Category Archives: Uncategorized

by

The Broadside | So What if the Christian School Shooter Was Trans?

Note that I’m not saying she is … was … trans. I’m just saying that there seems to be an attitude that it shouldn’t matter.

There was speculation Monday that the shooter was transgender, although other sources disputed the claim. Some said she had an “online obsession with school shooters.”

Barnes insisted that he doesn’t care whether Rupnow was transgender, as some reports indicated. It’s not important, he said, when asked by a leftist reporter about “misinformation” online. The Madison journalist effectively wagged her finger at parental rights group for claiming the shooter was transgender, “which is a reaction that we see across the country linked with mass shootings to claim that trans people are dangerous.”

Barnes, a far-left police chief in one of the most LGBTQ agenda-pushing cities in America, said he wished people would “leave their own personal biases out of this.”

“I don’t know whether Natalie was transgender or not and quite frankly I don’t think that’s even important. I don’t think that’s important at all,” the chief told reporters at an evening press conference. “I don’t think that whatever happened today has anything to do with how she or he or they my [sic] have wanted to identify …”

Barnes subsequently acknowledged that Rupnow’s gender identity “is something that may come out later.”

Ackshully, it might matter a wee bit. Even id she wasn’t, at least three recent school shootings were carried out by trans-identifying persons.

Seventeen-year-old Dylan Butler killed one and injured five at Perry High School in Iowa on January 4, 2024 before killing himself. According to reports he was trans/genderfluid, used the pronouns he/they, and “loved” trans kids.

28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale killed six at a private Christian school in Tennessee on March 27, 2023. She was transgender and wanted to be called “Aiden” and to be referred to by male pronouns. She was shot and killed by responding officers.

Sixteen-year-old Maya McKinney killed one student and injured eight others at STEM School Highlands Ranch in Colorado on May 7, 2019. She identified as male, went by “Alec” and targeted classmates who she claimed bullied her because she was transgender.

So, yeah, my immediate thought when I heard about the shooting was to wonder if it was a transgender student. And I won’t apologize for thinking that, no matter how much the Leftists scold me for my “bias.”

It’s not without cause.

What we know about 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow is that she went by “Sam” or Samantha, she idolized the German industrial rock band KMFDM (also idolized by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold of the Columbine High School massacre), had an interest in mass shootings, had “a long, disturbing online history of being obsessed with school shooters and death [and] used the moniker “crossixir” online,” and somehow got a 9mm pistol (for her birthday!) that she used to carry out her attack.

Andy Ngo says Natalie “did not identify as trans.”

I don’t have screengrabs, so I won’t name the publication, but I could swear that the text of a report I read after the shooting originally said, “himself” and then it changed to “themself” and then the entire sentence disappeared in which those words had appeared.

The investigation is still ongoing, but I won’t be surprised if we learn that she was sexually confused and/or mentally unstable.

by

The Broadside | Our Employees in Washington Refuse to Tell Us What They Know About Drones

These mysterious drones shut down NY airport runways last week.

The New York Post reported Saturday that Hochul said pretty much what everyone is thinking: “This has gone too far.” She issued these words of wisdom after the drones forced the shutdown of the runway at Stewart International Airport, which is right outside of Newburgh, New York, and “services both commercial and military flights.”

Stewart International Airport is also “adjacent to a New York Air National Guard base, where the 105th Airlift Wing is stationed.” If you think that Stewart Airport is nevertheless small potatoes, note also that the drones have recently flown over both LaGuardia International Airport in New York City and Newark Liberty International Airport, although they haven’t shut down the runways at either. At least not yet.

At Stewart, the runways were closed for just over an hour, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, “following a report from the FAA about a drone sighting at the airport,” and “there were no impacts to flight operations during the closure,” so relax, you dronephobe.

What gasses me is that the people we pay to protect us from external (and internal) national threats have not been forthcoming about what these drones are.

The sightings have put intense pressure on federal agencies to provide more information about the aircraft, as officials have urged calm and emphasized there is no evidence suggesting the sightings pose a security threat.

“I want to assure the American public that we are on it,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”

Oh, goody. They’re ON IT.

