During the past month I have followed Trump’s efforts to appoint his cabinet and various agency heads and diplomats. It has been, to say the least, interesting.
Trumps premier cabinet choice for the position of Attorney General was Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz. Gaetz would have been the first Attorney General to have been investigated by the United States Department of Justice for sex trafficking. He was likewise the subject of a House of Representatives Ethics Committee investigation. While the Department of Justice declined to prosecute Gaetz, the Ethics Committee found that he had paid numerous women for sex, had participated in several sex parties both in Florida and the Bahamas, and had engaged in sex with an underage female who legally was incapable of consent. When it became clear that the findings of the House Ethics Committee and its Report would become part of Gaetz’s confirmation hearing he requested that his nomination be withdrawn.
Trumps next major cabinet nominee is a Fox news commentator named Pete Hegseth. Upon closer scrutiny it has been revealed that Hegseth was the subject of a sexual assault complaint and investigation in California, had been removed from executive positions in nonprofit veterans organizations for financial mismanagement and appeared at public functions and on the air in an intoxicated condition.[1] Unlike Gaetz, Hegseth is not requesting his nomination be withdrawn nor has Trump withdrawn the nomination. Hegseth continues to seek the appointment while pledging that he will abstain from drinking if confirmed as Secretary of Defense. The cynical side of me wonders sometimes whether Gaetz was nominated to be Attorney Genera. because Hegseth might not look so bad by comparison.
Trumps nominations to lead other agencies have been equally perplexing.
He has nominated vaccine critic, Robert F Kennedy Jr., to be secretary of Health and Human Services. It is reported that “more than 18,000 physicians have signed a letter warning that he is unqualified and actively dangerous to the health of Americans.”[2]
Trump has nominated defeated Arizona Gubernatorial candidate and defeated United States Senate candidate, Kari Lake, to head the Voice of America. One of the missions of the Voice of America is to spread democracy around the world. If confirmed, this will be the first time that the Agency has been led by someone who has repeatedly denied election results in her own race and the 2020 presidential election.
Trumps choices for various diplomatic missions are also puzzling.
His choice for Ambassador to France is Charles Kushner. Kushner was convicted in the United States District Court in New Jersey for making illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and witness tampering. The witness tampering involved his sending his sister a tape of her husband engaging in sex with a prostitute arranged by Kushner. On December 23, 2020, Kushner was pardoned by Trump for these felonies.[3] Kushner’s son, Jared, is married to Trump’s daughter, Ivanka. The post of Ambassador to France has been held by two Presidents, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe. Our first Ambassador to France was Benjamin Franklin. Since those days, the post has been held by numerous luminaries with impeccable backgrounds in diplomacy, business, and the military. One can only wonder what our oldest ally is thinking about being sent an ambassador that is a convicted felon and whose only qualification is that his son is married to Trump’s daughter.
Trump’s choice for Ambassador to Greece is Kimberly Guilfoyle. Guilfoyle is a California attorney and was an occasional television commentator. Her sole qualification for this position appears to be that she was engaged to Donald Trump Junior. The nomination occurred after news reports that Donald Trump Junior has a new girlfriend.[4] This is one way to put some distance between the old girlfriend and the new girlfriend.
Trump has selected Herschel Walker to be his ambassador to the Bahamas. Walker was an All-American football player who once played for Trump’s football team the New Jersey Generals. In 2022 Trump secured his nomination for United States Senate seat from Georgia which he lost to Sen. Raffael Warnock. Walker’s candidacy was hampered in no small part by the sudden appearance of two children that he had never acknowledged, allegations of domestic violence by his ex-wife and girlfriends, along with other mental health issues. Walker has falsely claimed that he graduated from the University of Georgia. His only qualification for the position appears to be his history with Trump.
Equally disquieting are Trump’s nominees for director of National intelligence and Director of the Federal Bureau of investigation.
Trump has nominated former Congresswoman, Tulsi Gabbard, to be Director of National Intelligence. The former Democrat was briefly a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President in 2020. She subsequently became a Republican and endorsed Donald Trump for president in 2024. Gabbard is viewed as being “unqualified and a national security risk by over one hundred former United States diplomats and intelligence and national security officials. They have requested that the United States Senate hold closed-door hearings to question her about her support of Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad, the deposed dictator of Syria.”[5]
Trump’s nominee for Director of the Federal Bureau of investigation is Kash Patel. This nomination was the result of the resignation of Christopher Wray, whom Trump appointed to lead the FBI during his first term. Ray ran afoul of Trump when he approved a search warrant for classified documents illegally held by Trump at Mar-A- Lago after he had left office. Patel was a minor functionary during Trump’s first term and is a committed Trump sycophant as evidenced by a list of sixty Trump critics that Patel has vowed to prosecute in a second Trump term.[6] In Patel, Trump has found a potential FBI Director that makes J. Edgar Hoover look like the epitome of probity. No less a personage than William Webster, the former Director of both the CIA and FBI, has urged that the Gabbard and Patel nominations for these positions be rejected by the United States Senate during confirmation hearings.
In response to criticisms of the Trump nominees, Steven Cheung, the incoming White House Communications Director repeats his mantra that they “…can get started on Day One to Make America Safe and Great Again.”[7]
That may be how they view it, but it appears to me that Trump is trying to re-create the Bar Scene in Star Wars.
[1] “As Hegseth Public Profile Grew, He faced Deepening private Turmoil,” by Casey Tolan, Kurt Devine, Robert Kuznia and Brian Stelter, CNN, December 5, 2024
[2] Heather Cox Richardson, Letters From An American, January 10, 2025.
[3] “Kushner Pardon Revives ‘Loathsome’ Tale of Tax Evasion, Sex,” by jill Colvin and Colleen Long, Associated Press, December 20, 2020.
[4] “Kimberly Guilfoyle Preps For Greece Ahead of Donald Trump Jr.’s Birthday on New Years Eve,” by Jennifer Sangaland, Palm Beach Post, December 26, 2024.
[5] “Former US Officials Alarmed Over Tulsi Gabbard’s alleged ‘Sympathy For Dictators,’” The Guardian, December 5, 2024.
[6] “Kash Patel Has an Enemies List Centered on Grievance,” by Phillip Bump, Washington Post, December 3, 2024.
[7] “Trump Taps Combative Aide For Top Press Job As Cabinet Picks Face Scrutiny,” by Hannah Knowles and Josh Dawsey, Washington Post, November 15, 2024.