Donald Trump's return to the White House will most likely set off a "political whirlwind" in Washington, D.C. — especially if he can place his preferred choices in top administration positions, a CNN analyst wrote Monday.
The president-elect's team has quickly announced a slate of Cabinet nominees that have been questioned as unqualified or even dangerous, and writer Stephen Collinson said some of the most controversial picks face a big test heading into Thanksgiving week.
"One big unknown is whether Republican senators are again prepared to challenge Trump’s judgment after it quickly became clear that [attorney general nominee Matt] Gaetz wouldn’t have enough of their votes to be confirmed amid his own sexual misconduct allegations, which he denies," Collinson wrote.
"One theory is that the incoming GOP majority won’t simply be a rubber stamp for an all-powerful president. But the withdrawal of Gaetz — who was already widely disliked in Congress — may leave senators feeling they owe the president-elect on his other highly controversial choices."
GOP senators have expressed concerns about defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, who paid off a woman who accused him sexual assault, and national security adviser nominee Tulsi Gabbard, who Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-WI) claims had been "compromised" by foreign adversaries.
"The extraordinary public debate over whether a president-elect’s pick to oversee U.S. intelligence agencies is a compromised asset is a taste of the massive upheaval that likely awaits next year in his second term," Collinson said.
But the former president's allies claim that Trump has a political mandate after winning the popular vote, albeit narrowly, and gaining Republican control of the House and Senate. Collinson wondered whether the GOP would overplay their hand.
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"The pace of Trump’s staff rollout and the ideology of his picks suggest a political whirlwind will hit the capital when he is sworn in on Jan. 20," Collinson said.
"But after Trump won the Electoral College and the popular vote, Republicans — who won control of both the Senate and the House — are insisting he has authority for sweeping change. Still, Trump’s apparent determination to use power to satisfy personal vengeance raises the issue of whether his administration will be sufficiently focused to perform the radical reinvention of government he’s promising."
"And after an election that turned partly on the question of voters’ economic insecurities, is the president-elect about to attempt the kind of overreach that often trips up presidents who think they have a mandate?" he added.