Eeyore’s Cabinet

Victor Davis Hanson Donald Trump was three months away from announcing his presidential candidacy on August 8, 2022, when Merrick Garland ordered an FBI raid on the ex-president’s private residence. The swoop-down was the first time in presidential history in which an archival bureaucratic/civil dispute with an ex-president over the storage and possession of presidential […]

Victor Davis Hanson The Prerequisites for Trump Nominees So, if the traditional criteria for high government positions do not much matter to Trump, what does? There are many requirements for a Trump nominee—loyalty, competence, energy, communication skills, and in some cases prior business success. But one plus is clear and prior demonization by the very

Victor Davis Hanson Kash Patel/FBI Director In sum, Patel’s résumé documents in detail his investigative and intelligence skills in all three branches of government (the courts, the executive branch, and the Congress). The idea that he is disqualified because he had not been in the FBI or law enforcement as an officer is silly. Before

Victor Davis Hanson Kash Patel/FBI Director Andrew McCabe, the interim FBI director who followed James Comey and preceded Christopher Wray, by his own admission repeatedly lied under oath to both the FBI’s Inspection Division as well as to the Office of the Inspector General. Only AG Bill Barr’s wrong decision not to prosecute McCabe saved

Victor Davis Hanson Kash Patel/FBI Director There are four “controversial” Trump nominees that the Left has gone DefCon1 on, in order to swing an anticipated 3-4 Rhino Republican senators—and thus, block them by a 1-2 vote margin: Kash Patel (FBI), Pete Hegseth (DOD), Tulsi Gabbard (DNI), and RFK, Jr. (HHS). Yet the hits against Kash

Víctor Davis Hanson Pete Hegseth/Secretary of Defense A final area of criticism is the lie that Hegseth is an intolerant Christian zealot or racist white supremacist. No one who has worked for him has lodged such complaints; they come instead from a soldier or two who did not like his tattoos. Nor did those who

Victor Davis Hanson Pete Hegseth/Secretary of Defense Hegseth is/was also the target of sexual harassment/assault accusations first launched seven years ago. But here too there are critical details left out by the Left. Sexual crime investigators of the Monterey Police Department in ultra-liberal California found no such assault, and after exhaustive investigations never charged Hegseth

Victor Davis Hanson Pete Hegseth/Secretary of Defense 2. Hegseth would likely take a hard look at the 1-4 star general/admiral class and conclude: a) there are in general too many generals and admirals; b) there are far too many incompetent and politicized generals and admirals who have a demonstrable record of failure, especially during the

Víctor Davis Hanson Pete Hegseth/Secretary of Defense What are the pros and cons of the nomination of Pete Hegseth to be Defense Secretary (in the context of the accepted norms for DOD secretary nominees in the past)? Pros On the plus side, Hegseth is a combat veteran of both wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. After

Victor Davis Hanson So, what were the standards that Gaetz did not meet? Or rather were current critics prior critics when there was questionable conduct at the DOJ? Do we remember Obama’s AGs Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch? Eric Holder flagrantly described his supposedly autonomous relationship with President Obama obsequiously as Obama’s “wingman.” He refused