Dead Drop: April 26

WHO’S ON DECK?  In a Dead Drop a few weeks ago, we promised you that just as we have done for the last two presidential election cycles – we’d keep you up to speed on speculation about who might fill what senior national security roles in 2025. Unsurprisingly, there are a lot more rumors about who might be in play for a possible Trump administration than Biden II. (Folks don’t speculate as much about musical chairs during a sitting administration – to avoid giving the impression that everyone isn’t doing a bang-up job and having the time of their lives.) Politico recently offered a rundown of possible players in a Trump redux scenario. Among those in the clubhouse are Rick Grenell, former ambassador to Germany and acting Director of National Intelligence in the Trump ’45 go round. Among those also frequently mentioned are former Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty who was U.S. ambassador to Japan in the last administration.  In addition, there is Robert O’Brien, who was the fourth person to serve as national security advisor in the first Trump term – and who is mentioned as someone who might be in line for some new or possibly repeat role (there’s precedent for that, Brent Scowcroft was national security advisor twice – although in his case, it was for two different presidents (Ford and Bush ’41.) Another name floating around is that of Elbridge Colby, a former Defense Department official who spends a lot of time worrying about the threat of China.

REVERSE THE CURSE: Yet another name you hear bandied about for a senior role if there is a new Trump administration is Kash Patel who (like a lot of folks) had several roles in the previous version – ending up as chief of staff to the Acting Secretary of Defense. Patel has made several Dead Drop appearances. He was recently in the news again for promoting pills on Truth Social that were said to somehow ‘reverse” the impact of COVID and supposedly help those who take them “get healthy.” The “science” behind those pills (“vaccine shedding”) has been described by some experts as “delusional” – but nevertheless, based on the pill pushing alone, we’ll pencil Patel in as a Secretary of HHS candidate.