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‘Speak Their Language’: Insiders Explain How Trump Can Use ‘NeoCon’ Cabinet Picks To Advance MAGA Agenda

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Some supporters of President-elect Donald Trump have been disappointed by his picks to fill out his new national security team, even lobbing accusations of them being “neocons” — but individuals familiar with the transition and the president-elect’s foreign policy record said those picks can be put to use accomplishing an America First agenda.

For Secretary of State, Trump tapped Sen. Marco Rubio, along with Rep. Michael Waltz for National Security Advisor and Rep. Elise Stefanik for United Nations Ambassador. The picks turned heads because they are viewed as having more “hawkish” beliefs. But national security insiders told the Daily Caller that the picks fall in line with the president’s agenda more than many would initially expect.

“If you take a look at what Trump is doing across his cabinet picks, he’s building the MAGA movement to go well beyond his Republican base, which is why he’s plugged in Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F Kennedy. He’s making a bigger tent, and that is the stuff of legacy,” Morgan Murphy, former press secretary to the Secretary of Defense during the Trump administration and National Security Adviser to Sen. Tommy Tuberville, told the Caller.

Over the years, Rubio’s more hawkish positions have shifted to fall increasingly in line with the president-elect’s “America first” agenda. Rubio voted against a foreign aid package earlier this year that included Ukraine funding, but is hawkish on China and Latin America. Waltz, a special forces veteran, previously worked for Vice President Dick Cheney and has expressed aggressive stances on Iran.

Tapped for Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth is the most unexpected of the president’s national security picks. Hegseth described himself as a “recovering neocon” in an earlier interview with the “Shawn Ryan Show” podcast, explaining that he was once a major supporter of the Iraq war but has since recognized the errors of his views.

The picks, particularly Rubio and Walz, have been attacked by some in the president-elect’s coalition.

“Yesterday was a bad day for those who endorse “America First” in our foreign policy,” former Republican Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul tweeted. “With reported Trump appointments of neocons Elise Stefanik (UN Ambassador), Mike Waltz (National Security Advisor), and…Marco Rubio (Secretary of State), many who hoped that Trump 2.0 would be different than Trump 1.0 are feeling dejected and betrayed.”

“The wrong people are happy about Walz [sic],” tweeted New York Post journalist Miranda Devine.

Meanwhile, the likes of John Bolton, former Trump National Security Adviser-turned-critic, praised the picks as having “the correct approach to China.”

However, insiders who spokes with the Caller say the picks show that Trump understands what he needs to govern successfully this time around.

“Trump is now savvy about how Washington works, and likely knows he needs the neocons. They’re more entrenched in D.C. than America first. And there are just more of them. The only kind of foreign policy people that are harping on America first and have been consistently, there’s less than a dozen,” one former Trump national security official told the Caller.

“I think he may be looking at someone who speaks their language, who can help blend the two agendas,” the source added.

Sources explained Rubio was likely picked to be tough on China, something important to the president-elect’s agenda, and that it could’ve been a consolation prize for not getting the VP nod.

“I imagine the Secretary of State position was a consolation to Rubio. Everybody’s trying to strategize what the importance of [the picks] and what policies [Trump’s] putting in place. But I think the pick was more political than it was policy,” the former official told the Caller.

One insider told the Caller that while political consultants and the media speculate about what these picks could mean for Trump’s foreign policy, the source believes the president’s pick comes down to two things.

“Hegseth, Rubio, Waltz, Stefanik, what do they all have in common? They’re all friends and close to President Trump,” a former GOP senate staffer who worked on national security issues told the Caller.

“They know the foreign policy and national security space. The president knows that national security is the one thing you can’t get wrong. Look at Biden,” the source added.

They added that ideology likely wasn’t a primary factor in the selections.

“I think that ideology doesn’t really mean that much, whether it’s neocon or isolationist or Jacksonian or Hamiltonian. At the end of the day, Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, are going to test President Trump in some way, shape or form, and it will be up to Trump and his national security team to decide how they want to respond to that test,” the former GOP senate staffer told the Caller.

When it comes to Rubio’s priorities, Cliff May, the president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the Caller that he believes the Florida senator understands the threat being posed by China and Iran to the United States. He said he believes Hegseth was picked to be a “communicator.”

“He will need to sort of lead the effort in terms of messaging and communications and working with the President and with Congress to get the kind of military America needs in this century,” May told the Caller.

