Political Theater

Political Theater

By

Leonard Zwelling

https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-cabinet-team-power-grab-c78b00b3?mod=hp_lead_pos2

Without going too deeply into whether or not the people Donald Trump is choosing to surround himself with are good choices, you have to admit it is great political theater.

Trump is King Kong in this play. He really is an 800-pound gorilla making all the decisions and taking no prisoners.

I believe he believes this is precisely what his voters want him to do. They really do want to do more than shake up the federal government. They want to burn it down. Isn’t that really the message of January 6?

Mr. Trump knows that he must have people in place at the top of the many federal agencies who will do what he pledged to do. As I have said before, it is critical to take him at his word.

Surely, he will want control over the economy despite the fact the that the Federal Reserve Bank is supposed to be an independent body. As soon as he can replace Jerome Powell, he will. As of this writing we don’t know who will be on his economic team, but they are unlikely to be opposed to his inflationary tariffs, particularly on Chinese goods. A trade war may ensue and we know that no one wins a trade war.

He has put an inexperienced man as the leader of the Defense Department. He is threatening to unseat flag officers who will not do his bidding using a separate oversight board. Can he really place American troops on the southern border? He can if his generals do not say no.

Are the Trump immigration and justice teams really going to deport 11 million people, many of whom are needed in our service economy? My guess is that Trump will start by deporting every illegal immigrant he can find in the federal prison system and keep moving from there.

Can Marco Rubio and the rest of a new diplomatic team solve the two wars raging to the east in Ukraine and Gaza? Trump said he could solve the first of these in twenty-four hours. How?

In every scene in this play, Trump himself will have the major role. He will compose the music and he will write the words. Then he will sing the aria or recite the soliloquy. And if something blows up, well his appointees will get the blame and be replaced.

Can anything stop this play from opening with the current cast? Only the Senate.

The Republican Senate has elected John Thune to be its new majority leader. That was a most wise choice. It will be up to Senator Thune to pick and choose the battles he is willing to wage with the White House during the confirmation process. At the same time, Democrats are digging fast and deep into the backgrounds of Trump’s choices. Will the House report on Matt Gaetz really stay secret?  (It doesn’t matter anymore as Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration to be Attorney General).

What about the assault charges brought against Pete Hegseth a few years back in California?

While Trump is the star of the show, he is not the only player. The courage of the Senate to play its role in this process will determine to a large extent the checks and balances on presidential power that can be wielded in the next four years.

Trump does view this theater as a super hero movie in which he stars. Is anyone willing to be his Kryptonite? Time will tell.

There will be no confusion about who made the decisions whatever they are.

In fact, that’s the whole ball of wax. If everyone around Trump is simply a bit player and he is the protagonist on the world stage, it is reasonable to believe that this play will not have a happy ending. It may not even have a happy beginning.