Donald Trump made a flurry of moves to fill out his administration Wednesday — and some of his latest choices left many observers scratching their heads.

The president-elect announced an apparent shakeup in the Office of White House Counsel, with his campaign lawyer David Warrington taking over that position, as well as assistant and counsel to the president, and William McGinely moving over from leading that office to serve instead as counsel to the newly created quasi-governmental agency aimed at drastically cutting the federal budget and whose acronym is a nod to the cryptocurrency Dogecoin championed by Elon Musk.

A former GOP lawmaker bluntly stated on MSNBC on Wednesday afternoon that he sees no path for Donald Trump's nominee to be secretary of the Department of Defense to be confirmed.

As former Fox News personality Pete Hegseth was roaming the halls of Congress attempting to stop the bleeding after a series of highly damaging reports about heavy drinking and inappropriate behavior, ex-Rep Dave Jolly (R-FL) told MSNBC's Chris Jansing the lobbying of GOP senators is doomed.

If Trump makes cuts to Medicaid, Texas officials could seize the opportunity to further slash the program

"If Trump makes cuts to Medicaid, Texas officials could seize the opportunity to further slash the program" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

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With X CEO Elon Musk openly toying with the idea of slashing Social Security in his role on the so-called "Department of Government Efficiency," Rolling Stone took a look at all the ways that Musk and fellow businessman Vivek Ramaswamy stand to benefit financially from their own recommendations.

Right off the bat, the publication found that Musk stands to benefit financially from his department's proposal to ax construction on a California high-speed rail line.

The House races are finalized, and the results reveal a historically narrow Republican majority. According to one columnist, this means the future of the GOP agenda isn't going to be as secure as they might think.

Writing for the Washington Post, Aaron Blake said, "Republicans have actually lost ground," even if it was just one seat.

At the same time that Donald Trump is ramping up talk about about pardoning the Jan. 6 insurrectionists after he assumes power in late January, some of his closest advisers are pushing him to also issue a pardon to former NSA contractor Edward Snowden who has been avoiding U.S. authorities by living in Russia since 2013.

According to a report from the Washington Post, former Rep. Matt Gaetz –– who recently withdrew his name for consideration to be the president elect's attorney general –– has been a big advocate for Snowden who is on the run for exposing U.S. government secrets.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday nominated Jared Isaacman, the online payments billionaire and the first private astronaut to ever perform a spacewalk, as the next head of NASA.

The nod could spark questions about potential conflicts of interest, given Isaacman's extensive financial ties to Elon Musk, who is set to co-chair a government efficiency commission and is one of Trump's closest advisors.

A posting on Donald Trump's Truth Social platform that Fox News personality Pete Hegseth might be pushed aside as the Department of Defense secretary set off a furious backlash among supporters of the president-elect.

Late Tuesday both the Wall Street Journal and The Bulwark reported that Hegseth could be out of the running for the Cabinet position after a series of reports about his alleged drinking problems while he worked at Fox News and when he headed up several veterans organizations.

The co-hosts of "The View" continued their onslaught against Fox host Pete Hegseth, whom Donald Trump has named to lead the Department of Defense. One former Trump aide explained any defense person must be "above reproach" to be successfully confirmed.

The panel began discussing Hegseth's mother, who blasted him in a leaked email. She spoke to Fox about it Wednesday, promising that he wasn't that kind of person she had once criticized for being an abusive personality "anymore."

President-elect Donald Trump for years has differentiated himself from Republicans by ruling out cutting or privatizing popular programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

But as Salon's Heather Parton writes, Trump's decision to empower X CEO Elon Musk to lead a "Department of Government Efficiency" leads her to believe that major cuts to these programs are firmly on the table for his second term.

Donald Trump added a former adviser who served four months in prison earlier this year to his White House team.

The president-elect announced that his former top trade adviser Peter Navarro, who was released from prison in July, would serve in his second administration as senior counselor for trade and manufacturing.