Less than a ten days after his landslide election victory on November 5, Donald Trump has already made it clear – both inside and outside the US – that in his second presidential term he intends to act as an absolute ruler.
Probably much more than “dictator on day one”…
As the 47th US president, he will have a Congress under absolute Republican control – at least until the 2026 midterm elections.
He will also have a very pro-Trump US Supreme Court, where three of the six ultra-conservative justices (compared to just three progressives) have been previously appointed by him.
But first and foremost, he will have a government staffed by docile provocateurs and extreme “useful idiots” in the most critical positions.
After eight years of methodically building the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement, he already had them ready, unlike his first election to the White House, in 2016.
Then he had reached mid-December before announcing names – mainly from the Republican establishment – for the positions he has now already filled.
Clearly, this time the main – perhaps the only, to be precise – criterion is blind faith in himself and his MAGA vision.
In the new, dangerously vague “Department of Government Efficiency” – officially aimed at eliminating bureaucracy and making drastic budget cuts – Trump has appointed two politically inexperienced businessmen.
The technology mogul – owner of X, Tesla and SpaceX – Elon Musk and the biotech multimillionaire Vivek Ramaswamy.
Neither of them needs Senate approval for his appointment.
The same is not true of other, equally controversial choices of Donald Trump.
The anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert Kennedy Jr., a Democrat, for the Department of Health and Human Services.
The also former Democrat and extremist Tulsi Gabbard as the new Director of National Intelligence (DNI) of the United States, with zero relevant experience.
The devotee of “white supremacy” and TV host of the ultraconservative network Fox News, Pete Hegseth, for the Department of Defense, with unique relevant experience in his terms in Iraq, Afghanistan and the hell of Guantanamo as a former infantry major.
The choice of Matt Gates for the Department of Justice is considered the most outrageous of all.
A far-right Republican congressman from Florida, who has said that he wants to abolish the FBI, while he is at the center of most of the investigations: from sex trafficking of minors and illegal drug use, to obstruction of investigations.
Conveniently for him, he resigned as a congressman upon announcing his candidacy as attorney general in the second Trump administration, thus preventing the publication of a report by the House Ethics Committee.
That said, it is already obvious that in his second presidential term, Donald Trump is treating the American government like his business, choosing “loyal dogs” to follow his orders.
It is now a common belief that, unlike the first Trump administration, this time the “adults in the room” are missing. And especially in the cabinet.
It remains to be seen whether this will apply to the entire US system of “checks and balances”, of checks and balances between the executive, legislative and judicial branches.
More than all the already announced nominations for the new US cabinet, the aforementioned choices are interpreted as a Trumpian “doctrine of shock” for the American establishment, allies and enemies, but also the Republicans themselves.
A short celebration, for the latter it will be seen “how many aphids the bag holds” during the Senate hearings for the approval of the ministerial nominations.
In a first mini-in-party rebellion, Republican senators – now a majority in this legislative body of Congress – have just elected John Thune from South Dakota as their leader.
It was a first small defeat for Donald Trump, before he even returned to the White House.
The 47th president-elect had Florida Senator Rick Scott as his nominee for the position, who was voted down.
But this small in-party rebellion was almost a foregone conclusion.
The relevant vote was not by roll call, unlike what will apply to ministerial hearings.
It will be seen there whether the remaining Republican party establishment will stand up – e.g. with the rejection of Matt Gates’ nomination for the Department of Justice – or whether he will let out his death rattle, bowing to the upcoming “shock and awe” of the Trump 2.0 era.
