WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday made his first cabinet appointment after his decisive election win, while signaling his intent to ditch the outgoing administration’s policies by talking to Vladimir Putin.
Trump’s campaign manager Susie Wiles will serve as his White House chief of staff, the first woman to be named to the high-profile role and the Republican’s first appointment to his incoming administration.
Trump’s crushing defeat of Democrat Kamala Harris is already shaking up US and world politics, just two days after Election Day and two-and-a-half months before he returns to the White House.
Biden, 81, urged Americans in a solemn televised address to “bring down the temperature,” in stark contrast to Trump’s refusal to accept his 2020 election defeat.
The Democrat has invited Trump for talks at the White House. But Biden’s spokeswoman said Trump’s team had not yet signed key documents allowing the legal transition process to start.
In his speech from the Rose Garden of the White House, Biden called for unity while urging Democrats not to lose hope, saying: “Remember, a defeat does not mean we are defeated.”
Yet finger-pointing has already erupted in the party over Biden’s initial decision to run for a second term despite his age, before dropping out at the last minute in July and handing the reins to Harris, his vice president.
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The White House denied Biden had any regrets. “He believed it was the right decision to make at that time,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
Trump’s election in the face of a criminal conviction for fraud, two impeachments and the fact that he is the oldest-ever elected president at 78 reflected voters’ desire for change from the Biden years.
Voter concerns over the economy and migration drove Trump’s victory.
Trump’s first cabinet pick Wiles enjoys wide support within his team and was notably called on stage during his victory speech on Wednesday morning.
“Susie is tough, smart, innovative, and is universally admired and respected. Susie will continue to work tirelessly to Make America Great Again,” Trump said of the steely 67-year-old Florida native.
The other frontrunners for a place in the Trump 2.0 administration reflect the disruptive shape it is likely to take.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a leading figure in the anti-vaccine movement for whom Trump has pledged a “big role” in health care, told NBC News on Wednesday that “I’m not going to take away anybody’s vaccines.”
But the former independent candidate reiterated that the Trump administration would recommend removing fluoride — a mineral US authorities say aids dental and skeletal health — from public water supplies.
The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, could also be in line for a job auditing government waste after the right-wing SpaceX, Tesla and X boss enthusiastically backed Trump.
Trump is expected to wield the axe on many of Biden’s signature policies. He returns to the White House as a climate change denier, poised to take apart Biden’s green policies with his pledge to “drill, baby, drill” for oil.
He may find it hard to dismantle some of Biden’s investment legislation, which pumps money into many Congressional districts where members would be loath to see it go. –AFP
