Our incoming national security adviser thinks we should respond to the attack that killed 14 in New Orleans, and the seemingly unrelated Cybertruck explosion that injured seven in Las Vegas, by fast-tracking all of Trump’s Cabinet picks. “This is why getting President Trump’s Cabinet in is so important,” Republican Representative Mike Waltz said on Fox & Friends Thursday morning. “We need Governor [Kristi] Noem at DHS, we need Kash Patel at FBI, we need Pete Hegseth at DOD; this is an across the government look,” he told the network. “Marco Rubio at State and of course Ratcliffe at CIA and Gabbard at DNI. That has to be in place day one guys, because this is a moment in transition of vulnerability and President Trump is going to project, because he is a leader of strength. The narrative that we project on day one will be just important, and that’s having our people in place.”
Waltz is suggesting that all of Trump’s nominees should be able to bypass the normal (and frankly needed, given Hegseth’s and Patel’s questionable histories) vetting process because they would be that much better equipped to handle the current situation.
Senator-elect Bernie Moreno had similar sentiments on New Year’s Day. “After what appears to potentially be an ISIS inspired terrorist attack last night in New Orleans, it’s even more vital that we quickly confirm all of President Trump’s nominees,” he wrote on X. “Every single national security nominee should be confirmed & ready to protect America by January 20th.”
Most of Trump’s nominees, especially Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel, are expected to have testy confirmation hearings. The GOP using such devastating attacks for their own political benefit could potentially backfire, particularly as more information emerges; Matthew Livelsberger—the man identified as having shot himself in a Tesla Cybertruck before it exploded in front of the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas—was a Trump voter, The Daily Beast reported Thursday afternoon.