“I can see why he would not want somebody in charge who is a long time bureaucrat who says, ‘listen, this is all you can do. This is what you can do. I’m not fighting the bureaucracy. I’m going to speak for the bureaucracy.’ He doesn’t want another Lloyd Austin type,” May added.

Several sources predicted a “peace through strength” type of approach to national security, something Stefanik has promoted since being chosen as the U.N. Ambassador.

“Based on his nominees, I think Trump is building a FAFO foreign policy,” John Noonan, a senior adviser to POLARIS National Security, told the Caller. “We want peace. But if you F around with the United States, be ready to find out.”

AUTHOR

Reagan Reese

White House correspondent. Follow Reagan on Twitter

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

ROOKE: Corporate Media Carries Out Anti-Christian Smear Campaign Against Pete Hegseth

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Shortly after President-elect Donald Trump nominated decorated veteran Pete Hegseth to lead the Department of Defense (DOD), the corporate press attacked him because of his Christian tattoos.

On its face, it feels desperate and obvious that Hegseth would become persona non grata among the “people who know things” crowd. He’s handsome and in no way resembles an overfed sewer rat. He understands the failings of upper leadership and wants to make serious changes to improve military lethality by ending the woke malignant tumor growing inside the military, academies and defense agencies.

Still, the attacks against Hegseth seem more about his faith and less about his qualifications. “How dare the man tasked with leading the entire military in the protection of our country believe in God and profess those beliefs publicly? He must be some sort of Nazi!” (ROOKE: Don’t Let Calls For Unity Fool You. The GOP Is Still At War)

While it’s completely pathetic, we’ve seen the left’s anti-Christian demagoguery rise against believers for years. The radically atheistic left finds it inconceivable that Hegseth’s tattoos, the Jerusalem cross and the Latin phrase Deus Vult carries real meaning. Instead, he must be cosplaying as a Christian to hide his “White Supremacy” connections.

Deus Vult was a rallying cry during the First Crusade when European Christians fought against the Muslims for control over Jerusalem and to put an end to the brutal Muslim expansion. Today, it simply means “God wills it” and reminds Christians about God’s divine providence in our lives.

Similarly, the Jerusalem Cross, which has one large cross in the middle with four smaller crosses in each quadrant, became popular during the Crusades when Pope Urban II gave them the emblem to adorn their uniforms and banners.

There are several interpretations of the Jerusalem Cross. The five crosses could represent the Five Wounds Jesus Christ suffered during his crucifixion. Otheres say it is meant to be a sign of evangelism in which the large cross represents Christ, and the four smaller crosses are for the Gospel writers, St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke and St. John.

But if you read corporate media’s take, these symbols are a sign that Hegseth is a white supremacist. Hegseth told podcast host Shawn Ryan he was turned down from protecting Washington, D.C., during President Joe Biden’s inauguration because someone flagged his Christian tattoos. AP News released the email surrounding this incident, seemingly in an attempt to make Hegseth look like an extremist unfit for office. Still, all it did was further confirm that corporate news and the people leading our country have no issue committing anti-Christian bigotry.

“MAJ Hegseth has a tattoo of ‘Deus Vult’ on his inner arm (bicep area). The phrase ‘Deus Vult; is associated with Supremacist groups in which White-Supremacist use of #DeusVult and a return to medieval Catholicism, is to invoke the myth of a white Christian (i.e. Catholic) medieval past that wishes to ignore the actual demographics and theological state of Catholicism today, let alone the doctrinal practices of contemporary Catholicism,” Retired Master Sgt. DeRicko Gaither, who was serving as the D.C. Army National Guard’s physical security manager and on its anti-terrorism force protection team in January 2021, said.

Hegseth has two bronze stars for his heroism while deployed during the Global War on Terror. He started a veteran-focused organization to help veterans get the benefits they deserve, like better medical care. And yet, his tattoos are disqualifying. The left doesn’t care about men in drag or military officers dressing as puppies acting out sexual fetishes in uniform, but because Hegseth permanently displayed his allegiance to God on his body, that makes him an extremist.

They still don’t understand that their insistence to call everything outside of their woke worldview extremist bigotry is why voters overwhelmingly endorsed Trump and his vision for the country.

