Trump announced Gaetz’s appointment on Truth Social Wednesday, asserting that “Matt will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations, and restore Americans’ badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department.” Jennings, on “CNN News Central,” said he was “surprised” by Trump’s choice, adding that it reflects the president-elect’s confidence that Republicans will support his agenda without resistance.

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“Are you not entertained? I mean, this is the most entertaining transition I’ve ever seen … I’m as surprised as anyone. But what I take away from this is that this is a president-elect who is feeling his power,” Jennings said. “I mean, this is someone who is appointing people to things, whether it’s Gaetz or anything else we’ve seen today, who is feeling his power, feeling his influence, doesn’t feel like he’s in a mood to negotiate with the people in Washington, D.C. He’s here to do what he wants to do and he’s going to expect the Republicans to fall in line.”

“It is apparent to me that Trump is in a decisive mood and is not someone who’s interested in picking things that he would consider to be watered down,” he added. “So that’s my initial reaction … I mean, we truly learned about it two seconds before we came on here, so pretty wild day.”

Trump also announced he would appoint former Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard to be director of National Intelligence for his second administration in a Wednesday statement, writing that she will bring a “fearless spirit” to the intelligence community to help secure “Peace through Strength.” Moreover, the president-elect named Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as his pick for secretary of state in another Wednesday statement, calling him an “Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies and a fearless Warrior.”

Trump on announced in a Tuesday statement that Fox News host and veteran Pete Hegseth is his choice for secretary of defense in his upcoming administration.

“You can’t underestimate Donald Trump’s influence over the Republicans in the Senate on this. And he’s going to be insistent that he get his government and his administration. And look, here’s the thing: He won. And he won the popular vote and he believes he has a mandate,” Jennings said. “And honestly I think he does too. And some of these picks are conventional. Marco Rubio, for instance, you know? Well-known name. But some of them are designed to shake up Washington. And I am assuming that’s what Donald Trump believes he’s doing here with a few of these folks.”

CNN anchor Dana Bash said Wednesday that she couldn’t come up with a single “example” of why governing “could be harder” for Trump in his second term due to his strong support among elected Republicans.

“That really does change the game for Donald Trump in how he can get things through, who he can get through and the kind of support he has for what he wants to do,” she said.

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Trump announced Gaetz’ selection in a Truth Social post, describing him as a “deeply gifted and tenacious attorney, trained at the William & Mary College of Law” who would end “Weaponized Government.” Murphy, on “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” called the decision “stunning” and warned of “cataclysmic” consequences for “American democracy.”

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“I was walking off the Senate floor just moments ago when the news was announced. You could literally hear the jaws dropping to the floor of Republican senators who are now going to be in a position to stand up to Donald Trump in a way that they have been unwilling to. I mean, listen, Matt Gaetz is dangerously unqualified, but that’s not the worst of it,” Murphy said. “Gaetz has been Trump‘s chief defender when it comes to Trump’s assault on democracy, his attempt to overthrow the government on January 6. And he has openly called for the abolition of law enforcement agencies if they don’t get in line with conservative political priorities. This is going to be a red alert moment for American democracy.”

“Matt Gaetz is being nominated for one reason and one reason only. Because he will implement Donald Trump‘s transition of the Department of Justice from an agency that stands up for all of us to an agency that is simply an arm of the White House designed to persecute and prosecute Trump’s political enemies,” Murphy said. “This is a stunning announcement in some ways, but not surprising in others because Trump told us during the campaign that he was going to use the White House to go after people who politically opposed him, and it seems this pick for the head of the Department of Justice is very much in line with the promises he made during the campaign.”

Trump also announced Wednesday that he would appoint former Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard to be director of National Intelligence. He also said he would appoint Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for secretary of state. He announced on Tuesday that he would appoint Fox News host and veteran Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense.

“Matt Gaetz is being nominated because he will be and is today a political agent of Donald Trump. The ramifications of this pick, this particular pick, are stunning and potentially cataclysmic for American democracy,” Murphy added. “I hope that some Senate Republicans will see that.”

