VICTOR JOECKS: America’s ‘Chicken Little’ elites

The people who drove America’s institutions into the ground are upset that Donald Trump isn’t leaving the “experts” in charge.

Following his convincing victory, Trump has announced his nominees for Cabinet secretaries and other key roles. His selections include Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for HHS secretary, Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense and Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence.

The Washington, D.C., establishment is beside itself. “Trump signals a ‘seismic shift,’ shocking the Washington establishment,” The New York Times reported.

Apparently an elected official keeping campaign promises is scandalous to the propaganda press. Trump talked about draining the swamp for years. These are the nominees who could actually do it.

And this is what worries the political elite the most.

“We need to strengthen the CDC, and the public health infrastructure, not dismantle it, as RFK has suggested,” a health care industry leader told Politico.

“Folks are shocked,” a current DOD official said about Hegseth, according to Politico. “He’s just a Fox News personality that’s never worked in the government.”

That’s not accurate. Hegseth is a veteran who served as a major in the Army National Guard. He deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, earning two Bronze Stars. He has degrees from Princeton and Harvard. He ran two nonprofits focused on veterans, too.

“ ‘We are reeling’: Trump’s pick of Tulsi Gabbard alarms intelligence community,” Time magazine warned.

The common theme of these critiques is that Trump’s choices don’t have the expertise needed to run these agencies. In many cases, they hold positions that are radically outside the “expert” consensus.

Now, if America’s institutions were doing a great job, that might be concerning. But they aren’t. During COVID, the public health “experts” told the public not to mask, then to mask, then to double mask. Anthony Fauci eventually admitted that the 6-foot social distancing rule “sort of just appeared.” The COVID vaccine was supposed to essentially stop virus transmission. It didn’t. Fauci eventually admitted that vaccines “don’t protect overly well” against infection.

The “experts” kept schools closed even as it was obvious the pandemic posed a negligible risk to children. Students still haven’t recovered from the learning loss. Many never will.

Even aside from COVID, Americans aren’t healthy. Sixty percent of Americans have a chronic disease. Forty percent have two or more. More than 40 percent of Americans 20 and older are obese. Around 20 percent of children are obese. America is a deeply unhealthy society.

Health experts say a man can become a woman. That men don’t have innate physical advantages over women. That doctors should cut off the healthy breasts and penises of children who think they are a different gender.

The military is a woke mess. Navy ships keep having accidents. The Houthis are attacking U.S. warships in the Red Sea. The military is struggling with recruiting. This year, West Point removed “Duty, Honor, Country” from its mission statement. The school does offer a minor in “diversity and inclusion studies.”

In 2020, more than 50 intelligence “experts” signed a letter claiming the Hunter Biden laptop looked like a “Russian information operation.” It wasn’t. The intelligence community pressured social media sites to censor information it didn’t approve of. FBI officials undermined Trump’s first term by pushing the false narrative that he colluded with Russia.

Trump’s selections won’t be perfect, but they understand this reality.

This is why the establishment’s “Chicken Little” routine rings so hollow. The sky — or in this case the institutions — has already fallen, destroyed by the very elites who now scaremonger about the damage outsiders will cause.

Contact Victor Joecks at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on X.