This is the same guy who assured “the American public” that our southern border was secure. Totally secure. Never better.

I don’t know about you, but I’m relieved!

The FBI and DHS said in a joint statement Thursday there is “no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus.”

So, they know that there’s no evidence of a national security or public safety threat? How? How do they know that they don’t pose such threats?

Do they know where they’re coming from? Do they know who’s controlling them? Do they know why they’re flying over New Jersey and other east coast states?

If they know they don’t pose any threats, then they must know more about them than they’re telling us. And they aren’t saying anything about them that will put us at ease. They’re being vague and evasive in their comments.

I don’t trust these people with my life and health.

Even Chuck Shoooomer is cranky about the drones.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he’s asking DHS to deploy special detection systems that use 360-degree technology to detect drones.

“If the technology exists for a drone to make it up into the sky, there certainly is the technology that can track the craft with precision and determine what the heck is going on,” Schumer said Sunday while discussing the technology.

For once I agree with the guy.

by - 2 Comments

The Broadside | Trump is TIME’s Person of the Year and Big Deal

How could it have been anyone else?

It could’ve been someone else, but Trump so dominated the political and cultural landscape, culminating in his landslide (yes, it was a landslide, and don’t let anyone tell you it wasn’t) election that had TIME chosen anyone else, their bias would’ve been glaringly obvious.

And they can’t be glaringly obvious about their anti-American, progressive worldview. It only works when it’s subtle.

Trump’s political rebirth is unparalleled in American history. His first term ended in disgrace, with his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results culminating in the attack on the U.S. Capitol. He was shunned by most party officials when he announced his candidacy in late 2022 amid multiple criminal investigations. Little more than a year later, Trump cleared the Republican field, clinching one of the fastest contested presidential primaries in history. He spent six weeks during the general election in a New York City courtroom, the first former President to be convicted of a crime—a fact that did little to dampen his support. An assassin’s bullet missed his skull by less than an inch at a rally in Butler, Pa., in July. Over the next four months, he beat not one but two Democratic opponents, swept all seven swing states, and became the first Republican to win the popular vote in 20 years. He has realigned American politics, remaking the GOP and leaving Democrats reckoning with what went awry.

Trump has a ready explanation for his improbable resurrection. He even has a name for its climactic final act. “I called it 72 Days of Fury,” he says as the interview gets under way. “We hit the nerve of the country. The country was angry.” It wasn’t just the MAGA faithful. Trump harnessed deep national discontent about the economy, immigration, and cultural issues. His grievances resonated with suburban moms and retirees, Latino and Black men, young voters and tech edgelords. While Democrats estimated that most of the country wanted a President who would uphold the norms of liberal democracy, Trump saw a nation ready to smash them, tapping into a growing sense that the system was rigged.

If America was craving change, it is about to see how much Trump can deliver. He ran on a strongman vision, proposing to deport migrants by the millions, dismantle parts of the federal government, seek revenge against his political adversaries, and dismantle institutions that millions of people see as censorious and corrupt. “He understands the cultural zeitgeists,” says his 2016 campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, who remains a close adviser. “Donald Trump is a complicated person with simple ideas, and way too many politicians are the exact opposite.”

You can tell in those three paragraphs that the TIME writers hated writing any of it. It goes on like that for thousands of words.

TIME magazine has been an irrelevant leftist rag for the last thirty years. I used to subscribe to it in my twenties but over time noticed that it wasn’t objectively reporting “news” but offering opinion disguised as “news.” I dropped my subscription after that and never looked back.

The only good thing about this year’s “award” is that TIME was forced to give it to Trump.

Have a good weekend.

by

The Broadside | Alleged CEO Assassin Arrested and Charged With Murder

Yesterday I titled my post “Hit Man Still Unidentified and Still At Large” and said I expected to “turn on the news and there will be an announcement that they’ve captured the ‘person of interest’ and have brought him in for questioning.”

After I posted that thought, the ‘person of interest’ was spotted, arrested, and charged with murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson later that day.

The man detained by police in Pennsylvania in connection with the shock slaying of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has been identified as Luigi Mangione.

