Not Without Incident: Questioning Big Brother's Platitudes

I: Swamp Creature Casting Call

Many are panicking and horrified at the prospect of a second Trump presidency. Now that it will happen, corporate and independent media outlets are in terror mode. I’ve received tons of emails from outlets like Common Dreams, In These Times, Jacobin, and The Guardian (I am a subscriber to all these magazines), expressing fear and a promise that they will hold Trump accountable in the impending ‘dark times’. However, for millions, these are already dark times. Despair predates and explains Trump. It did not abruptly manifest when he was elected president in 2016, nor did it subside when Biden defeated him in 2020. Despair is exactly what won Trump this election. While people are right to be concerned, both those who support Trump and those who are opposed to him, unless we begin to collectively understand why Trump and demagogic leaders like him are still incredibly successful, populism will not go away, and our rotten politics will continue to excrete vile figures each more disgusting than the last. While most of Trump’s picks so far are establishment goons, there are a few bright spots who, if confirmed in the Senate, may make some necessary changes to the US security state and the foreign policy blob.

Leading Trump’s transition team is Brian Hook, a psychopathic hawk on Iran who served in Trump’s first administration and defended imposing punishing sanctions on Tehran.[i] He has already confirmed that Trump is determined to “weaken Iran”, which the Biden regime is already doing, despite claims that he has gifted them millions of dollars, allowing them to fund anti-Western terrorism around the world. Trump’s cabinet picks so far do not differ from those in Biden’s administration.

Trump announced on Truth Social that Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo, who served in his first term, will not be returning.[ii] While this is relieving, Trump’s picks so far show that once again, he will govern as a standard Republican.

Before people freak out over his return to the White House and what it means for the ‘US led world order’, they should consider his choices for principal cabinet positions so far. Trump appears to be shaping a regime that is exactly like his predecessors in operation, with a slight difference in rhetoric and style. There will be little to no use of humanitarian jargon, the cold war with China will escalate, potentially becoming a hot war over the Taiwan Strait, and the trade war with China will certainly escalate. Biden is complicit in this escalation as well, since he increased tariffs earlier this year instead of rescinding them like he promised to do during his 2020 campaign, however, Trump is going to take this further. He has also threatened to punish countries that dedollarize. Trump has reacted to countries like China and Brazil conducting transactions in their own currency instead of the dollar by saying that “They’re not going to leave the dollar with me” and he declared that “I’ll say, ‘You leave the dollar, you’re not doing business with the United States, because we’re going to put 100% tariff on your goods.’”[iii] Though still far away, a future where many nations trade in their own currency, bypassing the US dollar, is inevitable, and the BRICs countries, led by China and Russia, who conduct approximately 90% of their bilateral trade in their own currencies is a harbinger of this.[iv]

This shift from the US dollar will continue. Scolding and threatening other nations considering the switch will only accelerate it. Trump’s threats on this issue perfectly embody the illiberalism of the US empire. As Christopher J. Coyne notes, the upkeep of a liberal empire relies on illiberalism, and he points out that everyone who works on US foreign policy has the interventionist mindset, a mentality molded by American exceptionalism and the superiority complex that it creates.[v] He remarks that “the job of running the liberal empire falls on a largely lawless, illiberal group of American government officials and political elites, who are given wide, discretionary power (largely outside of the US Constitution) over the lives of peoples and nations, including their fellow citizens.”[vi] The difference between someone like Trump and Biden is that, under Biden, the illiberal political elites Coyne refers to, or as I call them, the illiberal liberals, which I think better captures their governing ideology that Coyne discusses, a liberalism imposed and solidified through illiberalism, is dressed up in the language and symbols of liberalism. With Trump, that veneer is absent, and all that is visible is illiberalism, and Trump is not an isolationist, he is an “illiberal internationalist”, in the words of John Feffer. Biden and Harris may be liberal internationalists, but they adhere to a liberalism that is reliant on illiberal practices.

