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 what can only reasonably be described as a MOAB targeted directly to Main Justice, President Trump has nominated Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz to be United States Attorney General.

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Making the nomination strategy that much more interesting, Matt Gaetz resigned his position within congress, “effective immediately.”

In combination with the nomination of Senator Marco Rubio to the State Dept., this sets the stage for a Senate situation where the upper chamber may attempt to derail the Gaetz nomination, yet Florida Governor Ron DeSantis could then appoint him to be the replacement U.S. Senator from Florida; thus, returning an angry MOAB back into the silo that derailed him.

You couldn’t write this script if you tried.

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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.

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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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I’m not going to dwell too much on this announcement, because it has already been discussed.

President Trump has announced his nomination of Florida Senator Marco Rubio for the position of Secretary of State.

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This move takes Marco Rubio out of the position of Chairman for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI).  That’s the sum value of this move, and the companion reason for President Trump to appoint Steven C. Witkoff to be Special Envoy to the Middle East. (link)

Senator Marco Rubio will be State Dept Secretary with a short leash and a very limited portfolio.  However, from his perspective the political status and future value is awesome.  It will be interesting to see: (1) who is appointed chairman of the SSCI, and (2) who Ron DeSantis appoints as Rubio’s replacement.

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…And just like that, President Trump opens the door of possibility for a special election, and John Thune to fulfill Kimberly’s hope returning to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, with a full-throated gubernatorial endorsement from the Great MAGA King.   But I’ll get to that in a moment….

First, President Trump has announced his nomination of South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

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Keeping in mind that Tom Homan is already assigned the one task that Governor Noem would not like to be responsible for, controlling the border and deporting illegal aliens. Both matters are of interest to the Big Ag industry back home.

So, with a streamlined responsibility portfolio, at DHS Noem would be more focused on national security matters that are not tied to border security. The types of national security issues that Noem has a tendency to frame around constitutional freedoms, liberties, and the removal of systems that directly restrict the rights of Americans.   Something, shall we say, directly in her wheelhouse.

Simultaneously, this appointment opens the door for Senator John Thune to return to South Dakota and run for Governor.  This possibility directly fits into the wish list of his wife Kimberly Thune, together they have grandkids now. The family dynamic caused Senator Thune to seriously contemplate retiring two-years ago.

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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.

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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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Understandable selection.  President Trump has announced the nomination of Pete Hegseth to be Secretary of Defense.

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Remember, under the Trump Doctrine, the use of the military takes a backseat to the deployment of economic weapons to achieve national security objectives.  From this fundamental outlook, the Secretary of Defense needs to maintain a strong military, but only for use as a last resort when called upon.

If triggered for reasons of extreme national security, the Defense Department under Commander in Chief Donald Trump is expected to deliver much faster, harsher and a more directed forceful response.  This was on display in Syria, 2017, when ISIS was destroyed in weeks; and then followed up with the first ever dropping of a ‘MOAB’, the Mother of All Bombs.

With this intent in mind, Pete Hegseth needs to harden the warriors and prepare them only in the event that all other approaches by President Trump have not led to the optimal outcome.  This approach scares the crap out of militaristic nations who were stuck in the old ‘red line’ paradigm.

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A key position.  President Trump has announced his selection of William Joseph McGinley to serve as White House Counsel for the second term.

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The White House Counsel (WHC) is a critical component to the Office of the Presidency.

In term-1 the WHC was the primary hurdle to much of the corrupt information the public wanted President Trump to address.  It was White House Counsel who warned President Trump that any unilateral action taken by him would be construed by the silos within the IC, FBI and DOJ to be interference with their investigations.  President Trump deferred to that counsel.

The WHC doesn’t represent the President, the WHC represents the Office of the Presidency. It is the WHC primary function to protect the power of the President within the Executive Branch.  This generally leads to many misinterpretations of risk, and the President is often hamstrung by overly cautious counsel in the position.

Thankfully, a recent Supreme Court decision over “presidential immunity” affirmed the absolute and plenary power of the person who is President, as the authority of all actions that take place within the executive branch during their officials acts as President.  As SCOTUS affirmed there is no power greater than President Trump.  The President is the executive branch in everything, and the President has no boss.

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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.

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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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If the basic story unfolding in Mar-a-Lago is to be believed, RFK JR, Elon Musk and a small group of technocrats and billionaires have become the ‘kitchen cabinet’ advisors putting the Trump administration together.  Rumors swirl that Melania Trump, Devin Nunes and Dan Scavino have checked out of the ridiculous “non-clown-car” hot mess until the dust settles.

Adding evidence to this possibility, the media are starting to report on some rather, well, shall we say, curious picks from the Mar-a-Lago transition group.

Everyone else, except you guys, will miss what each of the New York Post “leaked” names have in common.  They are all in direct alignment with the retention of the Intelligence Community as it exists.  For the IC, this is the team that lets them hunker down until ’28.

♦ Rubio at State:

Rubio would be the IC pick because, well, he is Vice-Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and a direct installment due to his efforts to support the prior Trump targeting; which included the big assist to then Vice-Chair Mark Warner.   The IC has super thick black files on Rubio, they’d love to have him at State.  This rumor seems ridiculous.

Actually, this rumor seems like a leak trap.

♦ Waltz as National Security Advisor.

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