在海湖庄园的枝形吊灯下，特朗普以极快的速度做出选择
【中美创新时报2024 年 11 月 17 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）当选总统唐纳德·特朗普几乎是心血来潮地在华盛顿和佛罗里达州棕榈滩之间的天空中选择了他的司法部长。他嘲笑了一位国土安全部候选人，然后突然改变了主意。他在佛罗里达州的家和私人俱乐部海湖庄园的幻灯片演示中仓促做出了国防部长的选择。《纽约时报》记者乔纳森·斯旺和玛吉·哈伯曼对此作了下述报道。
特朗普胆子大了起来，对自己的直觉充满信心，比以往任何时候都更加蔑视华盛顿的专业知识，他正以极快的速度为政府中最重要的职位配备人员。顾问们对他做出选择的速度之快感到震惊，他比 2016 年提前了大约一个月就填补了政府最重要的职位。
大部分行动都发生在海湖庄园茶室的吊灯下，特朗普在那里通过巨大的视频屏幕调查他的潜在内阁提名人。
他翻阅了由亿万富翁霍华德·卢特尼克 (Howard Lutnick) 领导的过渡团队在过去几个月起草的候选名单。如果特朗普对某位候选人表现出兴趣，演讲的目的是让他立即观看潜在提名人电视露面的视频——这对任何可能的特朗普内阁官员来说都是必不可少的。
特朗普的法律顾问鲍里斯·埃普斯坦 (Boris Epshteyn) 仍因参与亚利桑那州所谓的假选举人计划而受到起诉，他在茶室和其他地方拥有相当大的影响力，据说鼓励特朗普选择马特·盖茨 (Matt Gaetz) 担任司法部长。当选总统的幕僚长苏西·威尔斯 (Susie Wiles) 也经常在那里，他的长子小唐纳德·特朗普 (Donald Trump Jr.) 和世界首富埃隆·马斯克 (Elon Musk) 也是如此。
当选总统挑选他认为是真正忠诚的人，而很少考虑他们是否能通过参议院的确认。本月 48 小时内，特朗普宣布了四项震惊华盛顿的选择：盖茨、国家情报总监塔尔西·加巴德 (Tulsi Gabbard)、国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯 (Pete Hegseth) 和卫生与公众服务部部长小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪 (Robert F. Kennedy Jr.)。
44 岁的赫格塞斯是福克斯新闻主持人和退伍军人，他因缺乏经验和支持被指控犯有战争罪的退伍军人而受到负面关注。2017 年，他在加利福尼亚州蒙特雷也成为性侵犯投诉的对象，尽管没有提出任何指控。但据一位知情人士透露，竞选团队是在赫格塞斯被宣布为提名人后才得知这一消息的。
这一意外事件引发了人们对竞选团队是否审查了特朗普的部分候选人的程度的质疑。
特朗普的其他候选人也引起了质疑，包括共和党参议员。缅因州参议员苏珊·柯林斯在谈到盖茨时说：“我对这一消息感到震惊。”盖茨因涉嫌儿童性交易而受到司法部的调查，尽管该案没有被指控。“我相信在他的听证会上会有很多问题被提出。”
特朗普过渡团队的发言人、即将担任白宫新闻秘书的卡罗琳·莱维特对这些担忧不以为然。
“美国人民以压倒性优势再次选举了特朗普总统，赋予他履行竞选期间承诺的权力——他挑选的内阁成员反映了他将美国放在第一位的优先地位，”她说。
特朗普的行为就像一个知道自己将带着巨大权力重返华盛顿的人，面对着他不断破坏的护栏和他几乎完全控制的共和党。他要求下一任参议院多数党领袖约翰·图恩允许休会任命，这样他的内阁中就有足够的人选，如果参议院全体投票，这些人选可能会被否决。
私下里，共和党参议员已经表达了对与特朗普及其“让美国再次伟大”运动站在一起的担忧。他们中很少有人有兴趣面对特朗普盟友在网上发起的攻击，也不想让这位当选总统支持他们的政治对手。
特朗普的行事方式与 2016 年的过渡不同。他对自己的判断更有信心，不觉得有必要深思熟虑或听从华盛顿制度主义者的建议，他们希望把他塑造成一个类似于传统共和党总统的人。
2016 年末和 2017 年初，在击败希拉里·克林顿后，特朗普欣喜地带着求职者穿过特朗普大厦的大厅，以便新闻摄像机可以捕捉到他们奉承他的画面，他也经常亲自到大厅与记者交谈。当时，他不慌不忙，像参加他的真人秀节目“学徒”一样试镜候选人，并于 2016 年 12 月公布了他的第一批内阁人选。
这次没有游行，特朗普一反常态地远离公众视线。除了访问拜登白宫和在华盛顿凯悦酒店参加众议院共和党会议外，特朗普自 11 月 5 日获胜以来几乎没有与新闻媒体互动。相反，他一直住在海湖庄园，偶尔在附近的另一家俱乐部打高尔夫球。
八年前，当他准备首次在一个他不太了解的城市和工作中就职时，他依靠共和党领导人和他几乎不认识的前官员的建议，比如前共和党全国委员会主席雷恩斯·普里巴斯，任命他几乎一无所知的人。
他一见钟情地雇佣了人，包括政府中最重要的职位，比如他的第一任国务卿雷克斯·蒂勒森和他的第一任国防部长吉姆·马蒂斯。这些关系以糟糕的结局收场；特朗普的第一批助手中有很多最终写了批评他的书，称他不适合担任公职。
特朗普决心不再犯同样的错误。他仍然喜欢顶级学校和顶级公司的资历和背景，但他比过去更愿意放弃这些。他雇佣的人——最重要的是——忠诚。他告诉顾问，他第一任期内最大的遗憾是人事问题，他被“叛徒”背叛了，比如参谋长联席会议主席马克·米利将军和司法部长威廉·巴尔，他们都抵制他动员美国政府推翻 2020 年大选的努力。
对于他最关心的工作，比如司法部长，特朗普选择的人选他认为会追捕他鄙视的“深层政府”职业政府官员。
他希望在中情局有一个值得信赖的盟友，约翰·拉特克利夫，他在第一任期内担任国家情报局局长。他选择了前民主党人、曾抨击国家安全机构的加巴德担任国家情报局局长。他还选择了佛罗里达州参议员马可·卢比奥和纽约州众议员艾丽斯·斯特凡尼克——两位前批评者变成了坚定的盟友——担任国务卿和联合国大使。
周三下午，盖茨和其他几位候选人的任命公布后，特朗普前首席战略师史蒂夫·班农的反应是：“这是有史以来最好的一天。”
特朗普的核心圈子由他的竞选经理威尔斯领导，四年来一直如此。其中还包括当选副总统 JD 万斯、他强大的国内政策顾问斯蒂芬·米勒和他的长子，后者认为自己的职责是确保没有潜在的叛徒进入第二届特朗普政府。马斯克几乎参加了每一次会议，并明确表示他打算在联邦政府留下深刻的印记。
在人事问题上仍然存在分歧和幕后斗争。例如，南达科他州州长克里斯蒂·诺姆远非一致选择领导国土安全部，几位顾问希望特朗普远离她。据一位知情人士透露，在一次会议上，当一名助手提到她时，特朗普起初嗤之以鼻，但在与支持她的几位移民强硬派核实后，他改变了主意。然后，他向诺姆提供了这个职位。