Trump is facing multiple federal prosecutions from special counsel Jack Smith, but the Department of Justice is considering how to wind down its cases against him as he prepares to take office in January, multiple reports indicate. DOJ policy bars the criminal prosecution of sitting presidents.

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Hegseth, a “Fox and Friends” weekend co-host who served in the National Guard for 20 years and made multiple combat deployments, was announced Tuesday night as Trump’s pick to run the Pentagon. Jennings said that the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and the attempt to deploy a mobile pier in Gaza called the insiders’ competence.

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“Does anybody have confidence in the current leadership of the Pentagon and the way the defense situation has been operating for the last several years?” Jennings asked the panel. “I mean, from the Afghanistan pullout, which was an extreme debacle for which no one was held accountable, we’ve had spy balloons flying over the United States, we built the $300 million pier as a public relations stunt which wound up killing an American service member.”

“I would say I’ve had just about enough of the so-called ‘insiders’ running the Defense Department, I think we ought to give Pete Hegseth a chance.” Jennings continued, prompting journalist Carl Bernstein to ask, “You think that’s about insiders?”

Jennings referenced the thirteen service members who were killed in an Aug. 26, 2021 bombing as American forces were evacuating from Kabul, as well as a pier built to deliver relief supplies to Gaza, which cost taxpayers over $230 million and was operational for just a few weeks, during which one soldier died of injuries sustained while operating the pier.

“All the criticism of him is that he is not the expected Washington pick and I am just saying to you that the American people just voted against the expected Washington pick,” Jennings responded. “He has 20 years in service, Afghanistan, Iraq, two Bronze Stars, Princeton, Harvard. Yeah, he is on TV, but so are the rest of us. I think he ought to be given a chance.”

Trump previously announced that former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe would be nominated as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and that Republican Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida, a former Green Beret, would serve as national security advisor.

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The union announced in September it would make no endorsement in the election, even though President-elect Donald Trump received overwhelming support in electronic and phone surveys of the rank-and-file members of the Teamsters. O’Brien said he stood by that decision when asked by “Your World” host Neil Cavuto.

“The polling that we did was extensive. Obviously, it went towards President Trump but we still got a large contingency that are still Democrat, vote Democrat,” O’Brien said. “The decision we made as a general executive board, I’ll stand by it. The good news is that, the Democrats have an opportunity to refocus and try to reclaim why they lost the working class and the Republicans have been saying they want to be the working-class people. So, it’s a great opportunity for both sides, especially Republican, to prove that. We have a lot of issues we need to get resolved in this country, and we have got to do it.”

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Cavuto noted O’Brien didn’t speak at the Democratic convention in August after he addressed the Republican convention in July. O’Brien said he wanted elected officials to “take care of the working people.”

“We want results, not excuses,” O’Brien said. “And look, the great part about this process is we have four more years. If people don’t, on either side, live up to their promises and/or fix their problems, we’ve got four years to build a machine to get the right people in there that will make the right decisions.”

O’Brien also took aim at Democratic leaders, saying they were too focused on “social issues” during an “Economic election.”

“At the end of the day, a lot of these issues are important but what is more important is providing an opportunity for your family, putting food on the table, saving some money and living the American dream. So, they have got a lot of soul-searching to do,” O’Brien said. “I said this earlier today in another interview, the Democrat Party needs to take a look in the mirror and say maybe Chuck Schumer’s time is over, maybe … Pelosi’s time is over. Let’s figure out who is going to be the best for the party.”

“As an organization, we are always looking at how do we leave this organization better than we found it. I think that needs to be the focus,” O’Brien added. “Look, we all have pensions for a reason. That’s to use them to retire and enjoy life. Maybe they should take a page out of Joe Biden’s book and step aside.”

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During Harris’ campaign, the vice president faced backlash over her ties to Hollywood and billionaire donors, with endorsements from celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Beyoncé and Usher. On “The Megyn Kelly Show,” Kelly played a clip of Harris’s interview with Winfrey, who was reportedly paid $1 million from the campaign after the town hall event.

