If you thought there was going to be any backlash from the right for Donald Trump surrounding himself with a bunch of "Washington insiders" after his promise to "drain the swamp," think again.
On this Sunday's Fox & Friends, hosts Pete Hegseth, Abby Huntsman and Clayton Morris discuss who Trump may pick for his chief of staff, and the names being bantered around are Alabama Sen. Jefferson Beauregard "Jeff" Sessions III, former NYC Mayor, Mr. Noun-a-Verb-and-9-11 Rudy Giuliani, RNC Chair and obvious anagram (h/t Charlie Pierce), Reince Priebus, his former campaign manager and now former lying CNN hire, Corey Lewandowski, and his campaign "CEO" and former Breitbart executive, white supremacist Steve Bannon.
I'd say Charlie Pierce summed up things perfectly when he said that it appears Trump's strategy for draining the swamp is to "put all of the snakes in charge."
Here's more from The New York Times on Trump's transition team. It's quite a list to put it mildly:
Vice President-elect Mike Pence will take over as the leader of Donald J. Trump’s transition effort, pushing aside Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, as Mr. Trump moves quickly to assemble a government after his stunning upset victory, the transition team said on Friday. [...]
Three of Mr. Trump’s adult children and his son-in-law, who were among his closest campaign advisers, will join a 16-member advisory committee to help guide his choices. Rick Dearborn, the chief of staff to Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama and a fierce advocate for Mr. Trump, will move from the campaign’s Washington office to help direct the transition operations.
Mr. Christie will become a vice chairman of the transition effort, the campaign said.
The new inner circle at the transition offices will direct the activities of dozens of corporate consultants, lobbyists and other specialists who will be responsible for recommending candidates for agency jobs across the breadth of the federal government. Some of those advisers come from industries for which they are now in charge of finding top regulators.
“The mission of our team will be clear: put together the most highly qualified group of successful leaders who will be able to implement our change agenda in Washington,” the transition team announced Friday afternoon. [...]
Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, and Michael T. Flynn, a retired lieutenant general who has been a top campaign supporter, will also serve as vice chairmen of the transition, the transition team said Friday afternoon.
The 16-member advisory committee is made up of four women and 12 men. It will include several members of Congress; Rebekah Mercer, a top Republican donor; Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee; Peter Thiel, a founder of PayPal; Attorney General Pam Bondi of Florida; Steven Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs executive; and Anthony Scaramucci, a hedge-fund manager and Trump supporter. Mr. Bannon will also serve on the committee. A political committee supporting Ms. Bondi received a $25,000 donation from the Trump Foundation, raising questions because it was around the time her office was reviewing allegations against Mr. Trump’s for-profit education programs.
