'Math's pretty simple': Morning Joe highlights 3 people essential to stopping Trump's plan

Panelists on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" identified the next Donald Trump nominee who Senate Republicans will most likely reject.

The president-elect had tapped former congressman Matt Gaetz to be attorney general, but he dropped out after GOP senators made clear he wouldn't be confirmed. Host Joe Scarborough said two other Cabinet picks faced a steep climb — and one of them most likely would be rebuffed before Scarborough even had the chance to learn how to properly pronounce his name.

"Most of the picks we talked about this morning that have been made are going to sail through, a couple that are not," Scarborough said. "One, of course, is Tulsi Gabbard. The other is the [Department of Defense] person Pete Hegseth – did I say that right? Hegseth. I'm going to get that right, Pete Hegseth.

"It is interesting who you talk to on Capitol Hill, what Republicans — one group will tell you that Gabbard would be the most dangerous person to America's national security, others would tell you it is Pete Hegseth, who would be simply because, you know, he's in line for, you know, nuclear codes and one general told me he's the second most powerful man in the world, whoever the DOD, sec def is. You better have somebody who knows what they're doing, that can pass an FBI background check."

"The math's pretty simple," he added. "They can't lose [Susan] Collins, [Lisa] Murkowski, [Mitch] McConnell and one more. I find it hard to believe that those three are going to put either of these two people into the most important positions in U.S. government."

Axios co-founder Jim VandeHei agreed, saying that senators are deeply concerned about Gabbard's qualifications as director of national intelligence, but he said Hegseth was most likely the next nominee to flop.

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"I think the concerns are much deeper at the defense secretary level because, yes, when you're running intelligence, doing the [presidential daily briefing], there are a lot of people involved in that," VandeHei said. "A lot of the senators feel like there are going to be a lot of smart voices with views much different than Gabbard on intelligence, on Russia.

"Trump wanted somebody who has different views on Russia that might be closer to his, that's why she's the pick. But when you're running the Defense Department, you're running the military, at a perilous time, that's the one that Mitch McConnell cares most about. We're about to have to transform from a land-based warfare operating system to space-based in a time when there is a ton of volatility between us and Russia, us and China."

"My guess is that will get the most attention," he added. "If I had to pick the person most vulnerable, I think it is him quite easily."

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