The 5-Minute Fix: A hard-line Trump administration takes shape

The basics: The outspoken three-star general is already a member of Trump's inner circle and arguably one of the most hard-line: He led chants of “Lock her up!” at the Republican convention. Before he became a die-hard Trump supporter, Flynn was a decorated officer with more than a decade of experience in Iraq and Afghanistan.

How he might do his job: Get tough, get tough, get tough. Flynn told Al Jazeera that he's a believer of as many options in the table — including waterboarding and/or capturing or killing innocent relatives of terrorism suspects — as necessary to fight the bad guys.

Confirmation process: None. This job doesn't require approval by Congress, so come Jan. 20, Flynn will likely hold the nation's most powerful national security position, a foreign intel whisperer to a president lacking foreign or military expertise.

But he's likely to be controversial nonetheless. His inflammatory comments about Muslims, his consulting firm's ties to Middle Eastern countries and his paid trip to Moscow last year where he appeared alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin have all alarmed some of his military colleagues.

More of the name game

We're only 10 days into the transition, people. If history is any guide, we've got months of this guessing game left.

You can keep up to date on the swirl of names being floated by bookmarking our Cabinet tracker — or you could just bury your head in the sand until it's all over. (It'll probably be safe to resurface around the new year, since that's when most of our recent presidents have solidified their Cabinet.)

(Philip Bump / The Washington Post

Trump's other advisers: His children?

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (2nd L) is welcome by Ivanka Trump (R) and her husband Jared Kushner (2nd R) during a meeting with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump (not pictured) in New York. (Handout by Japanese Cabinet Secretariat / AFP Photo)

When it comes to involving his family in his presidency, there is now no doubt that Trump plans to push the envelope of what's legal and ethical, writes The Fix's Aaron Blake.

Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, appeared in a photo with Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday. Last week, Trump announced his grown children would be in charge of his blind trust — a move many ethics experts said probably wasn't enough distance between the leader of the free world and how his decisions affect his bank account. It's also possible Kushner could be in Trump's administration.

But why is making the White House a family affair such a legal quagmire? It all goes back to the Kennedys, as Blake explains:

After President John F. Kennedy appointed his 35-year-old brother, Robert, as attorney general — a basically unprecedented move at the time, involving an office for which few thought the younger Kennedy was qualified — Congress in 1967 passed an anti-nepotism law.

That's it for this busy week. As Flynn said to the reporters staking out Trump Tower this week: Peace! (On second thought, maybe it was a “V” for “Victory.” But for the purposes of ending this newsletter, I'm going with the former. Peace!)