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Biden finds you can’t please all the people all the time

Political Theater, Episode 166

Gen. Lloyd Austin testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 8, 2016.
Gen. Lloyd Austin testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 8, 2016. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

The incoming Biden administration is continuing to come into focus. The president-elect’s nomination of retired Gen. Lloyd Austin to be Defense secretary, who would be the first Black man to head the Pentagon, means Joe Biden passed over a woman long considered a frontrunner for the job: Michelle Flournoy.

And as a recently retired officer, Austin requires a waiver from the House and Senate, which brings up considerations of civilian control of the military. CQ Roll Call senior staff writer John Donnelly discusses the nomination.

Show notes:

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