Nominees display moderation
As Congress begins the confirmation hearings for president- elect Donald Trump’s nominees, a paradox emerges.
Trump refuses to bow to official Washington, but his future cabinet echoes official Washington’s policy mantras.
Trump tweets that the intelligence community is akin to the Gestapo. He tells a CNN reporter that his network is “fake news,” for reporting that. He claims that no one except the press cares about his tax returns.
He proposes a commission on childhood vaccinations after meeting with someone who believes the unproven theory that they cause autism.
So f ar, his nominees haven’t bought in.
Michael Flynn: Trump’s incoming national security adviser spoke at the U. S. Institute of Peace on Tuesday about the importance of alliances. He asked the audience of establishment foreign policy experts to clap for his predecessor, Susan Rice, and he singled out Bill Clinton’s secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, for praise.
John Kelly: The retired Marine general who is Trump’s choice to be secretary of homeland security told senators he agreed with the conclusions of the FBI, the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence that Russia tried to influence November’s election by hacking the emails of leading Democrats. Trump had not conceded this until Wednesday.
Kelly also said he disagreed with the idea of registering anyone based on their religion or ethnicity.
Rex Tillerson: The former Exxon Mobil CEO expressed a preference for middle- ofthe- road policies. For example, he said that if other NATO members did not pay their dues, he wouldn’t recommend threatening to withdraw U. S. commitments for mutual self-defence. Over the summer, Trump suggested such an approach.
On his overall approach to Russia, Tillerson was very much in line with establishment thinking. He said he would not favour acknowledging any Russian claim to Crimea, which Putin’s government annexed in 2014, unless it was acceptable to Ukraine. He also said he would recommend keeping existing sanctions on Russia in place until the new administration formulated its policy and met with counterparts in Moscow. Sen. Jeff Sessions: Trump’s pick for attorney general has generated the most controversy.
On Wednesday, Democrat Cory Booker became the first sitting senator to testify against a fellow senator at a confirmation hearing, claiming Sessions was hostile to civil rights. But even Sessions is striking moderate notes. He said on Tuesday that he would not authorize waterboarding or other kinds of torture of detainees because such techniques were illegal. Trump said during the campaign that he would bring back waterboarding and worse, but he softened that stance after the election following his conversations with James Mattis, the retired Marine general nominated for secretary of defence.