View from DC | The National

In the aftermath of a tumultuous and historic election cycle, two men sat down yesterday in the Oval Office at the White House. To use Trumpian language, one could categorise the two with a simple distinction: a winner and a loser. The victor, president-elect Donald Trump, who spent months attacking President Joe Biden, took a softer tone during the meeting with the man he will replace in January: “Politics is tough. In many cases it is not a very nice world, but it is a nice world today.” Among Republicans on Capitol Hill, however, the tone has been anything but soft. Celebrating a “new day in America” as the sun sets on Democratic control in Washington, the conservative party returned to Capitol Hill re-energised by their decisive mandate in the incoming government. Mr Trump has already announced a mix of Washington-hawk and wildcard appointments to his incoming cabinet – more on that later – and the Republicans of Capitol Hill are quickly mobilising to ensure the Trump agenda can be rolled out swiftly. Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson pledged to reporters on Tuesday: “We believe we can be the most consequential Congress in the modern era because we quite literally have to fix almost every metric of public policy. “When President Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016 … the Republican Party was not fully prepared for that moment, and precious time was wasted in the beginning of that Congress. We are not going to make those mistakes again. We will be ready on day one.” EYE ON THE WHITE HOUSE Mike Waltz , a Republican Congressman, veteran and former counter-terrorism adviser to vice president Dick Cheney, has been named as Mr Trump's national security adviser. Pete Hegseth , a Fox news host and US Army veteran, has been nominated as his secretary of defence, an unexpected move that would place a television presenter in charge of America's vast military with an annual budget approaching $1 trillion. Marco Rubio, a Florida Senator, has been chosen as his secretary of state. Mr Rubio has advocated fostering strong ties with Gulf nations. He views relationships with those countries as essential for regional stability and efforts to counter the influence of Iran. He has also been critical of Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and has championed stronger US ties with Greece and Cyprus. Tulsi Gabbard, a veteran and former Democrat who identifies as a “hawk” on terrorism, has supported US military missions against Al Qaeda and has said Syrian President Bashar Al Assad is “not an enemy of the United States”, has been chosen as director of national intelligence Elise Stefanik , a fierce advocate for Israel, has been chosen as the next US ambassador to the UN. Throughout the Gaza war, Ms Stefanik has intensified criticism of the UN, accusing it of “entrenched anti-Semitic bias” for condemning Israel’s air strikes and ground assaults in the enclave, which have resulted in the deaths of more than 43,700 Palestinians. Steven Witkoff , a real estate investor and Trump campaign donor, has been named as his special envoy to the Middle East. He is not known to have any diplomatic experience in the region. Mike Huckabee , a former governor of Arkansas, is to be US ambassador to Israel. His appointment suggests a return to Mr Trump's views towards Israel in his first term, when he moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and determined that settlements in the West Bank were not in breach of international law. Israel deadline passes The Biden administration has again sidestepped a red line it had set for Israel to improve “humanitarian conditions” in Gaza in 30 days. That timeline came and went on Tuesday, despite warnings from eight aid organisations that Israel had partially complied with only four of 19 US demands. State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said that, at this time, the US has “not made an assessment that the Israelis are in violation of the US law”. Leadership in Congress Republicans yesterday haggled over who would take up the reins of party leadership on Capitol Hill when the new government begins in January. Current House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared to get a pivotal endorsement from Mr Trump, who made an appearance at the closed-door party process. In the Senate, which will flip from Democratic to Republican control, leaders chose conservative Senator John Thune to lead the party, in a blow to Trump loyalists who had been pushing for more right-wing Senator Rick Scott. Last week's election has brought a moment of reflection for Democratic activists, organisers and insiders such as Alyssa Batchelor-Causey, who was very surprised by Tuesday night's results. “[Kamala] Harris had the best messaging that we've had … She had policies that resonated with people. She had everything moving in the right direction that I wanted to see from the Democratic Party for a very long time,” the strategist with Hill and State Strategies told The National. Clearly, though, the Democratic ticket did not craft a message that resonated enough to deliver victories, with losses among key constituencies where the party had expected to have resounding support, including white women and Latino men. Kati Durken, the vice president of Young Democrats for America, says that her party has “a messaging issue”. “We have not connected with people, I think we've missed some key areas that young voters feel really passionate about,” she told The National. Gabe Inman, a progressive in Virginia who “thought up until the last moment” that he would vote Democrat and ended up voting third party for Cornel West, seems to agree with that assessment. “The last 12 years [Democrats have] been trying to play ball with moderate Republicans and it's gone nowhere,” he told The National. “I think the biggest takeaway is that this is America showing itself for what it is, and we have hundreds of millions of people so apathetic about their futures.” In the weeks to come, Democrats settling into the reality of a swift and strong Republican mandate at the helm, say harm reduction will be the name of the game. “Preparing, preparing, preparing – informing constituents. If you are an elected representative – state, local, federal, it doesn't matter. You need to be talking to your constituents about what is to come,” said Ms Batchelor-Causey. Read more ONLY IN AMERICA Tesla chief Elon Musk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a new Department of Government Efficiency tasked with cutting federal waste. The body will be called “Doge” for short, a cheeky nod to the meme and Dogecoin cryptocurrency, represented by a picture of a shiba inu dog, that Mr Musk has long promoted. Mr Musk became a key ally of Mr Trump during his campaign, reportedly spending more than $100 million to help the Republican win and repeatedly boosting his candidacy on X, which he owns. In a statement, Mr Trump said the department would “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies”. He said it “will provide advice and guidance from outside of government”, a move that could allow Mr Musk to avoid disclosing his financial holdings. Federal employees are generally required to disclose their assets and entanglements to ward off any potential conflicts of interest, and to divest significant holdings relating to their work. Because Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy would not technically be federal workers, they would not face those requirements or ethical limitations. Read More