Mangione, 26, is an ‘anti-capitalist’ Ivy League graduate. He was taken into custody after a McDonald’s employee in Altoona, around 100 miles east of Pittsburgh, believed they recognized him as the gunman.

He reportedly had a 3D-printed ghost gun similar to the one used in the Wednesday morning murder, along with a gun silencer, a manifesto, and four fake IDs when he was arrested by cops.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: college students, including the rich ones at Ivy League schools, are often radicalized by their professors and turned into progressive anti-capitalists who believe socialism hasn’t been tried hard enough yet.

The suspected gunman reportedly referenced UnitedHealthcare in the handwritten document found on him.

Luigi Mangione mentioned the $515.93 billion company in his manifesto noting the size of the company and how much money it makes, a senior law enforcement offical who saw the document told the New York Times.

In the 262-word handwritten manifesto, Mangione said as UnitedHealthcare’s market capitalization has grown, American life expectancy has not.

The document condemned companies that ‘continue to abuse our country for immense profit because the American public has allowed them to get away with it.

He reportedly wrote that acted alone and that he was self-funded.

‘To save you a lengthy investigation, I state plainly that I wasn’t working with anyone,’ Mangione said.

‘These parasites had it coming. I do apologize for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done.’

Note that he blames you and me—”the American public”—for letting companies make immense profits. I don’t disagree that the healthcare corporations “abuse our country for immense profit,” but they’ve been allowed to by political elites, not “the American public.”

Obamacare is the most egregious of the offending sprockets in the healthcare insurance machine that rules doctors and patients. That’s a Democrat invention that conservatives vehemently opposed.

But killing CEOs isn’t the answer. Dismantling the healthcare insurance industry is.

His motive is believed to be tied to the behemoth US healthcare industry’s treatment of a sick relative or even himself, sources said.

As I wrote yesterday, the most likely motive for the execution was personal. That seems to have had something to do with the shooting, but it also seems clear from the manifesto and Mangione’s anti-capitalist rage that the financial disparity between the very rich executives of a very rich enterprise and the “victims” of their ‘larceny’ was also a factor.

The tech ace and onetime prep-school valedictorian was taken into custody by local cops after the worker at the fast-food joint called 911 Monday morning, authorities said.

“He was sitting there eating,’’ NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters of Mangione.
Mangione was wearing a blue medical mask and “a beanie’’ and staring at his silver laptop on the table, with a backpack on the floor next to him, when two Altoona cops approached him, authorities said.

The officers asked him to take off his mask — and immediately confirmed he was the sought-after slay suspect, officials said.

I’m glad they caught the guy and I hope they put him away for a thousand years for the cold-blooded murder of Brian Thompson. But I also hope that the killing, while reprehensible and indefensible, might nonetheless focus attention on the power of the healthcare giants and force some kind of reckoning.

by

The Broadside | Hit Man Still Unidentified and Still At Large

Sounds like maybe they know who he is.

When asked why the NYPD is not releasing the name of the person of interest, Cardinale said the public is on a need to know basis and that right now, there are certain elements of this case they do not need to know.

“They’re giving as much as they can without compromising a case that once he is caught needs to move forward and get a conviction. So they can not, just for the sake of putting it out there to the public, blow their case before it’s even formed,” Cardinale said.

If they know who he is, why haven’t they issued an APB? I mean, get everybody looking for the guy.

Instead, we’re entering day six without an arrest or much new information. When it first happened, I thought it could be one of three things, in decreasing likelihood:

  1. It’s a personal beef with UnitedHealthcare, but not necessarily CEO Brian Thompson. Something like a denied claim or coverage for a family member.
  2. It has to do with a Department of Justice investigation alleging that Thompson and three other executives engaged in insider trading.
  3. It had to do with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. being nominated to run the Department of Health and Human Services and he knew something that needed to be kept quiet.

After staying current with most of what’s out there about the hit, I think it’s the first. If it was a contract killing, we wouldn’t have seen the shooter, or he would’ve taken greater pains to make sure he wasn’t seen. I don’t think if it was a contract hit that the hitman would’ve chosen to get away on a … bike. Not a professional’s MO. Plus, the killer dropped live rounds on scene with the words, “Deny,” “Defend,” and “Depose” inscribed on them.

