By VT- Michael Shrimpton - November 24, 2024061

President-elect Donald Trump has followed up his stunning election victory with a series of well-judged appointments to his new Cabinet. Left-wing loonies everywhere are complaining of course, but that’s only to be expected. It is clear that the President-elect has learnt the lessons of his first term, where half the Administration seemed to be working against him.

Two things should be made absolutely clear – I don’t think the President-elect is looking for yes men and women. He will want good advice, and with this team I think he’ll get it. Yes he wants loyalty, but why would he choose disloyal Cabinet members? Secondly, an elected President is entitled to implement his or her campaign promises.

With the Republicans having gained control of the Senate there shouldn’t be any difficulty getting the nominations confirmed. It’s not just that the Republicans have gained control – the RINOs have been roundly defeated.

I am delighted that Tulsi Gabbard has been chosen as the next Director of National Intelligence. Having an intelligent Director of National Intelligence seems to me to be a useful innovation, with every respect to previous holders of the office. Having only joined the Republican Party last month, Tulsi is almost an across the aisle appointment.

I do not agree with all of her policy positions, for example on the Iraq War, but she clearly hasn’t been briefed on Saddam Hussein’s role in 9/11. However, you don’t have to agree with all of someone’s policy positions to support their appointment. She is well-informed with respect on the bio-labs in Ukraine.

The usual suspects on this side of the pond are banging on about conspiracy theories, but of course they’re talking nonsense. Tulsi’s position on the bio-labs is soundly rooted in fact. So far as I can tell she will be the first American Samoan member of the Cabinet.

Secretary of State

I think Senator Rubio is a brilliant choice, with respect. He will be a breath of fresh air after the pro-Hamas and pro-EU Antony Blinken. The child of Cuban parents, who fled the Battista regime in the 50s (before the DVD’s Fidel Castro seized power), he instinctively supports those who seek liberty. Blinken has always supported those who seek to crush it, no offense intended.

Defense Secretary

Pete Hesgeth’s nomination came out of left field, but he is by no means a bad choice. The Left’s frantic scandal-mongering over a false sexual harassment allegation some years ago suggests that they’re worried. Bogus sexual harassment claims are a dime a dozen of course, as the President-elect well knows, having had to deal with such junk himself. Pete has had a distinguished military career, bearing in mind his comparative youth, having served in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Quite aside from his media experience with Fox News, Pete has been active in veterans affairs. He was mooted for a Defense Department role in the first Trump Administration and is well known to the President-elect. I suspect he’ll make a good Secretary of Defense. General Austin, in fairness, hasn’t been that bad a Secretary, but he’s left the US Navy in a run-down state, barely able to stand up to the Chinese, and is in the process of screwing up the vital NGAD next generation fighter program for the Air Force.

Keep an eye on that nice man Major-General Greg Lengyel USAF (ret’d) as a possible pick for Air Force Secretary. I met Greg when he was on Donald Rumsfeld’s staff in the Pentagon. He is very well-informed with respect and would be able to fill in some intel gaps for the team.

CIA Director

John Ratcliffe for CIA Director is another great choice, with respect. He has intel experience and isn’t stupid, another innovation with every respect to recent appointments. He’ll shake up Langley, which will be no bad thing.

The CIA made a huge mistake when they got into bed with the Democrats. That was bad enough but making up the Russia hoax was ludicrous. The critical thing will be to get the Correa Group in Frankfurt shut down, but that may depend upon his much access I’m given. I’m not sure that anyone else is going to brief John in on Correa.

Very obviously I’m hoping that the people reading this with access to the Transition Team will get out of the way and allow the intelligence experts to talk to each other. Amongst the benefits of a good working intel relationship would be access to the MI6 dossier on the election fraud in 2020.

Half a century ago an old friend, sadly no longer with us, Vice-Admiral Sir Louis Le Bailly built up an excellent working relationship with Jim Schlesinger, an excellent Secretary of Defense and briefly Director of Central Intelligence. They started to investigate the DVD, which of course led to pressure from the DVD’s Henry Kissinger to get Jim moved. It showed what could be done.

Please don’t write in and complain that I’ve said nice things about dear old Henry. I knew full that he worked for the opposition, and he knew that I knew. That didn’t stop us teaming up to run interference on operations run by the Bush faction of the DVD, in particular on preventing al Qaeda from acquiring fissile material (U-235) for use on 9/11, which is how I came to be known as a nuclear counter-intelligence specialist.

Henry was quite a gentle man, and Jewish. (He didn’t bomb Cambodia – he had people to do that for him.) On a personal level we got on well. Personalising intelligence analysis is always a mistake. Another late friend of mine, the Earl of Home, Prime Minister from 1963 until 1964 as Sir Alec Douglas-Home, got along quite well with our community partner the Führer, approving of his wearing patent leather shoes at dinner.

