Early Trump picks signal hard-line security policy and GOP loyalty


President-elect Donald Trump's initial nominations signal a hard-line approach to security issues at home and abroad, as well as the new administration's willingness to smooth a historically rocky relationship with the Republican Party establishment.
The selections of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) as attorney general, Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) as CIA director, and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as national security adviser suggest Trump is serious about the aggressive national security rhetoric of his campaign. The Sessions pick has been particularly controversial among critics including the NAACP, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and civil libertarians like Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.).
But for much of the GOP, this is "a message not just about him following through on his campaign promises, but it's about partisanship," Princeton's Julian Zelizer told The Associated Press. "He's giving a signal to the Republicans to stick with him because he'll deliver."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Upcoming additional nominations are rumored to include former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown for secretary of veterans affairs and NSA Director Adm. Mike Rogers for director of national intelligence.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
Today's political cartoons - April 12, 2025
Cartoons Saturday's cartoons - drinking games, tiny hands, and more
By The Week US Published
-
5 invigoratingly funny cartoons about healing the economy
Cartoons Artists take on surgical precision, going under the knife, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Adjapsandali: Georgian-style ratatouille recipe
The Week Recommends Twist on the authentic recipe offers bursts of garlic and spices
By The Week UK Published
-
White House pushes for oversight of Columbia University
Speed Read The Trump administration is considering placing the school under a consent decree
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Supreme Court backs wrongly deported migrant
Speed Read The Trump administration must 'facilitate' the return of wrongfully deported migrant Kilmar Ábrego García from El Salvador, Supreme Court says
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Two judges bar war-powers deportations
Speed Read The Trump administration was blocked from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport more alleged Venezuelan gang members
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump pauses some tariffs but ramps up China tax
Speed Read The president suspended most 'reciprocal' tariffs for 90 days and raised his tariffs for China to 125%
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Ukraine nabs first Chinese troops in Russia war
Speed Read Ukraine claims to have f two Chinese men fighting for Russia
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
IRS chief resigning after ICE deal on taxpayer data
Speed Read Several IRS officials are stepping down after the tax agency is forced to share protected taxpayer records to further Trump's deportation drive
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Musk and Navarro feud as Trump's trade war escalates
Speed Read The spat between DOGE chief Elon Musk and Trump's top trade adviser Peter Navarro suggests divisions within the president's MAGA coalition
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, China up trade war risks with tariff threats
Speed Read China said it would 'fight to the end' after President Donald Trump threatened an additional 50% tariff on Chinese imports
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published