RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://amgreatness.com/2025/01/19/trumps-second-term-nominees-competence-under-fire-amid-partisan-hearings/

Here we are, more or less midway through the confirmation hearings for Donald Trump’s key nominations.  Among those we’ve heard from are Pete Hegseth (nominated to be Secretary of Defense), Pamela Bondi (Attorney General), Marco Rubio (State), Scott Bessent (Treasury), Doug Burgum (Interior), Lee Zeldin (EPA), John Ratcliffe (CIA), and Kristi Noem (Homeland Security). Among the most notable still to come are Kash Patel (FBI), RFK Jr. (Health Human Services), and Tulsi Gabbard (National Intelligence).

I have listened to longish bits of several of the hearings. I think there are two main takeaways from the festivities.

One is the coordinated, ideologically fired attack-dog tactics of the Democrats.

The other is the strength, seriousness, and general competence of Trump’s nominees. The contrast with the dramatis personae for Trump’s first go-around is striking. Even more striking is the contrast with Joe Biden’s consiglieri. Could there be more disparate personalities than Pete Hegseth and Lloyd Austin, Marco Rubio and Antony Blinken, Pamela Bondi and Merrick Garland, and Scott Bessent and Janet Yellen?

As to the first, the behavior of the Democrats makes the term “hearing” totally inappropriate.  These struggle sessions are not hearings but yappings. One and all, the Democrat senators seem to be pursuing two ends. One is to take as much airtime as possible to preen and publicize their own views. The focus is not on eliciting the opinions or gauging the experience or competence of the candidates. Rather, it is to grandstand.

The second end is to cater to the far-left Democrat playbook.  Do you think that the 2020 election was fairly won by Joe Biden?  Are you a mindless Trump loyalist?  Do you have an enemies list?  Will you pursue the enlightened “green energy” policies favored by the Biden administration?

Many of the exchanges—no, “exchanges” is not right, because that suggests a respectful give-and-take.  Make that, “harangues”: many of the harangues demonstrated the Democrats’ mastery of the art of projection: accusing your opponents of the bad behavior that you yourself are guilty of. (One witty commentator offered this pithy formulation: “Shorter: I accuse them of doing what we did and they must be stopped.”)

https://www.frontpagemag.com/inauguration-worries-and-unexpected-events/

One week before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, in his final press briefing, outgoing National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan made a cryptic comment.

“I hope this is my last time at this podium, at least for a while,” Sullivan said. “The only thing that would bring me back is an unexpected event in the next few days, which, as you all know, is totally possible, given everything you’ve seen over the past years.”

Did Sullivan speak generally or did he have specific situations in mind?

Consider an internal memo sent by Derrick Jaastad, the executive director of the Veterans’ Health Association’s Office of Emergency Management. Dated Dec. 10, the memo requested two paramedics, two registered nurses, and either two physicians, nurse practitioners or physicians’ assistants for the period between January 17 and 21. The volunteers needed up-to-date certifications, experience in surgery or emergencies, and clearance from the Secret Service.

Such a request is unprecedented.

Jaastad’s request and Sullivan’s comments reflect the distinct possibility of violent mayhem preceding the inauguration, if not during the ceremony itself. That mayhem could include another attempt to assassinate Trump.

As in recent inaugurations, Washington, D.C. is on lockdown. Almost 25,000 law enforcement officers — including 8,000 troops from the National Guard — will be responsible for security. Contractors installed nearly 30 miles of security fencing in the city.

“A large chunk of downtown Washington — stretching about two miles from the White House to the Capitol — will be closed to vehicular traffic, with entry points blocked with concrete barriers, garbage trucks and other heavy items,” Reuters reported.

The Department of Energy even is flying special helicopters over the city to measure radiation levels in case terrorists plan to plant a small nuclear weapon. The department’s Nuclear Energy Support Team conducted similar flights between Dec. 2 and Dec. 13.

https://issuesinsights.com/2025/01/20/its-morning-in-america-again/

When Donald Trump takes the oath of office today, he will do something no president has managed in modern times. He’s getting a second chance to make a first impression.

Normally, when a president enters his second term, the country is already tired of him. He’s a lame duck. He struggles with whether to keep certain people on or find fresh blood, which usually results in the B-team taking over. Everyone immediately starts talking about the next presidential race. Scandals tend to surface.

Today, Trump is like a breath of fresh air after a long, dark, and dreary winter. The team he’s assembled is completely new, bursting with top talent eager to kick reforms into high gear. Where incumbents usually take their second terms leisurely, riding on their successes, Trump’s second-term agenda is more aggressive and wide-ranging than his first.

If Trump had won reelection in 2020, the press and his political opposition (we know, we repeat ourselves), would have simply continued to act out the same script – Trump is a dangerous, corrupt, fascist monster who must be stopped. The effort to kick him out of office would have been relentless. Never Trumpers would still be a force in the Republican Party.

Instead, Trump is like the new kid on the block. The terrible Biden years – with the endless string of failures, embarrassments, incompetence, and lies – are finally over. There’s hope in the air again. Hope that food prices will come down. That the government will stop wasting trillions of dollars. That the economy will kick into high gear and optimism will return. Hope that the cancel culture will be canceled and that the people around the president will at least be competent. Trump himself has more energy and enthusiasm – and far more experience – than he had eight years ago.

https://www.city-journal.org/article/will-the-left-disrupt-the-inauguration

Left-wing radicals have been mobilizing near the nation’s capital ahead of the January 20 inauguration, which has been moved indoors. Since summer, we have tracked D.C.’s radical networks—their movements, methods, and potential for violence. After George Floyd’s death in 2020, these groups learned that street protests could yield political gains. Now, with Donald Trump returning to the White House, they’re weighing their options.

This network is decentralized, adaptable, and steeped in organizing social unrest. Black Lives Matter messaging is fading, replaced by anti-Israel rhetoric. As Inauguration Day approaches, Communist militants and members of Antifa-aligned hubs have suggested storming the Capitol, bringing “direct action” to the streets, and obstructing law enforcement. If these demonstrations unfold, they will have been carefully planned and ideologically incited by professionals, some visible, others hidden.

The network spans college professors, nonprofit leaders, and masked and often troubled militants willing to engage in violence. Those less directly involved play a sophisticated inside-outside game, relying on prestigious NGOs to provide financing and logistics while maintaining arm’s length control over the more radical elements, which do the dirty work.

Key components of this infrastructure include legal organizations, violent demonstrators, street medics, propaganda specialists, and safehouses, indoctrination centers, and publications. Though some Antifa-aligned groups from prior riots have gone underground or merged, a core network of the most committed activists—veterans and new recruits alike—remains active and prepared.

This is their unmasking.

The militant Left organizes in the light and in the shadows. In the light, the Left has built a significant above-ground infrastructure that preaches abstract ideals—liberation, justice, equality—but operates with a sharper edge behind the scenes.

This upper level includes organizations such as the Open Society Foundations, the Drug Policy Alliance, and the National Lawyers Guild. These groups support a well-funded network that includes dozens of interlocking organizations, providing a level of legitimate infrastructure and cover for smaller nonprofits and other groups, which sometimes fraternize with street-level activists. (We reached out for comment to most of the groups named in this piece; unless otherwise indicated, they did not respond.)