但与第一次过渡时期相比，此类争议少得多。
尽管自 2016 年以来存在分歧，但迄今为止的所有迹象都表明，这位 78 岁的当选总统仍坚持着他的一些旧习惯。有时，他的工作人员似乎觉得现在世界上有一半人都有特朗普的手机号码。即使成为当选总统后，他似乎仍然愿意接听每一个电话——即使是来自未知的外国号码的电话。
据说，自从击败副总统卡马拉·哈里斯以来，特朗普一直心情愉快。当他不在人事安排中时，有人发现他在金色天篷下的茶室里或在海湖庄园的露台上，用 iPad 挑选音乐，大声播放卢奇亚诺·帕瓦罗蒂的歌曲。
本文最初刊登于《纽约时报》。
题图：上周，当选总统唐纳德·特朗普与其他共和党人出席了在华盛顿一家酒店举行的国会共和党会议。埃里克·李/纽约时报
附原英文报道：
Under the chandelier at Mar-a-Lago, Trump makes picks at breakneck speed
By Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman New York Times,Updated November 16, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump with other Republicans at a congressional GOP conference at a hotel in Washington last week.ERIC LEE/NYT
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump chose his attorney general almost on a whim, in the sky between Washington and Palm Beach, Florida. He scoffed at a candidate for the Department of Homeland Security, then abruptly changed his mind. His defense secretary pick was a snap judgment during a slide presentation at Mar-a-Lago, his home and private club in Florida.
Emboldened, confident in his instincts and more contemptuous than ever of Washington expertise, Trump is staffing the most important roles in his government at breakneck speed. Advisers have been stunned at how fast he is ticking through his choices, filling the government’s most important positions roughly a month sooner than he did in 2016.
Much of the action has taken place under the chandelier in the tearoom at Mar-a-Lago, where Trump surveys his potential Cabinet nominees on giant video screens.
He flicks through shortlists that his transition team, led by billionaire Howard Lutnick, has drafted over the past months. If Trump shows an interest in a candidate, the presentation is designed to allow him to immediately watch videos of the potential nominee’s TV appearances — essential for any would-be Trump Cabinet official.
Trump’s legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, who is still under indictment for his role in the so-called fake electors scheme in Arizona, has wielded substantial influence in the tearoom and elsewhere, and is said to have encouraged Trump’s choice of Matt Gaetz as attorney general. The president-elect’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, is a constant there, too, as are Donald Trump Jr., his eldest son, and Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest man.
The president-elect is picking people he considers true loyalists, with little regard for whether they can pass Senate confirmation. In the space of 48 hours this month, Trump announced four picks that stunned Washington: Gaetz, Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence, Pete Hegseth for defense secretary and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to run the Department of Health and Human Services.
