Team Trump: The Dog Fights Begin

The college football post season tensions are palpable as top teams jockey in the final weeks of the season. Even more tense may be the Trump Administration's pre-season jockeying..
They don't take office for another 52 days but the rivalries and internal competition already are present. The Trump team can be set up or seeded like the college football playoff formula, where four teams get a bye or a pass, and there are four other contests or battles to reach the influence quarter finals with them.
The four top Trumpites get byes and won't be diminished at least initially:

-- Donald Trump, jr. He's the dominant family influencer now, supported selecting JD Vance and is close to the right wing power broker, Tucker Carlson, Trump, sr. probably think he's no Ivanka but he'll do.

--JD Vance. The one who holds a constitutional office can't be dumped. Based on the cabinet selections and who Trump is hanging out with, at thls stage, Vance looks more like a Kamala Harris type Vice President rather than heavyweights like Dick Cheney or Al Gore. One big calling card: the 40 year old Vice President-to-be is the successor if anything happens to a 78 year old out of shape President who may be in some cognitive decline.
-- Susie Wiles: Trump's designated chief of staff weathered the campaign showing she knows how to deal with the unpredictable and narcissistic President. She's used to having knives out; that's Trump world. A political veteran her Washington experience is limited.
-- The Republican Supreme Court was a critical factor in Trump's election. They not only undercut the criminal case against him by granting him Presidential immunity from some offenses but dragged out the deliberations for so long it was impossible to try Trump. For the Trump agenda, the High Court won't offer many speed bumps

Some of the early prospective battles:
-- Elon Musk against much of America. The picture of the wealthiest man in the world surrounded by billionaire advisers deciding how much to slash government programs like Medicaid for the working poor and regulations designed to protect average folks is out of the gilded age.

There are, to be sure, both expenditures and regulations that can be cut or reformed. But this will be more of, by and for the privileged with some storm troopers as enforcers.

--- Marco Rubio vs. Pete Hegseth. Actually I'm not sure Hegseth will make it as Defense Secretary but, reflecting the President, there will an arch isolationist in the top ranks. Rubio trimmed his internationalist sails, and support for Ukraine's struggle against the Russian invaders, as he pandered to Trump first to be his running mate and then successfully for Secretary of State.
Ukraine still will be an early test. If Trump continues the Biden commitment, short term, it'll agitate the isolationists, some of whom are pro-Russian. If he sells out Ukraine that will further embolden Putin and deal a body blow to the Europeans. Will Rubio stand up for the international order?

--Scott Bessent vs Howard Lutnick. Both men wanted to be Treasury Secretary; Bessent, a hedge fund executive got it and Lutnick, CEO of a financial services firm, got the consolation spot, Commerce Secretary. The pugnacious Lutnick still has his sights on the top prize.|
This may be more a personal than a policy divide. It's not clear there are real differences on tariffs, trade or taxes. Bessent is more respected on Wall Street but neither has the standing of predecessors like Jim Baker, Bob Rubin, Larry Summers, Hank Paulson and Gina Raimondo.
--- Robert F Kennedy jr, the designated Secretary of Health and Human Services vs Brooke Rollins, tapped to be Agriculture Secretary. While some of Kennedy's flakey views such as vaccines cause autism have gotten the most attention, he also is passionate about healthier goods and reining in ultra processed foods and the use of pesticides in farming. He has made no secret on his intention to become involved here.
This has the farm community, which backed Trump, sounding the alarm, calling RFK jr a "danger" to agriculture. Rollins, though a graduate of Texas A & M where she was an agriculture major, has little experience in the field. But she has a close relationship with Trump and is more likely than Kennedy to enlist support from powerful congressional and industry allies.
It's impossible to predict the outcome of any splits in this next Administration. Trump has one domineering interest: himself.
He likes higher tariffs, lower taxes, and fewer migrants. But if any of those are costing him politically he'll change on a dime. And to him, loyalty is a one way street.