What will Donald Trump’s second term look like? The first appointments of the president-elect and the circus that surrounds him provide some clues.
Some Trump supporters or apologists have presented his election as a popular victory against the oligarchy. On the contrary, the “new Trump” looks more like a potential autocrat, surrounded by sycophants and under the thumb of oligarchs.
Flagonry
Trump’s main criterion in his nominations is loyalty to his person, including adherence to the Big Lie of his alleged stolen victory in 2020. Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo learned this the hard way when Trump insisted on excluding them in advance.
It is also clear that the obsequious allegiance demonstrated by Marco Rubio, Elise Stefanik, Michael Waltz, Tulsi Gabbard and Matt Gaetz was the main, if not the only, condition of their selection to key positions.
We are light years away from Lincoln’s “team of rivals” or the bipartisanship that was demanded of Kamala Harris. Those who wish to join the Trump administration will have to bow at Mar-a-Lago.
Oligarchy
While it is true that several billionaires have endorsed Kamala Harris, it is certain that oligarchs have supported Trump, that they play a key role in his transition team and that they will exert outsized influence over his administration.
At the forefront is Elon Musk, the richest man on the planet. One of the largest suppliers to the American government and one of the biggest beneficiaries of its subsidy largesse, Musk “invested” around a hundred million dollars in the Trump campaign and has recovered several hundred times his share price since the election.
Musk has previously interfered in conversations between Trump and foreign leaders and pushed to place his underlings in key positions. He will play a central role in the administration. To hell with conflicts of interest!
Other Republican megadonors will also claim their share of the pie and the Trump family is expected to pocket, through various schemes, hundreds or thousands of times the salary that its patriarch will symbolically forgo.
Foreign oligarchs – Russian, Saudi or others – will also be there, but that’s another story.
Autocracy
Much has been said about the threat Trump poses to American institutions. During his first term, Trump helped concentrate power in the president’s hands and his Supreme Court gave him near-total immunity.
Even if he can count on the servility of Republican elected officials in Congress, Trump has demanded that the Senate abandon its power to supervise nominations. Such a capitulation would represent a first step towards autocracy.
Another indicator of authoritarianism: the immigration “czar” appointed by Trump has announced that he will ignore constitutional rules to deport millions of undocumented immigrants and that he will seek to revoke the citizenship of their children.
Trump also reportedly proposed creating a commission responsible for purging “woke” executives from the armed forces and his “Project 2025” promises even deeper purges in the public service.
The one who has already announced his intention to be a “dictator for a day” therefore already seems quite willing to get a taste for it.
