Trump’s popular transition

President-elect Donald Trump is assembling his presidential cabinet in record time, leaving those outside of his orbit scrambling to keep up with the abundance of names flooding their inboxes. In just the past few days, Trump announced Russ Vought will return to the helm of the Office of Management and Budget, president of the America First Policy Institute Brooke Rollins will serve as secretary of the Department of Agriculture, billionaire hedge-fund manager Scott Bessent will lead the Department of the Treasury — plus a smattering of other department heads and health-related appointees.

Even if the rapid pace — particularly when compared to the 2016 transition — might be giving some whiplash, the American people are so far on board with the president-elect’s picks. According to a CBS/YouGov survey conducted between November 19-22, 59 percent of Americans approve with how Trump is handling the transition of power. Marco Rubio for secretary of state and RFK Jr. to head the Department Health and Human Services appear to be the most popular cabinet picks both among all voters, and specifically Republicans. Eighty percent of Trump voters say they approve of RFK as HHS secretary. A slim majority of Americans at 51 percent say that it is important for Trump to appoint people to his cabinet who are loyal to him; Americans place greater emphasis on nominees having experience in the agency they’d run, experience in Washington and the ability to speak their minds.

As the Trump transition rolls along, we reported in the DC Diary last week that the Heritage Foundation is trying to repair its sour relationship with Team Trump due to Project 2025 by offering up résumés of the approximately 4,000 people it vetted to serve in the administration. 

Coincidentally, Heritage president Kevin D. Roberts is out with an op-ed in the Washington Post praising Trump’s cabinet picks. 

“The American people elected Trump again so that he could break what needs to be broken. So that he could get to the root of the problem and take on Washington’s bureaucracy directly. So that he could do what Reagan couldn’t,” Roberts wrote. “Trump’s cabinet picks reflect this fact. Conservatives should rally around them.”

The Washington Post article notably does not mention Project 2025.  

Roberts’s vocal support matches the $1 million ad campaign Heritage launched to advocate for the “prompt confirmation” of Trump’s cabinet, which targets the home states of senators who could “make of break” a confirmation vote.

-Amber Duke

On our radar 

CASE DISMISSED Special counsel Jack Smith filed a motion to dismiss his January 6 case against President-elect Donald Trump, but left the door open to revive the prosecution after Trump’s second term in office. Smith is also expected to wrap up the classified documents case against Trump, too. 

DNC-YA LATER The Democratic National Committee will hold elections for its new chairperson on February 1 during its winter meeting at the National Harbor in Maryland. The top two candidates to replace Jaime Harrison are Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor chair Ken Martin and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley. 

A TALE OF TWO ELECTIONS Eighty-six percent of Republicans say they are “optimistic” about the results of the November election, according to a new Gallup poll, while 76 percent of Democrats say they feel “afraid.” Democrats also described feeling “angry” and “devastated,” as a majority of Republicans say they are “relieved.” 

Biden bids farewell

When it came to his farewell party, President Joe Biden did it his way. 

Surrounded by Democratic loyalists — minus Vice President Kamala Harris and husband Doug Emhoff, who jetted off to Hawaii following her stinging loss — Biden hammed it up on the South Lawn as he symbolically waved goodbye to the presidency. The president made awkward jokes and used one of his favorite phrases,  “That’s not hyperbole,” after First Lady Jill Biden used plenty of hyperbole in singing her husband’s praises. 

“What I’ve watched you do for more than forty years is extraordinary… Joe what you’ve done the last four years is breathtaking,” Jill said, before toasting the emotional president: “My husband and hero, Joe Biden.”

When it was Joe’s turn, he instructed his guests, “Don’t jump in the pool!” and thanked his supporters.

He said:

We began this journey to redeem the soul of the nation and define the light in the darkness. And I never could have gotten to where the White House has become without you and we never could have gotten as much done as we did without you. And that’s not hyperbole. I mean it from the bottom of my heart.

Biden went on to claim, “we can be proud we’re leaving America in a better place today than when we came into office four years ago” while touting his accomplishments during the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and the “violent insurrection on January 6.”

President Biden declared “Jill Biden’s husband” is “the title I’m most proud of” before taking to the dancefloor with his wife, and dancing off, we can only assume, into the sunset…

–Teresa Mull

Harris is coming home!

Forget more cowbell — apparently America needs more Kamala.

Vice President Kamala Harris is currently vacationing in Hawaii, depriving Senate Democrats of a potential tie-breaking vote every day she is there. She is reportedly spending her island time debating her political future following a historic defeat to former and future president Donald Trump.

“Harris has instructed aides and those in her inner circle not to close any doors as she explores possible paths forward,” Politico reported.

If Harris were to run for governor of California, she would immediately disrupt a crowded field that could or already does include members of Congress and assorted statewide elected officials. More intriguingly, she currently commands a solid lead in the hypothetical 2028 presidential primary for Democrats.

If Harris does run for president in 2028, the Democrats are unlikely to clear the deck for her in the primary as they did in 2024 when she replaced President Joe Biden as the party’s nominee.

Harris was such an albatross for Democrats in 2024 that Republicans are already eager to see her on the national stage again. “Endorse,” Dan Conston, the head of the Congressional Leadership Fund super PAC, sardonically wrote about Harris running for office again. 

–Matthew Foldi