He’s sending a message. A contract killer doesn’t do that.

But there’s no doubt that whoever this guy is, he put plenty of thought into it.

“I’m still not convinced that this is somebody who just happened to be, you know, upon him on that morning. I think he had intimate knowledge of where Mr. Thompson would be at that hour. Now, how did he get that knowledge? That is the big million-dollar question right now,” Cardinale said. “He’s leaving these clues, he’s discarding it, he planned it from the beginning.”

That’s my question. How did the killer know to wait right where he did, right at that time in the morning? Makes me wonder if he’s an employee or ex-employee of UHC, or if he had inside contacts. And if not, how did he get his information?

More curious, how has he been able to stay a step ahead of the authorities? I sort of expect that I’m going to turn on the news and there will be an announcement that they’ve captured the “person of interest” and have brought him in for questioning.

That’s the internal tension we all live with, right? We want to know who it is and why he did it. It’s what keeps us glued to the news.

It’s a true whodunit.

by - 1 Comment

The Broadside | Nobody Trusted “My Word as a Biden” Except the Left. And Now He’s Burned Them

The main topic of conversation since Sunday is Joe Biden’s blanket pardon of his son, Hunter, after telling us all several times over the last year that he wouldn’t. It’s a fitting end to his entire mendacious career of deceit and grift, pardoning himself and his family for the criminal enterprise they’ve run for his 50-plus years in office.

The Right never believed Biden’s claim while the Left swallowed it hook, line and sinker in order to seize the moral high ground. “See, this is what a law-and-order president is like.”

“It’s all about the contrast.” Sure.

Now the MSDNCNNBCBS mouthpieces are clutching their pearls in horror and have no good answers.

You can bet that there are a lot more pardons to come. The Left is already calling for him to issue pre-emptive pardons, in the spirit of what he did for Huntie, to men like Merrick Garland and Alejandro Mayorkas and Anthony Fauci. For what, we can only imagine.

“Persecute.” The irony. Why do they all need pardons, Keith?

The bigger question I have is, how can a president “pardon” a conviction that hasn’t yet been made? If such a “pardon” is legal, can Biden issue a blanket “pardon” for all 40 million illegals in the country going back to 1980 and forward to January 19, 2025?

This site explains the power of pardons.

Article II, Section 2, Clause 1:

The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

The Constitution establishes the President’s authority to grant clemency, encompassing not only pardons of individuals but several other forms of relief from criminal punishment as well. The power, which has historical roots in early English law, has been recognized by the Supreme Court as quite broad. In the 1886 case Ex parte Garland, the Court referred to the President’s authority to pardon as unlimited except in cases of impeachment, extending to every offence known to the law and able to be exercised either before legal proceedings are taken, or during their pendency, or after conviction and judgment. Much later, the Court wrote that the broad power conferred in the Constitution gives the President plenary authority to ‘forgive’ [a] convicted person in part or entirely, to reduce a penalty in terms of a specified number of years, or to alter it with certain conditions.

So, a president is granted the power to pardon anyone, for anything, at any time, as long as it is a federal matter and is not a matter of impeachment.

Trump will most certainly pardon all J6 prisoners. But here’s the difference: Biden is pardoning Hunter for what are clear violations of established law, including gun charges, use of drugs, possible sexual offenses with underage girls, and acting as bagman for his influence-peddling father. Trump, on the other hand, will pardon J6ers for trumped-up charges and disproportional sentences that clearly abuse the legal code and their rights as American citizens.

I can’t wait until Brandon, the senile corrupt moron, is out of office.

by - 1 Comment

The Broadside | Happy Thanksgiving!

This is the fourth Thanksgiving post I’ve written since starting this blog in 2020 (there is a fifth if I include a day-before post in 2021). I reread them before posting this one (2020, 2021, (2021-2), 2022, 2023) and note that all of them encourage us to focus on the central purpose of the day, which is to give thanks for God’s abundant blessings in our lives.

