Trump ain't wasting time

He's got two years to restore the constitutional republic

The only David Bowie album I really liked was The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. WMMS in Cleveland played it constantly during the summer of 1972. My favorite song was Five Years which is odd because I have always believed Man cannot destroy what God has made. The chorus 52 years later is ironic, at least according to Alanis Morissette.

We’ve got five years, stuck on my eyes
Five years, what a surprise
We’ve got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, that’s all we’ve got

Perhaps Bowie was mocking doomsayers.

But Man does have his limits and at 71, I am past my allotment of three score and ten. Time limits apply to presidents as well.

Susie Wiles, who looks pretty tough, is Trump’s incoming chief of staff.

According to The Guardian, Republican donors at a private event heard “the time frame for Trump’s goal of radically transforming government would be two years rather four, Wiles said, in comments that appeared to anticipate more political resistance in the second half of the president-elect’s four-year term should the Democrats do well in the 2026 congressional midterm elections.”

That makes sense, especially given the slimness of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives.

As the rock group Spanky and Our Gang sang, he’s “making every minute count, making it groovy.”

Trump is off to a terrific start having already appointed within a week the election six Cabinet members (an EPA administrator and the secretaries of State, defense, treasury, commerce secretary, and homeland security), two ambassadors (Israel and the UN), a national security advisor, a border czar, and a head of the CIA. Groovy.

This allows appointees time to hire a staff and find a house in the DC area — well, except the ambassadors. I hope there is room at the inn in Israel for Huckabee.

8 years ago, it took Trump 10 days to appoint his first Cabinet secretary.

Trump also is purging the military of insubordinates and spies for Red China.

Yes, I’m talking about Milley the Four-Star Fraud.

Remember his insubordination? (“Milley Apologizes for Role in Trump Photo Op: ‘I Should Not Have Been There.’”) Remember his espionage? (“Milley defends calls to Chinese at end of Trump presidency.”)

Well, this time around the military had better respect the commander-in-chief or else. Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal reported:

The Trump transition team is considering a draft executive order that establishes a “warrior board” of retired senior military personnel with the power to review three- and four-star officers and to recommend removals of any deemed unfit for leadership.

If Donald Trump approves the order, it could fast-track the removal of generals and admirals found to be “lacking in requisite leadership qualities,” according to a draft of the order reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. But it could also create a chilling effect on top military officers, given the president-elect’s past vow to fire “woke generals,” referring to officers seen as promoting diversity in the ranks at the expense of military readiness.

As commander in chief, Trump can fire any officer at will, but an outside board whose members he appoints would bypass the Pentagon’s regular promotion system, signaling across the military that he intends to purge a number of generals and admirals.

Murdoch’s Journal evidently favors DEI over military preparedness. Murdoch is about as conservative as AOC.

The review board is only the start.

The New York Times went Paul Revere on Trump saying the Executive Orders are coming, the Executive Orders are coming!

They always do.

NYT said:

Exercising the power of the Oval Office can have immediate results for a president looking to quickly show voters he is taking action. And they can be effective in accelerating a government bureaucracy that otherwise moves slowly to carry out the nation’s laws.

But governing by executive power has its limits. By their nature, they are not permanent and can be undone by a successor almost as easily as they were put in place. Mr. Trump unraveled many of Mr. Obama’s executive actions, and Mr. Biden did the same to Mr. Trump’s.

Presidential proclamations and orders are also more easily subject to attack in the legal system. Many of Mr. Trump’s orders were quickly challenged in court, held up for months or even years by judges who deemed them unlawful efforts to get around the will of Congress.

But if executive orders were so impotent, why would presidents waste time on them?

The Guardian in its story highlighted one executive order that has Democrats worried:

Cancelled by Biden but expected to be revived immediately is the Schedule F initiative, which would remove job security from about 50,000 civil servants and enable them to be fired and replaced with rightwing loyalists. Such a move would be in line with the Heritage Foundation thinktank’s controversial Project 2025 agenda, which envisions a radical overhaul of American government.

Firing Democrat leftwing loyalists will bleed the government of its anti-conservative insurrectionists.

It won’t be just the executive orders that he will issue by the score. He wants his appointees to start working STAT.

The Jeff Bezos Post complained, “President-elect Donald Trump is already moving ahead with creating a more powerful presidency than his first one. One of his first moves: Demanding that Republican senators let him decide who runs the government, rather than vote on it.”

Trump will follow the Constitution and make recess appointments while the Senate is in recess. Senate Republicans are willing to go to recess to enable him to appoint people without confirmation. They will be confirmed later.

The Post whined, “What Trump’s asking is technically constitutional, experts say, but would be a stark abdication of powers on the part of the Senate.”

Technically constitutional is the same as sorta pregnant. Lose the modifier. The reality is there is no abdication of power, stark or otherwise. Republican senators will get a heads up on the appointees and he will strike any nominees that Republicans don’t want.

Buried in the story was an admission that Republicans later will confirm those appointed. An expert on Republicanism — Jim Manley, an aide to Harry Reid — told the Post, “He’s trying to run roughshod over the caucus.”

And that’s bad because ???

But as I said, Republican senators get their say on his appointments. We learned that the hard way last time. Trump learned too.

The Post also said, “Unlike the last time Trump was president, he will not have to contend with much resistance from his own party. Many Republican members of Congress who opposed him have left — either of their own volition or were voted out.

“Republicans will hold leadership elections this week to decide the next Senate majority leader. Trump’s demand for recess appointments shows that he wants a Senate leader who’s willing to do his bidding.”

Mitch was a bitch. Yes, he spared us having Mad Hatter Merrick Garland on the Supreme Court but he stuck Trump with some loser Cabinet members, including a Secretary of Homeland Security who opposed building The Wall.

RINOs figured Trump would last one term and be gone. But as Dolly might have sung, “Here he comes again looking better than a body has a right to.”

And he’s brought his political son, JD Vance, to succeed him for 8 more years. Democrats flipping the House in 2026 won’t matter when Republicans flip it back in 2028.

No one wants to be Liz Cheneyed. Remember the card game Old Maid? The Republican version now has her picture on that card.

As they say, you have to strike while the iron is hot. They also say you have to make hay while the sun still shines. But don’t do both or you will burn the place down.

Tempting, isn’t it?

Trump will do so metaphorically. That won’t toast any marshmallows but it will warm the cockles of our hearts.

And it won’t take five years. He’s only got two.

Poilievre will be elected the next PM of Canada. I hope.