Trump shakes things up; his nominees calm them down
Donald Trump tweets that the intelligence community — accused of leaking that senior U.S. officials were briefed on allegations about his sexual conduct in Russia — 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. The next president rocks the boat.
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BuzzFeed crossed the line with Trump ‘dossier’
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So far, his nominees don’t. Take retired general Michael Flynn, Trump’s incoming national security adviser. He has earned a reputation as a maverick inside the intelligence community, and its mandarins whisper to the press that he has a wicked temper. At the U.S. Institute of Peace on Tuesday, Flynn defied that perception. He spoke about the importance of alliances and the incoming administration’s deep faith in American exceptionalism. 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.
It was hard to believe this was the same guy who joined in with the crowd at the Republican convention this summer in chants of “lock her up.”
John Kelly, the retired Marine general who is Trump’s choice to be the next secretary of homeland security, sounded like someone Barack Obama would have nominated. He 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 e-mails of leading Democrats. Trump had not conceded this until Wednesday at his news conference. He also said he disagreed with the idea of registering anyone based on their religion or ethnicity.
Even former Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson, who hit some road blocks Wednesday in his confirmation hearings because he repeatedly failed to acknowledge his company’s lobbying against sanctions, expressed a preference for middle-of-the-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-defense, as Trump had suggested.
On Russia, Tillerson at times lost his footing. That’s important because Exxon forged energy exploration deals with Russia during Tillerson’s tenure. In a bruising exchange with Sen. Marco Rubio, Tillerson declined to call Vladimir Putin a war criminal. It should be said that the Obama administration does not refer to Putin this way either — though Secretary of State John Kerry called for a war crimes investigation into Russia and Syria after a humanitarian convoy to Aleppo was bombed this fall.
Tillerson’s overall approach to Russia, however, was very much in line with establishment thinking. He said he would not favor acknowledging any Russian claim to Crimea, the territory Putin’s government annexed in 2014, unless it was part of a deal that was acceptable to Ukraine’s government. 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 so far the most controversy among the next president’s nominees. 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 if he were confirmed to lead the Justice Department, he would not authorize waterboarding or other kinds of torture because such techniques were illegal. Trump famously 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 defense.
In some ways this is to be expected. During the campaign, Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Donald Trump Jr. called one of his aides to offer the vice presidential slot on the ticket. Kasich said he was promised he would be in charge of both domestic and foreign policy. When asked what the president would do, the son answered he would be making America great again. So who will be running the country in Kasich’s absence?
Trump chose as his running mate the conservative governor of Indiana, Mike Pence, a man who is less controversial than the Golf Channel. Pence is chairman of the transition committee, which presents Trump with candidates for appointments to lead his government. So far the Cabinet, unlike the next president, reflects a steady conventionality.
Contact Mr. Lake at elake1@bloomberg.net.
This story was originally published January 12, 2017 at 5:33 PM with the headline "Trump shakes things up; his nominees calm them down."