Multiple political pundits complimented President-elect Joe Biden’s Cabinet appointments, making the case that the “lifelong public servants” are “not political” and thus represent a “big change” from the Trump administration.
“Joe Biden is saying these are people, ‘This is a team, who is going to tell me, this team will tell me what I need to know, not what I want to know.’ That is a big change,” NBC News’s Andrea Mitchell said.
NBC’s Andrea Mitchell cheers the Biden administration being “a big change” from the Trump team because they are “not going to be political” pic.twitter.com/rDDoioai47
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 24, 2020
Mitchell was joined in complimenting the new administration by ABC’S Martha Raddatz, who pointed out the incoming team is not “flashy” and is made up of “humble” and “lifelong” public servants.
“This is about the least flashy team you could possibly get,” Raddatz told ABC colleague George Stephanopoulos. “They are deeply experienced. They are humble, and they are lifelong public servants. When I look at that group up there … they are not political. They are just career people. They have worked together for many years.”
NBC’s Lester Holt called the Biden appointments a “very experienced” and “very diverse” group.
In @NBCNightlyNews interview with President-elect Biden, @LesterHoltNBC praised cabinet picks as “a very experienced group, a very diverse group. Clearly you were trying to send a message. Can you articulate what that message is?” pic.twitter.com/lrS5e7ZZyS
— Brent Baker (@BrentHBaker) November 24, 2020
“Without exception, Biden has thus far named people who have deep experience both in the subject matter they will be dealing with and in the workings of government,” Washington Post columnist Karen Tumulty wrote in an op-ed explaining the difference between Trump officials and Biden officials. “While Biden’s team will surely make mistakes along the way, it is poised to be refreshingly competent, free of psychodrama and even perhaps a little boring. And maybe, at the end of it all, Americans will find reason once again to believe in government.”
As of Wednesday morning, Biden has named six people to his Cabinet, all of whom have served in positions within Democratic presidential administrations before. His list includes Ron Klain as chief of staff, Jake Sullivan as national security adviser, Antony Blinken as secretary of state, and Alejandro Mayorkas as secretary of homeland security.
“This is the return of the Washington establishment,” retired Marine Corps Col. Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Security and International Studies and self-identified Republican, told the Washington Examiner this week about Biden’s national security team.
Foundation for Defense of Democracies Senior Vice President Toby Dershowitz said, “I have no doubt they are mindful of and ready to address the many national security challenges and opportunities in front of them.”
