senate republicans meet today behind closed doors to vote on who will replace mitch mcconnell as their leader. fire 75% of the federal bureaucrats. >> we're going to get the government off your back and out of your pocketbook. >> it's a dog e doge world. the president-elect naming him and vivek ramaswamy to run the department of government efficiency or the doge. all right. 6:00 a.m. here on the east coast. a live look at new york city. it's a beautiful sunrise there on this wednesday morning. kind of chilly here on the east coast. finally getting winter weather. good morning, everyone. i'm kasie hunt. wonderful to have you with us.

president- elect donald trump will set foot back in the oval office, since the first time departed in disgrace in 2021. can't show you pictures of the traditional en between the outgoing president and the incoming one, because it didn't happen. invited to the white house back in 2016. trump denied biden this courtesy in 2020 as trump denied he had lost. in 2016, trump was relatively unprepared to govern. this time trump's visit to the oval office comes as the president- elect is planning to ÷÷remake government in his own image including the u.s. military. trump selected fox news host pete hegseth as secretary of defense. sources telling cnn that decision was based in part on trump's respect for hegseth's service in the army. and on optics with one source saying "trump also thinks he has the "look. "

quote/unquote. a long- standing relationship having been interviewed a number of times on fox when they had this now telling exchange. >> laura from nebraska said i'm the mother of two army officers. what are you going to do to rebuild our military? i add to that, rip out the woke stuff that's happening. service members, embedded in our pentagon right now. >> you know the military better than anybody. i put him in charge. i often think of it. i talked to him about it a little bit. >> hegseth's announcement coming as the "wall street journal" reports that the trump transition team is consider ing a draft creating a panel of retired military personnel entitled to review and recommend removal of three and four-tar general four-tar -- four- star generals. claims the military is being undermined. >> one thing to have dei inside your corporation or university.

another thing inside the 101st airborne. move to a different state if you want to go to a different rate. one military. the military goes woke, less equipped the wars that we fight. >> haven't had women in combat roles. we've served with women, and they're great, it's just our institutions don't have to incentivize that in places where traditionally -- not traditionally. over human history men in those positions are more capable. >> all right. our panelist here stephen collins and cnn senior politics reporter and national political reporter for axios karen finney and advisor to hillary clinton 2016 campaign and brad todd, cnn contradicter and republican strategist. welcome to all of you. thank you so much for being here. brad and also karen, my question is whether or not this man is going to be able to be

confirmed, because if you look at the gop senators' reacting, lisa murkowski, "wow. " senator thom tillis "interesting. " "i trust the president to make a good choice, another senator. and then "i just don't know much about the background and his vision. " obviously made comments about women in the military and two women collins and murkowskimurkowski willing to vote for him. is this confirmable? >> i think. 53 republican senators. a big victory gets you cushion in confirmation. and backing hegseth. our armed forces has about 2. 1 million in uniform. 775,000 in guard and reserves. pete hegseth will make history as a national guardsman, secretary of defense. those are politically act

ive back home. a big, big move by the national guard to get pete hegseth confirmed. >> one of the republican lobbyists quoted saying something i can't repeat on air using the "f" bomb to describe the pick. >> i think we have this. "who the f is this guy? defense reacting to -- >> that's going to help him. >> look, two things. one, you said it in the intro. he looks good. that's been an important criteria for president trump picking a vp pick as well. the question whether or not he can actually manage, has he ever managed something. the pentagon is huge. has he ever managed? but donald trump was looking for someone who would just follow orders. who will say, when the president says i want you to use troops on american soil against american people --

>> that's an outrapes geous. the election's over. give the president a chance to run the country. do what 75 million americans voted for him. >> quoting wa he says. he said he might consider using the military on american soil against americans. campaign's over. the campaign is over. >> i'm quoting your guy. just quoting what he said. >> karen, i don't want to cut you off. your mic is not picked up correctly on the broadcast. we're going to push pause and try to fix that and also we have breaking news. this just in -- the "new york times" reporting this morning that jack smith, who is the special counsel, who, of course, pursued two federal prosecutions of donald trump is planning to finish his work and resign before mr. trump, the "times" reports, takes office in january. people familiar with his plans said.

