Trump’s hawkish cabinet picks signal tough stance on China
The president-elect has been choosing his top team as he prepares to take office in January, and one thing seems to be front and centre of his mind – China.
The announcements should not be a surprise. Donald Trump said he’d do things differently this time. And yet they still prompt a double take.
I’ll come to Elon Musk in a moment.
But first, the man Donald Trump has nominated as America’s new defence secretary is a TV anchor from Fox News.
The person proposed to be in charge of the world’s most powerful military is the Fox & Friends Weekend host Pete Hegseth.
The former Army National Guard Major, who has served in Iraq, Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay (where he defended the treatment of prisoners) is not the conventional choice, to say the least.
But then that’s precisely why Mr Trump wants him. He’s there to shake things up and to prompt the reaction it has done already within the establishment.
“It’s a joke surely,” was a phrase bouncing around social media and beyond.
But the press release from the president-elect spelt it out.
“Pete has spent his entire life as a warrior for the troops, and for the country,” Mr Trump said in the overnight statement.
“Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First. With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down.”
A quick trawl of Mr Hegseth’s appearances on Fox, and other interviews he has done, are revealing.
Apparently, he doesn’t wash his hands much: “I don’t think I have washed my hands for 10 years…,” he told his co-hosts a while back.
“Germs are not a real thing. I can’t see them therefore they are not real.”
Was he joking? His co-hosts seemed to be not quite sure.
But the 44-year-old does have a forthright and sharp view on America’s military shortcomings.
He said recently on the Shawn Ryan Show podcast: “The Pentagon runs perfect war game simulations: we lose every time to China… They’re building an army… We have our heads up our asses.”
He continued: “The way we procure weapons systems, we’re always a decade behind and fighting the last war. Whereas China is building an army specifically dedicated to defeating the United States of America.”
This is what Mr Trump would call anti-establishment, out of the box thinking.
Yet it actually aligns with what many within the establishment have long believed – that America is losing to China on many fronts.
Mr Trump is now putting someone in a position of huge power who is articulating frankly what others say more quietly.
This may be a theme of this new White House: to state what others don’t quite dare say (like on Ukraine/Russia: “it’s a stalemate”, on China: “they are winning”) and then to try to do something about it.
But his lack of experience in actually running one of the largest government departments in the world and overseeing wars will alarm many.
Then there is Mr Musk. There should be no surprise at all that he is in the White House. But he is only sort of in government.
His new Department of Government Efficiency (which already has the acronym DOGE) actually sits outside the government structure.
Why? Because Mr Musk’s companies have huge government contracts which prevent him from actually serving in the White House.
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In response to the announcement, in “Muskian” form, he posted on his own site X: “All actions of the Department of Government Efficiency will be posted online for maximum transparency.
“Anytime the public thinks we are cutting something important or not cutting something wasteful, just let us know!
“We will also have a leader board for most insanely dumb spending of your tax dollars. This will be both extremely tragic and extremely entertaining.”
For many who believe the US government is a bloated money-bleeding bureaucracy in need of urgent reform, these (apparently) transparent plans may be welcome.
Many others will look beyond that and question how this structure (outside government) and leadership (the world’s richest man with huge conflicts of interest) is possibly appropriate.
As an outside entity, it wouldn’t be sanctioned by Congress. So who is funding it, what are the potential conflicts of interest and who is overseeing it?
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One thing seems to be front and centre of Trump’s mind with all the new nominees: China.
Marco Rubio (for secretary of state), Pete Hegseth (for defence secretary) John Ratcliffe (for CIA chief) and Mike Waltz (for National Security Adviser) are all ultra-hardliners on China.
Mr Trump is instigating a new “great game” of superpowers. He is seeking to establish, in fast order, a clear sense of superiority over China – to “make America great again”.
It’s high stakes. Trump 2.0 could make America great again but could be a very bumpy ride.
