Montage of photos of Donald Trump (left) and Robert Kennedy Jr, taken on November 14, 2024 (AFP / SAUL LOEB)
Donald Trump, who forms a government guided by allegiance to his person, announced Thursday that he wanted to entrust the Department of Health to Robert F. Kennedy Jr, notoriously skeptical of vaccines.
He also intends to place three of his personal lawyers in key positions in the federal judiciary.
During a gala speech in his Mar-a-Lago stronghold in Palm Beach, Florida, opened by Argentine President Javier Milei and actor Sylvester Stallone, the president-elect welcomed his own sensational appointments to the Health, Justice, Defense and a commission for “governmental efficiency” entrusted to Elon Musk.
Donald Trump even asked that his second term “begin on November 5 (date of his victory, editor's note) because the markets have (since) burst through the ceilings and enthusiasm has redoubled.”
Under the leadership of “RFK Jr”, the Ministry of Health “will play a big role in ensuring that everyone is protected from dangerous chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceuticals and food additives”, wrote the future 47th president in naming the nephew of John F. Kennedy.
– “Don’t become too popular”
“People like you, Bobby. Don't get too popular, Bobby,” he said.
This former environmental law lawyer with no scientific training forged an improbable alliance with the 78-year-old tribune by giving up being an independent presidential candidate.
He has propagated conspiracy theories, about vaccines against Covid-19 as well as alleged links between vaccination and autism, and calls for an end to the addition of fluoride to running water, although it is considered a great health success. in the fight against dental caries.
Robert Kennedy Jr. at a Donald Trump campaign meeting, in Milwaukee in Wisconsin, November 1, 2024 (AFP / KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI)
RFK Jr wants to fight against junk food and is for a right to abortion stopping at the viability of the fetus (around 24 weeks).
This elusive personality, addicted to heroin in his youth, recounted having abandoned the corpse of a bear cub in Central Park in New York and one day having to have a worm removed from his brain.
– Loyalty and rupture –
But there is no question for Donald Trump, who will be sworn in on January 20, of repeating what he described as the “biggest mistake” of his first term (2017-2021): choosing “people who were not loyal” .
“Trump's choices meet two criteria: loyalty and rupture”, analyzes for AFP Todd Belt, professor of political science at George Washington University.
The president-elect, author of an unprecedented comeback with his resounding victory, proved it by appointing as director of Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, a defector from the Democratic Party known for her pro-Russian positions.
Donald Trump, with his lawyer Todd Blanche (right), February 15, 2024 in a New York court (AFP / TIMOTHY A. CLARY)
As for the appointed Minister of Justice, Matt Gaetz, a thunderous Trumpist, he is suspected of relations with a minor and led the overthrow of the Republican boss of the House of Representatives in the fall of 2022, sowing huge chaos.
He must be supported by three lawyers for the president-elect, Todd Blanche, Emil Bove and John Sauer, whom Donald Trump wants to appoint as deputy ministers and representative of the ministry to the Supreme Court. MM. Blanche and Bove defended the Republican in the criminal trial over hidden payments to a former porn actress which led to his conviction in New York on May 30.
Unheard of for a former American president.
– Musk and Iran –
His first term had been a succession of spectacular dismissals. And many of his former advisors and ministers have turned against him.
This time, the 45th and soon 47th president favors personalities who sometimes have no experience of the state apparatus but who support it without reservation.
Elon Musk during a Donald Trump meeting in Butler, Pennsylvania, October 5, 2024 (GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Anna Moneymaker)
Like Elon Musk, who will lead a commission to reduce public spending and deregulation.
“He loves this place, I can't make him leave. He's done an incredible job,” said the president-elect, while the richest man in the world spent the week at Mar-a-Lago.
According to the New York Times, Elon Musk takes part in a number of decisions and met on Monday with Iran's ambassador to the UN to “ease tensions” between Tehran and the United States.
Several future ministers or advisors appear on the conservatives' favorite channel, Fox News. Donald Trump, himself a former reality TV figure and a big television consumer, “likes people who look good on screen,” says Todd Belt.
To run the Pentagon, the billionaire chose a Fox News host, Pete Hegseth, a former military man with no experience of high-level command.
However, he made a choice that contrasts with this quest for absolute loyalty: Florida senator Marco Rubio, with whom he had conflicting relations in 2016, must be Minister of Foreign Affairs.
These appointments will have to be confirmed by the Senate and Donald Trump will thus test the loyalty of Republican elected officials.
