Trump's flurry of extremist staff picks spark fears
The Guardian Weekly|November 22, 2024
'Welcome back," Joe Biden told Donald Trump, his predecessor and successor, as the pair shook hands in the Oval Office.
David Smith
Trump's flurry of extremist staff picks spark fears

For Biden, it was important to show the world that America can still conduct a peaceful transfer of power.

It was an outward show of permanence and stability. But behind the two men a fire was burning fiercely in the grate. TV comedian Stephen Colbert observed: "I do think it was fitting that they held the meeting in front of a roaring metaphor for the future." Trump will not be president for another two months but he is already dominating the Washington agenda again. Last week a flurry of controversial and extremist picks for his cabinet and other high-ranking positions came at a hectic pace and with a level of provocation that made heads spin.

The choices included a Fox News host, an anti-vaccine activist, an alleged apologist for Vladimir Putin and a congressman once embroiled in a sex-trafficking investigation. The lineup raised fears of authoritarianism or chaos or both-once Trump and his allies are back in the Oval Office.

Tara Setmayer, a former Republican communications director on Capitol Hill, said: "Their entire political brand is shock and awe. Prior to Trump's re-election it was notional. Now they have the power to execute all of their depravity with the full backing of American government power virtually unchecked. I don't think the people who voted for Donald Trump, allegedly because of economic angst, have a full appreciation for what that means."

Trump, who has promised not to be a "dictator" except on "day one", will enter office with fewer checks on his power than last time. He will return to Washington with a Republicancontrolled Congress and a conservative supreme court that ruled he is largely immune from prosecution.

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