I'm James Oliphant, national political correspondent for Reuters. I covered the first Trump transition in 2016, but things feel different this time.
As befitting a former president, Trump seems to have a better handle on what he wants to accomplish this time around, and so far he is relying on people in his comfort zone, selecting familiar faces rather than strangers. Many of them are familiar to Trump's voters, as well, because of their regular appearances in conservative media.
The Republican president-elect appears to prize one quality over all others: loyalty. But it also doesn't hurt to look good on TV and fit the role that Trump has pictured in his mind. He likes to call it "central casting" -- an allusion to the old Hollywood studio days of casting stars for movie roles.
Beyond Hegseth and Gaetz, that means appointing such TV-friendly faces as former U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida as secretary of state. Expect them all to log a lot of airtime in the coming months.
The selections of Gaetz and Rubio both sparked backlash, but for opposite reasons: Gaetz, a longtime Trump loyalist, was immediately viewed with suspicion by some mainstream Republicans in Congress, while Rubio is seen by some hard-right Trump supporters as a war hawk and creature of the D.C. establishment.
Trump, uncharacteristically, has held no press conferences since his win last week and even avoided talking to reporters during a trip to Washington on Wednesday Democratic . He has yet to sign a standard agreement with Biden that would start the official transition process in place.
Most of Trump's high-level appointees will need to be confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate. That chamber will have a new leader in John Thune, who won the job on Wednesday over Trump ally Rick Scott and fellow Senate institutionalist John Cornyn. The U.S. House of Representatives will remain in Republican hands, giving the party a clean sweep.
The Republican Congress may allow Trump to follow through with his pledge to cut taxes, but that could hamper efforts to tame the federal debt.
The president-elect and his advisers also are readying to unfurl a bevy of policy changes the day he is sworn into office on Jan. 20, particularly with regard to immigration enforcement.
Trump shows no signs of slowing his pace. Expect another wave of appointments, including Trump's economic team, in the days ahead.
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