Trump’s Senior Appointments Are Making Government Great Again

Trump 2.0 isn’t just governing—it’s assembling an all-star Cabinet whose wit, discipline, and seriousness rival any administration since the founding.

Has Donald Trump 2.0 assembled the best circle of advisors in the history of the American republic? George Washington had Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State and Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury. Impressive. But is it any more impressive than having Marco Rubio as Secretary of State or Scott Bessent as Secretary of the Treasury? Jefferson and Hamilton are at the tippy-top, but largely for the same reason that Samuel Johnson said that Homer was the greatest poet: because they came first. As Homer was foundational for the Western poetic tradition, so Hamilton and Jefferson are foundational for America. And of course, Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, which puts him in a category by himself.

That said, Rubio and Bessent have emerged as among the best cabinet secretaries in history. Watching Rubio school Congress and the obtuse media about serious issues like Venezuela, Iran, and Gaza reminds one of what Horace said about the aim of poetry: it should delight as well as instruct. Rubio has done both. Part of the delight is Rubio’s commanding way with the obstreperous media. He has also been aided by a fermenting internet. At the moment, Rubio is not only Secretary of State but also National Security Advisor and head of the National Archives. For several months, he also ran USAID. The many hats have been a gift to memers who have delighted in lavishing ever more jobs on his shoulders. Starting with a stolid-looking Rubio sitting in the Oval Office, the memes show us “Marco Rubio realizing that he will be the new Governor of Minnesota/President of Venezuela/Governor of Greenland/Supreme Leader of Iran/etc.”

Equally delightful is Scott Bessent, who is not only Secretary of the Treasury but also Acting Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service. Bessent’s quiet, decorous manner conceals—or, rather, semi-conceals—a biting wit. His recent fencing match with Congress left him the clear victor. His exchanges with Maxine Waters, Elizabeth Warren, and Greg Meeks were classics. Then there was his response to Rep. Stephen Lynch, who kept shouting questions at Bessent: “Could you speak a little louder?” said Bessent. “I can’t hear you.”

But the excellence of Trump’s Cabinet and other senior aides goes beyond Marco Rubio and Scott Bessent. Indeed, the entire cabinet is superb. Just a day or two back, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth warmed the cockles of my heart with his announcement that henceforth the military was ending its long association with Harvard University. How long? Hegseth points out that George Washington took command of the Continental Army in Harvard Yard. The university has more Congressional Medal of Honor winners than any other civilian institution. But in recent years, Hegseth noted, the university has become “one of the red-hot centers of hate America activism.” It has ties with the Chinese Communist Party, has openly supported the terrorist group Hamas, and has, notwithstanding the Supreme Court’s decision outlawing the practice, continued to support the racist practice of DEI.

In short, like the other Ivy League and Ivy-adjacent institutions, Harvard no longer lives up to its founding principles. “Harvard is woke; the War Department is not,” Hegseth said.

Too many faculty members openly loathe our military. They cast our armed forces in a negative light and squelch anyone who challenges their leftist political leanings, all while charging enormous tuition. It’s not worth it. They’ve replaced open inquiry and honest debate with rigid orthodoxy.

For many years, the military has sent many of its best officers and senior enlisted men to Harvard for continuing education. No more. Starting in the 2026-2027 school year, Hegseth said, “I am discontinuing all graduate-level professional military education—PME—all fellowships and certificate programs between Harvard University and the War Department for active-duty service members.” Hurrah for that.

And it is not just Trump’s cabinet members who are doing yeoman’s work helping to implement his agenda. So are senior advisors like Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s Director of National Intelligence. Because “election security is national security,” Trump has tapped Gabbard to oversee the “coordinated, whole-of-government effort to ensure that our elections are fair and transparent moving forward.” Last week, when the FBI raided the Fulton County, Georgia, election office and made off with some 700 boxes of ballots and other election materials, a photograph of Gabbard talking on her cell phone in front of the swag took the internet by storm.

It did so because it signaled that the Trump administration was taking the inquiry with the utmost seriousness. Gabbard’s presence meant that the raid was not just about fraudulent ballots in Georgia. Nor was it just about the 2020 election. It was about the corruption of the intelligence community as a whole and, beyond that, the corruption of senior political actors. (How do you spell “Obama”?) As Gabbard noted, there are many people still inside the intelligence agencies who are “actively trying to keep the truth buried.” As one of my new favorite bloggers put it, Gabbard’s disclosures showed the “bleeding id of the authoritarian mind exposed: they don’t fear fraud being uncovered; they fear fraud being proven.” Alas for them, more—many more—revelations are coming. And with those revelations, as Gabbard stressed, will come accountability.

Bottom line: Donald Trump is not only making America great again. He is also making government great again. His senior appointments make up an all-star team that is rapidly recovering the American dream. Trump is lucky to have them, but not as lucky as the American people are.

https://amgreatness.com/2026/02/08/trumps-senior-appointments-are-making-government-great-again/