the "times" writes radio, , "mr. smith's goal not to leave any of his work for others to complete and get ahead of trump firing him before being sworn in. " you paint a pick picture here at cnn. this is really the big picture of trump having won the election the way he did, setting down of these prosecutions, and criminal accountability for what happened on january 6th. what does this mean? >> a very tangible sign that trump as we know because he won the election is going to pay no price politically potentially legally in a criminal trial for what happened four years ago and which we would be reminded of today when the president- elect showing up to the white house to meet president joe biden. key thing here is, by resigning now jack smith will presumably give himself the chance to write a report summing up a lot of the

evidence that he would have presented in a trial and while i don't think that is going to change anything, because trump won the election, at least it puts it down on the historical record, justifies some of the decisions he made. >> alex, how is this going to be viewed across the board if there is a report, for example, sure to get backlash from the trump team and seen as a historical document on the democratic side? >> not going to fire me. i quit. an example of this. and what you're going to see is, if he does write this report it is going to make trump do what he's already even be -- be more motivated, basically declare war on federal bureaucracy. he felt undermined last time and picked the fox news host. felt james mattis undermined

him. this administration will be more restraining than the other one. >> talks about it many times at this table and one borne out here. brad, right thing to do for jack smith? >> i don't think he who a choice and over 77% of the american public think these prosecutions are politically motivated including a lot who voted for kamala harris. this is jack smith accepting the will of the american public. >> agreed. better to quit. get out of the country, my advice. >> traumatic. talking about this throughout ÷÷the morning. straight ahead on cnn, john bolton joins us, what he sees as donald trump assembles his second white house. and mike johnson fighting to hold on to the gavel we'll hear from congressmen from both sides of the aisle. and president- elect

trump picks mike huckabee to be the next u.s. ambassador to israel. will any of his past comments complicate an already tense situation in the middle east? you're seeing a scrambling all over the middle east of countries suddenly trying to behave differently because they know a new sheriff has come to town and this isn't a one- bullet barney with a bug it in his shirt pocket. this is the real deal.

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connect to the world of wicked this holiday, only in theaters november 22nd. only one solution.

hamas surrenders. like trying to negotiate with the nazi in world war ii. you don't. you beat them, defeat them, ired ra kate them. quit talking about a two- state solution. all that does reward the actions of hamas. >> former arkansas governor mike huckabee now president- elect's pick to be the next u.s. ambassador to israel. the former republican presidential candidates an unflinched advocate for israel throughout his political and television career. uncovering this statement from puck huckabee back in 2008. >> be careful saying this, because people will really get upset, a palestinian. >> huckabee also believes that if a palestinian state is created it should be situated in egypt, syria or jordan. >> there are certain words i refuse to use. there is no such thing as a west bank. it's judea, no settlements. communities, neighborhoods, cities. there's no such thing as an occupation.

>> all right. our panel is back. stephen collins, israel, benjamin netanyahu's israel, likely to welcome this pick? worth noting huckabee is the first in quite some time to not be jewish in this role and evangelical christians, huckabee's defining political identity, have a very specific relationship with the jewish state, and you heard him articulate some of that here. what does that mean? >> a clear sign the administration's first policy which was very moving towards netanyahu coalition will continue, and will go even further. it will be regarded as a disaster by palestinians who still are a long way from that two- state solution, which now seems almost likely never to happen given events of the last few, the last year or so. i think it poses two real questions notwithstanding

the fact that the ambassadors don't make the policy. the president does. how will this be seen by some of trump's allies in the arab world with whom , you know, he wants to create this realignment to the middle east between israel, some of the gulf states and iran? that could be a problem, if this is the, you know, the trump policy. >> brad, how do you see that piece of this? >> i think if you look back at the first trump administration the sill cher foreign policy success happened in israel. democrats lost their mind when donald trump moved the embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem even though many voted for it. terrible, cause disruptions. it didn't. instead what happened soon as the united states was fully behind israel, we got peace accords. making peace with israel first tile. i think donald trump figured out the code. the united states has to stand with israel, make it completely clear it stands with israel and things will begin to take

place and work out in the middle east. a good pick opinion spent a lot of time in israel. a lot of relationships there israel, huckabee has. a good deal. >> not de- escalate the conflict and a lot of potential quill >> if violence continues to unravel the way we've seen and he's who not able be to stop the violence a stain on his administration early on depending how it plays out. still coming up on "cnn news central," donald trump making good on campaign promises. one of them, elon musk. the new role the president- elect selected for the tech mogul. in hours senate republicans set to choose their next leader.

