In a little more than a month, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States. In the lead-up to Jan. 20, Trump is lining up his Cabinet appointees, many of whom have drawn criticism from experts, as well as Democratic and Republican officials.

“The ‘Trump Two’ Cabinet is measurably less qualified and more radical than the first,” said Jerold Duquette, professor of political science and director of the Public Policy & Management Concentration at Central Connecticut State University. “[President Trump] is not going to let anybody into his Cabinet that’s going to give him any back-talk. What you’ve got is a whole bunch of woefully underqualified people, both in terms of their resumes, temperament and their character.”

Controversial picks who are still in the running for Cabinet positions include Pete Hegseth for secretary of the Defense Department and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Matt Gaetz, previously considered for U.S. attorney general, withdrew his nomination after considerable bipartisan pressure.

As Trump considers how to keep his Day 1 promises, including mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, President Joe Biden is spending his final days in office using his executive powers to appoint federal judges throughout the country, commuting the sentences of 1,500 people and pardoning an additional 39 people, not counting his own son, Hunter Biden, whom he pardoned despite assuring he would not do so.

Luis Jimenez, associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Boston, says Hunter Biden’s pardon leads to a broader question.

“Is it appropriate for a president to pardon anyone in their family?” Jimenez said. “There’s that issue, which, I think, some of the arguments that get made are based on that sort of moral inappropriateness – the president should obviously not be able to pardon their own family because then it feels like it’s an abuse of authority, period. Did the founding fathers really mean for that to happen?”

Some are also calling for Biden to preemptively pardon several high-profile Trump critics, including those who served on the Jan. 6 investigation panel, like Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger and Bennie Thompson.

Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is dealing with the fallout of her failed property tax plan, which she called “heartbreaking” on GBH’s Boston Public Radio earlier this week.

And Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson is facing federal charges of aiding and abetting wire fraud and one count of theft in connection with the use of federal money through her role on the City Council. Anderson returned to work this week, despite calls from fellow councilors to resign.

“The councilors have every right to say whether or not they think she should step down,” said Erin O’Brien, professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Boston. “She’s maintained that she will not. I think it’s bad for the body – for the Council – to have these kind of charges floating. But the only way she’s going to step down is if her constituents demand it is my guess.”

All this and more in this week’s hourlong all-politics episode of Under the Radar with Callie Crossley!

Guests

  • Erin O’Brien, professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Boston
  • Jerold Duquette, professor of political science and director of the Public Policy & Management Concentration at Central Connecticut State University.
  • Luis Jimenez, associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Boston.