As always, it’s easy to default to simply enjoying time off while eating a huge meal and watching a football game, whereas it takes some work to be thankful. Thanksgiving Day was set aside as a remembrance of the first Thanksgiving in 1621—now more than 400 years ago—when those 53 courageous men and women gave thanks to God for their first successful harvest in a new land with their native friends.

Take time as you gather around a table to express your gratitude to the Giver of all good things. Below I re-link you to a few resources that I’ve offered before.

By remembering, we cultivate an attitude of gratitude.

Happy Thanksgiving!

History of Massachusetts: History of the First Thanksgiving
The True Story of That First Thanksgiving
George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789
Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1863

by - 1 Comment

The Broadside | Trump’s Boast Is Coming True (Again) and We’re All Happier For it

Remember when during his first campaign in 2016 Trump predicted that there would be so much winning that we’d get sick of it? “We will have so much winning if I get elected, that you may get bored with winning.”

Salon, from which that quote is taken, dismissed it as so much bluster. But as we’ve come to learn, Trump seems to embody winning. And before he’s even taken office for his second term, there is a great amount of winning.

His approval numbers during his transition are exponentially higher than during 2016.

“Take a look here,” Enten began, pointing to data from November 2016. At that time, Trump’s net approval during his transition was only “plus one point.” Enten emphasized, “That was well, well, well below the historical norm.” Fast forward to today, and Trump’s approval during this transitional phase has skyrocketed to +18—a remarkable 17-point increase. “The bottom line is this: if eight years ago Americans were lukewarm on Donald Trump, at this particular point, they’re giving him much more of the benefit of the doubt,” Enten noted. “A lot more Americans are in love with this transition.”

All of the outstanding legal assaults on Trump have been dismissed, including Jack Smith’s two cases. The totally made-up documents case that ignores the Presidential Records Act, in which the feds raided Mar-a-Lago and tossed Melania’s underwear drawer, was in turn tossed by the federal judge overseeing the case because of Smith’s illegal appointment by Merrick Garland. Plus, Smith dropped his January 6 “Insurrection” case against Trump.

Nevertheless, in a filing on Monday, Smith noted that he was dropping the charges without prejudice, meaning that he or someone with the notion to continue the weaponization of the law against political opponents, could reanimate them. 

Then, there’s the stock market up and renewed optimism in the air as restaurants, always a bellwether for how the economy is doing, experience a surge of customers.

Financial markets rallied early Monday as stocks and bonds positively responded to President-elect Donald J. Trump‘s announcement that he is naming macro and hedge fund manager Scott Bessent as his Secretary of the Treasury. Bessent, the founder of Key Square Group, is perceived as a stabilizing influence anticipated to effectively manage the $28 trillion Treasuries market. Dow futures were up nearly one percent before the opening bell. Meanwhile, S&P 500 futures had risen 0.5 percent.

One of the most shocking results of a new poll shows that nearly 3 in 4 Americans support Trump’s plan to deport foreigners who are here illegally. That’s a huge majority and a solid mandate.

Quick Hit:

A CBS News poll reveals that 73% of Americans, including a majority across racial lines, believe President-elect Donald Trump should focus on repatriating illegal migrants. More than half also support a nationwide program to deport all illegal immigrants.

Key Details:

  • CBS News/YouGov poll shows 45% of Americans view deportations as a “high priority,” with 28% considering it a “medium priority.” Only 27% say it’s “not a priority.”
  • 57% back a national program to locate and deport all illegal immigrants.
  • 74% of whites, 70% of blacks, and 69% of Hispanics support making deportations a priority.

Diving Deeper:

As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office, a CBS News poll conducted by YouGov shows that deportation policy is a top concern for many Americans. The survey of 2,232 adults indicates a near-consensus, with 73% calling for prioritizing the removal of illegal migrants.

Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, are already self-deporting from that city to (most-likely) sanctuary cities in other states. Not that that will protect them from being evicted from the country, since Tom Holman, Trump’s newly appointed border czar, has made clear.

Mexico and Canada have already responded to Trump’s threats to levy tariffs of 25% on goods imported from those countries. Mexico’s president has already agreed to stop caravans of migrants.

There’s lots more, but I think Benny Johnson sums it up nicely.