“Totally feckless. But by the way, did JLo get a payment for that? Did Chris Rock get a payment for that? Did anybody get paid for these endorsements that we were led to believe were just completely organic? I mean, do we really care? Because they’re all losers. They lost badly and have been rendered utterly powerless and feckless in the eyes of the electorate. Nobody will be asking for their endorsement again. No one smart. I mean, no one who wants to win,” Kelly said.

Kelly went on to state that Democrats are already starting to identify potential candidates for the 2028 presidential primary race, including names like California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

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“It’s funny because there’s already a Democratic primary underway for 2028, believe it or not, yes, there is. It’s people like Josh Shapiro. Gavin Newsom out in California is already organizing his resistance to Trump’s agenda. Good luck, sir. The California liberal has already been rejected resoundingly by the electorate,” Kelly said.

“Why would the Democrats be so stupid as to elect another next go around? Your little widow’s peak does not distinguish you that much. It may be hard to believe he’s even more radical than Kamala Harris is,” Kelly said. “His crazy ass gender stuff is even more radical than hers was. It’s not going to be Gavin Newsom.”

Following Harris’ loss to Trump last week, Democrats like Shapiro, Newsom and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg have reportedly floated the idea of seeking the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, according to Politico. Just two days after election night, Newsom called a special session of the California legislature to prepare “to support the ability to immediately file affirmative litigation challenging actions taken by the incoming Trump Administration.”

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The second Trump term looks VERY different. From Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk to Matt Gaetz and Tom Homan, the team is quickly turning into a dream.

On today’s episode of The JD Rucker Show, we went over the current picks, including today’s two surprises, Attorney General Matt Gaetz and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

But as bad as he is, Senator John Thune would be worse if he is selected as McConnell’s replacement. The secret ballot to determine who will lead the Senate next year is happening Sunday.

On today’s episode of The JD Rucker Show, I will explore why Thune is so bad, why Senator John Cornyn is almost as bad as Thune, and why Senator Rick Scott needs to be the guy. Scott isn’t perfect. Far from it. His embrace of Red Flag Gun Laws is conspicuous and concerning. But compared to his opponents, he’s exponentially better.

Lichtman accurately forecast nine of the 10 last elections before wrongly predicting Harris would be victorious, according to USA Today. The historian, on his YouTube channel, argued that voters were not “rational” or “pragmatic” due to what he characterized as a massive uptick in “disinformation” and Trump’s promotion of “xenophobia,” “misogyny” and “racism.”

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“I think two things this year, and maybe going forward, broke this premise of a rational, pragmatic electorate, and these are trends that are not new but have exploded this year beyond anything we’ve ever seen before. First is disinformation,” Lichtman said. “Always had disinformation, but we’ve never had anything remotely on this scale, where billionaires — I don’t know how much Elon Musk is worth, I’m sure more than a hundred billion dollars — who control critical sources of information for the electorate. I mean, Elon Musk owns X, and I’ve seen reports that his disinformation that he’s put out, has been viewed by two billion viewers, vastly more influential than New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, CBS.”

The historian also alleged that Musk is not the only billionaire disseminating “disinformation.” He asserted that “the incredible explosion of disinformation” has led to Americans believing falsehoods about the state of the American economy, “mak[ing] it very difficult for a rational, pragmatic electorate to operate.”

“Then add to that that we’ve seen Trump and his allies exploit, far more than ever before — even 2016 and 2020 — trends that run deep into American history and still resonate at this time: xenophobia, fear of foreign influences … We have never seen, in recent history, xenophobia to this level, and it digs deep into a trend in American history. It’s not something brand new, and it’s not just white people, you know?” Lichtman said. “People of all races and ethnicities can be subject to xenophobia.”

“And finally, there’s racism, one of the deepest, most pervasive trends in American history,” he added. “And we have seen, just as Trump and his allies have brought misogyny and xenophobia to a new level, he’s also brought blatant racism to a new level … So we see then the explosion of disinformation and these three dark trends from American history, and that calls into question the whole premise behind the keys of rationality and pragmatism.”

