Welcome back in for a special serving of Al’s Afternoon Tea. With so much going on, we just had to throw open our doors on this autumn afternoon.

Trump Picks First Female Chief of Staff

Last night, Trump announced his pick for the all-important White House Chief of Staff gig. Trump again proved himself terrible at being a misogynist who doesn’t want “strong, intelligent” women around him.

Trump’s named his campaign manager Susie Wiles. The attention-shy mastermind of his successful presidential run will be the first woman to serve as White House Chief of Staff. Unlike Trump’s chiefs of staff in his first term, Wiles has been a MAGA person since 2016.

The woman also has magic powers. Did you pick up on how disciplined Trump was during this campaign? Sure, he had his moments. It is Donald Trump we’re talking about. But for the most part he stayed on message and there was no campaign drama.

A fun fact for football fans: Wiles is the daughter of NFL star and longtime sports broadcaster Pat Summerall. Which is ironic because Trump’s win really “Madden”-ed the Left.

(Terrible pun. I know. For those who don’t know, Summerall was the longtime broadcast partner of John Madden.)

Whom are You Picking for the Cabinet?

Who else will serve in key Cabinet roles in the second Trump Administration? Let’s knock around a few positions.

Attorney General

This position is key, if Trump is going to have any chance of restoring faith in the justice system, particularly DOJ and the FBI. Tweaks ain’t going to cut it. DOJ need a massive overhaul. The place is rotted, covered in toxic mold. Trump’s going to need a heavyweight. “Someone,” former DOJ spokesman Mark Corallo tells USA Today, “the rank-and-file is going to flat-out fear.” 

Senator Mike Lee and former DNI chief John Ratcliffe are both supposedly in the running. 

My choice? Ron DeSantis. He’s got the brains and toughness for the task, and the national respect and trust to have the public behind him. And yeah, the rank-and-file that’s been abusing their power now for years will be scared to see DeSantis pulling into the parking lot.

An added benefit? He’s not seen as a Trump “yes” man, which is important for the credibility of the effort.

Secretary of Defense

Talk swirled Thursday of a push to name former Secretary of State and CIA director Mike Pompeo as Secretary of Defense.

Those rumors got immediate pushback, particularly given Pompeo’s reaction to the raid on Mar-a-Lago and the classified documents case.

Mike Pompeo hammers Trump on Fox: “Trump had classified docs when he shouldn’t have had them, and when given the opportunity to return them he chose not to do that .. That’s inconsistent with protecting America’s soldiers .. some of these were pretty serious, important docs.” pic.twitter.com/BXVTVPBvnt

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) June 13, 2023

That alone makes him a hard no.

If Pompeo couldn’t smell out what that raid was — a Third World-style political hit job — he’s not savvy enough to lead our military. If he knew what it was and said what he said, he’s not worthy of working in the Pentagon motor pool.

My choice? Tulsi Gabbard. She’s clearly going to have a role in the Administration, and this one fits. Tulsi’s not only a vet herself with a passionate devotion to the U.S. military and our troops, she also has no use for stupid foreign wars or silly obsessions with DEI. On the other hand, she is a fierce warrior who would make short work of any enemy who tries to mess with us … or any Pentagon bureaucratic generals who get in the way of her mission.

Secretary of State

Two names you’re hearing a lot: Former Acting CIA Director Richard Grenell and Sen. Marco Rubio.

Personally, I’d put Grenell back at CIA and give Rubio the top diplomatic position. I know some worry he may be too much of a Washington insider at this point. However, he’s wonderful at articulating policy, and would be extremely gifted at the art of diplomacy, which David Frost defined as “The art of letting someone else have your way,” or put less diplomatically, “Diplomacy is the art of telling someone to go to h*** in such a way they ask for directions.”

Rubio has that ability.   

Don’t hate me, MAGA world, but another name comes to mind: Nikki Haley. Trump needs someone he can fully trust and is totally on board with his agenda. That ain’t her. Especially with her stance on Ukraine. However, for whatever reason, Trump has a soft spot for Haley, despite her vicious primary fight against him. It’s a long shot, but I can see him choosing the former U.N. Ambassador as an outreach to moderates. Plus, if he’s right about solving the Ukraine-Russian war in a day, that difference with Haley goes away.

