The New Yorker:

Trump’s “God-tier level trolling” of America has already begun.

By Susan B. Glasser

Joe Biden, once again, seems to be cursed with awful timing. On Wednesday morning, in an awkward photo op meant to underscore his adherence to old-fashioned constitutional principles, like the peaceful transfer of power, the forty-sixth President welcomed Donald Trump to the Oval Office. “Congratulations,” Biden said, to a man he has called an aspiring “dictator.” Resurrecting a tradition that Trump rejected four years ago in favor of an all-out effort to overturn his defeat, Biden pledged a smooth transition and offered to do “everything we can to make sure you’re accommodated.” The reassuring optics of the two men shaking hands in front of a crackling fire seemed designed to convey the message that Americans need not worry about all that election-season rhetoric: If Trump were really a fascist-in-waiting, as his own former White House chief of staff has warned, Biden wouldn’t have gone through with a meet and greet, would he?

Poor Biden. Soon after leaving the White House, Trump announced not only two of his most controversial personnel decisions ever but quite possibly two of the most controversial Cabinet choices ever made. At 3:14 p.m., Trump posted on Truth Social that he would name Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, as director of National Intelligence. Gabbard, who left the Democratic Party two years ago and actively campaigned for Trump, is best known for making two secret visits to the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, in 2017, and for her public amplification of Kremlin talking points blaming the United States for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Giving her access to classified information, never mind appointing her to supervise such information, would have been unthinkable in any other Administration, including Trump’s first. But Trump soon overwhelmed this news with his announcement, at 3:24 p.m., that he would name Matt Gaetz, the Florida congressman currently under investigation by his own Republican colleagues in the House for alleged illegal drug use and sexual misconduct with a minor, as his Attorney General.

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