Donald Trump's message of "Drain the Swamp" refocused his campaign from racial identity to the bipartisan corruption of "the political establishment." He was going to tell the self-serving swamp dwellers, "You're fired!"
Now he has to staff his administration. Bring in the Crocodiles.
Donald Trump was not going to govern as he campaigned--a one-man show, just Trump and a microphone, and the crowds cheering. We knew he was going to appoint a cabinet, a chief of staff, economic and national security advisors, and someone to head the CIA and the EPA and ambassadors to the UN and elsewhere. We knew this.
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| NBC News |
It was an attractive message to a divided electorate: end the rigged system. All those people back there have gotten comfortable and sometimes rich trading on favors and celebrity, moving from elected office to "non-profit" organizations to paid speeches for big money, to face-time on TV that sells books. Hillary was a player, knee-deep in the swamp of the establishment political system.
The first week suggests that Trump-the-Reformer was a campaign ad, not a plan. Now it is Trump-the-Republican, empowering the Tea Party/Talk Radio wing of the Republican political establishment. Nothing is definitive yet, but the early indications are that the top roles in government will be played not by newcomers and fresh faces but by people who fit exactly the profile of Hillary Clinton, players in the system, differing only in being angry and populist, not practical and centrist.
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| Gingrich: I would like to be a "senior planner" at State |
We are hearing Newt Gingrich may have a serious role. Newt Gingrich was elected to Congress in 1979, became House Speaker in 1994, left office amid an ethics reprimand in 1998, then stayed around Washington giving speeches for $60,000, setting up a Speakers Bureau headed by his daughxter, serving on the boards of corporations, advising on public policy, appearing on Fox, writing books, setting up a "nonprofit" business to receive donations which then paid him, setting up a film business, Gingrich Productions with his wife which receives donations from groups to make films on public issues, which business paid him. He has had influence, he has stayed in the arena, he has gotten rich. Click Here: Wikipedia on Gingrich
The post-Speakership period of Gingrich's life is commonplace for people who achieve high office and leave it in good health. It was not illegal, nor secret. It was exactly what Bill and Hillary Clinton did, using the same tax-smart devices, a charitable organization with a public service/public issue advocacy dimension. It had the same effect. It kept them in the political mix and it made them rich and influential.
Rudy Giuliani name is being floated as Attorney General. Giuliani was a US Attorney, then Mayor, and has stayed active post-Mayorship in public policy and businesses that trade on his reputation and policy positions. Giuliani Partners was a lobbying firm paid over $100 million dollars in the next five years, then joined Bracewell and Giuliani a lobbying firm representing the oil, gas, and coal industries. Click Here: Wikipedia on Giuliani This activity was not illegal, nor secret. Indeed, Giuliani's role involved him being a very public spokesman and advocate for his clients as players in the political establishment swamp and like the Clintons and Gingrich, it made him rich and influential. It kept him a player in the political establishment.
John Bolton's name is floated for Secretary of State. In the decade after his service as ambassador to the UN he has been a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a Fox News contributor, a partner at the lobbying firm Kirkland and Ellis, and an advisor to an investment management firm. Visible, rich, influential.
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| Breitbart |
Breitbart's website has served as the semi-official news agency for Trump. They are signaling that some house-cleaning will happen, including the removal of Paul Ryan as Speaker. The job will be filled by someone--someone with experience and connections and influence within the GOP caucus in the House. It will not be a newcomer. Ryan's exit--if it happens--suggests the kind of swamp re-stocking that will take place. The Reagan heirs --the trickle down small government old style Republicans--may be pushed out in favor of an angrier group. It would mean the talk radio wing of the party would not co-exist with the Reagan-Romney crowd, they would replace them where they could--and the executive branch is where the new president has direct power.
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| Breitbart |
Trump's election signaled a public desire for change and Trump provided the opportunity for it. Change will happen.
Maybe it was the way is had to be. Roles requiring experienced people require people who have been around. But the voters had the opportunity to vote for experience: Hillary Clinton had experience in the political system, the swamp.
The early indications are that the structure of the political system will not change, only in the names of the people at the top of it. Of course they will be Republicans but it won't just be any Republicans. It will be Trump Republicans.
Paul Ryan will try to fight it. But he lost.
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A new podcast is up and running. Thad Guyer and I talk about what happened. Regular listeners remember that we have been warning that Hillary was much weaker than the regular mainstream polls showed. Thad had said the models and data he looked at showed Hillary losing all along. I thought it was a closer contest than that but in the end predicted a Trump win. It is probably all the wisdom and insight a person can stand in one dose.
Paul Ryan will try to fight it. But he lost.
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1 comment:
Perhaps as this goes forward you could say more about the Reagan/Romney crowd vs the Talk Radio crowd.
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