I think we need to have a different must conversation at some point because, like, I think

this is something where the libs are on one and not thinking clearly.

I know you think that because he's rich, he's smart, and therefore good, but I don't think

that that's, like, correct about Elon Musk.

Hey, everyone, you're listening to a free preview of the politics podcast.

This week, a split screen has emerged in Donald Trump's proposed second term cabinet.

Last week, we talked about the normalish group of partisans that Trump has nominated to domestic non-defense agencies.

But since then, he signaled that he intends to stack the security services, but also the Department of Health and Human Services, with a group of corrupt loyalists, all of whom seem to have pretty damaging skeletons in their closets.

So we'll talk about what this all signals, how the parties in Congress

have responded, how they should respond, and whether this means we're in for another clownish

Trump term or a more ruthless one. I hope you enjoy the conversation. And if you want to hear

the whole thing, you can upgrade your subscription to paid at politics.fm.

Hey, everyone, welcome to the politics podcast. I'm Brian Boiler. I'm Matthew Iglesias.

So it's all kind of a blur to me, but we sat here a week ago talking about how Donald Trump's first batch of cabinet nominees

represented something like, I guess, what you'd expect in a least bad scenario of a second

Trump presidency.

Like, I mean, nobody either of us would pick.

A professional.

Well, I mean, I would say.

It's sort of like the way Republicans do professional administrative branch stuff, which is a point, a bunch of like scowling partisans to run agencies they don't agree with the missions of.

But at least these tend to be people with experience in Congress or running states or whatever.

So the idea that they will oversee a large bureaucracy is not crazy.

...