Episode description

The New Yorker staff writers Dexter Filkins and Clare Malone join Tyler Foggatt to examine Donald Trump’s appointments of former congressman Matt Gaetz and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to his Cabinet.Gaetz, who has been nominated for Attorney General, is one of Trump’s most vociferous defenders and the former subject of a sex-trafficking investigation run by the Department of Justice. (Gaetz has denied all allegations.) Trump has chosen Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, giving one of the world’s most prominent anti-vaccine activists broad powers over public health. How would these men reshape the legal and medical infrastructures of our federal government? And will they even be confirmed?

This week’s reading:

• “How Far Would Matt Gaetz Go?,” by Dexter Filkins
• “R.F.K., Jr.,’s Next Move,” by Clare Malone 
• “Why Is Elon Musk Really Embracing Donald Trump?,” By John Cassidy 
• “Trump’s Cabinet of Wonders,” by David Remnick
• “The Most Extreme Cabinet Ever,” by Susan B. Glasser

To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker, visit newyorker.com/podcasts. To send feedback on this episode, write to themail@newyorker.com.