Hi there, everyone. Happy Friday. It's 4 o'clock in New York. If you look behind the appointment of a trio of MAGA personalities to three of the most critical cabinet posts in our country, the director of national intelligence, the Attorney General,

and the U.S. Secretary of Defense. If you look behind the headlines that have ensued and the chaos

that has been the quick reaction from Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill, and now all the

swirling questions in newsrooms around ethics and the confirmation

process, what that looks like, a pretty obvious and intentional theme emerges. As Tim Snyder,

author of On Tyranny, puts it, quote, taken together, Trump's candidates constitute an attempt to

wreck the American government. All three of

Trump's most high-profile picks, Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Heggseth, and Matt Gates are defined publicly

both by the things they've said in the content they have for the role of the departments

they're now going to lead,

and the views that they have that are in stark contrast to many of the Republicans

who have now been asked to vote to confirm them to lead those agencies.

We'll start with Tulsi Gabbard, for instance, who has said repeatedly that the West is to blame

for the war in Ukraine, an opinion far out of line

with the views of America's bipartisan national security experts.

Kamala Harris was in Europe a few days before Putin invaded Ukraine, speaking very clearly

and loudly about how Ukraine should become a member of NATO.

This was one of the main instigators crossing this red line that Russia, during Putin's reign

and before him, has been the red line.

And for any objective-minded person, you can understand why they wouldn't want NATO missiles

sitting in Ukraine.

So, again, whatever you think of that, you have to look at how it squares with the views of outgoing

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