Lichtman earlier in his video also said the Democratic Party publicly attacking President Joe Biden when he was still running for reelection could have contributed to his wrong prediction.

Radio host Charlamagne Tha God and CNN’s Van Jones both recently argued against exclusively blaming the election results on “racism” and “sexism.”

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The Harris campaign had explored the possibility of appearing on Rogan’s podcast in an attempt to increase her support among male voters, Reuters reported on Oct. 15. Rogan, on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” said he accepted the “restrictions,” but made it clear that there would be no editing of the interview.

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“There was a few restrictions of things they didn’t want to talk about, but I said, ‘I don’t give a fuck.’ I go, ‘Get her in here, like whatever you want to talk about.’ And they want to know if I edit,” Rogan said. “I’m like, ‘There’s not going to be any editing, there’s no editing. We’re not going to edit.’”

“Yeah, that’s the same thing they asked us. ‘Is there an edit?’” fellow podcast host Theo Von responded.

Rogan posted on X on Oct. 29 that the Harris campaign had wanted him to “travel to her” to record an interview, but that he deeply believed it would be better for the vice president to appear in his Austin, Texas studio. He also said on an Oct. 30 episode of his podcast that he extended an “open invitation” to the Harris campaign while she was in Texas for an Oct. 25 rally, but that she did not take him up on it.

“She had an opportunity to come … You could look at this and you could say, ‘Oh, you’re being a diva,’ but she had an opportunity to come here when she was in Texas. And I literally gave them an open invitation,” he asserted at the time. “I said, ‘Anytime.’ I said, ‘If she’s done at 10:00, we’ll come back here at 10:00.’ I go, ‘I’ll do it at 9:00 in the morning, I’ll do it at 10:00 p.m., I’ll do it at midnight if she’s up, she wants to, you know, drink a Red Bull and fuckin’ party on.’”

President-elect Donald Trump appeared on Rogan’s podcast on Oct. 25, recording a three-hour episode that has amassed over 47 million views on YouTube as of Friday.

“I just wanted to talk … I feel like you give someone a couple of hours and you start talking about anything, I’m [going to] see the pattern of the way you think,” Rogan said Friday. “I’m gonna see the way you process ideas. I’m gonna see whether or not you’re calculated or whether you’re just free. Or are you comfortable with you or are you projecting things?”

The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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Some Democrats have asked Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to step down before Trump enters office so that she can be replaced by the Biden-Harris administration, citing her age (70) and her diabetes, Politico reported. Sellars said that Democrats fear a repeat of when Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in office during the Trump administration and was replaced by Amy Coney Barrett.

“Justice Sotomayor has been more than able justice. I know she may be having some personal issues that she contends with while serving on the bench. But, you know, I don’t want Justice Sotomayor to be another Ruth Bader Ginsburg in terms of staying too long,” Sellars told “CNN News Central” co-host John Berman.

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“What does this mean for the dynamic of the court? The court is 6-3 now. If we are able to replace it with a Biden justice, it will still be 6-3,” Sellars continued. “The possibility of Justice Sotomayor having to resign or retire in the next four years is extremely high. You couple that with Alito and Clarence Thomas, then that means you go from a 6-3 court to 7-2 court in terms of conservative versus liberal.”

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley cited the possibility of Associate Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas retiring to allow Trump to nominate justices with similar views Wednesday.

“I hope Joe Biden makes the next 10 weeks as consequential as he can,” Sellars said. “I don’t care about drawing outside the lines of what Republicans may think about it, this is within your purview you can do it, and you should do it. One more thing, John, you have a hell of a vice president who has a legal pedigree to sit on the Supreme Court and let Republicans go crazy.”

“Are you floating … 7:39 AM on the East Coast, did Bakari Sellars just float Vice President Kamala Harris as a potential Supreme Court nominee?” Berman asked, prompting Sellars to respond, “Not only am I floating it, I want to stir up everything.”

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