The decision of the newly elected President of the United States, Donald Trump, to appoint people with little experience to some of the key ministerial positions surprised some of his allies, and he made it clear that he is serious about reshaping, and in some cases testing, American institutions.
The future president also unequivocally showed that one quality is absolutely the most important for entering his cabinet: unquestioning loyalty.
Eight years ago, Trump was forced to rely on the Republican establishment for advice. vice president JD Vance and his eldest son Donald Jr. to a circle of wealthy allies, the most prominent of which is Elon Musk, who in the administration, together with Vivek Ramaswamy, received a new department for government efficiency charged with cutting the costs of the federal administration.
Musk and Ramaswamy have been tasked with fulfilling Trump's campaign promise, which he called the "Manhattan Project of our time," which involves cutting as many as 100.000 government jobs.
One of Trump's decisions that surprised the most was the election of 42-year-old congressman Matt Goetz as the Minister of Justice, the highest legislative official in the USA, according to Reuters. The former lawyer has never worked for the Ministry of Justice, nor was he a prosecutor, and was under investigation by the Ministry of Justice for allegations of human trafficking. His office announced last year that the prosecutor's office told him that no indictments would be filed.
His appointment could face resistance among Republicans, with Republican US Sen. John Cornyn saying yesterday that he "absolutely" wants to review the unreleased Congressional Ethics Committee report on Goetz.
Trump chose Tulsi Gabbard to be director of national intelligence. The former Democratic congresswoman-turned-Trump ally has spoken out in the past against military intervention in the Syrian civil war during Barack Obama's tenure and insinuated that Russian President Vladimir Putin was justified in invading Ukraine.
"I know Tulsi will bring the fearless spirit that marked her extraordinary career to our intelligence community, defending our constitutional rights and ensuring peace through strength," Trump said in a statement.
Gabaradova has little direct experience in intelligence work and was not widely expected to be chosen for the post, which involves overseeing 18 spy agencies.
On Tuesday, Trump picked Pete Hegsett, a Fox News commentator and veteran, to be secretary of defense. Hegsett opposes the participation of women in combat and once questioned whether America's top general was promoted to that position because of the color of his skin. He also lobbied Trump during his 2017-2021 term to pardon members of the military who allegedly committed war crimes.
Rubio as a conventional candidate
Despite these surprising choices, Trump also named several more conventional candidates. On Wednesday, he announced that he will nominate Senator Marco Rubio, a foreign policy "hawk", a man with hard-line views on Iran and China. Although he is outspoken in his support for Ukraine, he previously said that the war between Kiev and Moscow must "come to a conclusion."
The election of Rubio, according to Reuters, signals that the American policy towards Beijing could change to a more aggressive approach, which would include not only tariffs and trade, but also a tougher attitude towards China as the main strategic rival of the USA.
Apart from Rubio, other nominations could unsettle China, such as the nominations of Congressman Mike Volz as national security adviser and John Ratcliffe as head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
The election suggests Trump wants to turn his back on the Joe Biden administration's approach of "managing competition" with Beijing on issues ranging from support for Taiwan to China's role in the US fentanyl crisis.
Republicans criticized Biden's position as too conciliatory.
"Rubio believes in his heart that China is the enemy of the US," said David Firestein, a former US diplomat with expertise on China. "It will color everything he does in relation to China."
Rubio will almost certainly get the green light in the US Senate, where he sits on both the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Intelligence Committee.
Overall, however, Trump's election signals a radical change in the way the US government will do its job and in the role the US will play in the world over the next four years.
Elise Stefanik, a Republican congresswoman and staunch supporter of Trump, will serve as the US ambassador to the United Nations. Stefanik, a 40-year-old representative from New York state and chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, assumed the House leadership position in 2021 when she was elected to replace then-Congresswoman Liz Cheney, who was ousted after criticizing Trump's false claims of election fraud.
"Elise is an extremely strong, tough and smart fighter for America first," said Trump announcing his choice.
Stefanik will come to the UN after Trump's bold promises to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, as well as Israel's war in Gaza.
On Tuesday, it was announced that South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who has been a staunch supporter of Trump since his first term, is his choice for homeland security secretary. Noem is the heroine of the MAGA movement and a star of the conservative media.
Another loyalist, former New York congressman Lee Zeldin, was chosen by Trump to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, describing him as someone who would provide "fair and swift deregulatory decisions, which will be implemented to unleash the power of American business." According to CNN, Zeldin vowed to implement Trump's "drill, baby, drill" energy policy and presented his responsibilities as "protecting access to clean air and water," paraphrasing his new boss' nonsensical answer he uses when asked about global warming.
Zeldin is one of the Republicans in Congress who voted against confirming the election results on January 6, 2021, when Trump lost to Biden and did not win a second presidential term in a row.
Real estate developer Stevie Witkoff, Trump's longtime golfing partner and major campaign funder, has been named special envoy for the Middle East, while former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee will be nominated for ambassador to Israel.
While it is normal for presidents to choose loyal allies for key appointments, the focus on loyalty instead of expertise in certain areas goes beyond the norm, Reuters points out.
In many cabinets, presidents often include different factions of their party to ensure that different ideological strands have their representatives at the table.
"Loyalty is very important," a Trump adviser, who was not authorized to speak to the media, told Reuters. “There will be a lot more people from the campaign that will move to the White House. Last time, a lot of party people ended up in the White House, but their loyalty wasn't to the president. It was towards themselves.”
