According to a former Donald Trump White House official, anyone believing the president-elect will allow GOP lawmakers to block any of his cabinet nominees will be sorely surprised.
In an analysis of how Trump is pressing forward with a slate of highly controversial cabinet nominees, the New York Times' Peter Baker wrote that political observers are stunned by his plan to follow through on his promise to "shatter the institutions of Washington as no incoming president has in his lifetime"
Calling the incoming president's efforts so far a "generational stress test for the system" Baker wrote, "If Republicans bow to his demand to recess the Senate so that he can install appointees without confirmation, it would rewrite the balance of power established by the founders more than two centuries ago."
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Reacting to the nominees that Trump has put forward, including embattled ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Robert F. Kennedy Jr., former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Fox News personality Peter Hegseth, David Marchick, co-author of “The Peaceful Transfer of Power,” remarked, "This is like the ‘Star Wars’ bar scene of nominees,” before suggesting, “it’s a serious strategy to blow out the government as an institution because of their belief that it’s become too big, too powerful and represents the deep state.”
With regard to Gaetz, who is moving forward to a Senate confirmation hearing under the cloud of a reportedly highly damaging House Ethics Committee report, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) claimed, "Gaetz won’t get confirmed. Everybody knows that.”
Sarah Matthews, who served in the first Trump administration, disagreed.
“That’s not what’s happening,” she said in a recent interview. “He is drunk on power right now because he feels like he was given a mandate by winning the popular vote.”
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