Welcome back to your weekly update on US politics, where North America bureau chief Jade Macmillan catches you up on the biggest post-election developments.
It’s a White House tradition stretching back decades but the Oval Office meeting between Joe Biden and Donald Trump was nothing short of remarkable.
In front of a roaring fire, the outgoing president welcomed back his predecessor-turned-successor, someone he’s repeatedly described as posing a threat to US democracy.
The president-elect, meantime, shook hands with the man he’d nicknamed “crooked Joe” and whose 2020 election victory he still refuses to accept.
“Politics is tough,” Trump said to Biden, “and it’s, in many cases, not a very nice world.
“But it is a nice world today.”
The meeting was a courtesy he didn’t extend to Biden four years ago.
Trump also skipped his opponent’s inauguration, two weeks after his supporters stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to overturn the election results.
Donald Trump and Joe Biden committed to a smooth handover. (Supplied: The White House/Adam Schultz)
This time around, both leaders are promising a “smooth” handover.
And Trump is wasting no time assembling a second-term team that already includes a couple of big surprises.
Loyalty rewarded as Trump’s administration takes shape
The period after Trump’s first election win, back in 2016, was tumultuous from the outset.
The person chosen to lead the transition, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, was sacked within days.
Trump Tower in New York soon became the new centre of the political universe, with TV cameras broadcasting live footage of the parade of potential appointments passing through the lobby.
In 2024, Trump’s team is far more organised.
Plans are being made from Mar-a-lago, the Florida residence long dubbed the “winter White House”, which has become a drawcard for those jostling for positions behind the scenes.
Trump has already made a slew of significant announcements, naming his campaign manager Susie Wiles as the first-ever female White House chief of staff.
Loyalty to the MAGA movement has been rewarded, with congresswoman Elise Stefanik nominated as United Nations ambassador and South Dakota governor Kristi Noem chosen as homeland security secretary.
Florida senator Marco Rubio, a former Republican rival turned staunch Trump ally, has been tapped for the prominent role of secretary of state.
And then of course there’s Elon Musk. The billionaire who became so central to Trump’s election campaign will lead a “department of government efficiency”, aimed at cutting red tape and restructuring federal agencies.
Elon Musk accompanied Donald Trump to a gathering with House Republicans before his meeting with Joe Biden. (Reuters: Allison Robbert/Pool)
“This will send shock waves through the system, and anyone involved in government waste, which is a lot of people!” Musk said in a press release issued by Trump.
None of the aforementioned announcements come as a particular shock. Musk’s role, while controversial, was telegraphed well in advance.
And while the body he’ll lead with former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has been labelled a “department”, Trump says it will provide “advice and guidance” from outside government.
But as the flurry of appointments started rolling in, the president-elect still had at least two surprises up his sleeve.
A ‘firebrand’ attorney-general and a Fox News host at the Pentagon
Trump’s election victory had an immediate impact at the Department of Justice (DOJ), which had been pursuing two sets of criminal charges against the now-president elect.
Special counsel Jack Smith, who led the January 6 case and the classified documents prosecution (which has since been thrown out by a judge), is reportedly winding both down and preparing to resign.
But Trump’s decision to nominate Florida congressman Matt Gaetz as attorney-general — the position in charge of the DOJ — would have sent shock waves through its Washington headquarters.
The decision to name Matt Gaetz as attorney-general came as a surprise to many in Washington. (Reuters: Mike Blake)
Gaetz is commonly described by US media outlets as a “firebrand”. He’s part of the hard-right wing of the Republican Party and led last year’s efforts to oust former House speaker Kevin McCarthy — a move that paralysed the chamber for weeks.
He’s also intensely loyal to Trump, who has railed against what he’s argued was the “weaponisation” of the DOJ under the Biden administration.
“Matt will end weaponised government, protect our borders, dismantle criminal organisations and restore Americans’ badly shattered faith and confidence in the Justice Department,” Trump said in a statement.
The House ethics committee is still investigating whether Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, after the DOJ ended its own sex-trafficking probe without bringing any charges.
Trump’s decision reportedly stunned many of Gaetz’s colleagues and prompted immediate questions as to whether he would be confirmed by the Senate.
“We wanted him out of the House,” one unidentified Republican representative told Axios. “This isn’t what we were thinking.”
Democrats, meanwhile, were quick to express concerns that Gaetz would be tasked with pursuing retribution on behalf of the incoming president.
“Matt Gaetz is being nominated for one reason and one reason only,” Connecticut senator Chris Murphy told CNN.
“Because he will implement Donald Trump’s transition of the Department of Justice from an agency that stands up for all of us, to an agency that is simply an arm of the White House designed to persecute and prosecute Trump’s political enemies.”
Trump also raised eyebrows by choosing army veteran and Fox News host Pete Hegseth for defence secretary.
The 44-year-old served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay but doesn’t have senior military or national security experience, and has previously spoken out against women serving in combat roles.
Peter Hegseth interviews Donald Trump at the White House in 2017. (Reuters: Kevin Lamarque)
Again, Hegseth’s position will need to be confirmed by the Senate — a public test of the loyalty of Republicans who now hold control of the chamber.
But just over a week on from his extraordinary political comeback, Trump is making clear that he wants to move quickly ahead of his inauguration.
“Change is in the air in Washington, DC,” read an email released by his campaign to mark the president-elect’s return to the White House.
“And it begins on January 20, 2025.”
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