We have been largely distracted over the past few weeks.
President-elect Donald Trump's sometimes strange — even unhinged — selections for various posts in his new Cabinet have left every politician and pundit scrambling like rabid weasels. The ink was barely dry on Matt Gaetz's contract with 'Cameo' when another flow of bile about the HHS nominee broke the oily surface of DC's shallow waters.
The front pages were drenched in ink over RFK's appointment as HHS Secretary (probably deservedly so) and an unnecessary amount of vitriol was directed at the likely Secretary of Education over a trivial accounting error in her undergraduate degree, which apparently dated back decades (a battle that was almost certainly futile ).
Almost all the attention has been on the domestic front, which is perhaps understandable since Trump's razor-thin victory was largely due to domestic concerns about the domestic economy. We have largely ignored our “external exposure” positions: the State Department and the Department of Defense. The main tasks of these agencies are: outside our borders.
While we are faced with some terrible choices on the inside, the outside world is on fire.
But there is hope:
Marco Rubio's political history is long. Like Gaetz, Rubio is Floridian, but that's where the parallel ends. Rubio, a Cuban American, has served in politics all his life – starting as a city commissioner in Miami and then spending the next 24 years as a lawmaker, first in the Florida House (where he was not always on the side of all his Republican colleagues). ) and then in the US Senate, since 2010. He ran in the 2016 Republican Party primary for president, and although he often expressed harsh words against Trump during the campaign, he dropped out and supported Trump and is a has been a reasonably reliable 'party'. man” and an ally of his ever since.
Personally, I like an executive who has serious experience, and while that's not common among the Trump crew so far, Rubio has a solid background – during Trump's last term as Latin America adviser, and since he was vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Community. Committee (a not unimportant place, as it gives him a good look behind the scenes into international issues). His interest and expertise in China, which is likely to become a focus of Trump 2.0, has also grown. We must support the new government's choice on this point.
But another Floridian, Governor Ron DeSantis – also (I will argue) both competent and confirmable – has now materialized as a possible candidate to replace the hapless Pete Hegseth at the Defense Department.
R. Bruce Anderson
I don't think there is much chance that anyone has missed the fact that I have often been grumpy in these pages of DeSantis as governor of Florida. But this is very different.
DeSantis has vast experience leading a sometimes chaotic executive. Florida is weird. We independently elect part of the Cabinet, allow some positions to be filled by nomination, and share or fight over many areas of law. Whatever your policy objectives, bringing together these sometimes disconnected (or connected in unexpected ways) administrative agencies is the big challenge.
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It is true that DeSantis controlled these agencies largely through political positioning, but he also spent that political capital carefully and cautiously, demonstrating a skill in administrative finesse with real effect. His successes here reflect exactly the qualities needed in the department leading one of the largest and perhaps most important government agencies.
DeSantis hasn't always been on Trump's side, and the discussion about his possible nomination is a bit of a gamble, but a good one. As with all administrative posts, from the Cabinet down, their ability to take orders and carry them out is matched by issuing orders that will be carried out, assessing their 'reach' and defining the leadership of the organization.
The Ministry of Defense is begging for a radical, reasonable reorganization. And the comparison between a Hegseth and a DeSantis in that role is an easy choice.
And it's not Hegseth.
R. Bruce Anderson is the Dr. Sarah D. and L. Kirk McKay, Jr. Endowed Chair in American History, Government, and Civics and Miller Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Florida Southern College. He is also a columnist for The Ledger and a political consultant and on-air commentator for WLKF Radio in Lakeland.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Ron DeSantis and Marco Rubio are good choices for Trump | Anderson
