On Friday, rumor became reality when President-elect Donald Trump officially named three men he'd like to serve in his administration's top national security positions. And to the extent we can extrapolate meaning from these three choices, it looks as if Trump has no plans to back down from the hard-line rhetoric of his campaign. Here's …
 
The 5-Minute Fix
Keeping up with politics is easy now
 
 

On Friday, rumor became reality when President-elect Donald Trump officially named three men he'd like to serve in his administration's top national security positions.

And to the extent we can extrapolate meaning from these three choices, it looks as if Trump has no plans to back down from the hard-line rhetoric of his campaign.

Here's a rundown of who, if Trump has his way, will have top jobs in his administration:

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) to attorney general

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., talks with reporters as he arrives at Trump Tower, Monday, Nov. 14, 2016, in New York. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) talks with reporters as he arrives at Trump Tower, Monday in New York. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

The basics: Sessions, a senator for the past 20 years, is known as a hard-line anti-illegal immigration (and even legal immigration) lawmaker. He's a tea party star and was the first sitting U.S. senator to endorse Trump back in February, which was seen as a blow to Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-Tex.) presidential campaign.

How he might do his job: A former aide to Sessions told my colleagues he's expected to make national security and fighting terrorism a top priority. Some civil rights advocates worry he'll gut the aggressive civil rights division the department built up under President Obama; he conceded to Politico last week he hadn't been a “hero” on civil rights.

Confirmation process: When Trump is president, he'll officially nominate Sessions. Then a simple 51-vote majority in the Republican-controlled Senate will confirm him.

That confirmation could get messy; Democrats are already putting Sessions on notice that they're going to demand he explain allegations of racism that derailed his Reagan-era nomination to a federal judgeship. But to block Sessions, Democrats would need to find three Republicans to join them, and it's unclear any are willing to oppose their genial colleague.

Here's one of Trump's biggest GOP critics on Friday:

flake

History suggests it would be extremely difficult to block Sessions. Only once since the beginning of the 20th century have senators from a president's party joined with the other side to stop a president's nominee.

Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) to CIA director

Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) on Capitol Hill in 2015. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

The basics: Pompeo is a West Point grad who came to Congress via the 2010 tea party wave. He's a respected intelligence official who has access to top-secret information on the House Intelligence Community.

How he might do his job: Pompeo is an outspoken critic of Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, of whistleblower Edward Snowden, and of the Obama's administration's handling of the 2012 Benghazi attacks. In other words, as The Post's Greg Miller put it, he's “a fierce partisan.”

PompeoTweet

Confirmation process: Same as Sessions. Of the three here, Pompeo is the least controversial pick; his Democratic counterpart in the House, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), called him “bright and hard-working.”

Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn to national security adviser

GRAND JUNCTION, CO - OCTOBER 18: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (L) jokes with retired Gen. Michael Flynn as they speak at a rally at Grand Junction Regional Airport on October 18, 2016 in Grand Junction Colorado. Trump is on his way to Las Vegas for the third and final presidential debate against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)

Trump and Flynn at a rally in October in Colorado. (George Frey/Getty Images)

ADVERTISEMENT
 

The basics: The outspoken three-star general is already a member of Trump's inner circle and arguably one of the most hard-line: He led chants of “Lock her up!” at the Republican convention. Before he became a die-hard Trump supporter, Flynn was a decorated officer with more than a decade of experience in Iraq and Afghanistan.

How he might do his job: Get tough, get tough, get tough. Flynn told Al Jazeera that he's a believer of as many options in the table — including waterboarding and/or capturing or killing innocent relatives of terrorism suspects — as necessary to fight the bad guys.

Confirmation process: None. This job doesn't require approval by Congress, so come Jan. 20, Flynn will likely hold the nation's most powerful national security position, a foreign intel whisperer to a president lacking foreign or military expertise.

