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US President-elect Donald Trump has 75 days before his January 20 inauguration to form an entirely new administration that will be radically different from both Biden's team and his own first term.
Donald Trump's impending return to the White House means he will want to create an entirely new administration unlike the one under President Joe Biden. His team also promises that the second transition period will not be very similar to the first one in 2016.
AR writes about it.
Trump now has about 4000 government positions to fill with political appointees, 1200 of which require Senate approval. That task should be made easier by the transition of the upper house to Republican control.
Trump has already announced several high-profile appointments. In particular, he intends to involve former presidential candidate and well-known vaccination critic Robert Kennedy Jr. in "healing America." He also offered Elon Musk, an active supporter of his campaign, the position of federal minister of "cost reduction."
Unlike the chaotic transition in 2016, when Trump fired the head of his transition team, Chris Christie, this time the process is being led by a narrow circle of trusted individuals. Among them:
- the president's sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump;
- Vice President JD Vance;
- Robert Kennedy Jr.;
- former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard;
- Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick;
- Linda McMahon, former head of the Small Business Administration.
Unlike the Kamala Harris campaign, Trump's team did not sign prior transition agreements with the General Services Administration (GSA). Because of this, the deadlines for agreeing on such issues as office space, technical support and access to government agencies have already been missed.
New rules were put in place after a troubled transition in 2020, when Trump delayed the process due to lawsuits over the election results. Under the Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022, the transition process must begin five days after the election, even if the results are contested.
Daily intelligence briefings are an important part of the transition period. For comparison: in 2008, President Bush personally briefed Obama about secret operations, and in 2020, due to Trump's delay in recognizing the election results, briefings with Biden began only on November 30.
Unlike the first term, when Trump appointed the Republican establishment and business leaders who later disappointed him, this time the main selection criterion will be loyalty, AR writes. This could lead to the formation of a team that is more in line with Trump's ideological beliefs and his management style.
Experts note that the speed and efficiency of the transition period are critical for national security. This confirms the experience of 2000, when the delay in the transfer of power between Clinton and Bush due to legal disputes could affect the readiness of the United States for the terrorist attacks of September 11.
It will be recalled that Donald Trump outlined a large-scale program of changes for his second presidential term, which combines traditional conservative approaches with populist ideas and provides for a significant expansion of presidential powers.
