Promises made, promises kept – that's the subject of "The Riff."
"Promises made, promises kept" was one of the key themes of President Trump's victory speech, and when you look at his Cabinet appointments thus far, it's very clear he is making good on one major promise -- to shake up the Washington, D.C. establishment.
This seems especially the case with his nominations of Pete Hegseth for Defense and Matt Gaetz for Justice. Everybody is saying how controversial these names are, but they're only controversial if you are part of a club named the "D.C. Swamp." But those two names fit with Mr. Trump's campaign -- for example, to take the woke out of the Pentagon, and the lawfare weaponization out of the Justice Department.
Plus, John Ratcliffe will surely put an end to the corruption at the CIA. Those were promises made, and these appointees will keep them. The same goes for appointing tough guy Tom Homan to be border czar, because closing the border and deporting criminals and terrorists was an absolutely key ingredient in the Trump campaign.
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Ditto for Kristi Noem, who is another outsider taking over DHS. The fact is, as Newt Gingrich has written, so far most of Mr. Trump's picks are newcomers and that includes Susie Wiles, who engineered the greatest comeback in political history.
Newcomers are good and yes, they are loyalists, as they must be. Mr. Trump has a clear agenda -- on the border, on economic growth, law and order, restoring "America First" foreign policy -- and he's appointing people who wholeheartedly agree with him.
Other newcomers include Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who are going to totally shake up and then chop down a budget and regulatory structure that looks more like the 1930s than the 21st century.
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Another important Trumpian theme was how success will bring the country together, will unite the country, will end the divisiveness. This was a huge big-picture theme from his victory speech on Election Night, November 5. And, speaking of big pictures, the picture of Joe Biden getting along famously with his former adversary Donald Trump in their fireside meeting in the Oval Office was truly a sight to behold.
Both men pledged cooperation, and you know, folks, pictures are worth a million words. President Biden in particular seemed the happiest anybody has seen him in years. So, I just can't get this thought out of my head -- maybe Joe Biden voted for Donald Trump, after all.
That's "The Riff."
This article is adapted from Larry Kudlow’s opening commentary on the Nov. 14, 2024, edition of "Kudlow."