Adolf had a soft spot for the British aristocracy. Upsetting him over dinner would not only have been undiplomatic it would have been pointless. You usually learn much more from a friendly conversation than a shouting match. In the intel world from time to time you are going to meet Bad Guys (I’ve met Tony Blair for example). When you do. you need to behave.

Elon Musk

Setting up a unit designed to tackle waste in the federal government is a brilliant idea. I suppose you could call it a ‘waste disposal unit’. Elon Musk is smart and committed to small government, which in turn will lead to lower taxes, which in their turn will lead to higher growth.

I doubt that the headline figure of two trillion dollars is achievable, but hey a trillion off the current budget would be great, as long as some as some of it goes on defense! Federal government efficiency isn’t the only area where Elon can contribute. He also has some serious ideas about space policy, as does yours truly.

Space is another area where the UK and US could collaborate, although that would depend on having a sensible British government. That in turns depends upon the exposure of one or more of the scandals involving Sir Keir Starmer. (I loved the banners on the farmers’ protect march saying ‘Stuffed Farmer’, which I won’t explain, since this is a family website.)

RFK

The nomination of RFK Jnr as Health Secretary has come in for some stick because of his views on vaccines. I happen not to agree with some of those views, but RFK is an intelligent man with respect. I have no doubt that he will listen to advice from his officials and examine the evidence. At the same time his officials can expect some intelligent questions.

If a policy cannot survive intelligent questioning it’s probably time to change the policy! RFK is also entitled to know who murdered his father and uncle. As a Cabinet member he can raise the issue from the inside. Again, somebody probably needs to sit the two of us down together.

Attorney-General

Pam Bondi is an interesting choice for Attorney-General, replacing Matt Gaetz, who I think would have been a good A-G but who was forced to stand down. Pam may turn out to be an even better choice!

She’s highly qualified, having been Attorney-General of Florida for eight years. She was also a capable member of his defense team in the President-elect’s first impeachment trial, on trumpery charges. She should be able to shake up the sleazy Justice Department, no offense to the latter intended.

Unlike the Justice Department, Pam believes in the Rule of Law. I don’t think she’s been chosen because she’s a ‘yes’ person. I think she’s been chosen because she’s loyal, a good lawyer, highly ethical and capable of giving advice which the boss doesn’t want to hear. All lawyers sometimes have to give unwelcome advice. The point is to make sure it’s good advice.

Staying with legal issues, as I anticipated the proceedings in New York, as dodgy as a shot in a Laotian backpacker hostel, no offense intended, have been held over. By the end of President Trump’s second term the convictions will long have been quashed.

This week’s movie review: Gladiator II (2024, dir. Sir Ridley Scott)

An epic epic, albeit not exactly historical, Gladiator II is unmissable. Set 16 years after the events of Gladiator the plot turns on the enforced return to Rome as a slave by Lucius Verus Aurelius, Marcus Aurelius’s grandson. He becomes a gladiator (of course), cue for some exciting combats in the Colosseum.

Rome is now ruled by dual emperors, Geta and Caracalla, a sort of Roman answer to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, no offense intended, albeit slightly more stable. All y’all will no doubt have seen the trailers showing an armor-plated rhinoceros and sharks swimming in a water-filled arena.

Rhinos in practice are about as easy to handle as the average Democrat. There are horse whisperers, but no rhino whisperers, for a reason. It’s an intriguing idea however, which the boys and girls in the Ministry of Defence are probably looking at, given the shortage of tanks in the British Army.

There are sharks in the Med, although they it’s not their favorite environment. Since modern sharks have been around since the Jurassic Period and possibly before (in other words for at least 200 million years), the Romans would have known about them. The Romans were also good hydraulic engineers and would have known how to flood the Colisseum, using water from the Tiber.

It’s not therefore impossible that they used sharks in the Colisseum, although it’s unlikely. It’s an intriguing idea, though!

Russell Crowe is definitely missed, but Gladiator II is well acted. It’s also superbly directed, as one would expect from Sir Ridley Scott. In fact, the movie is a triumph of the mover-maker’s art. The amphibious battle scene at the beginning is really well done. A huge effort has been made to get the detail of the Roman ships just right. I have never seen a more convincing portrayal on screen of ancient naval warfare.

In many ways Gladiator II is actually a better movie than Gladiator. It’s production values are certainly higher. I think that all y’all will enjoy it.

Next Column

I’m hoping to move back to weekly columns but sadly my beloved partner is in hospital, having suffered a severe stroke. Life is a bit difficult at the moment, I’m afraid.

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Michael Shrimpton

Michael Shrimpton was a barrister from his call to the Bar in London in 1983 until being disbarred in 2019 over a fraudulently obtained conviction. He is a specialist in National Security and Constitutional Law, Strategic Intelligence and Counter-terrorism. He is a former Adjunct Professor of Intelligence Studies at the American Military University.