by Jim Rickards, Daily Reckoning:
Now that the election is in the rearview mirror, the focus now turns to what the next four years are going to look like in a second Trump term. From all indications, things will not be business as usual.
Trump Turns The Tables
After being inaugurated as president in 2009, Barack Obama met with congressional Republicans to discuss his economic plans. There was a lot of complaining and pushback from the Republicans, but Obama made it clear he was going to push through his programs whether they liked it or not.
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In a smarmy tone, Obama told the Republican leaders, “Elections have consequences” and added, “I won” for good measure. Obama did not have many major accomplishments, but he did push through Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act) and signed many executive orders to force changes in immigration law and to implement other preferences.
The phrase, “elections have consequences” was continually trotted out to make the point that winners can do what they want.
Now, events have come full circle.
Donald Trump not only won the White House in a landslide Electoral College vote and a majority of the popular vote, but his party took control of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Now it’s the Republicans who are turning the tables on Obama’s famous quote.
A Defensive Change
Take Trump’s choice for Secretary of Defense, for instance. Trump appointed Pete Hegseth, Major in the U.S. Army, combat veteran with service in Iraq and Afghanistan, winner of two Bronze Stars, and graduate of Princeton and Harvard. He is well-qualified, but not a conventional choice in the sense that he does not emerge from the swamp of the military-industrial complex. He’s a fierce opponent of “woke” policies that are weakening our military and hurting enlistments. He’s determined to force the retirement or resignation of a large cadre of generals and admirals who are more interested in political correctness than they are in combat readiness.
The Trump transition team is also creating a “Warrior Board” that will systematically review senior officers (so-called “Flag Officers” consisting of generals and admirals) to identify those who are overly political, woke, or supported former Chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff Mark Milley. Many will be forced out, which is not only good for morale but also creates space in the highest ranks for promotions of deserving Majors and Colonels.
More Disrupters
Or take two of his more “controversial” picks (if you listen to the hyperventilating of the mainstream media).
Tulsi Gabbard has been nominated to be the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). She is a former member of Congress and a Lt. Col. in the U.S. Army with deployments to Iraq. She received both a Meritorious Service Medal and a Combat Medical Badge. Gabbard is assigned to the Army Reserve’s Psychological Operations Command, which is perhaps the best possible background for an intelligence chief. But yet, many are screaming “no experience”!
Matt Gaetz has been nominated to be the next Attorney General of the United States. He has a first-class legal mind and excellent cross-examination skills, which will be needed in the course of prosecuting bureaucrats who committed illegal acts during the Biden-Harris years. Again, Washington and the media are panicking at the thought of Gaetz heading the DOJ.
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