WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump has chosen new members of his incoming administration. He has chosen South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem to serve as the next Homeland Security Secretary, two sources familiar with the decision told Reuters on Tuesday. Trump was also expected to tap US Senator Marco Rubio to be his secretary of state, putting the Florida-born politician on track to be the first Latino to serve as America’s top diplomat once the Republican president-elect takes office in January.
Killed a dog
Noem, once seen as a possible running mate for Republican Trump, is currently serving her second four-year term as South Dakota’s governor after a landslide reelection victory in 2022. She rose to national prominence after refusing to impose a statewide mask mandate during the COVID-19 pandemic. Noem faced widespread backlash in April when she wrote in a memoir that she shot to death an "untrainable” dog that she "hated” on her family farm. Some Trump advisers said they believed Noem’s stock fell in the former president’s eyes after that, at a time when she was still a vice presidential contender. The Department of Homeland Security is responsible for everything from border protection and immigration to disaster response and the US Secret Service.
China hawks
Both Rubio and Congressman Michael Waltz, who has been lined up for the powerful National Security Advisor role, have notably hawkish views on China, which they see as a threat and challenge to US economic and military might. The two appointees, both from Florida, would be key architects of Trump’s "America First” foreign policy, with the incoming president having promised to end the wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East, and avoid any more US military entanglements.
Over the last several years, Rubio has softened some of his foreign policy stances to align more closely with Trump’s views. The president-elect accuses past US presidents of leading America into costly and futile wars and has pushed for a more restrained foreign policy. While the famously mercurial Trump could always change his mind at the last minute, he appeared to have settled on his pick as of Monday, according to the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations. The Ukraine crisis will be high on Rubio’s agenda. Rubio, 53, has said in recent interviews that Ukraine needs to seek a negotiated settlement with Russia rather than focus on regaining all territory that Russia has taken in the last decade. He was also one of 15 Republican senators to vote against a $95 billion military aid package for Ukraine, passed in April.
Boon for Latinos
Rubio’s selection holds domestic as well as international significance. Trump beat Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the November 5 election in part by winning over large numbers of Latinos, who had voted overwhelmingly for Democrats in previous election cycles but have become an increasingly diverse demographic in a political sense, with more and more Latinos voting Republican. By selecting Rubio for a key policy role, Trump may help consolidate electoral gains among Latinos and make clear that they have a place at the highest levels of his administration. If confirmed, Rubio will likely place a much greater importance on Latin America than any previous secretary of state, said Mauricio Claver-Carone, a Rubio ally, former president of the Inter-American Development Bank and a former National Security Council aide on Latin America in the first Trump administration. "This is the time Latin America will most be on the map in the history of any US presidency. It’s historic. There’s no other way to say it,” said Claver-Carone.
Slash climate rules
US media also reported that Stephen Miller, the author of Trump’s so-called "Muslim ban” immigration policy during his first term, was set to be his deputy chief of staff with a broad portfolio. New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik, a hardline defender of the Zionist entity, got the nod for UN ambassador, Trump’s transition team said in a statement. In a further announcement, Trump’s team said Lee Zeldin, an early political ally, would be proposed as Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief with a mandate to slash climate and pollution regulations that are considered red tape by businesses.
His choice for the environmental department head gives a clear hint about his intentions. Trump said Zeldin would be tasked with making "fair and swift deregulatory decisions,” with the tycoon promising to shred rules on safety and pollution that he believes hold back businesses. "We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI. We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water,” Zeldin wrote on X. — Agencies