Was it the greatest comeback in political history?

Well, with the billionaire ex-real estate developer and “game-show host” returning to the White House after an electoral college landslide in Election 2024, no one should really be surprised that Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees, some of whom are considered controversial in certain quarters, are reflective of his wide-ranging agenda.

As U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) has said, “His picks have been maybe unconventional, but we hired an unconventional president. The American people wanted that. They don’t want politics as usual. They want someone who’s gonna shake up Washington, D.C.”

For these appointees, Trump has — a former Democrat and independent before becoming a Republican politician — refrained from selections based on superficial identity politics, in the same way when naming Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate. Merit, however Team Trump defined merit, is presumably the metric.

Going forward, unfortunately, establishment politicians from both parties are very likely to try to gum up the works, whether for nominee confirmations or legislation.

Regardless of how the electorate perceived Trump’s personality, hair, spray tan, and so forth, if you want peace, prosperity, freedom of speech, and you are pro-choice when it comes to health freedom in all its dimensions, there was only one candidate for whom to cast a ballot in 2024.

Some Random Post-Election Observations

As alluded to above, President-elect Trump made his America-First polices very evident to voters during hundreds of rallies and interviews.

And Team Trump obviously were prepared to take office this time around given the speed with which these nominee announcements, as well as policy pronouncements, are rolling out.

Trump has admitted that he made mistakes in first term by appointing members of the RINO contingent.

Given the narrow GOP majority in the House, legislative control is, however, jeopardized by taking officials from that chamber into the upcoming administration and thereby creating vacancies.

One of them, Matt Gaetz, has already resigned his seat, which officially triggers an upcoming special election. Even in red districts, nothing is 100% guaranteed.

And despite being all-in, Gaetz appears to have an uphill climb to obtain confirmation as U.S. Attorney General, although a recess appointment is possible.

The Senate is traditionally deferential to presidential nominations and unless obstructionism occurs, most should be confirmed before Trump takes the oath, but we shall see what parliamentary maneuvers occur. Smear tactics have already surfaced.

The AG appointment is key to ending the odious practice known as lawfare, and Trump obviously wants to avoid another milquetoast like Jeff Sessions or whatever Bill Barr turned out to be in the first Trump administration.

There were other viable and less-controversial AG choices that would have provided an easier path so confirmation, so time will tell.

Speculation has emerged that term-limited Fla. Gov. Ron DeSantis might appoint a placeholder to finish out the term of Sen. Marco Rubio (the secretary of state designee) and then run for the seat himself.

Someone even suggested that he might behind the scenes pass the word to the anti-MAGA cohort in the Senate that he’ll appoint Gaetz if the latter doesn’t win AG confirmation.

In the Senate, Gaetz would not be a placeholder, and the recalcitrant lawmakers would have to deal with him every day.

Maybe all this is too far-fetched.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who has no law enforcement experience, is a question mark for the Homeland Security job.

If additional 3D chess is in play as some have theorized, is this a way to get Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who wants to run for governor of South Dakota, out of the Senate to pave the way for a Trump loyalist to lead the GOP in that chamber?

The GOP election integrity efforts seemed surprisingly effective at least on the presidential level. Some of the sketchy losses for U.S. Senate candidates are concerning, though.

While election administration is typically a state-by-state issue, Trump has said that election integrity is part of his agenda to cut down on these shenanigans and make sure that only legal votes count.

Organizations headed by Scot Presler and Charlie Kirk deserve a tremendous amount of credit for their get-out-the-vote efforts.

January 20, 2025 — ‘Save’ the Date

The Trump agenda is enormous, so the incoming president shouldn’t waste time with a long speech on Inauguration Day on January 20, 2025. How about a short speech on Day One and then signing off on a long list of executive orders instead?

Exciting times ahead for America. Already both the domestic and international scene have experienced some positive developments even in this interlude before Trump takes office.

The Biden administration, however, made a horrible decision to allow Ukraine fire U.S. supplied long range missiles into Russia. This gives further credence to the importance of Trump regaining the Oval Office in January and stopping further escalation of that conflict.

Let’s not forget that Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter/X, and thereby restoring free speech to that platform, was consequential for Election 2024.

This year’s election also further revealed the downward spiral of the disingenuous corporate media as well as irrelevancy of celebrity endorsements.

As journalist Jason Whitlock has opined, “this whole rigging of the media eco-system must be undone, and what an amazing time to be alive.”

Stay tuned!