If Donald Trump has his way, his diverse cast of Cabinet picks will soon be duking it out gladiator-style for his amusement, Axios founder Jim VandeHei said Monday.
The flurry of Cabinet nominees Trump has announced have very different views on key issues such as abortion, labor unions, and the economy, and VandeHei suggested on Morning Joe that the potential for conflict was a feature, not a bug.
“Unlike most people, he enjoys conflict,” VandeHei said Monday. “I think he often incites conflict. He loves it to play out in front of him so he can ultimately be the decider.”
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Some of the president-elect’s picks are likely to face intense scrutiny, with former Rep. Matt Gaetz having already been forced to withdraw due to investigations into his alleged sexual misconduct and illegal drug use.
Other nominees, such as Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth, have been criticized as being unqualified, white Republican senators have expressed concern that Trump’s choice for director of national intelligence, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, is too sympathetic to Russia.
“He doesn’t care if people don’t like any of these picks,” VandeHei said. “He doesn’t care if you don’t like their personality, their background.”
Stoking disagreements keeps Trump unpredictable, which he likes because he thinks it gives him an upper hand, VandeHei added.
“There will be all kinds of conflict, publicly and privately. That is the nature of the Trump operation,” he said.
MSNBC’s Jonathan Lemire agreed that Trump seemed to enjoy people fighting in the Oval Office during his first term—so much so that he would call aides to his desk and “pit them against one another.”
“Now some of that was for West Wing jockeying—who was up and who was down—but that’s what he would make a decision from. Often the last voice he heard would be the one that would carry the day.”
Five of Trump’s picks this time around, however, do have something in common: They’re some of the key architects behind Project 2025, the far-right policy agenda that Trump tried to distance himself from during the campaign.
