#DogShirt Group Therapy

A new era in morning television has begun.

Good Afternoon:

Today’s Vyshyvanka

I have been extremely gratified by the response to Monday’s dog shirt. Thank you to everyone who has supported Lawfare in response to my request. I elaborate on my comments in today’s “The Situation” column, which explains:

Lawfare’s role in this era is thus to explore what it means for U.S. national security and law when the executive branch is led by someone who is not merely an iconoclast and a convicted felon, but who has engaged in and supported activities inimical to both the internal security interests of the country and its foreign relations interests in the past. Regardless of how President-elect Trump’s second term unfolds, we remain steadfast in Lawfare’s commitment to independent, nonpartisan analysis, research, and reporting on all issues related to national security, law, and policy. 

Thanks as well to those who signed up to be paid subscribers to #DogShirtDaily over the past 24 hours.

This morning was the first show in the new daily #DogShirtTV format:

Podcast version:

We will be back at 8:00 am tomorrow morning. Join us!

Information on how to access the studio live is available below the paywall.

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Until yesterday, my reaction to the Trump cabinet nominations so far had that they could have been worse. Marco Rubio as Secretary of State? Meh. Michael Waltz as national security adviser? Whatevs. Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary? Well, I’ll be careful where I walk my dogs. I even kept my cool when Trump announced John Ratcliffe to run the CIA.

Then the cascade of snowballing disaster appointments started. First the Pete Hegseth to run the Defense Department. I have not done a deep dive on his background, but his principle qualifications seem to be that he served in Iraq and Afghanistan, he has been a staunchly pro-Trump commentator on Fox News, and he defends American soldiers accused of war crimes. I struggle to think of a less qualified nominee for the position.

Then came the announcement today that Tulsi Gabbard will be director of national intelligence. This one is several levels worse. Gabbard is not merely unqualified. She is a pretty consistent advocate for America’s foes, particularly Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad and Russian strongman Vladimir Putin. It is actually hard to imagine the position it will put American intelligence officers who have to share highly classified material with her on the world’s most sensitive matters.

And then there’s Matt Gaetz as attorney general. I’m honestly not sure what to say about this. The New York Times calls it “a provocative move”—which is a little bit like calling World War II a tough fight. Gaetz is a raging partisan. Other than brief experience in private practice after law school, he has little experience actually practicing law. He is completely unqualified to run the Department of Justice by any traditional measure except that he has experience being investigated by it—for sex trafficking. It’s hard to think of a less appropriate nominee.

I will have more to say about these appointments in my Lawfare column tomorrow—and on #DogShirtTV tomorrow morning.

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Today’s #BeastOfTheDay is this eagle, which is coming for your GoPro too:

paragear

A post shared by @paragear