OPINION: Incoming: Oligarchs and loyalists hellbent for revenge

I have accepted the results of the 2024 election. I am moving on with the belief that our constitutional guardrails can keep the ship of state upright.

I feel it’s our duty as citizens to declare faith in our electoral system and the outcomes. Shamefully, President-elect Donald Trump and many joining his administration still adhere to the fictional narrative that President Joe Biden lost in 2020.

For those of us in the non-MAGA universe, we can take comfort that the recent presidential election was no mandate and no landslide. In fact, Trump received less than 50% of the 155 million votes cast, an historically low showing.

As a result, the GOP majorities in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are razor thin: 53-47 in the Senate and 220-215 in the House.

Technically, the Republicans scored a trifecta on Nov. 5.

Politically, it’s a jump ball.

In the U.S. House, the far-right fringe will inflict continued chaos. However, the Democratic opposition is extremely unified: Members’ attendance is mandatory and absences will not be tolerated.

Many cabinet nominees’ names have been announced and some policy initiatives test-driven in the media. We can expect numerous executive orders with varying degrees of seriousness on Jan. 20. Until then, Trump will take every opportunity to appear presidential and occupy news cycles.

It’s only mid-December, and Trump has lost at least three of his personal choices for top posts: Matt Gaetz as attorney general, Chad Chronister at the Drug Enforcement Agency and Amaryllis Fox Kennedy for deputy director of the CIA.

By my count, Idaho has five billionaires. You may not routinely mingle with them at coffee hour or on your commercial flights. They travel in tight circles.

The Trump administration is being curated in the same thin air. The Russian term “oligarchs” comes to mind. At least 11 key appointees have attained billionaire status or have a wealthy spouse. The estimated worth of these close advisers is approximately $360 billion. Of course, this includes Trump’s new best friend and the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, who dropped a cool $260 million on the Trump campaign.

Some of Musk’s corporate peeps (who have no government experience) are reportedly interviewing applicants for national security and foreign affairs jobs. This mash-up of tech-bro libertarianism and public policy is taking place in plain sight. It’s an ethics disaster.

Government efficiency and productive disruption can be worthwhile goals. Unfortunately, the chaos that dominated Trump’s first term appears itching for an encore.

Project 2025 — so blithely denied (or lied about?) by Trump during the campaign — is now unfolding. Get ready for a new Schedule F level of bureaucrats — possibly 40,000 — who swear allegiance to a person rather to than our sacred Constitution.

Anchored in our Idaho communities, we’re aware of ethical guidelines such as the Rotary Club’s Four-Way Test:

Is it the truth?

Is it fair?

Will it build goodwill and better friendships?

Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

Within the Trump swamp is a three-way way test for employment:

Did you vote for Trump in the last three elections?

Do you deny the results of the 2020 election?

Do you deny that Jan. 6, 2021, was an insurrection promoted by Trump?

Trump’s all-caps texts suggest a top-down takeover of all branches of government by a White House comprised of ideological true believers and MAGA loyalists. The Idaho congressional delegation has certainly received the memo that they will be collateral damage if they don’t toe the party line.

While accepting the results of the recent election, I readily admit I am heartened by the high-wire act Trump clumsily navigates as he wrongly claims free rein in all aspects of our lives and bullies members of Congress.

Trump and his ideological enablers can threaten and cajole ad nauseam members of Congress, but the narrow majorities in the legislative branch will tap the brakes in ways yet unknown.

After all, this is not a monarchy.

In the meantime, I will be watching every utterance of newly unleashed U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell. In his previous role as Senate majority leader, he deftly protected Trump numerous times. As his reward, McConnell and his wife, former Trump administration Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, were shabbily treated by Trump and his proxies.

McConnell is an effective and proud Senate institutionalist with a long memory. That’s a far cry from being a Trump lapdog, and it may be a nuance lost on the narcissistic Trump.

The 2026 mid-term elections have already commenced. In Trump’s 2018 midterm election, Democrats gained a net of 41 seats in the U.S. House.

On Jan. 20, Trump begins his “lame duck” presidency. All 435 members of the United States House of Representatives will be up for election in 2026 along with 33 seats in the Senate.

In November, Trump narrowly won. His giant ego and revenge-driven agenda may not mesh with your family’s needs. And some sycophantic legislators may alter course and show a spark of constitutional courage when the dark ethics clouds descend on the Mar-a-Lago/Trump Tower/White House.

LaRocco, of Boise, represented Idaho’s 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1991-95.