the area around the jennings creek fire burning on it's new jersey-new york border is getting much- needed relief. get to our meteorologist derek van dam. what should folks expect this morning? >> kasie, improving conditions, not out of the woods yet. the 95 corridor cool, windy, very dry today. still have red flag warnings in place for massachusetts, rhode island, massachusetts and notice rhode island where the fire is located near the border of new york and new jersey, not there. very dry air. you see how the relative humidity levels dropped quickly throughout the course of the morning hours out of that wind from the northwest gusting

to 20 to 30 miles per hour at times. especially this morning. improving conditions by this evening. a storm system across central parts of the u.s. a quick look at temperatures. told you it would be cool. 58 48 in new york city. forming across the southwestern caribbean, an area the national hurricane center identified as 90% probability of tropical development within the next seven days. the computer model. you can see it could impact the yucatan peninsula and a general curve to the northeast that could bring impacts middle to second half of next week into the florida peninsula. we need to monitor and pay close attention to through the course of the weekend. kasie, we'll be all over it. >> thank you. derek van dam. hope you don't have to come back and cover that for the sake of everyone in its path but appreciate you, if you to. >> all right. still ahead on cnn this morning, interesting.

wow. a couple of senators who have to vote for trump's pick for defense secretary. talking to a veteran himself for how trump is shaping the new administration. plus key leadership votes happening on capitol hill who will be leading the next congress. >> the maga agenda is what they approved of, and that was not the agenda focused on in this majority of republicans, and i think that's -- i think that is a clear point that has to be recognized.

trump and we just got this news like a minute ago hired pete hegseth. who this is? guy on the "fox & friends" weekend edition to be secretary of defense. hulk hogan must be devastated. >> trump's pick for secretary of defense. conservative commentator pete hegseth taking some in the defense world by surprise. >> i confess i didn't know who he was until 20 minutes ago. >> hegseth, previously said he opposes women serving in combat roles, and opposes military dei initiatives as a close trump ally and likely to carry out trump's intended pentagon shake-up. tremp's vision for the

trump's vision he posted last month. ♪ ♪ >> you little scum bag. i got your name! i got your ass! you will not die. you will learn by the numbers xl many. >> having pride. having pride month and actually declare it a summer of pride. >> i love working for uncle sam! >> joining us now, democratic congressman pat ryan of new york a west point graduate who served two combat tours in iraq and now sits on the house armed services committee. congressman, thank you for being here. >> good morning. >> you, of course, also in your race outperformed the democratic presidential nominee by a considerable amount. so you are in one of those places where people were willing to send you back leer to washington, but also wanted to vote for donald trump. i want to ask you why. i also want to ask you off the ÷÷top what is your reaction to the announcement that trump

will ÷÷nominate pete hegseth as secretary of defense? is he qualified? >> this is such a serious time in the world and arguably "the" most serious cabinet position. i just don't think he's a serious person. from an i think an unserious president who dodged the draft tiv times, called our troops suckers and losers, fundamentally misunderstands what self- less service is about, insulted gold star medal recipients and sadly this is not surprising to me but incredibly concerning. specifically some of his "wall street journal" reporting about a proposed executive order about military purges ec hoing stalin's military purges and on the report supporting those kinds of things by hegseth. we on the services committee have to keep a watchful eye. the most political and

lead qualified secretary of defense's in our history. >> senate has to vote to confirm him. you are in the house. do you think he will get confirmed through the republican senate? >> i think these kind of nominees are why you see trump putting this sort of purity test forward for senate leadership these recessed under of cover darkness. he knows he's putting forth people might not be qualified by the normal oversight role of congress, and what they should play. regardless of party this is a country founded on check and balances and we have to remain in that principle and i worry a guy like this should sneak through. i hope we can at least have a proper process and real vetting. >> as someone who's been in combat, you understand the realities of fighting. what that actually means. you saw the contract there that, the way trump tried to portray things. we have heard a little bit more from hegseth about what

he thinks about women serving in the military, for example. he thinks they shouldn't serve in combat. what do you say to , to that? i mean, is he -- what kind of ground is he standing on? >> what made certainly my platoon and my company, battalion so strong is we all understood we had a mission larger than ourselves and each of us had something unique to bring to that. it's such a narrow i think selfish view of what service and selflessness means to exclude rather than do the work to bring people together and so we've got to do better than that as a country and we owe our troops that. these are people that have , willingly put hire their life on the line. i think it's disrespectful to them. >> so congressman, talk about the politics of this for a second, because obviously part of that ad that the trump team put out, there are components of

