Mark Halperin, the well-sourced Washington, D.C. journalist who has crawled the halls of power for decades, said on Friday that he believes it is “likely” that all of President-elect Donald Trump’s most controversial appointments will be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
Speaking on 2WayTV, the “Game Change” journalist cited Trump winning the popular vote as a factor that may “change the calculation” by Republican senators who rightly fear a backlash back home.
“No normal president” would have nominated Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to lead Health and Human Services following the outcry over his selecting Matt Gaetz for U.S. attorney general, Halperin stated, “but he did. And in a normal transition, the nomination of Bobby Kennedy to HHS — enormously controversial on multiple levels — would be like the biggest thing, and it would raise questions about the judgment of the operation.” However, Halperin believes Trump is being shrewd in his calculations.
“That’s not what we’re dealing with here. We’re dealing with almost five unfathomable choices for the normal rules,” Halperin continued.
“Tens of millions of Americans share Donald Trump’s beliefs about these departments and about what needs to be done.”
In the span of four days, Trump has fueled