OPINION:
Nearly 80 million Americans voted Nov. 5 to acquit President-elect Donald Trump of the charges brought by the administration of President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. This serves as a mandate to rid the government of anyone responsible for politicizing the administration of justice. The president-elect is setting the stage to do just that.
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump named Rep. Matt Gaetz as his choice to take over the Department of Justice, and that has the Robert F. Kennedy Building’s worst offenders worried. As a target of what he would call politicized accusations against himself, the Florida Republican would not be inclined to look away from misconduct allegations to preserve the institution, as Mr. Trump’s first-term attorneys general did.
While Mr. Gaetz faces an uphill confirmation battle, former Rep. John Ratcliffe shouldn’t have much difficulty locking down the CIA director title. That’s why Langley’s shredding machines must be running overtime now. As Mr. Trump’s first-term director of national intelligence, he knows how the system works, and as a former U.S. attorney, he knows how to hold lawbreakers accountable.
Mr. Ratcliffe won’t be fooled by the intelligence community’s games, making him the right call for restoring order at “the Company.”
Rounding out his intelligence community picks, Mr. Trump announced erstwhile Democrat Tulsi Gabbard as his choice for director of national intelligence and Rep. Mike Waltz as national security adviser.
Like Mr. Trump and Mr. Gaetz, Ms. Gabbard has also been a target of the deep state. Despite her service as an elected member of Congress from Hawaii and a lieutenant colonel in the Army National Guard, she was placed on the Transportation Security Administration’s Quiet Skies watch list as if she were a terrorist. Whistleblowers came forward about the scandal because they believe the program has been politicized.
Mr. Waltz is a full colonel who served combat tours in the Green Berets. He has been an articulate spokesman for the GOP as a Florida congressman since 2019, when he won the seat vacated by then-Rep. Ron DeSantis, who became the Sunshine State’s chief executive.
Now the popular Florida governor has the duty of appointing someone to fill the seat of Sen. Marco Rubio, the new secretary of state nominee. Since term limits prevent Mr. DeSantis from seeking reelection in 2026, it will be worth watching to see whether he tees up his own Senate bid.
As with the other departments, Pentagon officials are on edge. Pete Hegseth has been put forward to become secretary of defense, and he’s not part of the club that usually runs the military — a retired general or West Point graduate. Instead, Mr. Hegseth is a combat veteran who served as an infantry captain in Iraq and Afghanistan before returning to run organizations that advocate for veterans.
He’s not the type to be impressed by rear-echelon commanders who would put soldiers, airmen and Marines in danger before retiring to a cushy board position with a defense contractor.
It’s equally impossible to intimidate entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who will run a project to restructure the federal government. This unofficial task force is cheekily named the Department of Government Efficiency; the abbreviation for it evokes Mr. Musk’s favorite “doge” meme.
These outside-the-box picks embody the public’s desire to shake up the establishment. The combination of outsiders and people with experience with the overt politicization of government might be just the team to deliver what the country needs.
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