Not a surprising appointment all things considered.  Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has appointed Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody to replace Senator Marco Rubio, pending Rubio’s resignation from his Senate seat which will follow his confirmation.

This will provide an opportunity to position DeSantis loyalist, his Chief of Staff, James Uthmeier, as Florida Attorney General to replace Moody. This also positions congressman Byron Donalds to run for Florida Governor, supporting the MAGA coalition.

Moody will take up a pro-DeSantis position in the Senate in preparation for a head-to-head contest between Ron DeSantis and JD Vance in 2028 for the GOP presidential nomination. As senator, Ashley Moody will be unlikely to challenge any of the Trump agenda and will likely support it given the stakes for Ron. All in all, a predictable outcome.

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The alligator emojis will be happy, so too will the MAGA coalition.

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Today at 10:30 am EST, Scott Bessent will appear before the Senate Finance Committee for a confirmation hearing on his nomination to be United States Treasury Secretary.  Livestream Link Below:

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Today at 10:30am former North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum will appear before the Senate Energy Committee as part of his confirmation process for Interior Secretary.  Livestream Links Below: 

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Senate confirmation hearings for President Trump cabinet nominations continue today.

10 a.m.: Scott Turner, secretary of housing and urban development. Lee Zeldin, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Doug Burgum, interior secretary. 10:30 a.m.: Scott Bessent, Treasury secretary.

♦ Scott Turner, a former football player who served as a midlevel official in the first Trump administration, has been elevated as Mr. Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

♦ Former Representative Lee Zeldin of New York previously made an unsuccessful run for governor in the state in 2022. Now he has been tapped by President Trump to carry out his environmental policy and remove excessive climate regulations at the Environmental Protection Agency.

♦ Former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum made a $1 billion fortune in the tech industry before running for governor. Burgum, who has longstanding ties to oil and gas companies will seek to fulfill the “drill baby drill” energy independence policy expressed by candidate Trump. Burgum would be in charge of managing vast swaths of federal land and coastal waters in the Interior Department, as well as leases of those lands for oil and gas drilling.

♦ Scott Bessent is a billionaire hedge fund manager who has been a central economic adviser to Mr. Trump as the president-elect created a campaign agenda centered on raising tariffs on imported goods. Mr. Bessent, who will oversee some of America’s most powerful economic levers in the Treasury Department, has called for rolling back government subsidies, deregulating the economy and raising domestic energy production.

Burgum and Bessent will get the majority of attention from the ‘resistance’ democrats and the Moonbats amid their climate change base.

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One of Deep States’ Most Important Generals Removed!

We start this discussion with a note of thanks to the ridiculous democrats and republicans for using the questioning session for AG nominee Pam Bondi, to out themselves on the issue of FISA-702, the unconstitutional surveillance of American citizens. While many will not see it, the timing here is not coincidental.

At the behest of President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson has removed House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) Chairman Mike Turner from his position.

Mike Turner is no longer Chairman of HPSCI. This is a big loss for the Deep State.

Remember also, that President Trump had previously announced an intelligence advisory board headed by Devin Nunes {SEE HERE}.

In addition to his manipulative support for Ukraine, in December of 2023 Chairman Turner lied about his FISA-702 renewal having support from Devin Nunes and John Ratcliffe {LINK}. Mike Turner was not aligned with the MAGA priorities of liberty.

ASSOCIATED PRESS – […] Johnson told reporters late Wednesday that Rep. Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican, would no longer lead the committee, which oversees the nation’s intelligence agencies and holds tremendous influence over law enforcement and foreign policy. During Trump’s first term, the committee became a hotbed of partisanship as its powers were used to assist the then-president. Johnson last year also gave two Trump allies highly-sought spots on the panel.

Johnson said he made the decision to remove Turner because the “intelligence community and everything related to (the committee) needs a fresh start.” The Republican speaker, who has aligned himself closely with Trump, said he would soon announce the new chair for the committee. (link)

Mike Turner told CBS News’ Margaret Brennan that Johnson had cited “concerns from Mar-a-Lago” as the reason for the decision.

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Having previously warned last week that “there would be hell to pay” if the hostages were not released by the day of his confirmation, President Trump broke news today that a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas has been reached.  President Trump broke the news via Truth Social:

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DETAILS: “This EPIC ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our Historic Victory in November, as it signaled to the entire World that my Administration would seek Peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans, and our Allies. I am thrilled American and Israeli hostages will be returning home to be reunited with their families and loved ones.

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Russell Vought, President-elect Trump’s choice to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), will testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee today at 1:00pm.

Russel Vought is on track to repeat his role as OMB director, which he helmed at the end of Trump’s first term. If confirmed, he’ll lead the office that oversees the implementation of the president’s vision across the executive branch, including the development and execution of the federal budget.

Vought was also a key author of the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025. The Senate will go bananas over this point of contention. Vought penned a section that touches on the executive office of the president. Livestream Links Below.

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Today at 10:00am EST, CIA Director nominee John Ratcliffe will appear before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to answer questions about his nomination.  Ratcliffe has numerous allies in the Intelligence Community including Chairman Tom Cotton and Vice-Chair Mark Warner. Resistance level, very low.

John Ratcliffe, a former Texas congressman who served as the director of national intelligence for President Trump in the first term, is now tasked with leading the second most prestigious and capable intelligence agencies in the world. As CIA Director Mr. Ratcliffe would have an influential position on matters of national intelligence and would likely not lie to President Trump unless it was necessary to retain the integrity of the silo he leads. Livestream Links Below:

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Pam Bondi, the former Attorney General for Florida, former DC lobbyist and ally to President Trump, will appear at 9:30am in the Senate Judiciary Committee to answer questions about her nomination.  The democrat resistance will be moderate.

Pam Bondi made her name in Florida politics as the state’s first female attorney general. After endorsing Mr. Trump in the 2016 Republican primary, Ms. Bondi joined Mr. Trump’s legal defense team during his first impeachment in 2019. As the Attorney General nominee Bondi would oversee the Justice Department and the full contingent of federal prosecutors. Livestream Links Below:

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Aligning with the concept of using tariffs to fund government operations, President Trump has announced his intention to create the External Revenue Service.  It appears to be a collection and enforcement mechanism to gather income from tariffs, duties and other sources that will pay for access to the U.S. consumer market.

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One of the issues the External Revenue Service will likely address is the de minimis loophole.

The de minimis loophole comes from back in the 1930s. The idea back then was, say you went on a vacation to Paris, you shouldn’t have to file customs paperwork or pay taxes if you decided to ship some little Eiffel Tower statues to your friends back home.

Congress in 2015 then raised the de minimis threshold from $200 to $800.  However, the e-commerce world exploded, and Chinese companies began using the de minimis loophole to ship cheap goods (ex. Temu and Shein) into the USA direct to consumers without paying any customs duty.

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