OPINION:
President-elect Donald Trump and his team are putting on a master class during the transition. The rollout of the Cabinet was well done. His team is filling political appointee positions. The soon-to-be 47th president of the United States is dominating traditional and social media each week. It is, overall, really well done.
The president-elect’s Cabinet picks are outstanding. Sen. Marco Rubio is strong and diplomatic, which will help him articulate a solid position for the administration. Several of my friends are preparing to join his team: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former Rep. Sean Duffy, former Rep. Lee Zeldin, former Rep. Doug Cox, businessperson Linda McMahon and conservative champion Brooke Rollins. These are amazing selections to help him and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance lead our nation.
Many might think the initial hiccup in selecting an attorney general was done to draw fire away from the rest of the selections. But it also helped clear the way for the fabulous pick of former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. She will sail to confirmation in the Senate.
The president-elect also doubled down on the nomination of military veteran and Fox News personality Pete Hegseth. That, too, is good as the Department of Defense needs a champion for our fighting men and women who will clear out those more committed to a “woke” agenda than winning wars. Plus, he is not afraid to take on the revolving door between the Pentagon and defense contractors.
Mr. Trump’s selection of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the advisory Department of Government Efficiency is brilliant. I remember meeting Mr. Musk a decade ago in his cubicle at SpaceX. At the time, he was trying to get pieces of his rockets to land on floating barges in the ocean. Now, the rockets come back to the launchpad. If he can do a fraction of what he has done at SpaceX and Tesla to streamline government, we will all be major beneficiaries of his brilliance.
In addition to great moves for his White House team and Cabinet, the Trump transition team has moved quickly to fill the thousands of political positions in the federal government. This is critical as many of those jobs were not filled for more than a year after he took office in his first term. Holdovers from the Obama administration undermined the work of Cabinet secretaries and others in the first Trump administration. This transition is light-years better than the one eight years ago. They will be ready to take action and win.
All of this takes place while Mr. Trump continues to dominate the headlines. I’ve heard commentators and politicians ask why the incoming president is talking about taking over Greenland, reclaiming the Panama Canal or making Canada our 51st state. While these could certainly happen in the next term, I believe the larger reason for these comments is to control the narrative.
Instead of allowing liberal politicians and special interest groups to dominate the airwaves with bogus attacks on Cabinet nominees and incoming senior staff, Mr. Trump dominates the discussion on his terms. Oddly enough, his remarks about Canada might have been the last straw for embattled and soon-to-be former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
All of this attention away from attacks on his team is good as long as the new president can shift the attention toward his agenda once he takes office. The new Senate majority and the slim but united majority in the House seem committed to helping him get things done quickly.
Building the wall along the border, deporting dangerous illegal aliens, making the 2017 tax cuts permanent to further improve the economy, eliminating taxes on tips, overtime pay and Social Security, reducing government red tape, improving work policies in the federal government, ending the attacks on women’s sports, requiring free speech in higher education, freeing the American and Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip and rebuilding our military to keep us out of wars are just a few of the priorities that require quick action at the start of Mr. Trump’s new term.
Thankfully, he has many great allies in Congress. Success on those issues will require shifting from the current discussion about a new Trump Doctrine to decisive action on his agenda. Mr. Trump should use his unprecedented skill at controlling the discussion to focus on the merits of his proposals. When he does, it will bring about one of the most positive periods in American history.
President Ronald Reagan’s success in the 1980s brought peace and prosperity then and far into the future. It also shaped a generation who saw the merits of his ideas. Those of us who grew up in Generation X gave Donald Trump the largest margin of victory in November. Achieving success again will bring about peace and prosperity for years to come — and will shape a new generation of conservatives.
• Scott Walker is president of Young America’s Foundation and served as the 45th governor of Wisconsin.
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