this masculinity, femininity, talked so much about the gender gap. like we said, you won your race by about 11 points. politico said you did it by distancing yourself from joe biden early. ditching a typical partisan framing, also that you l in in to a moose cue linty that taled to young disaffected men in a different way than donald trump did and of course they know you did serve in combat. they referenced this ad that you aired in your district on masculinity. i want to show it and ask you about it. take a look. >> pat rye an is a different kind of democrat. he cut property taxes and fought to lower housing costs. combatted illegal gun and drug trafficking and read hundreds of bedtime stories. >> yep. >> congressman pat ryan. living room wrestling champion. >> i'm pat ryan and i approve this message. >> what are you trying to

show your voters with that ad and why do you think it resonated? >> a lot of fun making that ad. a lot of takes to get the legos right with my 5-year-old. >> i have a 5-year-old. i cannot imagine. >> one, just being normal. be human. we orient so much around this , are you moderate, progressive, conservative, liberal? people are just worried about their family and want someone who is clear about the risk and threat of economic pressure but also optimistic and positive thinking about building something for their kids, and on the point of mas masculinity, existential. trump and the maga movement offer thilfish, narrow, i think isolating view of what masculinity is. when i talk to young people, especially young men, they want to be part of something bigger than themselves, and we have an opportunity, and i would say an obligation in the democratic party to offer

that now. i'm going to try to work on national service legislation again in this congress. i think that's one of the antidotes to this really, i think un- american view of masculinity offered by president trump. >> congressman, how much of the broad losses democrats you did not sustain this loss but that your party sustained is about culture? is about some progressive cultural ideas going too far? >> i think it's about getting caught in the cultural war rather than staying grounded in where real people are, real families are. the affordability crisis we centered it every single day in my campaign. made it local and visceral, and human and showed the fight that regardless of any labels or ideology i was there to fight for every single person and against, like, clear about who the bad actors were harming and putting this pressure on people. if we get too caught in the echo chamber of the ture war

bubble, you're another one of those, peoe . just trying to divide us, when i ask existential challenges i'm trying to face to put food on the table for my family. that was part of our success i think and a lot of others did this, too. i mean, we have a lot of reasons to be optimistic about the future, where we saw great performances in state- wide races and i would say especially from military she veterans. a lot of my house colleagues won tough races. the chris deluzio's of world and others. focus where we did well and replicate that rather than beating each other up over and over and finger pointing. >> wise to point out, thank you for your service and thankfully valued by a lot of people across the country in a lot of different places. congressman pat ryan, thanks for

being here. straight ahead on cnn is morning. doge back in the headlines. two allies donald trump is putting in charge there. plus, heading up the department of defense. we discuss with trump's first two members of the administration. >> i think pete hegseth will clearly do whatever donald trump wants him to do, and donald trump has made it very clear that he is going to politicize the entire executive branch.

i would say that you know, i'm concerned. i wouldn't say necessarily as golden news but i have a lot of concerns. not a lot of steph currys. >> a not so reigning

endorsement of the next presidential cabinet. army veteran ax fox news host pete hegseth as defense secretary. joining us to discuss john bolton, former national security adviser to donald trump since become an outspoken critic of his former boss. thanks very much for being here, sir. >> glad to be with you. >> so mr. ambassador, i want to start with the defense secretary choice. this is someone who is clearly very close to donald trump. that's why he was selected, it seems. what, in your view, are the implications of mr. hegseth potentially running the defense department? >> well, i think he clearly is a loyalty choice. i think that's the -- that's what trump is after. as i've said before, i don't think loyalty

is really the right word. it's altyfealty. he ubservients, coming to see the emperor had to castrate himself knock his head on the ground four times before the emperor would recognize him. that's what trump thinks is loyalty. are they prepared to be the yes man or yes woman? i don't know what hegseth's performance will be. he performed honorably in his military service and if he lives up to that ideal he won't be afraid to tell the president what he thinks. >> sir, what are the potential scenarios where a defense secretary under donald trump may have to decide between following the norms and expectations,

laws, around the use of our military and the orders of the commander-in-chief? >> well, i think they're going to be quite a lot of them. i think the defense and justice department are the two flashpoints where, for example, trump has said on many prior occasions he would use the military for law enforcement purposes in this country. there are tutes that deal with that. circumstances it is allowable, dwight eisenhower used it in the arkansas-little rock schools. i don't think trump has got to do it. lp a trump administration abide by the law. if trump orders him to violate the law will he resign or carry it out? questions legitimate for the confirmation process. >> do you think pete hegseth would sign off on using

the military against americans in the context of, say, protests, as donald trump raised during the campaign? >> i don't know. i don't know. i will say that his military service was very commendable, and the question is, will he behave keeping his personal integrity and his loyalty to the constitution uppermost? i don't know him well enough to know the answer to that question. maybe other people do. maybe you could just interview one of them. he seems to know the answer to it. i don't. i'll say it frankly. >> mr. ambassador, let me also ask you about this panel, the "wall street journal" reported there's an executive order crafted to evaluate generals, officers, flag officers. speaking with congressman pat ryan, democrat, west point grad, also served, raised concerns about that. what impact would such a panel have on the u.s. military?