Trump’s cabinet picks so far not only reflect his illiberalism, but the illiberalism innate in American empire. During Trump’s first presidency, the realist scholar Barry Posen argued in an article published in Foreign Affairs that Trump was pursuing a strategy of illiberal hegemony, not isolationism.[vii] Where Trump’s predecessors sought US primacy underpinned by a purpose, liberalism and its promotion, he imposed a foreign policy undergirded by “primacy without purpose”, where there is a preference for bilateral, not multilateral, agreements and global institutions are skirted if they are perceived to be taking advantage of the US.[viii] For example, Trump withdrew the US from the Paris Climate Accord because he argued that it is an agreement that “disadvantages the United States to the exclusive benefit of other countries, leaving American workers- who I love-and taxpayers to absorb the cost in terms of lost jobs, lower wages, shuttered factories, and vastly diminished economic production.”[ix] This illustrates Trump’s transactional approach to foreign policy, which has been noted extensively by many scholars, however, what most of these analysts miss is that US foreign policy is inherently transactional, as maintaining the ‘liberal’ empire requires forming alliances based on who either shares the ideology of Western exceptionalism or dictatorships who are willing to serve US interests in exchange for the guarantee that they will not be deposed, not a collective or universalist understanding of human rights or democracy.

Scholars and pundits who are invested in and dependent on the myth of liberal hegemony see Trump as an affront to their dogma of liberal internationalism, not as a challenge to their ideas. Posen makes the point, in response to liberal critiques of Trump’s 2017 National Security Strategy that it is bereft of liberal rhetoric, that Trump’s challenge to their ideas should be a “matter of debate, not a matter of faith.”, and he writes that “in the case of the United States, the liberal gloss does not appear to have made hegemony all that easy to achieve or sustain. For nearly 30 years, the United States tested the hypothesis that the liberal character of its hegemonic project made it uniquely achievable. The results suggest that the experiment failed.”[x] Instead of accepting that the experiment has failed, the illiberal liberal class insists that Trump is an aberration, a blip, however, his return to the White House is proof that he and his challenge to the ‘liberal world order’ is not simply a nuisance.

With Trump’s first term, Biden’s first term, and now a second Trump term, the US has officially become an illiberal hegemon. It does not matter who follows Trump, after his second term ends, the liberal world order, or at least, the imagined liberal world order, or as John Mearsheimer calls it, the ‘liberal delusion’, will be gone. The once liberal empire will just be an empire, with all the illiberal behavior that its maintenance needs.

A Few Disruptors

There are a few brights spot in Trump’s picks so far. His decision to appoint Tom Homan as his border czar, which was supposed to be Kamala Harris’ role, shows that he is serious about controlling the flood of migrants that Biden has done little to slow or prevent. His plans to undertake mass deportations of illegal immigrants will inevitably meet legal challenges from outfits like the ACLU and immigration activists. Homan is the former director if ICE, and his title of border czar is unofficial and is thus not subject to Senate confirmation. This will complicate challenges to his orders.

It was once a position of the then pro-labor left that illegal immigration/undocumented workers hurt the prospects and wages of American workers. For example, Bernie Sanders, who now proposes that an executive order declare that all undocumented immigrants who have resided in the US for at least 5 years to be protected from deportation, like the kind of policy that Trump and Homan are now calling for, once condemned mass immigration as a plot by corporations to amass cheap labor, undercutting American workers. This is a complete contrast to Sanders’ previous position on illegal immigration and its impact on US workers. In a conversation with Vox’s Ezra Klein, he called open borders policy “a Koch brothers’ proposal” that would “make America poorer” and that it is the right wing, meaning corporatists, in America who support an open border policy because then they “bring in people to work for 2 or 3 dollars an hour.”[xi] Sanders has since softened his position on immigration. It is evident from Trump’s surge in Latino support, especially from working class men, that there is a class-based desire to control immigration, not one rooted in white supremacy or xenophobia.

Trump’s other picks that better represent his America First doctrine are his nomination of Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence, Matt Gaetz for Attorney General, and RFK Jr. for Director of Health and Human Services. These three picks are being ripped apart by the conservative elites as well as the rest of the illiberal liberal class. While pundits like Ben Shapiro and the writers at The National Review are in awe of figures like Rubio and Waltz, they use the same arguments against Gabbard, RFK Jr. and Gaetz as the liberal elite. They argue that Gabbard is a ‘Russian agent’. David Frum tweeted on X “Why not cut out the middlewoman and just name Putin as director of national intelligence?”, and a Time article quotes an intelligence official who says “we are reeling” upon hearing about Gabbard being named Trump’s Director of National Intelligence.[xii] Many articles refer to her inexperience and her alleged affinity for Russia.[xiii] This is rooted in claims that Hillary Clinton made in 2019 during the Democratic primaries. Clinton claimed that Gabbard was being ‘groomed by the Russians’ to run as a third-party candidate and to split the vote from Biden, ensuring Trump’s victory in the 2020 race.[xiv] She provided no evidence, but as we know, when you invoke Russia and the dastardly Putin, you do not need to provide evidence.

