Trump First Terms Was Chaos – This Time He’ll Have No Guardrails
On Jan. 20, 2017, then President Trump stood before the nation to deliver his Inauguration Address. In this speech, Trump vowed to end the “American carnage” that he claimed had plagued the nation under his predecessors. Trump brought a new plan to the White House and that plan frankly was no plan at all. The first Trump White House was defined by its unorthodox nature, but a speculative Senate, competent cabinet, and steadfast courts ensured that the most chilling of his plans were stopped in their tracks. More than a hundred Trump Cabinet and White House staff officials resigned because of Trump’s combative and brash means of running the executive branch.
In 2017 Trump took an ax to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a landmark piece of legislation from his predecessor. At this poin,t nearly 27 million Americans relied on the ACA to provide them with critical healthcare assistance and the end of it would mean that by 2026, 24 million would have gone uninsured, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Trump spent months trying to get this through Congress, but thanks to a responsible Senate, the bill was blocked and tens of millions of Americans had their healthcare saved.
Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time in Helsinki, Finland. At nearly the same time, the FBI had concluded that there was in fact Russian interference in the 2016 election. After meeting with Putin behind closed doors for two hours, Trump took a question on whether or not they had discussed the issue and what conclusion they had reached. Trump responded by explaining that Putin successfully convinced him that there was no Russian collusion in the election and that he wholly believed him in that assessment. Never before had a sitting President totally disregarded the findings of his own government, instead opting to believe an adversary of his nation.
On January 6, Trump watched the insurrection on TV for hours with glee. If it weren’t for his staff resigning by the dozen and pleading with him to call off the violence Trump may have had his way and the sanctity of America’s elections would have been corroded to a much further extent.
This time around Trump has surrounded himself with people who, at the very best would be incompetent, and at the very worst, would see to the downright chilling reforms and attacks on American institutions that Trump has pledged to do for years.
In nominating RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, and Pete Hegseth to key cabinet positions Trump is testing the extent of his power and how far he can go until Senate Republicans stand up to him. Since 2017 a lot has changed. During his presidency and in the 2022 midterm elections Trump endorsed far-right candidates across the country, and many succeeded.
Hard right coalitions have grown within the Republican party since the Tea Party movement in 2009, but when the Commander in Chief leads these efforts they become normalized. Because of this, it has been increasingly difficult for the Republican and Democratic establishments alike to combat these asinine movements. This makes it unlikely that Senate Republicans will stand up to Trump’s most chilling nominations.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is an anti-vaxxer who has made bold racist and antisemitic claims about Covid-19. Kennedy hopes to remove fluoride from water and has advocated for the legalization of raw milk. Trump will nominate Kennedy as Secretary of Health and Human Services if he passes the Senate, Kennedy will oversee more than 60,000 employees and a 1.7 trillion dollar budget. As the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kennedy could see to it that new vaccines aren’t certified and could attack elementary school vaccine mandates for polio.
In the weeks and months that preceded the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Putin and Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov baselessly claimed that the US had sponsored bioweapon labs inside of Ukraine for years. There is no evidence to corroborate these claims. Despite this fact, Tulsi Gabbard repeated these claims on social media where she gained such a strong showing that Russian media recognized and openly admired her. Trump announced that he would choose Gabbard to be the Director of National Intelligence. Gabbard is not experienced in foreign policy or national security, she was chosen on the basis of loyalty. Gabbard is an unserious yet very dangerous nomination. With her as DNI, Ukraine will see a significant reduction of aid and assistance from the United States and could very well fall into Putin’s lap.
Trump chose Fox News weekend host and former National Guardsman, Pete Hegseth to lead the Department of Defense. Hegseth has spent the past few years passionately defending Trump during his criminal trials and attacking women and diversity in the military. In a recent podcast, Hegseth said that former Airforce five-star general, Charles Q. Brown Jr. never would have gotten his job if he weren’t Black. He stated that women should not be allowed in combat positions. Over the past month, multiple stories have broken of Hegseth drinking on his set at Fox News and sexually assaulting women.
Trump and his team wanted someone who would serve them, not someone experienced, and certainly not someone who would look out for the best interest of the American people. Senators have raised doubts over Hegseth’s nomination. In the past week, Trump began considering replacing Hegseth for Ron Desantis, Florida’s provocative Governor who has been dead set on culture war issues that stoke division.
The DoD has a budget of 916 billion dollars and nearly 1.3 million active service members under it. Putting an inexperienced individual who alienates 38 percent of the military at the top of the Defense Department diminishes the lethality and operation of the Department. Hegseth’s lack of experience and discipline are exactly what Trump was looking for. His attacks on minorities and the sexual assault scandal surrounding him are in line with Trump’s policies and personality. Without serious military experience or an understanding of the military structure, he would most definitely bow to Trump’s plans to fire generals and admirals who are opposed to him.
Trump tapped Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency. There are no funds appropriated to this ‘Department,’ nor has it ever existed, it will merely function as a blue ribbon commission, something that the President has used for years to investigate or study issues, typically in extraordinary scenarios, like the 9/11 Commission. This Department of Government Efficiency, which will be staffed by two department heads and has no proper advisory or administrative powers, is tasked with cutting government waste, despite the fact that it is government waste.
Musk and Ramaswamy authored an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal where they outlined their plans. They would use the Supreme Court’s controversial overturning of the Chevron Deference, which allowed US regulatory agencies to interpret vague sections of US law when permitted to do so by a court, and other rulings to dilute the power of regulatory agencies. And in complete and total negligence to read the Constitution, they hope to reassign appropriations authority to the President. They dream of Trump being allowed to object to lines of the budget or to refuse to have his Executive Branch comply with the appropriations assigned under the budget. Of course, the President has the power to veto and to negotiate with Congress on a budget, but he does not have the authority to be the sole executor of it, and this very issue was the center of his first impeachment. The ‘DOGE,’ as Musk affectionately refers to it, would recommend the slashing of thousands of regulations and the firing of thousands of government officials.
The nation is brimming with uncertainty, thinking about what Trump will do and what Trump won’t do after January 20, especially after a vitriolic and controversial campaign, but these cabinet selections make one thing clear: the Executive Branch will be ill-equipped to deal with the nation’s problems over the next four years. These individuals haven’t been chosen for their respective cabinet positions off of merit, but instead off of loyalty. It’s dangerous for a President to surround themselves with yes-men, especially when that same President has made such divisive and reckless promises. If the Senate allows many of these nominations to pass we will see a repeat of Trump’s first term, but this time Trump’s unprecedented attacks on American institutions could not be stopped by Congress and he certainly won’t be advised against implementing the most extreme parts of his agenda by his cabinet. The first tests of the Congress will be the nomination hearings of Gabbard, RFK Jr., and Hegseth. It is then that we’ll see whether or not members of Congress will stand up to Trump and finally say “no.”
Over these next four years, America will face President-elect Trump’s carnage. Through his cabinet, Trump will instill fear in his political opponents and he will serve himself and himself only with the executive branch.