GOP Not Really Playing 'Hard To Get' With Trump's Cabinet Announcements

It's your Sunday show rundown!

The American people every time they see/hear something about these Trump nominations.

Normally, the people Donald Trump is nominating for his Cabinet would not pass Senate confirmation.

On the Sunday shows, Republicans showed what spineless and feckless cowards controlling every branch of the government looked like.

Magic Mike 4: Covenant

We’ll begin with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. Fresh from being part of Trump’s UFC entourage …

This is the poster children of latent daddy issues. This picture proves that some “men” would rather destroy democracy & the planet than ever get therapy.

… Johnson appeared on CNN’s “State Of The Union” and “Fox News Sunday.”

On CNN, host Jake Tapper asked Johnson about Trump’s proposed plans to deport 20 million undocumented immigrants. Tapper brought up the effects it could have on the economy and images of families ripped apart. Johnson tried to assure viewers Trump would be humane about it.

JOHNSON: I'm not sure that's what's going to happen, Jake. I think what the president's talking about is beginning with the dangerous persons that we know are here. There are criminals, known criminals. […] So, you start with that number, […] Begin there and then see how it transpires. This will take a lot of thoughtful work and deliberation. And I think the president is of exactly the right mind.

It didn’t take long for Trump to prove Johnson (and others) are being full of shit about this.

Tapper asked Johnson about one of the worst of Trump’s cabinet nominees, former Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general, and played footage of several Republicans voicing their critical concerns with him. Tapper even tried to appeal to Johnson’s very publicly stated faith, but it was to no avail as Johnson showed evangelical morality is very flexible compared to power and control over others.

TAPPER: So, just to take a step back, because you and I have known each other for a long time, you're a man of faith, you're a man of God, you're a man of family. With some of these nominees, Gaetz, Hegseth, RFK Jr., I wonder, does it matter anymore for Republicans to think of leaders as people who are moral in their personal lives? Is that still important to the Republican Party?

JOHNSON: Sure. It's an important issue for anyone in leadership. This is what I will say about the nominees that the president has put forward, is that they are persons who will shake up the status quo. […] So you used the term in the opening about how these are disrupters. […] They will go into the agencies that they're being asked to lead and they will reform them.

“Reform” is an interesting way to say destroy. It’s about as revealing as anyone who uses the term “disruptors” as a positive compliment, which often masquerades idiocy as profound wisdom.

Markwayne Has No ‘Dealbreakers’

When Tapper was questioning Johnson about Gaetz, he played footage of Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma describing Gaetz’s announced habit of “crushing ED [erectile dysfuction] pills and drinking them with energy pills.”

On NBC’s “Meet The Press,” host Kristin Welker played this and a clip of Mullin telling a story about Matt Gaetz talking about Kristi Noem.

MULLIN: And he walked up to Ms. Kristi Noem, now Governor Kristi Noem, and he said, "Man, she's a fine…" And you can put the B-word in place there. And this is the type of individual Matt Gaetz is.

That’s what he had said then.

Mullin, despite all that he’s seen of Gaetz personally, played coy about whether he’d confirm Gaetz as AG.

WELKER: Well, and again, Senator, let me just ask you the bottom line here. Have you decided at this point whether you're going to vote for Matt Gaetz?

MULLIN: Oh, absolutely not. I haven't made a decision for - who I'm going to vote for with any one of the nominations.

Welker, sensing the hypocrisy, then asked about other potential cabinet nominees.

On Pete Hegseth for Defense secretary:

WELKER: And just to follow up with you, because you had said you absolutely planned to vote for him, do you still absolutely plan to vote for him?

MULLIN: Well, I do. As of right now, I'll start with yes. But can I be moved off of that? I'm sure. Everybody starts at some point.

So much for having not decided on any one of the nominees.

On RFK Jr.:

WELKER: Let's talk about President-elect Trump's pick for HHS Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. […] You have been on the record defending the efficacy of vaccines. Are RFK's views on vaccines a deal breaker for you, senator?

MULLIN: No, I absolutely appreciate Bobby Kennedy taking a hard look at the vaccines. […]

WELKER: […] But Senator, let me just go back to this, because you've been on the record saying that you do believe vaccines are safe and effective. You're not concerned about RFK Jr. overseeing the largest health agency in the land?

MULLIN: I have said that there are some positives to vaccinations. I've also questioned vaccines multiple times.

Mullin then tried to falsely link vaccines to autism, proving having a brain-wormed anti-vaxxer at HHS is not a dealbreaker either. So expect no pushback from the Senate on these appointments, which makes Mitch McConnell’s grand proclamation on recess appointments moot.

Donald Trump, like the raptors in “Jurassic Park,” is testing the perimeter looking for the weaknesses to exploit to cause mayhem and carnage. The problem is the weakness is the Republican Party as a whole and they control every branch of the government.

They don’t even have to be “clever girls.”

Have a week.

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