Gabbard’s secret meeting with Assad, where she told him that he is not a US adversary, is noted as proof that Gabbard is disloyal to America. Not only are these attacks on Gabbard disgusting and moronic, they show that this is one of Trump’s best picks, as she is seen as a genuine threat by the entrenched bureaucracy who rely on the rotted system staying as it is currently constituted, but they illustrate how deeply unserious the illiberal liberal class is. Just like they refer to Trump as Adolf Hitler, only for him to welcomed with smiles and handshakes into the White House by Biden and his acolytes, they refer to Gabbard as a traitor to the US, but treason is a serious offense.[xv] If they truly believe that Gabbard is what they claim she is, then she should be subject to investigation, however, they will not do this, as their attacks on her are driven by fear of losing their stranglehold on domestic and foreign policy, not by serious concerns about treason.

Gaetz is Trump’s third best pick. His voting record in Congress shows an official committed to combatting corporate power and ending militarism abroad.[xvi] Reactions to his nomination in the mainstream press all refer to the various allegations made against him that are part of an investigation being conducted by the House Ethics Committee. Since he just resigned, the Ethics Committee can no longer continue to compile its report on him, however, the panel will likely vote to release the report so that its findings can be used for questioning during his Senate Confirmation hearing.[xvii] Many, even other Republicans, are flabbergasted and unimpressed with Gaetz being selected as Attorney General. According to John Bolton, this “must be the worst nomination for a cabinet position in American history”, and if anyone is the worst nomination in American history, its probably Bolton for Trump’s National Security Adviser.[xviii] Trump has positioned himself rhetorically as an opposition to the ‘deep state’, so these selections signal at least a partial commitment to ‘draining the swamp’, however, most of his picks imply a continuation of illiberal internationalism.

Mostly Swamp Creatures

Aside from Homan, Gabbard, and Gaetz, Trump’s picks so far are horrendous and goonish. He has selected Representative Elise Stefanik as his UN Ambassador. Stefanik is a fanatical supporter of Israel, and she berated the presidents of various universities over how they handled pro-Palestine protests on their campuses.[xix] She previously served as a domestic policy adviser to George Bush and a campaign adviser for Paul Ryan when he was running alongside Mitt Romney in 2012, and she has since championed the religious right’s crusade against an alleged rise in antisemitism. Trump refers to her as an “America First fighter”, however, her priority seems to be defending Israel, not the US.

America and Israel stand alone on many issues at the UN, notably on the US embargo on Cuba. Trump is also reportedly considering Florida Senator Marco Rubio, or “little Marco” as Trump called him during the 2015-16 Republican primaries, for Secretary of State. Rubio is no different than Antony Blinken. Although he agrees with Trump that the Ukraine war is at a brutal stalemate and that it should be brought to a swift end, he also shares animus for China, Iran, and he passed legislation last year that makes it more difficult for the president to withdraw from NATO, which does not name Trump directly but obviously targets him.[xx] This move alone should dissuade Trump from picking him, however, this is likely a signal that, just as it was in 2016, Trump’s cries to “drain the swamp” are phony. This is further proven with his pick for NSA director, Representative Mike Waltz, who is harsh in his condemnation of Biden’s withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan. Waltz has consistently argued that the US military should return there to protect the Afghan people.[xxi] He also worked as a counterterrorism adviser to former Vice President Dick Cheney, nullifying Trump’s claim that he would abstain from appointing any Bush era hawks. Waltz constantly refers to his experience as a Green Beret and his close work with Western allies in Afghanistan, however, he fails to mention that he made millions as a defense contractor, acquiring contracts to train forces fighting the Taliban.[xxii] He is estimated to have made 26 million dollars after selling the defense firm he founded, Metis Solutions, to Pacific Architects and Engineers. Waltz sold his stock options and equity in Metis Solutions just before Trump announced his plan to withdraw the US from Afghanistan, which was subsequently fulfilled by Biden. Waltz’s voting record shows that he is the exact opposite of a non-interventionist/America First advocate. His view on Ukraine and Russia may have evolved to line up with Trump’s, but instead of retrenchment or restraint, he, like mostly all in the America First lobby, seeks a US grand strategy which prioritizes China and the Indo-Pacific. He makes this argument in his book, Hard Truths: Think and Lead Like a Green Beret, published in October this year.[xxiii] This mirrors the position of people like Matt Pottinger, who staffed Trump’s first administration.

