December Washington Memo

Are Trump's cabinet picks friends of civil liberties?

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Donald Trump will be president. Again. His first presidency was marked by the expansion of the Espionage Act from journalists’ sources to journalists, demonization of left-wing protesters with a corresponding task force on “Anti-Authority Extremists,” and an escalation of US air wars, regime change plots, and undeclared military action. In spite of Trump’s supposed animosity to the deep state, his administration attempted to renew abused foreign counterintelligence authorities. 

During Trump’s campaign, he made a clear effort to use his supposed hostility to the “deep state” to court libertarian voters. And the author of the Muslim Ban made an effort to target Muslim-American voters with ads about Harris’s ties to the Cheneys and support for Israel's war on Gaza.

Trump is neither a civil libertarian nor a peacenik. And those expecting Trump’s administration to head in that direction will be sorely disappointed. This is evidenced by the majority of his cabinet nominees. While there are some exceptions, the majority of Trump’s picks have shown contempt for civil liberties and ease with the US’s aggressive and militaristic foreign policy. Ultimately, the key commonality amongst Trump’s selection is loyalty to the president himself. This has prompted critics to raise concerns that Trump attempts to use the government to attack his opponents and shield himself from accountability. Nonetheless, Trump’s decision to court more libertarian minded voters presents some unusual avenues.  

For us, two positions of concern are Attorney General and FBI Director. The FBI has the primary responsibility for foreign counterintelligence surveillance domestically in the US and has a long history of abusing national security powers to spy on dissent. Formally, the FBI is a component of the Department of Justice and some of the core checks on FBI powers come from guidelines imposed by the Attorney General.