But he's likely to be controversial nonetheless. His inflammatory comments about Muslims, his consulting firm's ties to Middle Eastern countries and his paid trip to Moscow last year where he appeared alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin have all alarmed some of his military colleagues.

FlynNTwet

 

More of the name game 

We're only 10 days into the transition, people. If history is any guide, we've got months of this guessing game left.

You can keep up to date on the swirl of names being floated by bookmarking our Cabinet tracker — or you could just bury your head in the sand until it's all over. (It'll probably be safe to resurface around the new year, since that's when most of our recent presidents have solidified their Cabinet.)

(Philip Bump / The Washington Post

(Philip Bump / The Washington Post

 Trump's other advisers: His children?

This handout picture, released by Japan's Cabinet Secretariat on November 18, 2016 shows Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (2nd L) being welcomed by Ivanka Trump (R) and her husband Jared Kushner (2nd R) during a meeting with US President-elect Donald Trump (not pictured) in New York. Abe voiced confidence on November 17 about Trump as he became the first foreign leader to meet the US president-elect, who was narrowing in on cabinet choices. / AFP PHOTO / Cabinet Secretariat / HO / HANDOUT RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / CABINET SECRETARIAT" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS HO/AFP/Getty Images

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (2nd L) is welcome by Ivanka Trump (R) and her husband Jared Kushner (2nd R) during a meeting with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump (not pictured) in New York. (Handout by Japanese Cabinet Secretariat / AFP Photo)

When it comes to involving his family in his presidency, there is now no doubt that Trump plans to push the envelope of what's legal and ethical, writes The Fix's Aaron Blake.

Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, appeared in a photo with Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday. Last week, Trump announced his grown children would be in charge of his blind trust — a move many ethics experts said probably wasn't enough distance between the leader of the free world and how his decisions affect his bank account. It's also possible Kushner could be in Trump's administration.

But why is making the White House a family affair such a legal quagmire? It all goes back to the Kennedys, as Blake explains:

After President John F. Kennedy appointed his 35-year-old brother, Robert, as attorney general — a basically unprecedented move at the time, involving an office for which few thought the younger Kennedy was qualified — Congress in 1967 passed an anti-nepotism law.

That's it for this busy week. As Flynn said to the reporters staking out Trump Tower this week: Peace! (On second thought, maybe it was a “V” for “Victory.” But for the purposes of ending this newsletter, I'm going with the former. Peace!)

Flynn_Victory

 
If you’re a new 5-Minute Fix reader, sign up here. If you’re a regular, forward this to anyone you think wants to sounds like they know what they’re talking about in 2016. And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, which is where I take suggestions on gifs!

Thumb not tired yet // trying to avoid someone? Read these awesome pieces:
By recent standards, the 2016 election was surprisingly normal
A look at a century of election results.
 
This quote from Donald Trump’s top strategist will frighten small-government Republicans
Again: Donald Trump wants to spend heavily. Are Republicans going to go along with it?
 
Donald Trump’s life, by the numbers
Born in a cooler-than-normal June. Won the nomination in a hotter-than-normal May.
 
When an outsider with contentious beliefs wins the presidency, this is the leadership that results
Flynn, Sessions and Bannon are picks that perhaps only Donald Trump would make.
 
 
That time the Senate denied Jeff Sessions a federal judgeship over accusations of racism
A deeper look at the moment 30 years ago that almost destroyed the career of Trump's attorney general pick.
 
Could Nancy Pelosi’s leadership really be in trouble?
Maybe not this time. But one thing's clear: House Democrats' leadership drama is generational, not ideological.
 
Being a Washington insider is a negative for more voters than being gay
Thirty-one percent say they would be less likely to vote for someone with experience in Washington, compared with 26 percent for being gay.
 
ADVERTISEMENT
 
Recommended for you
 
Wonkbook
Your daily cheat sheet on economic and domestic policy from Wonkblog.
Sign Up »
 
     
 
©2016 The Washington Post, 1301 K St NW, Washington DC 20071