Hegseth, a 44-year-old Fox News host and military veteran, in particular has drawn negative attention about his lack of experience and his support for combat veterans accused of war crimes. He also was the subject of a sexual assault complaint in 2017 in Monterey, California, although no charges were filed. But the campaign only learned of it after Hegseth was announced as the nominee, according to a person familiar with the decision.
The surprise raised questions about how much — or whether — the campaign was vetting some of Trump’s picks.
Trump’s other candidates have drawn skepticism as well, including from Republican senators. “I was shocked by the announcement,” Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said of Gaetz, who was investigated by the Justice Department on suspicion of child sex trafficking, although the case was closed without charges. “I’m sure that there will be a lot of questions raised at his hearing.”
Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for the Trump transition who will be the White House press secretary, brushed off the concerns.
“The American people reelected President Trump by a resounding margin, giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail — and his Cabinet picks reflect his priority to put America first,” she said.
Trump is acting like a man who knows he will return to Washington with immense power, facing guardrails that he has steadily worn down and a Republican Party over which he has almost complete command. He has demanded that the next Senate majority leader, John Thune, allow recess appointments that would let him stock his Cabinet with people who might be rejected if the full Senate were to vote.
Privately, Republican senators have already expressed fear about getting on the wrong side of Trump and his MAGA movement. Few of them are interested in facing the attacks that Trump’s allies deploy online, or in having the president-elect back their political rivals.
Trump is operating differently from his 2016 transition. He is more confident in his judgments and does not feel the need to deliberate or heed the counsel of Washington institutionalists hoping to shape him into something resembling a traditional Republican president.
In late 2016 and early 2017, after his shock victory over Hillary Clinton, Trump delighted in parading job seekers through the lobby of Trump Tower so the news cameras could catch them as they flattered him, and he often went down to the lobby himself to speak to reporters. Back then, he took his time, auditioning candidates like they were on “The Apprentice,” his reality TV show, and rolling out his first Cabinet picks in December of 2016.
There has been no parade this time, and Trump has stayed uncharacteristically out of public view. With the exception of his visit to the Biden White House and the meeting with the House Republican conference at a Hyatt hotel in Washington, Trump has barely interacted with the news media since his victory Nov. 5. Instead, he has stayed at Mar-a-Lago, occasionally golfing at another nearby club.
Eight years ago, as he prepared to take office for the first time in a city and a job he knew little about, he relied on the advice of Republican leaders and former officials with whom he was barely acquainted, like former Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus, to appoint people he knew essentially nothing about.
He hired people on first sight, including for the most important jobs in government, such as his first secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, and his first defense secretary, Jim Mattis. Those relationships ended terribly; many of Trump’s first batch of aides ended up writing critical books about him and describing him as unfit for office.
Trump is determined not to make that mistake again. He still loves credentials and pedigrees from top schools and top companies, but he is far more willing to forgo that than in the past. He is hiring — above all else — for loyalty. He has told advisers that his biggest regret from his first term was personnel, and that he was betrayed by “traitors” like his chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, and his attorney general, William Barr, both of whom resisted his efforts to mobilize the U.S. government to overturn the 2020 election.
For the jobs he cares most about, like attorney general, Trump has selected people he believes will go after the career government officials he despises as the “deep state.”
He wants at the CIA a trusted ally, John Ratcliffe, who served as director of national intelligence in his first term. He has chosen Gabbard, a former Democrat who has railed against the national security establishment, as his director of national intelligence. And he has picked Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York — two former critics turned staunch allies — as his secretary of state and U.N. ambassador.
After the announcement of Gaetz and a handful of other appointees Wednesday afternoon, the reaction of Steve Bannon, Trump’s bomb-throwing former chief strategist, was, “Best day ever.”
Trump’s inner circle is led, as it has been for four years, by Wiles, who was his campaign manager. It also includes Vice President-elect JD Vance; his powerful domestic policy adviser, Stephen Miller; and his eldest son, who sees his role as ensuring that no potential turncoats find their way into the second Trump administration. Musk is in nearly every meeting and has made clear he intends to leave a deep imprint on the federal government.
There are still disagreements and behind-the-scenes fights about personnel. Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota, for example, was far from a unanimous choice to lead the Department of Homeland Security, and several advisers hoped to steer Trump away from her. Trump scoffed at first when an aide brought her up during one meeting, but he changed his mind after he checked with a handful of immigration hard-liners who supported her, according to a person briefed on the matter. He then offered the position to Noem.
But there are far fewer such disputes than there were in the first transition.
Even with the differences since 2016, all signs so far indicate that the 78-year-old president-elect is sticking to some of his old habits. It sometimes seems to his staff as if half the world now has Trump’s cellphone number. Even since becoming the president-elect, he still seems willing to take every call — even calls from unknown foreign numbers.
Trump is said to be in an ebullient mood since his victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. When he’s not running through personnel, he has been spotted in the tearoom beneath the gold-canopied roof or out on the Mar-a-Lago patio, picking out music on his iPad and blasting Luciano Pavarotti.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
