It's a tale of two presidents: one incoming, who is speedily announcing his unorthodox choices to lead cabinet agencies, from a vaccine skeptic at Health and Human Services to a Fox News host at the Defense Department, and the other outgoing, who spent the week traveling in South America and holding meetings with world leaders who are more interested in his successor's policies at this point, even as he shifts weapons policy in Ukraine.
Trump's cabinet nominations include people with grudges against the agencies they would run, indicating how tumultuous the next four years may be. The president-elect's most controversial one – Matt Gaetz to be attorney general – has generated bipartisan alarm, with calls by a fellow Republican in the Senate for the House of Representatives to about Gaetz, despite his resignation from Congress. Trump has said he is not reconsidering the pick; he may not have the votes in the Senate for confirmation but has suggested he will push for recess appointments.
His other choices include pro-wrestling mogul Linda McMahon for education secretary and Dr. Mehmet Oz, a television personality who pushed unproven COVID-19 treatments, as administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Still to be determined: the hard-fought Treasury job, after commerce secretary went to Wall Street CEO Howard Lutnick, one of Trump's biggest cheerleaders, who will lead his trade and tariff agenda.
Meanwhile, Biden spent a week in South America, holding his final meeting with G20 leaders and a farewell session with China's President Xi Jinping, who vowed to work with the incoming Trump administration. Biden made a stop in the Amazon rainforest, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to do so.
He made a last-minute major shift on foreign policy, allowing Ukraine to use U.S.-made weapons to strike deep into Russia. This before Biden hands over the White House to the man he defeated once and had hoped to defeat again.
Megyn Kelly -> Pete Hegseth responds to 2017 rape accusation. 🔥 vol. 3, issue 13 | December 6, 2024 Quick Hits All the news you need in...
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