AUTHOR

Mary Rooke

Commentary and analysis writer.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Trio of Trump Picks Creates Headaches for GOP

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You know it’s a surreal time in Washington, D.C. when Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) is the Democrat making the most sense. While his party has a collective “freakout” over Donald Trump’s potential hires, the Senate’s resident hoodie-wearer was asked if he’s as panicked as his colleagues about the president-elect’s Cabinet choices. “It’s still not even Thanksgiving yet,” he told CNN. “And if we’re having meltdowns, you know, every tweet or every appointment or all of those things, I mean, it’s going to be four years.”

And yes, while Trump probably did have fun “trolling” Democrats with some of these picks, as Fetterman said, they’re not the only ones with reservations. At least three of the president’s nominees are giving both parties heartburn heading into the holidays: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Matt Gaetz, and Pete Hegseth. Welcome to the job, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.). You’ve just been handed a political nightmare.

Philip Wegmann, White House Correspondent for Real Clear Politics, said this all clears up one thing: “This is Donald Trump’s transition and no one else’s.” Wegmann, who joined Family Research Council President Tony Perkins on Saturday’s “This Week on the Hill” thought — like many people — that the president-elect was “playing it safe” with his first string of announcements. “There was a bit of bipartisan consensus behind a pick like, say, Florida Senator Marco Rubio for Secretary of State. That’s someone who is certainly well-qualified for that position. … And then came some of these more unconventional picks. Pete Hegseth for Department of Defense Secretary, Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence, and then most recently, Florida Representative Matt Gaetz for Attorney General. What that tells you is that it is Donald Trump, fundamentally, who is making these decisions — and him alone. It’s not an advisor. It’s not any outside group. It’s him.”

The only decision he couldn’t control was Thune’s promotion. While Trump didn’t weigh in personally on the Republican leadership race in the Senate, plenty of his surrogates did. And in the end, the pressure they exerted didn’t sway the more insulated chamber. “The reason why I think that we should still put a pin in this and watch closely,” Wegmann said of Thune and his party, “is that there’s sort of a bubbling frustration among the right flank. … With how things are going … Republicans are of the opinion that Donald Trump has a mandate after winning the Electoral College and also the popular vote. And so, the question is, when someone like Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has shown that he is ready to move the ball down the field, are Senate Republicans also going to be team players here?”

While Senator Marco Rubio, Lee Zeldon, and others are “no-brainers” for the administration, as Perkins called them, there are other question marks, like South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem (R), who, apart from the hysteria her dead puppy created, lost plenty of fans when she caved on popular girls’ sports protections. As Wegmann acknowledged, Noem has had “a bit of a fall from grace certainly.” But, he predicted, “I’m not certain that we’re going to see Republicans abandon ship here.” Heading Homeland Security may seem like a big job, but “I think she is seen sort of as a key piece here who’s going to compliment Tom Homan, the border czar.”

Although Gaetz may lead the pack of controversial picks, equally triggering to Democrats (and many conservatives) is the nod for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head Health and Human Services (HHS). “You want to talk about a realignment?” Wegmann asked. “RFK Jr. represents so much of what is new from Donald Trump, because of Trump’s ability to reach out to Independent voters who are perhaps homeless among the two-party system,” he pointed out. “But let’s not forget RFK Jr. [is] a Catholic individual, but he also supports abortion rights. He’s very skeptical of pharmaceutical companies, but he’s also anti-Big Bank, anti-Big Business. He’s an environmentalist. This is one of these guys who sort of breaks the mold. And Democrats, I don’t think many of them are going to lend their support to RFK Jr. at HHS. I’m curious to see if there will be many Republican defections.”

If former Vice President Mike Pence got a vote, it would be an emphatic no. “The Trump-Pence administration was unapologetically pro-life for our four years in office. There are hundreds of decisions made at HHS every day that either lead our nation toward a respect for life or away from it, and HHS under our administration always stood for life,” Pence insisted on Friday. “I believe the nomination of RFK Jr. to serve as Secretary of HHS is an abrupt departure from the pro-life record of our administration and should be deeply concerning to millions of Pro-Life Americans who have supported the Republican Party and our nominees for decades,” he declared.

Perkins, for his part, said he’d be “willing to sit down and talk” with the moderate but admitted he has “reservations.” “For me, the sanctity of human life and that moral fabric of our nation, that foundation, is absolutely critical. I’d have to have some assurances there for now. Put me in the skeptical column when it comes to RFK.”

