Weekend news that "Neocon Nikki" Haley is in talks to hit the campaign trail for Donald Trump should raise red flags to everyone cautiously optimistic that Trump 2.0 will avoid some of the personnel disasters that Trump 1.0 fell into time and time again. Haley was nicknamed "birdbrain" by Trump in the primaries and he swore that anyone supporting her campaign would be "permanently barred" from Trump's MAGA camp.
For her part, Haley accused Trump of being "unhinged," "just toxic," and "lacking moral clarity."
She even latched on to the left-neocon "Russiagate" narrative that former President Trump was soft on and even beholden to Russian president Vladimir Putin, accusing Trump of "siding with a murderous thug."
The former US president's son, Don, Jr. (accurately) quipped that Haley was "created in a laboratory by the neocons."
Now that Trump looks more likely to re-take 1600 Pennsylvania, however, Nikki's back and ready to stump for Trump. And she's not alone. The one thing neocons understand is how to maneuver around the shifting Washington sands of political power to make sure no matter who wins, they remain in charge. That's why some neocons like Bill Kristol and Liz (and Papa) Cheney rallied around the Kamala train.
Donald Trump has very publicly renounced and denounced many of the very people he had serving under him in his first administration, including John Bolton, Mark Esper, Mike Pence, and many others. For most of his administration it appeared his own staff was actively working against him and as soon as he was out of office most of his former "trusted" appointees lined up to attack their former boss.
That is why it is also curious that Politico - a publication with a pronounced anti-Trump bias - put out a piece today speculating on how a Trump 2.0 Cabinet might be populated. Now Politico is far from the worst, and in fact we consult it fairly often when we are thinking about our daily Liberty Report, but astute people in our era must consume mainstream media as in the Soviet era and look for the кто кого? - "who whom" - of the whole thing.
What is Politico really trying to say in the piece? Are they trying to inform or disrupt? At least they admit that they are "spitballing" in their speculation about who Trump might put into top diplomatic, military, and national security positions in his 2.0 Administration if it comes to that. But apparently they base it on his references to each person and whether he gets a positive or negative comment - which itself is a bit of Kremlinology.
For Secretary of State, Politico suggests that among five choices he may choose either...neocon Ric Grenell, neocon Robert O'Brien, or... drumroll... neocon "l'il" Marco Rubio!
Likewise for Defense Secretary, Politico reads the tea leaves and comes up with, among three possibilities, Sen. Tom Cotton or... drumroll... Mike "Lie, Cheat, Steal" Pompeo!!!
The bottom line is that the neocons are flocking back to the Trump world knowing that it is where the (nominal) seat of power may soon lie. They will flatter him and they will cajole those around them, and a propagandized public will smile and wink that the "experts" are flocking to his administration.
But what have these "experts" achieved? Nothing but failure for the past 25 years, starting with the failed response to 9/11 to the idiotic attack on Iraq to the fake justification for violence embedded in the "Arab Spring" narrative, to our current situation of being on the verge of war with Russia, Iran, China, and even BRICS.
They are fully terrible, but they know how to weasel their way into power. Will Trump 2.0 finally banish these parasites to the hinterlands where they belong? "Nikki...buh bye!"