Haley does have one skill: She has both the ability to sweet talk with that South Carolina draw … and be savage. 

Which brings to mind Will Rogers’ definition of diplomacy: “Diplomacy is the ability to say ‘Nice doggie,’ until you can find a rock.”

Health and Human Services

With Robert F. Kennedy lined up to overhaul the Federal government’s approach to health as part of the vow to Make America Healthy Again, this would seem a natural. Unless Trump creates a position like “Director of National Health” like there is a “Director of National Intelligence.” Put Kennedy there and take Ron DeSantis’ suggestion of naming Florida’s excellent Surgeon General Joseph Lapdo as HHS Secretary.

Retweet if you’d like to see this man — Dr. Joseph Ladapo — serve as the Secretary of HHS in the new Trump administration. cc: ⁦@FLSurgeonGen⁩ pic.twitter.com/FP6dC1sZ2W

— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) November 6, 2024

Whomever Trump picks, his first order of business has to be eradicate all fingerprints of Assistant Health Secretary Rachel Levine, whose mission with your tax dollars was to push sex changes on children.

What to Do With the Smarties?

Trump’s got a dilemma that’s a good one for a leader to have. What’s he going to do with all the smarties that ended up supporting him this campaign? Vivek Ramaswamy I’d make a senior advisor. Give him narrow, innovative projects to accomplish, but also have him be one of the guys who hits the Sunday shows and cable news shows. Nicole Shanahan will be a deputy for whatever RFK, Jr., is doing.

The big question is what precisely Elon Musk will be doing, when he’s not catching 40-story tall rockets. Will there be a Department of Government Efficiency? Will it be a commission? We know Ron Paul will be helping out. But I wonder if we’re looking at something even bigger than simply cutting out waste.

Bill Ackman, the billionaire hedge fund manager who was a longtime major Democratic donor until deciding to back Trump, dropped an interesting tweet last night directed toward Musk.

Imagine if we were to consider and reconsider all of the required functions of government using a blank-sheet-of-paper approach and then rebuild from the ground up the necessary agencies to fulfill these requirements, bearing in mind the technologies available today, ie, AI and…

— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) November 8, 2024

What if … as part of the American restoration and remodel for our 250th birthday on July 4, 2026 … there’s a complete re-imagine of the Executive Branch, like Ackman suggests? As if starting from scratch. Seems Musk and Ackman — led by the guy who re-imagined and rebuilt the New York skyline — would be just the people to do it.

John Zmirak and Jason Jones have teamed for an analysis that has the same theme, but with a Biblical flavor: “Trump’s Win Suggests We’re Nineveh, Not Sodom. Now It’s Time to Decontaminate the Place.” 

Blue Governors Vow to Fight Trump Efforts to Deport Illegals (Including Criminals)

Breaking now, several blue state governors have declared a state of emergency as the flood of liberal tears ravages their major cities. Those governors are being petulant babies. Both Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey and California governor Gavin Newsom are vowing to fight President-Elect Trump’s effort to deport illegal immigrants. Newsom even wants to hold a special session of the California legislature to create special funding to support a fight against Trump’s agenda.

The governors and some talking heads like former Obama operative David Axlerod are arguing that deporting illegal immigrants would be “disruptive.”

As a Stream colleague put it: “This is literally like saying that if someone is breaking into your house, you shouldn’t call the police because your neighbors will be woken up by the sirens. The illegals caused the ‘disruption’ by coming here!” 

On the flip side, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced he was ending a program that gave illegal immigrants pre-paid debit cards. As the New York Post reports, the city was giving illegals in shelters about $350 a week for groceries and baby supplies.

The Chimes Ring Again at Cathedral of Notre Dame

For the first time since that devastating fire in 2019, church bells have run at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.

WE ARE SO BACK

The bells of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris rang out this morning for the first time today since 2019's fire

The Cathedral reopens with Mass on December 8th pic.twitter.com/roQS22b0t7

— Catholic Arena (@CatholicArena) November 8, 2024

Have a great weekend, America. You earned it.

Al Perrotta is The Stream’s Washington bureau chief, coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration, and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.