>> well, i think it's a big mistake. it looks like politicizing the military and i think that's the sort of action that's very poorly thought out. if the trump administration wants to change biden administration policies in the woke area, it's perfectly entitled to do that. but the way it does it is by telling the military and civilian officials in the defense department that there's a new sheriff in town. the policy's changed and better get with the program, but coming in with an outside panel of review smacks really of the effort to do exactly what they accused the biden administration of doing, which is politicizing a military we have worked decades, centuries even, to make non-political and to put that at risk i think is very serious. >> all right. ambassador john bolton, very grateful to have you on the show today, sir. thanks very much for your perspective. >> thanks for having me. all right. turn now to the key

leadership elections happening just hours from now on capitol hill this morning senate republicans determine by secret ballot who will replace mitch mcconnell as majority leader. the next leader likely either senator john thune, john cornyn or rick scott. trump is in washington today and he is set to meet with the newly elected leader later. he's not endorsed a candidate. his maga allies though, mounted a public pressure campaign to elect senator rick scott. >> what do you think about the campaign launched by people who support rick scott calling senators offices and the like? are you getting those calls? >> yeah. i think it's great. i just think people ought to be able to weigh in. >> and you? >> the big leagues. right? if you're not prepared for that you're probably in the wrong gig. >> my phone is ringing off the wall. emails lit up. people want somebody that's going hand-in- hand and working with president trump. >> joining us now republican congressman ryan

zinke of montana and former interior secretary who sits on a committee. thanks for being here, congressman. >> great to be with you. >> choosing a top leader. the republicans. the question whether or not this person, how this person might work with donald trump. trump has yet to weigh in as someone who has served both in the legislature obviously not the senate but in the legislature as well at congress as well as in the trump administration, what do you think your fellow republicans in the senate should be considering as they make this choice? >> it's very difficult for a house member to talk about the senate. i call it mount olympus but the senate has to work with the senate. this senate blocked a lot of what the house wants to do, particularly on the budget. the way the constitution is erected, remember, is the house is supposed he funding bills. that's appropriations, and

the senate refused to pick them up. i'm hoping we get back to order. that we have a senate leadership that understands the constitution and understands the process is house passes funding bills received by the senate. senates puts amendments on them and they go into a conference committee, and if we understand the process we can get things done. i can tell you 34 trillion reasons why it hasn't been done, and that's taking a day. >> fair enough. congressman i want to ask you, also a veteran, distinguished one, about donald trump's pick secretary of defense. this is what mr. hegseth recently had to say about women in combat roles. watch this. >> i'm straight- up saying we should not have women in combat. it hasn't made us more effective more lethal, has made fighting more complicated. all served with women and they're great. it's just can our institutions don't have to incentivize that in places where traditionally

-- not traditionally. over human history men in those positions are more capable. >> congressman, what's your reaction to that? and what impact will it have on his confirmation in the senate? >> actually i think it's a pretty good choice. you know, you look at the former secretaries, whether perry, aspin, he didn't have a millary background. he understands it from a soldier's point of view and absolutely needs deputies around him that understand the institution, giving him good advice and i think he will stand up against the president when the president, the president a an an lawful order. >> you do? >> i do. that's the ucmj. i think officers and those in service understand the difference between a lawful and unlawful order. women in combat? i was commander at s.e.a.l.

team six. great roles and physical differences between men and women and some of the harder combat roles that require physical attributes i think should be reserved. i have also fought alongside women in special operations roles that are oftentimes more dangerous, the women counterparts oftentimes are more trained than a s.e.a.l. counterparts. there's roles and missions for everyone involved in the military. when it comes to physical, you know, endurance, there's a difference between men and women and let's call it the way it is. everyone has an important part to do in a military role and i think there are roles and missions for everybody but there are differences. i agree and i disagree. >> do you have any concerns about the proposed executive order that the "wall street journal" reported that would potentially fire flag officers in the united states military based on their apparent political or perceived political opinions?

