The Left are still reeling from their election loss. In the three weeks since America voted Donald Trump back into office, we've seen them double down on wokeness (thanks, Jen Psaki!), point fingers at one another, and generally seem lost in the post-election chaos.
While Kamala Harris is issuing cringe drunk-dial videos to her supporters (seriously, what's up with that?), there's an opportunity here for the Trump administration and Republicans to completely blindside them, but they need to be smart about it.
Being too open about their plans before inauguration is going to make the fight that much more of an uphill battle. Matt Gaetz removed his name from consideration for the Attorney General gig, which was probably going to be the toughest Cabinet appointment battle. There are others -- Trump's choice for Secretary of Labor has angered conservatives (and rightly so), and so as his pick for Surgeon General (again, rightly so). The Left, and some squishy Republicans, have already given Trump pushback on Pete Hegseth's nomination to Secretary of Defense.
Given those battles -- and I hope the picks for Labor and Surgeon General go down, because they're awful -- it'd be wiser not to telegraph everything you're doing.
One of the biggest issues at the forefront of the transition is the abolishing of the Department of Education (DOE). Two days ago, South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds (R), introduced a bill to abolish it and Trump has nominated businesswoman Linda McMahon (yes, from the WWE) to head the DOE until it gets shuttered.
The bill introduced by Senator Rounds breaks down how the programs currently run by the DOE would be sent to other departments, like Pell Grants going to the Department of the Treasury and Health and Human Services managing IDEA (the legislation concerning special education).
We didn't have a DOE until the Carter administration established it. Since then, the quality of American public schools has deteriorated. To the point where some districts, like Baltimore, have zero students proficient in reading or math.
ZERO.
I promise you, we would live without a DOE, and probably do better.
Unfortunately, we can't put the toothpaste back in the tube on the debate to end the DOE, and now it's given the Trump administration another fight to focus on:
Allies and foes of Education Department skeptical of Trump’s ability to abolish the agencyhttps://t.co/5u72cjo6Fm pic.twitter.com/zMYLmyWOf5
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) November 27, 2024
More from The Washington Times:
Both supporters and opponents of the Department of Education doubt that President-elect Donald Trump can muster the congressional support to eliminate the 44-year-old agency, but they anticipate significant changes.
The Trump administration likely will gain approval from the Republican-controlled Congress to cripple the power of teachers unions and redirect federal school choice funds away from the department’s control.
'I believe he fully intends to do something dramatic about how the federal Department of Education functions,' said Jeanne Allen, a senior official in the Education Department during the Reagan administration. 'Whether or not that results in a dismantling in the near future, that remains to be seen.'
The Democrats have been pretty vocal about opposing the abolishing of the DOE. Secretary Miguel Cardona said anyone who wants to eliminate the DOE 'doesn't support students', but seems to have forgotten the DOE was perfectly happy to let poor kids starve if their districts didn't engage in transgender nonsense. Others insist if we just 'properly funded' education, things would improve, which ignores we spend more than a lot of other places with far worse results.
Going forward, the smart play for Trump and his transition team -- a transition that the majority of Americans approve of thus far -- is to keep a lid on their agenda as much as they can for as long as they can.
They are going to have to battle Democrats and a few Republicans to install his Cabinet; it makes no sense to spend additional political capital fighting about legislation before the Cabinet is in place. Future policy plans and legislation should be kept quiet until after confirmation hearings.
It's the best way to get the majority of his agenda through Congress before the midterms, and the Democrats need to remain on the defensive for as long as possible.
They're largely in disarray right now, and there's zero need to give them anything around which they can rally to regain their footing.
