The media warned for months that Donald Trump would have “no guardrails” in a second term, and would probably hand out top positions to a bunch of right-wing crazies.
Instead, he picked Marco Rubio yesterday as secretary of State, a 14-year Senate veteran and son of Cuban immigrants who has been informally advising him on foreign policy.
MEDIA LIBERALS SAVAGE KAMALA AS TRUMP PICKS EXPERIENCED HARD-LINERS
The president-elect has also tapped a number of Hill veterans who are conventional conservatives, agree with him on key issues and could just as easily have been named by Mitt Romney.
Also yesterday, Trump selected Kristi Noem, the South Dakota governor, as Homeland Security secretary, after she overcame the dog-shooting incident that knocked her out of the veepstakes.
Trump has been rolling out these appointments at hyper-speed, just a week after the election. He has stayed off TV and hasn’t made any inflammatory posts. He’s trying to demonstrate a seriousness about governing, by hitting the ground running.
In the past, presidents and presidents-elect have appeared on air, praising their nominee or maybe two, and yielding to a short, grateful speech by the chosen ones. But Trump appears to be skipping all that.
All the top jobs haven’t been filled, obviously, but even some top Democrats are praising the choice of Rubio (while some in the MAGA movement are disappointed). He’s unquestionably a hawk, and will be the face of American foreign policy as he travels around the world.
President-elect Donald Trump is pictured in front of the White House. (Getty Images/AP Images)
Sure, he said some terrible things about Trump, who derided him as Little Marco, when both ran in 2016. I watched Rubio on the trail that year and he’s a very charismatic speaker.
But the two have long since mended fences. Rubio tried to push immigration reform a decade ago as part of various Senate gangs, but has since distanced himself from the effort.
I keep seeing television chyrons…