Over the past week, the newly elected President of the United States, Trump, has been staying at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. There are no rallies, press conferences or speeches, but he is earning enough attention from the outside world by rapidly advancing government appointments and

Over the past week, newly elected President Trump of the United States has been staying behind closed doors at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. There are no rallies, press conferences or speeches, but he is earning enough attention from the outside world by rapidly advancing government appointments and gradually releasing important cabinet candidates.

According to CCTV News, on November 12, local time, Trump announced a number of personnel appointments, including nominating 44-year-old veteran and Fox News host Hegseth as the US Secretary of Defense and inviting two billionaires. Billionaires Musk and Ramaswamy jointly run the newly established "Government Effectiveness Department" and nominated Representative Walz to serve as the President's National Security Assistant.

Hegseth was not among the initially reported strong contenders for defense minister, and his qualifications are less than those of several other potential candidates. Trump's "unusual" promotion came as a surprise.

Multiple overseas service, conservative, "America first"

The Secretary of Defense is the "number two" in the U.S. armed forces and is regarded as a key position in the U.S. government, leading 1.3 million active U.S. military personnel. However, during Trump’s first term, the position of Secretary of Defense was turbulent, with five people holding the post.

Trump explained in a statement on the 12th that Hegseth has been a soldier who has served the army and the country all his life. He is strong, smart and a true believer in "America First"; under Hegseth's helm, America's Enemies will note that "our military will be great again and America will never back down."

Who is Hegseth, and why is he favored by Trump? According to reports from CCTV and Global Network, Hegseth was born in 1980 from Minnesota. He graduated from Princeton University and later received a master's degree in public policy from Harvard University. He was a captain in the U.S. Army National Guard, served in Guantánamo, Cuba, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Army Medal.

Since 2014, Hegseth has been working at Fox News and has established a friendship with Trump, who often appears on the show. He recently served as a talk show host and is regarded as a conservative media figure with a large number of "fans." Public footage shows that he interviewed Trump at the White House in 2017.

It is reported that as early as 2016, when Trump was first elected as president, he had the idea of ​​recruiting Hegseth to serve as Secretary of Veterans Affairs, but was dissuaded by people around him.

After eight years, Trump finally extended an olive branch. A person familiar with the matter said that Trump’s choice was due to his long-term relationship with Hegseth. Trump has always considered the latter to be “smart” and was deeply impressed by his career. In addition to loyalty, the latter also demonstrated extraordinary expressiveness.

However, compared with other candidates, Trump’s latest choice was also described by Republicans as “surprising” and “less serious.”

Judging from his stance, Hegseth is critical of the US military's pursuit of "diversity" and "inclusion". He claims to be regarded as an extremist by the US Army, so he will leave in 2021. He has also criticized the US military for being "10 years behind" and inefficient, and also criticized American society for being left-leaning. The above propositions have many similarities with Trump’s policy stance. Some commentators say that if he becomes defense minister, he may push the U.S. military to reduce overseas military intervention, strengthen border military deployment, and pressure allies to share defense burdens.

From an experience background, Hegseth has an excellent background as a low-level military officer, but lacks the high-level national security experience required for ministerial officials. It is doubtful whether he has experience in operating the Pentagon bureaucracy and sufficient knowledge of defense policy.

Hegseth's appointment is subject to Senate approval. Although Republicans hold a majority in the Senate, it is still unclear whether Hegseth can finally "break through".

Two rich people supervise government efficiency?

On the same day on the 12th, Trump confirmed that he was forming a "Department of Government Efficiency" to cut government spending and redundant supervision and reorganize federal agencies. He announced in a statement that the new unit will be co-led by two entrepreneurs, Musk and Ramaswamy.

Later, Musk responded that this will send shock waves to the entire system and anyone involved in government waste, and there will be a lot of people. He also announced that all actions of the newly established department will be made public online to ensure transparency. Ramaswamy also responded on social media, "We will not leave gently."

Musk is regarded as one of Trump's "heroes" in this campaign and is said to have donated approximately US$200 million. He has said he would help Trump cut $2 trillion in the federal budget and vigorously relax government regulations. But he did not elaborate on the specific methods.

Indian-American Ramaswamy is also a biotechnology entrepreneur with a net worth of hundreds of millions. He once confronted Trump during the Republican primary stage of the US election, but quickly turned into Trump's "spokesperson" after losing. He has proposed sweeping changes to the government, including eliminating the FBI, the Department of Education, etc., which he said would lead to the firing of thousands of federal workers.

According to Trump, the "Government Effectiveness Department" is independent from the government and provides reform suggestions to White House officials.

However, as the founder of many well-known companies, Musk's private business interests are widely involved, which may cause conflicts of interest with his status as a "government consultant". It is still unknown whether he is qualified to hold the above-mentioned positions. In addition, the growth of the U.S. population has been basically the same as the size of the federal government (number of employees, actual expenditures, etc.) for a long time. Therefore, Trump's plan to establish a new department has also been commented by some scholars as a "political show."

Fellow hawk Cheng National Security Advisor

Earlier that day, Trump also announced the appointment of Representative Walz as the President’s National Security Affairs Assistant, and nominated close ally and former Director of National Intelligence Ratcliffe as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Nominate Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, as ambassador to Israel, and invite Witkov, a long-time friend and real estate investor, to be the special envoy for Middle East affairs.

Among them, the position of National Security Affairs Assistant has attracted the most attention. It is not a statutory member of the cabinet, but is a core member of the president's staff and has a close relationship with the president. It is responsible for providing national security briefings and coordinating the government's foreign, intelligence and military policies. It is eligible to attend national security meetings. The new National Security Assistant Walz is a fellow Trump supporter and a loyal supporter, and is also regarded as one of the lawmakers with the toughest stance on China. Because of the president's trust, the national security assistant's influence can even exceed that of the secretary of state and defense secretary.

So far, the prototype of Trump’s new cabinet team has begun to take shape, and important positions such as Secretary of State and Minister of Justice have yet to be announced. Judging from the current position arrangement, responding to the political demands of conservative voters may be the distinctive background of Trump 2.0.

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