USA new president Donald Trump sellecting members of his cabinet

One of the big story today in USA president-elect Donald Trump is having a heckuva time deciding on who to nominate as secretary of State. It began with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s insistence that he wanted and deserves the job as payback for the yeoman work he did for candidate Trump when many leading Republicans were, shall we say, less than enthusiastic in their support of his fellow New Yorker. The mayor is an up-front sort of fellow, but trying to force a new president’s hand as he did is not always the best approach for a cabinet wannabe who might have a hard time being confirmed.

At any rate, Mr. Trump began interviewing others for the job as well and before much time had passed reporters were suggesting that just about anyone who boarded the elevator at Trump Towers was there to be interviewed for the job. Mr. Trump’s problem is that everyone being mentioned either knows little about the job or has more detractors than supporters outside the interview room. At the outset, former State Department official and U.N. Ambassador John Bolton was assumed to be on the short list. Mr. Bolton is incredibly popular with the conservative base, was a protege of both former Secretary of State James Baker and the late North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms, served honorably in the administrations of both Bushes and Ronald Reagan and has, arguably, spent a lifetime preparing for the job.

What’s more, Mr. Bolton wrote and spoke favorably of Mr. Trump before November 8 and would bring the sort of hard-headed realism to the job that Mr. Trump will need as he works to build a stronger but less adventurous foreign policy. He was apparently struck from the list because Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is upset that he not only supported the policies of his previous bosses, but has since refused to apologize for doing so, but is now scheduled to meet the president-elect before week’s end.

The Trump team’s most public flirtation has been with 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney, but while Mr. Bolton may have one strategically placed senator preparing to deny him the job, millions of dedicated Trump supporters including a few who ride the elevator to those interviews with job seekers believe appointing a man who didn’t just oppose their man during the campaign, but did so in a vicious personal manner would be a huge political mistake. Still, Mr. Romney has heavy support from the Republican establishment many of whom see his appointment as a way the president-elect could let the nation’s elites know he cares as much or more about them as about those who voted for him.