The president-elect’s appointments to four key positions constitute a middle finger to state institutions and a test for elected Republican officials.
If Donald Trump seemed caught off guard in 2016 when faced with the task of putting together his cabinet, this time he knows what he is doing and he is acting quickly.
His rapid appointments underline his intention to shake up the state apparatus, satisfy his thirst for revenge and crush resistance to his authority.
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Alarming appointments
For Defense, Trump is proposing Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and ex-major in the reserves with no real management experience who stands out for his extremist views. If he gets this job, Trump’s threats to purge generals he considers disloyal and to use the military to subdue his opponents or deport migrants will have to be taken very seriously.
In Intelligence, the nomination of former Democratic representative Tulsi Gabbard, a power broker who became a Fox News star, is causing a cold sweat. An apologist for Vladimir Putin and Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, the one whom Russian state television has nicknamed “our girlfriend” could make the United States intelligence apparatus completely inoperative.
The nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr to Health is no less worrying. The man who has distinguished himself by his crusade against vaccination risks destroying decades of progress in public health, which would inevitably result in countless preventable deaths. At a minimum, entrusting this ministry to a notorious charlatan will undermine his scientific credibility.
Even worse is the appointment to Justice of Matt Gaetz, a former representative hated by his peers and a mediocre jurist whose main experience in the courts consists of having been the subject of credible accusations of sex trafficking and embezzlement of a minor. It is this type of puppet that would allow Trump to turn the justice system against his opponents.
What does Trump want?
Through these controversial appointments, Trump clearly intends to provoke and demonstrate the seriousness of his intention to shake up the state. For this long-term objective, despite the loyalty of his subordinates, their incompetence and the legislative inconsistency of the narrow Republican majority in Congress will be powerful obstacles.
In the medium term, Trump will quickly seek to satisfy his thirst for revenge. He will first make vast cuts to the public service – which risks undermining his ability to implement certain policies – and will launch a legal war against his opponents.
In the short term, these appointments will constitute a test of the degree of servility of Republican elected officials. How hard will Trump crack down on senators who don’t give him carte blanche? Will senators try to save face by rejecting one or two unacceptable nominations in exchange for a blank check for the others? Will Trump go all out and bypass Senate confirmation to keep his team intact?
This is something to watch out for. The behind-the-scenes games of the coming weeks will show the extent to which Donald Trump’s hold on his party will result in an unprecedented authoritarian consolidation of presidential powers in his hands.