On most issues, Trump’s administration will not make any sweeping changes to foreign policy or even domestic policy, despite what the illiberal liberal class is screaming about in the pages of outlets like The New York Times and The Washington Post. Considering these potential officials and advisers, as well as much of the conservative elite who supports Trump, it is inevitable that he will function more like he did in his first term than a true populist, on domestic and foreign policy. Many of the issues that pundits fret about the most which Trump could impose dramatic change, like withdrawing from NATO or ending the war in Ukraine, would be a boon, not a dire state of affairs, talking to North Korea’s Kim Jong Ung, after four more years of belligerence and hostility, including drills conducted with South Korea intent on deposing the Kim Jong Ung’s regime, it would be beneficial for Trump to cool tensions. Trump himself often speaks of ‘peace through strength’, a foundational concept in conservative internationalism, not ‘isolationism’. Trump is no isolationist, and this is why he is not selecting an isolationist for Secretary of State or Secretary of Defense. Trump has few firm beliefs, but he firmly believes in the US having the most technologically advanced and capable military in the world. Thus, the defense budget will continue to explode. America’s military presence around the world will not decrease, as it should, and if anything, it will increase further, especially in the Middle East and Indo-Pacific. As some, like Andrew Latham have noted, Trump’s grand strategy is one of restraint, not isolationism, and that while it is a detraction from liberal internationalism, it is more realist and practical, focusing American power on ‘revisionist powers’ like China, Russia and Iran, and not wasting time and hard power in regions that are not significant for American interests.[xxiv] Based on Trump’s first term, outside of troop withdrawals from Somalia and his attempted withdrawal from Syria, as well as his plan to leave Afghanistan, concluded by Biden in 2021, Trump operated as a Reaganite conservative internationalist, or as Feffer and Posen refer to it, an illiberal hegemony or internationalism. Trump does not seek a world stage bereft of the US, he and his regime will seek a world stage dominated by the US with brute force and demands.

Conclusion

If you want to stop Trump and his political movement, demonizing his supporters and dismissing them as ‘retards’ or ‘troglodytes’ is not the optimal strategy. Those who were cast aside by globalization and who are now being tossed aside by the AI and robotics revolution must be treated with dignity and given an alternative to their despair and economic insecurity. The displaced class will grow in number, and they will not be helped by a Trump or a Democratic presidency.

There is what is at first glance a silver lining to Trump’s victory and looming presidency. For four years, the illiberal liberal class will pretend to care about the crimes of US empire. This is only a silver lining at first glance because on deeper analysis, it is not criticism based on principle or a moral compass, it is criticism based on hatred for Trump and more importantly, his supporters, who the ruling class feels are too stupid and ignorant to have a voice in foreign and even domestic affairs. Most policy is not subject to civil opinion or observation. The illiberal liberal class’s disgust of the demos and their desire to control social media and freedom of speech embodies the critique made decades ago by scholars like Samuel Huntington of democracy, that there is too much, there is an “excess of democracy”.[xxv]

The permanent regime which controls policy in the US has proven itself to be beyond any criticism or questioning by citizens or by officials elected by citizens, despite the norm in US politics that the military be under civilian control, not the authority of unelected officials. The behavior of many military and intelligence officials during Trump’s presidency proves that this norm is mythical.

The rush to ‘Trump-proof’ alliances and ‘Biden’s legacy’, as well as other policies, is not a move to stop Trump from destroying the ‘liberal world order’ they so cherish, it is a move to stop his supporters from having a say in how the US and the West conduct international affairs. It is demos proofing, not Trump-proofing. I will discuss this in more detail in my next essay for this series.

