If there is one quality that no one would deny in Donald Trump, it is that of knowing how to saturate the media space at little cost. Eight years ago, after his unexpected victory in the electoral college, with a team that had never held political office (starting with him), the composition of his administration had been laborious and chronicled by a press that did not care about it. didn’t miss a beat. This time, barely a week after his election, more than two months before returning to the White House on January 20, the president-elect is bombarding appointments in all directions, maintaining the world’s focus on himself. Relieved of the pressures of the Republican establishment, which he now holds in his hand, he appoints billionaires, hawks and other Fox News hosts to compose the cast of his future administration.
Since his victory, Trump has held telephone conversations with world leaders – from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the Canadian, Japanese, British and Indian Prime Ministers, to Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia. Another protocol exercise, he is going to Washington this Wednesday, November 14 to meet the Republican elected representatives of Congress and to be received by Joe Biden in the Oval Office – a tradition from which a fulminating Trump had avoided in 2020, busy as he was. to attempt to overturn the results of the election.
Epicenter of the new American power
But far from the federal capital, it is Trump’s residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, where he has lived since the Democrat’s inauguration in January 2021, which serves as the scene for his first days in the skin of the 47th president of the United States, at the dawn of a mandate carried by the new slogan of his supporters, «Fulfill the mandate» (“Honor the mandate”), that the double or even triple victory of November 5 would confer on them – the White House, the majority in the Senate, and perhaps, the House of Representatives (twelve seats have not yet been allocated).
Under the palm trees, the private Palm Beach club, built in the 1920s and bought forty years ago by Trump, is already the epicenter of the new American power. It’s there, behind the drawn curtains of the meeting rooms, under the high gilded ceilings and monumental chandeliers, between the silk wall tapestries imported from a palazzo Venetian, that the daily ballet of relatives, courtiers and MAGA influencers takes place (from the Trumpist slogan «Make America Great Again») who are trying to obtain a position in the future administration. This is where the team of «Trump-Vance transition» (named after Vice President-elect JD Vance) sent, in a few hours on Tuesday, November 12, nearly ten press releases, each announcing the appointment of a new member of the Trump 2.0 administration. Thus the New York real estate magnate Steven Witkoff, as special envoy for the Middle East; of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, defender of settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories, as United States ambassador to Israel.
The hawks Mike Waltz and Marco Rubio (the latter, announced by the press, has not been confirmed by the transition team, unlike the others), pocket the respective positions of national security adviser to the White House and Secretary of State. The governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem, once considered to be Trump’s running mate (but disqualified by public opinion for having, by her own admission, killed her dog because she was “indomitable”), will be appointed to the key position of Secretary of Homeland Security. The ultraconservative and former director of national intelligence John Ratcliffe will take over as head of the CIA. In his statement, Trump welcomed this “warrior for truth and honesty” – he was part of the team defending the American billionaire during his impeachment proceedings.
Cutting budgets and heads
Last weekend at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump toured the owner in a golf cart with Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and one of his campaign’s most generous donors. Two days later, he formalized the role of the multibillionaire boss of SpaceX, Tesla and the social network“governmental efficiency”, jointly with businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, Donald Trump’s former rival in the Republican primaries. The new president wants to make their mission “Manhattan Project” of the time, giving birth not to the atomic bomb but to “radical changes” to achieve a “smaller government, with more efficiency and less bureaucracy.” Before the election, Musk said he wanted to cut $2,000 billion (out of $6,500 billion) from the federal budget, without ever detailing how he intended to go about it.
Trump’s statement only indicates that this new ministry “will provide advice and guidance outside of government”, suggesting that Musk would not play an official role as a federal civil servant. The mission, vague, remains promising in conflicts of interest. In recent years, SpaceX has secured federal contracts worth more than $10 billion. The aerospace company, as well as Tesla and Neuralink, are the target of around twenty investigations or legal proceedings from federal agencies. Elon Musk could thus find himself cutting budgets, and heads, in the same agencies responsible for controlling his companies.
Pardon soldiers accused of war crimes
Among the torrent of nominations, that of Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense has not gone unnoticed either. Square jaw, tanned complexion, tattoo «We the People» – the first words of the Constitution of the United States – on the arm, large cross of Jerusalem on his chest next to the words “God Wills” (“God wants it” in Latin, an expression associated with the Crusades and taken up by white supremacists), the choice of this Fox News host, ex-captain of the National Guard, stunned the Pentagon. Never tested on the international scene, this 44-year-old conservative, convinced by sauce isolationism «America First» of Trump, will, if confirmed by the Senate, take charge of the world’s first army.
In his show as in his interviews, Hegseth has been fiercely opposed to the programs he calls «woke» – that promote equity and inclusion – in the military. He advocated pardoning soldiers accused of war crimes, and questioned the role of women in combat. Like his future boss, he prioritizes “strategic threat” that China represents, and makes firm remarks about Iran. In his announcement press release, Donald Trump welcomed a “patriot” : “With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice, our military will be great again, and America will never back down.”
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