Trump’s Picks: Stephen Miller for Senior Policy Advisor and Ryan Zinke for Interior

Needless to say, we are very pleased that Stephen Miller will continue in his role as senior policy adviser in the Trump administration:

“President-elect Donald Trump has picked Stephen Miller, a top policy aide from his campaign, to serve in the White House as senior adviser to the president for policy, the transition announced team Tuesday.

“Stephen played a central and wide-ranging role in our primary and general election campaign,” Trump said in a statement. “He is deeply committed to the America First agenda, and understands the policies and actions necessary to put that agenda into effect.” …”

There was never really any doubt about this. Miller is the brains of the whole operation, the top speechwriter and is politically indispensable to Trump.

In other news, it seems that Cathy McMorris Rodgers isn’t going to be Secretary of the Interior after all:

“President-elect Donald Trump has offered the interior secretary position to Montana’s freshman Rep. Ryan Zinke, an ex-Navy Seal commander, according to two transition officials and someone familiar with the offer. …

Out of all the Republicans on the Hill, Zinke has one of the strongest track records on conservation and public land issues — and he’s even voted against his own party at times. He voted against the GOP’s fiscal 2016 budget because it sold public lands, and even resigned as a delegate to the RNC this summer because the party platform included language calling for the sale of public lands.

Zinke has also opposed efforts by House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) to transfer land and other GOP measures to hand over millions of acres of public land from the U.S. Forest Service to the state.

He’s also partnered with Democrats on conservation issues: In October 2015 he was the only Republican to support a Democratic amendment to permanently authorize the so-called Land and Water Conservation Fund. He’s also received praise from conservation groups, including the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Teddy Roosevelt Conservancy Partnership, Friends of the East Rosebud and the Outdoor Industry Association. …”

Maybe our complaining paid off? Zinke is a Navy SEAL, a longtime Trump loyalist, and has a strong conservation record. See, it’s not so hard to find better people to serve in the Cabinet.