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[i] Gramer, Robbie. “Calling All Nat Sec Wonks: These Are the Transition Positions You Should Be Paying Attention to – Live Updates – POLITICO.” POLITICO. Politico, November 8, 2024. https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/11/07/congress/national-security-transition-donald-trump-00188379.

[ii] Bazail-Eimil, Eric, and Daniel Lippman. “Trump Rejects Pompeo, Haley for Cabinet – Live Updates – POLITICO.” POLITICO. Politico, November 10, 2024. https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/11/08/congress/trump-rejects-pompeo-haley-for-cabinet-00188619.

[iii] Norton, Ben. “Trump Threatens to Punish De-Dollarization: ‘I Would Not Allow Countries to Go off the Dollar’ – Geopolitical Economy Report.” Geopolitical Economy Report, September 14, 2024. https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2024/09/13/trump-threat-punish-dedollarization-dollar/.

[iv] Norton. ‘I Would Not Allow Countries to Go off the Dollar’ – Geopolitical Economy Report.”

[v] Coyne, Christopher J. In Search of Monsters to Destroy. Independent Institute, 2022.

[vi] Coyne. In Search of Monsters to Destroy.

[vii] Posen, Barry R. “The Rise of Illiberal Hegemony.” Foreign Affairs, August 22, 2022. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/rise-illiberal-hegemony.

[viii] Posen. “The Rise of Illiberal Hegemony.”

[ix] The White House. “President Trump Announces U.S. Withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord – the White House.” trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov, June 1, 2017. https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/articles/president-trump-announces-u-s-withdrawal-paris-climate-accord/.

[x] Posen. “The Rise of Illiberal Hegemony.”

[xi] Vox, Ezra Klein, and Bernie Sanders. “Bernie Sanders: ‘Open Borders? That’s a Koch Brothers Proposal.’” YouTube, July 29, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vf-k6qOfXz0.

[xii] Bennett, Brian. “‘We Are Reeling’: Trump’s Pick of Tulsi Gabbard Alarms Intelligence Community.” TIME. Time, November 15, 2024. https://time.com/7176696/gabbard-russia-connection-trump-intelligence/., and Frum, David. “X David Frum Tweet.” X (formerly Twitter), 2024. https://x.com/davidfrum/status/1856792324816175419.

[xiii] McNamee, Michael Sheils. “Who Is Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s New National Intelligence Director?” BBC, November 14, 2024. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9vnx8zn440o., and Spetalnick, Matt, Michael Martina, and Humeyra Pamuk. “Spy World Vexed by Trump Choice of Gabbard as US Intelligence Chief.” Reuters, November 15, 2024. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/spy-world-vexed-by-trump-choice-gabbard-us-intelligence-chief-2024-11-14/.

[xiv] Merica, Dan. “Hillary Clinton Suggests Russians Are ‘Grooming’ Tulsi Gabbard for Third-Party Run.” CNN, October 18, 2019. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/18/politics/hillary-clinton-tulsi-gabbard/index.html.

[xv] Chidi, George. “Trump to Meet with House Republicans and Biden to Begin Transfer of Power.” the Guardian. The Guardian, November 13, 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/13/trump-republicans-biden-transfer-of-power.

[xvi] Singh, Arjun. “The Populist Paradox of Matt Gaetz.” The Lever, November 14, 2024. https://www.levernews.com/lever-time-premium-the-populist-paradox-of-matt-gaetz-2/., and Stoller, Matt. “Trump Nominates ‘Khanservative’ Matt Gaetz as Attorney General.” Thebignewsletter.com. BIG by Matt Stoller, November 14, 2024. https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/trump-nominates-khanservative-matt.

[xvii] Diaz, Daniella, Olivia Beavers, Jordain Carney, Nicholas Wu, and Mia McCarthy. “Ethics Panel Faces Existential Crisis over Gaetz Report – POLITICO.” POLITICO. Politico, November 2024. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/11/15/ethics-panel-gaetz-report-00189863.

[xviii] Crane, Emily. “John Bolton Calls Matt Gaetz as AG ‘the Worst Nomination for a Cabinet Position in American History.’” New York Post, November 14, 2024. https://nypost.com/2024/11/14/us-news/john-bolton-calls-matt-gaetzs-ag-nomination-worst-in-american-history/.

