Trump Should be Appointing Some More Seasoned Cabinet Members to Key Positions To Take on the Massive DC Bureaucracy

While the left whined endlessly about the American election system after 2016, the Democrats are quiet now about abolishing the electoral college after President-elect Trump won a decisive victory by taking the populate vote against Harris. The President-elect has been the undisputed leader of the Republican Party since 2016, and he has established a clear mandate to push his agenda.

One of the biggest obstacles to Trump pursuing his government reforms of the deep state and the bureaucracy in his first term was that some of the cabinet positions he picked did not support his agenda. FBI Director Brey turned out to be a person who hated Trump and the MAGA movement, the former President was forced to fire his first choice of Secretary of State, Tillerson, who spoke out against him publicly, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions made the mistake of recusing himself during the fraudulent investigation into the Russian hoax. Trump was let down by key cabinet members for much of his first term, and the President-elect is right to make sure that his key appointments to lead his second administration will be more loyal.

Still, the bureaucracy in Washington is difficult and complex to navigate, and Trump’s picks for key positions such as his choice for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, are not individuals with high-level experience.

Hegseth is a smart and decorated military hero who achieved the rank of Major in the army, but he never served as a colonel or General in the military, and he also never served an any capacity as an executive in the private sector either. While experience in government should never be a prerequisite for public service, Trump himself is the best example of that fact, the task of reforming the Pentagon and taking on the deep state are daunting ones. While many former government leaders are not aligned with Trump and the MAGA movement, there are highly qualified individuals who have served in leadership positions such as former General Flynn that would have been better suited to take on the enormous and complex tasks of reforming the Pentagon. The deep state will also likely be more willing to try and expose weaknesses in candidates who lack experience.

There are leaders with high-level experience who would be loyal to Trump that would be better suited to implement the many needed reforms both within the military and in other departments such as the FBI as well. While Trump should obviously not make the same mistakes he made in his first term by choosing people he doesn’t know that are not aligned with his views, the President-elect should still recognize that the individuals best able to reform America’s broken government institutions are ones that served at high levels in these same departments in the past. There are also Senators that have been strong supporters of President Trump who know the Pentagon very well from sitting on key committees such as Senator Rick Scott that likely would have made better picks as well. Senator Ron Johnson, who is a strong Trump supporter, experienced Senator, and former executive, would have been a good choice for Secretary of Defense as well.

Trump is obviously reacting to some of the disappointing cabinet picks he made in his first term, but he needs to find a balance between picking people he knows personally and choosing individuals who are capable of implementing the many massive reforms that the country desperately needs. While Hegseth is a strong and capable man and Trump should still be able to successfully reform the deep state, a person with very minimal experience of the inner workings of the complex military-industrial establishment will likely face more difficulty instituting major structural reforms.

Trump can also direct reforms with leaders appointed within the Pentagon and in the civilian leadership structure, and the President-elect will likely choose more experienced people to serve under Hegseth, but this may make the President’s efforts more difficult as well.