I also feel optimistic about Trump’s election and what he will accomplish over the next four years. I’m praying that it will be a start of a resurgence in American prosperity and the dawn of a new “morning” in America that will last more than his term in office.

by - 1 Comment

The Broadside | “A dangerous and effective pick” who’s “worse” than Matt Gaetz

Sorry for the radio silence. I was traveling the first half of the week seeing Mother Broadside and got back Wednesday evening.

We’re heading into the weekend and the Thanksgiving holiday week and I wanted to welcome those of you who recently joined us here at The Broadside. Howdy!

So, the big news is that Matt Gaetz withdrew himself from consideration for the role of AG in the Trump administration yesterday. He was a controversial pick because he’s a firebrand who led the ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and had been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for allegations of engaging in sex with a minor. No charges were brought but his reputation was smeared nonetheless.

Within a couple of hours of Gaetz’s withdrawal, Trump nominated former Florida AG Pam Bondi (it’s almost like it was planned!).

“Pam was a prosecutor for nearly 20 years, where she was very tough on Violent Criminals, and made the streets safe for Florida Families,” Trump wrote in his announcement. “Then, as Florida’s first female Attorney General, she worked to stop the trafficking of deadly drugs, and reduce the tragedy of Fentanyl Overdose Deaths, which have destroyed many families across our Country. She did such an incredible job, that I asked her to serve on our Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission during my first Term — We saved many lives!

MSNBC melts down over the pick because she’s … “competent”?

The Left thinks she’s going to do a better job than what they would’ve gotten with Gaetz—and they’re freaking out about it. Think about that.

They admit she’s competent, dangerous and effective and they should “fear” her. You know why? Because they’re not going to be able to get away with the garbage they’ve gotten away with for the last four years (and probably the last 12). She’s a hawk on immigration which means she’s not going to sue her own administration for rounding up and expelling the millions of third-world peasants and single military-aged men whom the Biden-Harris administration invited in.

By the way, speaking of open borders, guess who’s begging for protection from the Trump administration?

Why would Mayorkas, the head of DHS, need immunity from prosecution? Did he do something wrong? What’s he admitting to?

My response is “Hell, no!” He should get no promise of immunity. And when Trump is sworn in, he should put together a special prosecutor to go after Mayorkas and Harris and anyone else who effectively erased our southern border and allowed hordes of foreign invaders to illegally enter and stay in our country while robbing taxpayers to fund their presence.

Traitors, all.

Have a good weekend.

by - 1 Comment

The Broadside | Team MAGA is Being Formed

It’s been a week since America spanked the Democrats and sent Donald J. Trump back to the White House. I feel invigorated and deeply satisfied while still harboring some anxiety about getting him sworn in on January 20.

PTSD from 2020’s stolen election, I’m sure.

Trump has wasted no time in nominating and appointing a strong stable of leaders who will join his administration. Since they have been coming in a few at a time, I thought I’d collect them here for you. As of Tuesday night, Trump had named:

Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla, National Security Adviser: “Waltz, a three-term GOP congressman from east-central Florida, was the first Green Beret elected to the U.S. House, and easily won reelection last week. He has been chairman of the House Armed Services subcommittee on readiness and a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.” *snip* “In a statement last year, Waltz said that as head of the readiness subcommittee: ‘I am ready to get to work to better equip our military and turn our focus away from woke priorities and back to winning wars. Our national security depends on it.'”

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, Department of Government Efficiency: “Trump said that the pair will work together to ‘dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.’ It will become, potentially, “The Manhattan Project” of our time,’ the announcement on Tuesday evening said. ‘Republican politicians have dreamed about the objectives of ‘DOGE’ for a very long time.’ The president-elect said that Musk and Ramaswamy will provide ‘advice and guidance from outside of Government, and will partner with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before.'”

Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense: A Fox News host? I didn’t see this one coming. “‘Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First. With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down,’ Trump said. ‘Nobody fights harder for the Troops, and Pete will be a courageous and patriotic champion of our “Peace through Strength” policy.'”

