Donald Trump’s pick for the secretary of the Navy isn’t sitting well even with some MAGA faithful.

Trump announced Tuesday evening that he had selected John Phelan, founder and chairman of the private investment firm Rugger Management, to head the Navy. “A true Champion of American Enterprise and Ingenuity!” Trump wrote in a statement. “John’s intelligence and leadership are unmatched. John holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School, and is a truly brilliant guy! His incredible knowledge and experience will elevate the lives of the brave Americans who serve our Nation.”

Phelan is a somewhat curious choice, considering he has no military experience. Military Times reports that, if confirmed by the Senate, he “would be the first permanent Navy secretary without military experience since 2009, when Donald Winter finished up his three-year term in the role. Unlike Winter, who previously had worked within the Pentagon and on Navy contracts at major defense firms, Phelan has little public connection to the sea service.” Phelan is, however, on the board of a nonprofit “dedicated to supporting troops and diplomats worldwide.”

A detail that perhaps clarifies Trump’s decision: Along with his record as a businessman, Phelan was a Trump campaign megadonor. He reportedly donated more than $800,000 to Trump’s joint fundraising committee in April. This summer, he and his wife hosted a Trump campaign fundraising dinner at their $38 million home, “where attendees were required to donate anywhere from $25,000 to $500,000 a couple,” per The Guardian.

Online, even some of Trump’s supporters are questioning the pick and interpreting it as a display of cronyism.

One X user who sports “#MAGA” in her bio wrote: “This makes ZERO sense. NONE. How is Trump naming a hedge fund guy as Secretary of the Navy??? WTH??? I’m a huge Trump supporter, but we need MILITARY COMMANDERS running military branches.”

“Questioning the John Phelan pick,” posted another “Pro-Trump” user. “Feels like rewarding a cronie as he has no military experience. But, if his focus is going to be on making sure that the supply chain is up to stuff so that the Navy can build the ships it needs, it may be okay.”

Other conservative X users asked, “Ummm, why? He has never served in the Navy,” observed the appointment “seems like a gift,” and deemed it a “weird choice to nominate a person with no military experience to lead a branch of the military.”

“The Secretary of the Navy should be someone who served in the Navy,” posted user “Ms. Deplorable.”

Similar sentiments can be found in responses to the announcement on Trump’s Truth Social platform. One user wrote, “As a Veteran of the U.S. Navy, I want a Sailor in charge!! Not some walstreet billionaire with ZERO Military experience!! You got this wrong DJT!!!”

Another said the choice “feels like you’re rewarding a friend/donor.”

Recently released, beautifully drawn courtroom sketches are giving us a vivid depiction of just how out of control Rudy Giuliani is right now.

Artist Jane Rosenberg, who has sketched the likes of Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, and Jeffrey Epstein while they were on trial, appeared on CNN Tuesday to discuss her experience sketching Donald Trump’s embattled crony.

“His decorum has certainly changed from when I sketched him 44 years ago as a prosecutor,” Rosenberg said. “He’s losing it. He was wild. I feel bad for anyone who represents him. He blurts out orders at his lawyers who are at the podium, and he’s interrupting all the time.”

Rosenberg’s sketches show Giuliani looking absolutely incensed—brow furrowed and arms crossed in one; finger pointing sharply at someone in another.

Rosenberg’s sketch captures Giuliani’s outburst about how broke he is right now. The former New York City mayor was ordered to pay $148 million to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, two Georgia election workers he defamed after Donald Trump lost the state in 2020. He’s already handed over his luxury watches, a diamond ring, and a 1980 Mercedes-Benz, and claims he has no cash left to fulfill the judgment.

Donald Trump’s pick to lead the National Institutes of Health has a long history of criticism of the agency.

The Washington Post reports that Jay Bhattacharya, a physician and economist at Stanford University, was described as “fringe” by the head of the NIH in October 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic for being one of the authors of the “Great Barrington Declaration,” which stated that it was time for coronavirus lockdowns to end.

Trump announced Bhattacharya as his choice to lead the agency Tuesday night, drawing on the suggestion from his adviser and pick to run the........

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