Trump has said he wants to end the "instrumentalization" of the Justice Department, which he said has launched politically motivated criminal cases against him to jeopardize his presidential bid. The Ministry of Justice claims to operate without political bias.
During the campaign, Trump promised to deal with his political enemies, including Democratic President Joe Biden, and Goetz, his nominee for attorney general, is unlikely to stand in the way.
"Getz will do exactly as Trump says, and that's why he was elected, I guess," a source close to Trump told Reuters.
Several sources close to Trump's inner circle, including donors, consultants and fundraisers, privately expressed shock at Goetz's selection, given his limited qualifications and a past Justice Department investigation into him.
"I'm shocked that he was nominated," Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said of Gaetz's selection. "Of course, the president has the right to nominate whoever he wants, but I think this is an example of why it is so important that we have advice and consent, as provided by the Constitution."
Never heard of him
Some of Trump's other nominees also lack significant qualifications. Hegseth, although a decorated war veteran, has recently been best known as a media personality. Now he will oversee nearly 3 million employees and the largest fighting force in the world.
"Being secretary of defense is a very serious job, and putting someone as dangerously incompetent as Pete Hegsett in that position should scare us all," said Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee.
Officials in Europe told Reuters they did not know Hegseth well enough and were not sure what he thought about important issues.
"I've never heard of him... To understand him better, I need to meet him," said one senior European defense official.
Another official said that Hegseth does not seem like the most qualified choice, "but the rule is that every country has the right to choose its own ministers, so we will deal with whoever we have to".
Although Hegseth has not detailed his views on key national security issues, one thing is clear: his skepticism about NATO.
“Outdated, outmatched, attacked and impotent. Why should America, Europe's 'emergency contact' for the last century, listen to complacent and impotent states begging us to respect outdated and unilateral defense arrangements that they themselves no longer adhere to?” wrote Hegseth in his book, which was published earlier this year.
Not only are Trump's nominees for national security and foreign policy posts universally skeptical of helping Ukraine defend against a Russian invasion, but some of their positions are openly hostile to Kiev.
Gabaradova, who will oversee the US intelligence apparatus, presented Putin as a defender of Russia's vital national interests. She described Ukraine as a corrupt kleptocracy.
Protection of the Senate?
The only potential protection against Trump and his nominees is still the Senate.
Although Trump's Republicans control the Senate and most Republican lawmakers will support his nominations, the slate of candidates the president-elect has put forward is likely to cause hesitation among the party's remaining moderates and test how loyal Republicans are to him and his vision.
Rubio's choice as secretary of state could come as a relief to US partners worried that the Trump administration could withdraw the US from global alliances, including NATO, given Trump's emphasis on "America first" during his campaign to return to the White House. .
Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment who has served in both Democratic and Republican administrations, said it is critical that any advisers to the president be prepared to stand up to the president when necessary, given the wide range of foreign policy challenges he faces. Trump will face.
"I try to keep an open mind," Miller said, noting that Rubio, thanks to his experience in Congress, has more insight into foreign policy issues than any of Trump's other appointees.
Without people around him who tend to oppose his decisions, the president-elect could more easily change long-term norms to pursue his conservative agenda, both Trump supporters and opponents told Reuters. He also has the luxury of not having to think about running for office in 2028 because the law does not allow him to do so, so he has nothing to lose.
Ivanka and Jared aside, Donald Jr. comes to the fore
The Trump family will remain influential in the new administration, but this time with more MAGA flair, writes the Financial Times.
Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner took over high positions in the White House in 2016. Kushner, a Democrat in his youth, was seen by some foreign governments as one of the more pragmatic people to work with amid the chaos of Trump's first term. However, neither Ivanka nor Kushner are expected to join the new administration.
The most influential member of the family this year was Donald Trump Jr., the 46-year-old eldest son. He played an important role in convincing his father to endorse JD Vance as his vice presidential running mate, and was one of the voices advocating that Trump work more with podcasts popular with young people.
Trump Jr. also helped build the campaign's relationship with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., scion of the most famous Democratic family, who at one point had plans to run for president before endorsing Trump.
Donald Trump Jr. hasn't always seemed like his father's favorite son. But, more than any other member of the family, he was an energetic advocate of the new right.
Although he appears uninterested in taking a formal position in the administration, he intends to play an important role in the transition, monitoring potential appointments based on their loyalty. Before the election, he spoke about the need to create a "MAGA bench" of potential officials and keep "bad actors" out of the administration.
"Now we know who the real players are, the people who will actually deliver on the president's message, the people who don't think they know better than the legitimately elected president of the United States," Trump Jr. told Fox this week. “I want to make sure those people are in this administration.”
A massive purge in the Pentagon
Members of Trump's transition team are drawing up a list of military officers to be replaced, and that list could include members of the general staff, two sources told Reuters, which would represent unprecedented changes at the Pentagon.
Planning for the replacement is in the early stages and could change as the Trump administration takes shape, said the sources, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the plans. One of the sources questioned the feasibility of mass layoffs at the Pentagon.
It was also unclear whether Trump would personally support the plan, although in the past he has come down heavily on military leaders who have criticized it. During the campaign, Trump also talked about firing "woke" generals responsible for the troubled withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
Another source said the new administration could likely focus on US military officers seen as connected to Mark Milej, the former chief of staff.
Millay was quoted in Bob Woodward's book War, published last month, as calling Trump a "fascist to the core."
"Every person who was promoted and appointed by Milej will be removed," another source said. "There is a very detailed list of everyone who was connected to Milej. And they will all be replaced".
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