Mike Huckabee, Ambassador to Israel: In a statement Trump said, “I am pleased to announce that the Highly Respected former Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, has been nominated to be The United States Ambassador to Israel. Mike has been a great public servant, Governor, and Leader in Faith for many years. He loves Israel, and the people of Israel, and likewise, the people of Israel love him. Mike will work tirelessly to bring about Peace in the Middle East!” Huckabee is the first evangelical Christian to hold the position.

John Ratcliffe, CIA Director: “Ratcliffe served as director of national intelligence for the final months of Trump’s first term, leading American spy agencies during the coronavirus pandemic and as the U.S. government contended with foreign efforts to interfere in the 2020 presidential election. His past experience in intelligence makes him a more traditional pick for the job, which requires Senate confirmation, than some rumored loyalists pushed by some of Trump’s supporters.” *snip* “Ratcliffe was elected to Congress in 2014, but his visibility rose in 2019 as an ardent defender of Trump during the House’s first impeachment proceedings against him.”

SD Gov. Kristi Noem, Department of Homeland Security: “In a statement released on Tuesday night, the Trump transition team said the South Dakota governor has a ‘very strong’ track record on border security. ‘She was the first Governor to send National Guard Soldiers to help Texas fight the Biden Border Crisis, and they were sent a total of eight times,’ the statement reads. ‘She will work closely with “Border Czar” Tom Homan to secure the Border, and will guarantee that our American Homeland is secure from our adversaries.'”

Tom Homan, Border Czar: “The man tapped by Donald Trump to enact his clampdown on rampant illegal immigration in the U.S. said Monday he is ready for Democrats decrying the get-tough action, declaring: ‘I don’t care what people think of me.’ Tom Homan, Trump’s newly-picked ‘border czar,’ said he will make it a priority to ‘secure the border and do this deportation operation.'”

Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Ambassador to the United Nations: “Stefanik joined Congress as a moderate Republican but became one of Trump’s key defenders after his first impeachment and after his 2020 election loss. She joined House leadership in 2021 as chair of the House Republican Conference.” She is the highest-ranking Republican woman in the House.

Lee Zeldin, EPA Administrator: Zeldin is a Jewish former four-term representative from Long Island. “He will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet,” Trump said. “He will set new standards on environmental review and maintenance, that will allow the United States to grow in a healthy and well-structured way.”

Susie Wiles, Chief of Staff: “Wiles spent the past two years co-running Trump’s campaign and is well-respected as a political operative. She will become the first woman to serve as a White House chief of staff. Wiles, among the people Trump thanked after his 2024 victory, was largely a behind-the-scenes figure during his run. She has also worked for Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and was a deputy director during former President Reagan’s 1980 campaign.”

Stephen Miller, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy: “Miller was the architect of some of Trump’s first-term immigration policies, including family separation and an order to ban travel into the U.S. from several majority-Muslim countries. He will work alongside Susie Wiles, whom Trump last week named as his chief of staff. During the Biden administration, Miller led America First Legal, an organization that launched dozens of lawsuits against Democratic policies.”

Marco Rubio, Secretary of State: Not confirmed, but reported by several major news outlets. “The third Cabinet-level appointment, by far the biggest name so far, is reported to be Florida Senator Marco Rubio for Secretary of State. Rubio has represented Florida’s sizeable Jewish community in the Senate since his election in 2010. The New York Times characterised Rubio as ‘a foreign policy hawk, taking hard lines on China and Iran in particular.’ Rubio is also knowledgeable about foreign policy, fluent in all the issues he would have to handle as Secretary. Finally, it’s worth noting that unlike others who could have been named as Trump’s Secretary of State, Rubio is not an isolationist and would immediately reverse Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s intense hostile-to-Israel energy. America’s allies abroad should be cheered by Rubio’s selection.”

Still no word on where Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or Tulsi Gabbard, two former Democrats who gave strong support to Trump’s campaign, will serve in the administration, although Trump said that Kennedy would be given a lot of latitude to “Make America Healthy Again.” Gabbard was reportedly interested in the Secretary of Defense position, but Pete Hegseth was chosen. Personally, I’d like to see Gabbard involved in some way.

I’m impressed with the team that Trump is pulling together. He’s got four years to make good on his promises, and I’m excited to see what he does with them. His team will make all the difference.