[xix] Stefanik, Elise. “ICYMI: Stefanik Questions University Professors on Failure of University Leaders to Address the Rise of Antisemitism on Campuses.” Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, June 26, 2024. https://stefanik.house.gov/2024/6/icymi-stefanik-questions-university-professors-on-failure-of-university-leaders-to-address-the-rise-of-antisemitism-on-campuses., and Wilkins, Brett. “Trump Cabinet Picks So Far Decried as ‘Nightmare Fuel’ | Common Dreams.” Common Dreams, November 11, 2024. https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-cabinet-picks.

[xx] Kelly, Laura. “Congress Approves Bill barring Any President from Unilaterally Withdrawing from NATO.” The Hill, December 14, 2023. https://thehill.com/homenews/4360407-congress-approves-bill-barring-president-withdrawing-nato/.

[xxi] Waltz, Michael. “Rep. Michael Waltz: We Can Still Save Afghanistan but We Need Bold Leadership — Now.” Fox News, August 13, 2021. https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/afghanistan-leadership-rep-michael-waltz.

Waltz, Mike. Hard Truths. St. Martin’s Press, 2024.

[xxii] Fang, Lee. “Congressman Seeking to Relaunch Afghan War Made Millions in Defense Contracting.” The Intercept, August 20, 2021. https://theintercept.com/2021/08/20/mike-waltz-afghanistan/.

[xxiii] Waltz, Mike. Hard Truths. St. Martin’s Press, 2024.

[xxiv] Latham, Andrew. “The Sky Isn’t Falling: Trump’s Foreign Policy Won’t Be a Catastrophe.” The Hill, November 9, 2024. https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4981472-the-sky-isnt-falling-trumps-foreign-policy-wont-be-a-catastrophe/.

[xxv] Dalton, Joseph. “Huntington Warns Breakdown due to Excessive Democracy.” Thecrimson.com, 1976. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1976/3/24/huntington-warns-breakdown-due-to-excessive/.

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References

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Bennett, Brian. “‘We Are Reeling’: Trump’s Pick of Tulsi Gabbard Alarms Intelligence Community.” TIME. Time, November 15, 2024. https://time.com/7176696/gabbard-russia-connection-trump-intelligence/.

Chidi, George. “Trump to Meet with House Republicans and Biden to Begin Transfer of Power.” the Guardian. The Guardian, November 13, 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/13/trump-republicans-biden-transfer-of-power.

Coyne, Christopher J. In Search of Monsters to Destroy. Independent Institute, 2022.

Crane, Emily. “John Bolton Calls Matt Gaetz as AG ‘the Worst Nomination for a Cabinet Position in American History.’” New York Post, November 14, 2024. https://nypost.com/2024/11/14/us-news/john-bolton-calls-matt-gaetzs-ag-nomination-worst-in-american-history/.

Dalton, Joseph. “Huntington Warns Breakdown due to Excessive Democracy.” Thecrimson.com, 1976. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1976/3/24/huntington-warns-breakdown-due-to-excessive/.

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Fang, Lee. “Congressman Seeking to Relaunch Afghan War Made Millions in Defense Contracting.” The Intercept, August 20, 2021. https://theintercept.com/2021/08/20/mike-waltz-afghanistan/.

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Kelly, Laura. “Congress Approves Bill barring Any President from Unilaterally Withdrawing from NATO.” The Hill, December 14, 2023. https://thehill.com/homenews/4360407-congress-approves-bill-barring-president-withdrawing-nato/.

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Spetalnick, Matt, Michael Martina, and Humeyra Pamuk. “Spy World Vexed by Trump Choice of Gabbard as US Intelligence Chief.” Reuters, November 15, 2024. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/spy-world-vexed-by-trump-choice-gabbard-us-intelligence-chief-2024-11-14/.

Stefanik, Elise. “ICYMI: Stefanik Questions University Professors on Failure of University Leaders to Address the Rise of Antisemitism on Campuses.” Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, June 26, 2024. https://stefanik.house.gov/2024/6/icymi-stefanik-questions-university-professors-on-failure-of-university-leaders-to-address-the-rise-of-antisemitism-on-campuses.

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Waltz, Mike. Hard Truths. St. Martin’s Press, 2024.

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