The nomination that has had the most heads spinning is Gaetz’s, which took even his own party by surprise. As Axios tells it, the announcement was met with “audible gasps by House Republicans” in the conference meeting last week. “The reason why this is interesting,” Wegmann believes, “is that if you talk to Gaetz allies, they’ll say that in preparation for this contentious confirmation battle, he’s burning the ships like Cortez. … If you talk to folks who are a bit more cynical, the timing here is very curious. The House Ethics Committee was preparing to release a report concerning [the] activity of Mr. Gaetz and an allegedly underage girl,” he explained, “and by leaving Congress that effectively stymies that effort. … [T]hat was sort of the speculation that perhaps he was leaving early to avoid that accountability.”

Of course, as both men made clear, once a member leaves Congress, they are no longer under the jurisdiction of the Ethics Committee, so the investigation is — for all intents and purposes — dead. But there is the very real possibility that Democrats could leak it out as the nomination advances. What Wegmann has heard is that the report is a “grenade,” and it’s “only a matter of time before it explodes.” Democrats, after all, “have an incentive for this information to get out there, but they don’t want it to go off right now. They want to wait until it’s able to inflict maximum damage. Then there are some Republicans who would rather this information get out earlier, so the president-elect can either reexamine his choice or perhaps Gaetz can bow out.”

The “conference-splitter,” as Axios called him, got a cool reception from senators like Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), and others who don’t seem anxious to give Trump a pass on this one. “This shows why the advice and consent process is so important,” Collins said, hinting that she won’t be so quick to let the president-elect bypass the traditional vetting with recess appointments. Murkowski stressed that Gaetz wasn’t even “a serious candidate.” “If I wanted to make a joke, maybe I would say now I’m waiting for [disgraced former Congressman] George Santos to be named.”

Of the three nominees who are most outside the box, Fox News’s Pete Hegseth is probably getting the most movement support. Several columnists are making the argument that the young veteran is plenty experienced, despite the Left’s shrieks to the contrary. The rumblings over his personal life have certainly given his detractors fodder, but others believe he is skilled enough — and determined enough — to overhaul the military and purge the Defense Department of four years of social experimentation.

Still, the thought “makes the Left go crazy,” Wegmann admitted. “But this is someone who was in the Armed Services for 20 years. He has won medals, and his nomination makes sense if you look at his book, if you look at the Shawn Ryan interview. This is someone who is absolutely on fire for reforming the Pentagon and going after sort of the woke excesses there. I think that’s why Donald Trump picked him. And Hegseth will be prepared for that confirmation hearing. You don’t get to be on TV every weekend if you’re not quick on your feet. I think he’s got a good shot.”

AUTHOR

Suzanne Bowdey

Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.

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Trump Taps Fox News Host, Combat Vet For Secretary Of Defense

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President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday evening that Fox News host and veteran Pete Hegseth will be his pick for secretary of defense in his upcoming administration.

Since last week, Trump has been releasing names for his cabinet after winning both the Electoral College and popular vote. He announced his decision of the Fox & Friends host to lead the Pentagon in a Truth Social post on Tuesday evening.

“Pete has spent his entire life as a Warrior for the Troops, and for the Country. 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,” the statement read. 

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“Pete has led two Veterans Advocacy organizations, leading the fight for our Warriors, and our great Veterans,” Trump said. “Nobody fights harder for the Troops, and Pete will be a courageous and patriotic champion of our ‘Peace through Strength’ policy.”

Hegseth previously served in the army, joining tours in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan. Following his service on the battlefield he was decorated with two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman’s Badge.

Fox News Media released a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation following the announcement, congratulating Hegseth on his nomination and his work with the outlet.

“Pete Hegseth has been an exceptional host on FOX & Friends and FOX Nation and a best-selling author for FOX News Books for nearly a decade. His insights and analysis especially about the military resonated deeply with our viewers and made the program the major success that it is today. We are extremely proud of his work at FOX News Media and wish him the best of luck in Washington,” the statement read.

The announcement of Hegseth joining Trump’s second administration comes shortly after the president-elect revealed former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe as his pick to lead the CIA. The former president additionally previously revealed Republican Florida Rep. Mike Waltz as White House national security advisor, former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Tom Homan as the new “border czar” and former Republican New York Rep. Lee Zeldin as the new administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency over the last week.

AUTHOR

Hailey Gomez

General assignment reporter.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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