S.E. Cupp: Experience makes a comeback with Joe Biden

President-elect Joe Biden has begun to piece together his Cabinet, and the early announcements reveal an administration that prizes diversity and familiarity, but more vitally, experience over blind loyalty. Needless to say, that is very refreshing and reassuring. My blood pressure already has begun to drop.

The last four years have been a roller coaster of incompetence and scandal at the highest levels of the Trump administration. From a staff secretary with allegations of domestic violence to a White House communications director who lasted a whopping 11 days, President Trump’s picks, as you’ll remember, were in many cases inexperienced friends, donors, supporters and hangers-on who had no business doing the jobs they were chosen for.

Some of the low lights:

• Ben Carson, a surgeon and one-time Trump critic- turned-fanboy, was for some reason chosen to be secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

• Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry was tapped to head the Energy Department, which he’d promised to abolish while running for president.

• And as recently as May of this year, Louis DeJoy, a Trump donor, was appointed postmaster general, the first in nearly two decades who was not a career postal employee.

• Then, of course, there were the numerous officials who resigned or were fired under ethics scandals — Tom Price at Health and Human Services, David Shulkin at Veterans Affairs, Ryan Zinke at Interior, Alex Acosta at Labor, Scott Pruitt at EPA, and the list goes on.

• Finally, there were the few but not insignificant number of officials who left as a function of being unable to do their jobs under Trump’s constant coercion or public denigration.

The sum result has been a revolving door of cronyism, incompetence, controversy and conflicts of interest. The effect was instability, dysfunction and national embarrassment. In Trump’s efforts to “drain the swamp,” he turned it into a nuclear waste dump that was toxic to all who went near it.

Biden’s early picks signal a return to stability, experience and sobriety:

• Antony Blinken, a career foreign policy and national security official and close adviser to Biden, will be his secretary of State, a more than reasonable role for such a person.

• Janet Yellen, the former Federal Reserve chair, will be tapped for Treasury. Yes, that makes sense.

• Linda Thomas-Greenfield will be ambassador to the UN following a 35-year career in the Foreign Service. Yep, I see what you did there.

• Alejandro Mayorkas, former head of Citizenship and Immigration Services, will be Biden’s Homeland Security secretary — because, presumably, he has relevant experience in homeland security.

Biden can continue the good course he’s on by appointing experienced leaders in their field to the rest of his Cabinet.

During the course of his campaign, Biden continuously stressed he would put scientists out front, both when it came to covid-19 and climate change. While John Kerry is perfectly suited to lead his climate special envoy — inherently a political post — Biden should avoid putting a political figure at the EPA. Names like Washington Gov. Jay Inslee would defy that promise. If Biden wants to take politics out of science, he needs to take politicians out of science.

Likewise, Biden should avoid the controversial figures some on the left are pining for, primarily for purposes of revenge on Republicans who have attacked them — like former U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, or Hillary and Bill Clinton. Cabinet appointments aren’t the place for comeuppance, score-settling or vanity projects, especially with so much work to do.

But so far, so good. In a news conference Tuesday, Biden defined his approach succinctly in describing Blinken’s appointment to State: “No one is better prepared for this job.” Ah, experience — how we’ve missed you.