Beef Supreme: For Some Trump Cabinet Picks, It’s Personal

One of the lessons learned in the first Trump administration is that you can't put a regular swamp creature into a position of power and expect him or her to go up against the entrenched machine to the degree necessary. Washington pros still place too much trust in the establishment — or more to the point, the people within the apparatus. And they still play by the old rules.

So Trump has come up with an ingenious way to squish-proof top officials in his incoming administration: He's placing people in charge of agencies and departments who were personally targeted by those agencies and departments. These people have beef, and they're coming to DC to settle it. It's kind of brilliant when you think about it.

Let's look at two picks (so far) who have an ax to grind and aren't about to go weak at the knees when serious decontamination and reform are needed.

THE BEEF: A weaponized DOJ investigation that painted Gaetz as a “sex trafficker”

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) is a far-right disruptor in the U.S. House. He is a pain, but he is also effective in his way. So, as is its wont, the leftist Biden DOJ spent a couple of years smearing the firebrand congressman with vile accusations that its fellow travelers in the dinosaur media amplified throughout the public sphere. Once the man's reputation had been thoroughly sullied, the DOJ dropped the investigation without filing charges.

During the probe, the feds used one of their favorite pressure tactics on the target: dragging his family members into the fray. Their unfounded intimations regarding Gaetz's father, Don Gaetz, inspired a $25 million extortion plot against the elder man.

There's more....

THE PICK: Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence THE BEEF: Targeted for surveillance under the "Quiet Skies Program."

Gabbard committed two sins: She exposed Kamala Harris as a lightweight when the two were running in the 2020 Democrat presidential primary; and she rejected the Democrat party in 2022 as "under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue & stoke anti-white racism, actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms, are hostile to people of faith & spirituality, demonize the police & protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans, believe in open borders, weaponize the national security state to go after political opponents, and above all, dragging us ever closer to nuclear war." Well, then.

The next thing she knew, the former Democratic U.S. rep from Hawaii, combat veteran, and lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve found herself under federal scrutiny as a possible terrorist. Whistleblowers disclosed that Gabbard had been placed on the TSA's Quiet Skies Program and that among other things, federal air marshals surveilled her when she traveled.

"This is only the information that we know,” Gabbard told Fox News in August. "My real question is, what don't I know?… This is the real pain and stress that's been caused both to me and my family by this whole situation, day and night wondering if and what government institution and agency is monitoring my phone calls, surveilling me in my movement in my travels, knowing that they may be looking for some kind of excuse or derogatory action to come after me."

Gabbard has been unjustly targeted by the politicized intel community; she has been on the receiving end of its persecution and pressure. She knows firsthand what the community is doing wrong, and she is personally highly motivated to fix it. Good.

Swamp draining starts right away.

However, some of the swampies are planning to leave beforehand (FBI dir, Jack Smith).

Would be nice to see who resigns, retires, etc., over the next couple of months.

Won’t need to fire them as they depart willingly.

"Let’s see when Trump takes the oath is when he settles all family business."

I'm a fan of the movie series "The Godfather". Sounds like a take on the Michael Corleone godfather taking out all his enemies after succeeding his father in the leadership role. Let's hope Donald Trump does likewise, and takes down leaders of the Wash DC swamp.

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