>> i think the military is in need of reform. reorganization. the last time the military was reorganized was 1984. i asked the question, what's different? since 1984? well, what's the same? not much. so the military itself has to be reorganized. i'm thinking reorganization is probably going to be along those lines. the woke is a concern in the military. but i do agree with john bolton in that the military is used to taking orders. you should give the military their commands as a commander-in- chief, that's your responsibility. and if the military doesn't follow the orders, if lawful, then there's consequences to be had. but i do think our military ever assembled. i have great confidence in our military, and i have great confidence that pete hegseth has given that he has deputies around him that are experienced will be fine. >> okay. will be fine.

>> more than fine. we'll be great. >> all right. congressman ryan zinke, grateful to have you on the program. come back soon. now this. shutting it down, and sending shock waves through the system. the first comments from those named by donald trump to a new department of government efficiency. the doge. advisory board tanked by the president- elect to find ways to slash the federal budget by july 4th of 2026, that is, of course, america's 250th birthday. musk wrote this on his site x formerly twitter, also have a leaderboard of the "most insanely dumb spending of your tax dollars. " topic of government spending has been a focus for both ram saumie and elon musk campaigning for donald trump. >> shut down the the cdc, shut down the u.s. department of education. fire 75% of the

federal bureaucrats in washington, d.c. >> your money has been wasted and deficiency, we have to fix that. we're going to get the government off your back and out of your pocketbook. >> our panel returned. so alex, the role for elon musk. there's been no shortage of people pointing out the two people top of one government agency may in itself be an example of inefficiency, but setting that aside, what does this actually look like? what does this actually mean? seems like it potentially puts a lot of federal jobs a the mercy of elon musk and vivek ram ramsaumie? >> it's a task force outside of the government. interesting, to see what power

they actually have. go in, deliver a report to president trump and say we recommend his or go in lie elon did to twitter. goes in says all of these people are useless. calls up trump and said can you give me the ability to fire them? a lot we don't know and could be one of the most disruptive task forces we have ever seen. >> only hope. only hope it's disruptive. the federal government is a mess. fema people saying you can't have aid if you have a trump sign in your yard. we need to put the federal bureaucracy on notice this is not business as usual. the american people voted for this. >> it's whether it would be done effectively. look when elon took over x, the first day certain things they couldn't do, because, whoops. he didn't realize that by firing certain departments who performed certain functions there was nobody there. >> child safety would be a very important piece. >> right. so then the question is

just what is the methodology with which they approach this? is it just a, you know, get rid of the atf? okay. then who's going to take up those fumpgs nctions? functions we believe government should continue to perform, what is the new configuration, what does it look like? that's the question. alex said, a lot of blank space next to those two names. >> and cooperation, democrats run or government inefficiency, too. they don't change much but run on it a lot and frankly both parties guilty of it. part of the reason donald trump was picked to disrupt the republican and democrat parties in the way of doing business as usual in washington. there's a good chance for cooperation. >> i was going to say, not like a new idea under the sun. right? the government needs to be adjusted. i remember tom coburn in the senate, earn year a giant pdf all the things he wanted to get rid of. >> and al gore re- invent government 25 years ago. >> actually he did. on some of the forums literally

says at the bottom, shortened by, re- inventing government. i'm not kidding. >> my question would be is this department going to come up with some cuts donald trump may not actually want? say we're going to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget, what $6. 75, that's going to involve a lot of political pain. the fact sitting around here questioning whether musk is qualified to do this, ramaswamy, same with the defense department. that's part of the point. trump came in promising disruption and change. that's what his voters wanted, and even if some of these people are qualified and it turns out to be a disaster, the sum of trump is, that's enough. government doesn't work, that's a success. >> one note of caution. some people have pointed out that donald trump really believes he has this enormous mandate. actually he only won by 250,000 votes across the three

lue ball states. only margin of victory. unclear if people in the middle were voting for old trump, a little more restrained about ins stations or voting for mass disruption. >> still going to have institutional constraints. congress has an appropriations process, although hasn't been doing it. we've been doing spending by executive order through crs with four people in congress coming to the conclusion. if what this commission does is push the averted window and challenges congress to exercise its appropriations, a great thing. >> bigger challenge, two big personalities. >> going to say. didn't get to it. anonymous quote in politico from a trump insider this morning that suggests "elon is getting a little for his britches. " a discussion for another day but going to be one that will be looming here for us. thank you very much for joining us.