The election of Donald Trump was never about one man. It was about the thousands of agency jobs at every level of government that would either be filled by men and women of principle — or the second coming of Eric Holders, Loretta Lynchs and Lois Lerners. With Trump’s victory, Americans didn’t just win back the White House — they won back Washington and its hundreds of levers of power, from civil rights commissions to the IRS’s office of tax exemption. And in the hotbed of U.S. rules and regulation creation, that may be the most important win of all last Tuesday.

Like every office, these agencies are only as good as their leaders. And [Thursday], Donald Trump showed conservatives that he’s doing everything he can to make sure those departments have the best people at the top. The first wave of key appointments hit the wire, reassuring America that the country was under new management. After the eight-year scandal-factory of the Justice Department, the president-elect is making it clear that it’s a new day at DOJ with the nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) as attorney general. For the senator, the first to endorse Trump, the DOJ is hardly new territory. “My previous 15 years working in the Department of Justice were extraordinarily fulfilling. I love the Department, its people and its mission. I can think of no greater honor than to lead them,” he said.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), whose name was also floated as a possible AG, congratulated the new administration on its pick. “Senator Jeff Sessions’s nomination as attorney general is great news for all of us who revere the Constitution and the rule of law. I have been honored to work with Senator Sessions on many of our nation’s most important issues over the last four years. Senator Sessions has had an extraordinary career in government and law enforcement. He has been an exemplary senator for the state of Alabama, and I am confident that he will be an exceptional United States attorney general.”

FRC has worked with Senator Sessions on a number of issues and could not be happier to watch him usher in a new era at DOJ — one that cherishes the Constitution and its protection of our freedom from government oppression. If there’s one thing we know about Senator Sessions, it’s that he understands the importance of all of our God-given rights, respects the law, and will be a vital part of restoring our nation to greatness.

Adding to the good news at DOJ is the announcement [Friday] that the president-elect has also tapped Congressman Mike Pompeo (R-Kans.), a great friend of FRC, to head the CIA. Pompeo, who’s served as a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, graduated first in his class at West Point, went to Harvard Law School, and earned the respect of a lot of people for his work in the Benghazi investigation. Of course, if conservatives respect these choices, it almost certainly guarantees that liberals will not. Almost immediately, the Left started working to undermine Pompeo — which is no surprise given his vocal criticism of the Obama Iranian nuclear deal and other foreign policy failures.

In another high-profile move, President-elect Trump also asked Lt. General Mike Flynn (U.S. Army-Ret.) to be his national security advisor. FRC’s own Lt. General, Jerry Boykin, applauded the move. “Lt. Gen. Flynn is an excellent choice for national security advisor. He is the best intelligence officer who has passed through the ranks of the Army in the last 50 years. He sees the world as it is, not as others would like it to be. He is candid in his assessments and most importantly, he is an agent of change — just what President Trump will need.”

As these great conservatives gear up for their confirmation fights, we remain encouraged. President-elect Trump is already making the most important decision: surrounding himself with solid advisors.

Originally published here.

In Leadership Race, Plenty of Democritics

Hillary Clinton may be having the worst month, but House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) isn’t far behind. The Democrats’ leader has a lot to answer for in the aftermath of the election, especially about her party’s massive underperformance in congressional races around the country. Thanks in part to the radical Left turn of President Obama, House Democrats have lost touch with voters — most of whom are more moderate than the party’s leadership. Now, saddled with a lot of the blame for the missed opportunities of the election, Pelosi is facing a serious challenge to her post as the chamber’s top Democrat. Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan (D) announced in a letter to his fellow members that this has never “been his life’s ambition,” but, like a lot of Democrats, he’s been doing some soul searching since Americans rejected the platform the party was offering.

“Under our current leadership,” Ryan wrote, “Democrats have been reduced to our smallest congressional minority since 1929.” The San Francisco values that have characterized Pelosi’s tenure aren’t resonating with the rest of America. “We need someone who can go into these congressional districts and talk to those voters, those blue-collar voters, who should be voting blue.”

Meanwhile, some Republicans are more than willing to back Pelosi in the challenge. In a tongue-in-cheek post from the National Republican Congressional Committee, Katie Martin thanked the Californian for her help in propelling the GOP to victory. “No single person deserves more credit for House Republicans’ historic majority than Nancy Pelosi,” she said. “Under Nancy Pelosi’s leadership, House Democrats have become completely irrelevant, and there is no better way to ensure that remains the case than by keeping her as Minority Leader. The NRCC offers its full support to Nancy Pelosi as she attempts to fend off this challenge to her failed leadership from within the ranks of her own party.”

Originally published here.

GOP Speaks Loud and Nuclear on SCOTUS Picks

What goes around comes around. Senate Republicans warned Harry Reid of that very thing when he pushed the plunger down on the dynamite blowing up the judicial nomination process in 2013. Three years ago, the outgoing Senate leader blew up the 225-year-old process and cleared the way for a simple majority to rubber stamp the President’s outrageous nominees. Instead of requiring 60 votes to end debate on a nomination, liberals lowered the threshold to 51. They call it the “nuclear option,” and rightly so, since it had the potential to explode in the Democrats’ face.

At the time, Senate Republicans like Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) warned the president’s party not to go through with it. By opening this door, Reid was almost guaranteeing that under a GOP president and Senate, the Democrats would suddenly be on the wrong side of the same rules they manipulated. “Democrats set the standard,” Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) reminded everyone this week. “They really screwed up the rules. Frankly, they did it for pure political purposes. Republicans are not limited now.” Incoming Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) may be on the verge of learning that lesson the hard way. With at least one Supreme Court vacancy to fill, the GOP is warning Democrats to avoid the temptation to obstruct. “We’re going to confirm the president’s nominee one way or the other. And there’s an easy way, and there’s a hard way,” Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said this week. “They just need to accept that reality.”

Fellow Texas Senator Ted Cruz ® echoed that message pointing out that the Democrats would never succeed in filibustering Donald Trump’s nominees. Not to mention that blocking the president-elect’s court picks — especially when so many Americans listed SCOTUS as one of their primary concerns — would put the Democrats on the wrong side of voters again. As Leonard Leo, the Executive Vice President of the Federalist Society (which help Trump craft his Supreme Court list) pointed out, “Mr. Trump has a plane and double-digit victories where Senate Democrats are up for re-election, obstructing his nominees will be a political loser.” And while incoming Minority Leader Schumer has another six years before facing voters again, 25 of his colleagues won’t be so lucky. Playing nice on Trump’s nominees isn’t just the best decision for the country — but for a struggling Democratic Party.

Originally published here.

This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.