Representative Wiley Nickel (D-NC) shared the names of potential shadow government replacements in a video shared on social media.
The shadow government would seek to undermine President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda.
“If Trump attempts to weaponize the Department of Justice against his political opponents with Matt Gaetz at the helm, we could see incoming Senator Adam Schiff as our Attorney General, arguing against replacing our independent prosecutors with Trump loyalists,” Nickel said in the video.
“If Trump seeks to eliminate the Department of Education, Congresswoman Jahanna Hayes, a former teacher of the year, could step up as Shadow Education Secretary to loudly defend public education in the United States,” he continued. “If Trump orders Marco Rubio to hand Ukraine and much of Eastern Europe to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Congressman Greg Meeks as shadow Secretary of State, could be a strong voice in support of maintaining international relationships and protecting democracy at home and abroad.”
Nickel went on to list Sen. Michael Bennet as Shadow Treasury Secretary, Rep. Suzan DelBene as Shadow Commerce Secretary, Rep. Adam Smith as Shadow Defense Secretary, Sen. Tammy Duckworth as Shadow Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Rep. Kathy Castor as Shadow Secretary of Environmental Protection Agency, and Rep. Rosa DeLauro as Shadow Secretary Department of Health and Human Services.
Journalist Kyle Becker called the development “massively problematic.”
“The Democrats’ call for a ‘shadow government’ in the American context implies extreme disloyalty to a duly elected president who is the head of the executive branch,” he wrote. “This follows upon Trump sabotage such as illegal campaign spying, the Russia hoax, the dead-end Mueller investigation, the Ukraine impeachment hoax, the J6 sham impeachment, an FBI raid, two illegitimate Special Counsel cases, endless investigations, non-stop lawfare, incessant negative media coverage, and two assassination attempts — leading to a major victory for Donald Trump in a free and fair election.”
