Trump’s transition running into a litany of early problems

Those close to the transition said everything is comparatively more orderly than in 2016, when Trump’s more surprising victory quickly led to turmoil.

“The president is putting forward a highly-respected and effective group of professionals to serve in senior leadership of government,” said Brian Hughes, a spokesman for the transition team. “Those nominees who require Senate confirmation are already making it clear why they deserve to win support.”

One person close to the transition acknowledged the “curveballs” that Trump’s team has dealt with lately, but maintained that they’re “just par for the course,” adding: “Big picture, transition is in a good place heading into January 20th.”

Another person close to the transition, however, told Semafor that some aides are frustrated and feel as though the team’s pre-election preparations have gone to waste. This person said phrases like “shit show” and “dumpster fire” have been used to describe the process in recent weeks.

By any metric, it is unusual for an incoming president to face the withdrawal of a second Cabinet nominee more than a month before he takes office. Trump lost his first Cabinet nominee in February of 2017; Gaetz didn’t even make it to December.

Should Hegseth’s nomination fail, it would add to the disarray enveloping Capitol Hill. Some inside Trump’s orbit and on the Hill are skeptical Hegseth can survive, but the appetite to defend him is stronger so far than it was for Gaetz — partly because he’s better-liked than the former congressman, partly thanks to various on-the-record pushback to some recent reporting on him.

But there’s also concern among Trump’s allies that allowing Hegseth to step aside would embolden his GOP skeptics to come after additional nominees as well.

Any further havoc could spill over into legislation, as Republicans plot a challenging 2025 agenda that calls on House and Senate members to coordinate on two separate party-line bills with little room for error.

Senate Republicans pitched a schedule on Tuesday that would start with a border-focused bill early next year, followed by a tax-focused bill later next year. But House members aren’t necessarily agreed on that order, which leaves the next steps up in the air.

“I don’t think there was any consensus on what the sequencing should be,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the GOP whip during Trump’s first two years as president. “There’s a more fundamental problem of: How do you get the votes?”