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11.21.2016 0

Trump picks tough, honest leaders in Sessions, Flynn and Pompeo

By Rick Manning

As originally published at http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/the-administration/306841-trump-picks-tough-honest-leaders-in-sessions-flynn-and

The audacity of the left along with the Washington establishment is incredible.

Story after story quotes sources worrying that the next Cabinet won’t consist of people with whom they are familiar or approve.

Imagine that: Donald Trump runs as the closest thing to a Jacksonian Democrat as anyone since Andrew Jackson himself and the elites don’t like some of the Cabinet picks that are being floated?

Whom did they think he was going to pick? Someone like George Shultz, erstwhile member of many GOP Cabinets?

The choice of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) as the next attorney general is both brilliant and needed. After eight years of the politicization of the Justice Department, Sessions will restore the rule of law, putting a blindfold back on Lady Justice and moving away from the banana republic-like protection of the political elites of the left.

Retired three-star Gen. Mike Flynn has been one of the president-elect’s closest foreign and defense policy advisers for much of the campaign and he will be an immediate upgrade at the National Security Council.

The current occupant, Susan Rice, seemingly got the job as a thank-you after she went on weekend news shows telling the lie that the Benghazi attack was due to a video. Flynn is a straight-shooting, tough and honest guy whom Trump believes will give him the unvarnished truth as he sees it.

Vouching for Flynn, former Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), himself a retired lieutenant colonel, reacted to the announcement saying, “Gen. Flynn without a doubt knows the global intelligence security situation and has a good finger on that pulse. He will be a great adviser for President-Elect Trump. If you look at the world today, we have to reestablish and reassert ourselves as a world leader.”

And the CIA director nomination will go to House Intelligence Committee member, Rep. Dan Pompeo (R) of Kansas, also a former Army officer. During his career on Capitol Hill, Pompeo has shown a unique focus on getting to the truth when others would prefer to look away. It was Pompeo who joined fellow Benghazi Committee member Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) in issuing a scathing alternative report on the Hillary Clinton-led cover-up.

Jordan and Pompeo wrote, among other criticisms, that “The American people expect that when the government sends our representatives into such dangerous places they receive adequate protection. Secretary Clinton paid special attention to Libya. She sent Ambassador [Chris] Stevens there. Yet, in August 2012, she missed the last, clear chance to protect her people.”

That is the kind of leadership that CIA agents in the field can expect from Pompeo.

As Trump’s national security team begins to round into shape, it is clear that he values tough, honest leaders. The dramatic shift in emphasis away from the soft-as-silk Obama team likely is leaving many Democrats in the Senate in shock.

But rather than obstruct, Democrats should reach across the aisle and support both Sessions and Pompeo, giving Trump the team he needs and the team America voted for both at the presidential level and when they chose to keep a Senate GOP majority.

One thing that is clear: All the whining of the permanent left-wing establishment in Washington is not penetrating the walls of Trump Tower, since the president-elect is choosing a team that will drain the swamp and put his immediate imprimatur on the government.

Manning is president of Americans for Limited Government.

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