Hegseth’s Husk Of A Nomination Twists In The Wind

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.

Will The Hegseth Nomination Survive The Weekend?

Does Pete Hegseth continue to twist in the wind or does Trump pull the plug and let Ron DeSantis or whoever the replacement is jump-start their own confirmation efforts over the weekend?

In a normal transition with a reasonable president-elect, a nomination sitting this low in the water with no prospect of being bailed out would have already been scuttled. But of course if we’re positing a normal scenario, Hegseth would never have been nominated in the first place. The skeletons in his closet have skeletons in their closets.

The Senate is gone today, but before it left town for the weekend it got another dose of Hegseth making the rounds. It did not go well enough to matter. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), herself a possible replacement for Hegseth, said on Fox News that she is not ready to vote for Hegseth. Other reporting quoted GOP senators as signaling the nomination is DOA: “It’s on the death watch,” on Republican senator told The Hill. In another sign the writing is on the wall, Trump is not calling senators on Hegseth’s behalf.

The Trump track record makes it clear that Hegseth was going to come out on the other end of any run as defense secretary without his dignity intact. He’s just lost it sooner than most Trump appointees and looks unlikely to have the resume item to show for it.

Eeesh …

WSJ:

President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the National Institutes of Health wants to take on campus culture at elite universities, wielding the power of tens of billions of dollars in scientific grants.

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford physician and economist, is considering a plan to link a university’s likelihood of receiving research grants to some ranking or measure of academic freedom on campus, people familiar with his thinking said.

LOL

An associate of former Ambassador Ric Grennel approached conservative social media influencers with offers of five-figure contracts to boost Grennel’s prospects for being named secretary of state, Politico reports: “One such contract, obtained by POLITICO and not previously reported, outlined that the influencer would do so during ‘peak posting times,’ that ‘content must appear genuine,’ and it could not ‘appear as an overt advertisement or promotional message.’” Sen. Marco Rubio (R), not Grennel, got Trump’s nod for secretary of state.

For The Record …

I goofed in yesterday’s Morning Memo by not making it clear that in picking former Rep. Billy Long (R-MO) to be his nominee for IRS commissioner, Donald Trump is promising to fire the current commissioner before the end of his term.

The IRS commissioner’s five-year term, like the FBI director’s 10-year term, is intended to insulate the position from politicization. Trump is running roughshod over those protections and making it worse by naming a partisan to the post.

GOOD READ

Rick Perlstein: The Magic Thinking of Kennedy-ism

When A Right-Wing Extremist Sits In The White House

“Based on campaign promises and Trump’s first-term record, analysts foresee a rollback of initiatives aimed at curbing violent extremism, especially among right-wing movements. Among the predictions: a slashing of domestic terrorism resources, White House pressure to investigate what Trump terms “the radical left” and cuts to programs aimed at the prevention of radicalization.”–WaPo

Sign Of The Times

The NYT follows up Politico with more reporting on the internal White House discussions about issuing blanket pardons to protect potential targets of Trump II lawlessness:

Among those whose names have been floated are former Representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming, who was vice chair of the bipartisan committee that investigated Mr. Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol; Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the former top infectious disease expert for the government whose advice on Covid-19 made him a target of far-right attacks; Jack Smith, the outgoing special counsel who prosecuted Mr. Trump; and Senator-elect Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California, who was a lead House prosecutor at Mr. Trump’s first impeachment trial.

Oligarch Watch

New federal campaign finance filings reveal the full extent of Elon Musk’s 2024 election-related spending:

• It turns out Musk was behind the mysterious pro-Trump super PAC that invoked Ruth Bader Ginsburg and falsely portrayed Trump the late justice as aligned on abortion. Musk’s $20.5 million contribution came on Oct. 24, which meant it did not have to be reported on filings until after the election.
• In total, Musk contributed more than $250 million to getting Trump elected, making him probably the largest individual contributor in the 2024 election.

‘A Trans Case Before A Very Not Trans Court’

• Chris Geidner: From appellants to lawyers to reporters, trans people centered themselves this week at the Supreme Court
• Casey Parks: L.W., a trans teen from Tennessee, has her day at the Supreme Court
• M. Gessen:

Shortly before allowing reporters into the main chamber of the Supreme Court for oral arguments in United States v. Skrmetti, a court employee asked us all if we needed to use a bathroom. The men’s room was right next door, the staff member said, and the women’s room down the hall.

“Where should nonbinary people go?” one of the reporters asked.

An uncomfortable back-and-forth followed. The staff person seemed not to understand the question. In the end, there was no answer. It just didn’t seem to compute.

Under Public Pressure, Gorsuch Recuses

“Justice Gorsuch’s recusal is particularly significant for two reasons. During his 2017 confirmation to the Supreme Court, his web of ties to Mr. Anschutz attracted attention, raising questions over whether he would step aside in cases involving the billionaire’s business interests. He appeared to leave that door open, despite having systematically sought to recuse himself from such cases as an appeals court judge.”–Charlie Savage

Mass Deportation Watch

“Immigrants without legal status or in mixed-status families are avoiding going out in public, scrambling to apply for asylum and attending legal workshops ahead of Donald Trump’s return to power, fearful they will be swept up in the president-elect’s promised mass-deportation campaign.–WSJ

House GOP Still Covering For Matt Gaetz

Two new developments Thursday on the House Ethics Committee report on recently resigned Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL):

• The House as a whole voted largely along party lines to block a Democratic effort to force the release of the Gaetz report.
• The House Ethics Committee met but did not divulge whether it took another vote on releasing the Gaetz report. Republicans on the evenly divided committee have so far resisted releasing the report.

The Backdrop To Our Current Politics

“After 2023 ended up the warmest year in human history by far, 2024 is almost certain to be even warmer. Now, some scientists say this could indicate fundamental changes are happening to the global climate that are raising temperatures faster than anticipated.”–WaPo

Makes Me Smile Every Time

Enjoy your weekend!

Do you like Morning Memo? Let us know!