention to use Florida Rep (Daytona) Mike Waltz as National Security Advisor.

[Source]

Mike Waltz serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI).

In the role of Nat Sec Advisor, Waltz would presumably represent the power of the president toward every element of the National Security apparatus and Intelligence Community.

The Nat Sec Advisor is a very powerful position, if used correctly.  The absolute power of the President toward the intelligence community in the executive branch is carried by the Nat Sec Advisor (NSA).  The NSA has the ability to reach into every silo and control every element of every decision therein.

The NSA organizes the finding memos which authorize all covert intelligence operations globally and domestically.  The NSA can shut down bad things in the IC, cancel black-op operations, and essentially hold omnipotent power within the executive branch over every aspect of the 17 intelligence agencies who operate therein.  The NSA can also determine what is, and what is not, a national security matter.

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