Perhaps this will make me sound ignorant or show my privilege, but I could not name all of the leaders currently holding important positions in the federal government. During my childhood and throughout much of my adult life so far, I felt like I largely didn’t need to know because I, more or less, trusted that those in power had predominantly earned their positions. I believed that they had the expertise that warranted the positions they held. So, with as much as I have to juggle in my day-to-day life, I generally made the unconscious decision to put my life in their hands, so to speak.
Since Donald Trump won the popular vote (for the first time) in the general election earlier this month, the president-elect has made headlines by nominating a number of his supporters for positions within his upcoming administration: Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy for the Department of Government Efficiency (a new department Trump intends to create); first Matt Gaetz and now Pam Bondi for attorney general, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for secretary of health and human services, among others. These choices feel peculiar. Or, at least, they would coming from anyone besides Trump, who appears determined to reward loud, vocal support rather than choose candidates entirely based on qualifications.
Musk, who owns the social-media platform X (formerly Twitter), has been photographed as part of Trump’s entourage fairly consistently since he celebrated Trump’s victory on Election Day in Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida home in which the FBI found and seized 33 boxes of classified documents in 2022. His announcement as a potential pick for Trump’s administration, along with a few other notable wealthy selections, makes me feel like the United States is willing to lean toward an oligarchy, to some degree, and that scares me. The Department of Education has already been in Trump’s sights for a while now, and I worry that other departments and specialized agencies may get the ax as well.
The House Ethics Committee has investigated Gaetz, who has since withdrawn his nomination for attorney general, for allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepting improper gifts and seeking to obstruct government investigations of his conduct—all of which Gaetz denies.
Unlike Gaetz, Pam Bondi has a longstanding career in law, having been active in the field for 20 years and having previously served as the attorney general for Florida. That said, after Trump lost the 2020 election, Bondi was involved in efforts to overturn the results, falsely claiming that Trump had “won Pennsylvania.”
Kennedy, an attorney who has pushed for tighter regulations around the ingredients in food, has also been outspoken of his distrust toward vaccines, including pushing a discredited theory that childhood vaccines cause autism. Like Ramoswamy, Kennedy was an opponent of Trump’s during this election cycle before backing out and endorsing Trump, though Kennedy’s name remained on many state’s ballots.
Maybe I’m being harsh. Maybe some of the president-elect’s other picks are less controversial and have earned their way into potentially holding these offices next term. But the Cabinet appears to be stacked with “Trump Party” loyalists, and I would wager that’s by design. As long as you kiss the ring, you can get into his good graces, even if you were once one of his enemies. I am reminded of Prince John from Disney’s “Robin Hood.”
Now, being a loyalist does not mean you cannot also have the merits that make you a qualified candidate, and I know that outspoken supporters tend to hold these offices no matter which side of the fence controls the White House. But some of the names floating around right now concern me.
U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the incoming chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has insisted upon vetting candidates “by the numbers,” including full FBI background checks for nominees. I must acknowledge that dedication to the traditional processes, but even then, I am stressed.
I am teetering between wanting to block out political news for my peace of mind and knowing that forewarned is forearmed. What’s coming ahead could unravel the fabric of our federal systems in ways that take several additional administrations to correct, if some of our fears come to light. I am an optimist, so I’ll cross my fingers, hold out hope, pray, whatever I have to, but we must prepare ourselves. We don’t have the luxury of not paying attention as much as we did in the past, if we ever did.
Support the Mississippi Free Press however you can, and we will ensure that we continue to report on the changes that affect Mississippians—coming from both Washington, D.C., and from the home front here in Jackson. Let’s be ready.
This MFP Voices essay does not necessarily represent the views of the Mississippi Free Press, its staff or board members. To submit an opinion for the MFP Voices section, send up to 1,200 words and sources fact-checking the included information to voices@mississippifreepress.org. We welcome a wide variety of viewpoints.
