Why Trump’s disruptive choices stump cosy circles

Many Indians must have a feeling of déjà vu listening to the US commentariat tying themselves up in knots contemplating what will happen on January 20, 2025 as President-elect Donald Trump unveils his new team. Wild speculation on basic questions such as the frontrunners for places in the Trump administration is being proved wrong as most names the press bandies about, based on indications from clearly not-very-accurate sources, are not panning out.

And yet, the actual nominees are mostly no-brainers, though the choice of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head a brand new ‘Department of Government Efficiency” could not have been foreseen. But Mike Waltz as National Security Adviser, Tom Homan as the new “border czar”, John Ratcliffe as CIA director, Elise Stefanik and Mike Huckabee as ambassadors to UN and Israel, and Tulsi Gabbard as head of National Intelligence were not unlikely picks.

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The choice of Peter Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, however, may provide a clue to the US media’s headless chicken act: he is a direct threat to the status quo at the Pentagon and will upset the cosy entente between media and establishment that characterised Democrat rule since 2008, with Trump failing to disrupt it between 2016 to 2020. Much the same frenzy—albeit not before the new leader took office as in this case—happened on May 16, 2014.

That was the day when circles in India also realised a tectonic power shift had taken place. The ascent of Narendra Modi to Prime Ministership and national power caused panic not only among the old political and bureaucratic elite of New Delhi but their friends in business, society and the media. The imminent return of Trump to the White House has also scared the living daylights out of many there, and the tenor of discourse is approaching hysteria.

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Short of saying Trump will shoot migrants in the streets or flog transgenders in the village square (or its city equivalent), the rumour mills are running riot. The mainstream US media has so thoroughly alienated Trump, his confidantes and relevant party officials, none have authentic sources on the inside. So, during the excruciating wait till that first day at the Oval Office when Trump has promised he will be a dictator for just that day, nothing is off the table.

Not surprisingly, Trump appointing ‘loyalists’ to the highest offices is being touted as an aberration rather than the norm and the Department of Justice—which led the ‘lawfare’ onslaught on Trump since Biden became President in 2021—has been a major focus. And Trump naming Matt Gaetz as Attorney General has truly set the cat among the pigeons. “Shocking” was the first dazed reaction and “experts” now are hoping he will not be confirmed!

The media, as the megaphone of the rattled Establishment, is reporting that most of the permanent civil service (Washington DC lifers) may be fired or posted to the boondocks if they do not fall in line. That generals who are “not loyal” will be fired or transferred. That troops will be deployed against protesters. That Trump will alter the Constitution to give himself a third term. Even that Air Force One will change to red, white and blue like ‘Trump One…!

No precedents apply any more. Even when Trump met incumbent President Joe Biden at the White House as part of tradition—which he did not follow when he lost in 2020—his wife Melania, ever the maverick spouse, did not go with him to demurely have tea with Jill Biden. Indeed, she and Trump are more alike than anyone gives them credit for: both have learnt to turn a deaf ear to what the media and DC’s denizens say about them and do their own thing.

In this din, though, one defining aspect missed or omitted by the Establishment and media is that all appointees are achievers on their own, not beneficiaries of DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) initiatives or any kind of affirmative action. Princeton and Harvard alumnus Hegseth did not retire with a general’s stars on his shoulders, for example, but got two bronze stars and two commendation medals on his chest for acts of heroism in Iraq as a major.

None of them are habitues of Washington DC either, tainted by its reputation of insider politicking and wheeling-dealing. In that sense, they reiterate Trump’s promise of dismantling ‘the system’. But concerted efforts to derail the Trump Express before it gathers speed are evident as the media is doubling down on the newcomers by raking up indiscreet past comments to create the impression that a bunch of reckless idiots are about to take charge.

Channels have been airing clips of Huckabee making remarks about Palestine, Hegseth saying women soldiers should not be in combat roles, and the new head of Homeland Security Kristi Noem averring that her two-year-old grandchild has guns. More such comments will be unearthed and disseminated, to inflame the public and therefore (they hope) scuttle the nominations at confirmation time, as had happened to several appointees during Trump 1.0.

Trump’s opponents still have not realised, apparently, that the general public is not as credulous as they calculated; after all, a slanted media narrative did not sway the election. On the contrary, many anti-Trump channels suffered dramatic falls in viewership during the run-up to voting day. So this muck-raking gambit may fail too. But doomsayers will find kindred souls among other shaky pillars of Washington DC, including opposition lawmakers.

A slim ray of hope for the despairing Establishment is the election of South Dakota’s John Thune as the new Senate majority leader, who has had a “rocky” relationship with Trump in the past. But as there is no recent friction to play up yet, especially since Thune also went to meet Trump at Mar-a-Lago after November 5, any dreams of Senate Republicans stymieing a rampaging President may not materialise. But the anti-Trumpists will keep trying.

The impact in India of announcements of similar disruptive intent by a new leader can be easily imagined. The bureaucrats sidelined by Modi in his first term are still seething, even though nothing as out-of-the-box as appointing two rich entrepreneurs to make slash-and-burn through government departments has ever been contemplated in India! However, there is no guarantee that Modi will not take an inspirational cue from Trump now.

The author is a freelance writer. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.