The US: All the president's men
Also: Haiti, India, the South China Sea, and COP29.
In today’s dispatch, Donald Trump is showing the contours of his policy agenda with a series of loyalist appointments. How long will they remain is anyone's guess. Elsewhere, we examine Haiti's own leadership change and the omens for its war with the gangs, another separatist push in India, some potentially major developments in the South China Sea, and some surprising progress at the UN’s climate summit in Azerbaijan. It may, however, be the last breakthrough for a while.
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Michael Feller, Chief Strategist
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UNITED STATES. All the president's men
Trump's appointments reveal his policies.
Donald Trump appointed migration hardliners Tom Homan and Stephen Miller as border czar and deputy chief of staff Monday. Mike Waltz and Marco Rubio would be tapped as national security adviser and secretary of state, media said.
INTELLIGENCE. The men (and two women – Susie Wiles as chief of staff, and Elise Stefanik as UN ambassador) are all broadly from the isolationist wing of Trump’s inner circle. Together with Robert Lighthizer on trade, they indicate an ‘America First’ agenda unlike the more traditional Republican flavour of Trump’s first team in 2016. The apparent role of Elon Musk in key personnel selection (he has been a semi-permanent fixture at Mar-a-Lago) is worth noting.
FOR BUSINESS. With factories in China and a reliance on global exports, Musk would presumably be a moderating influence on the isolationists, and it's possible their presence could be more of style than substance (Trump has joked about hiring Lighthizer and security hawk John Bolton in his first term chiefly to intimidate his interlocutors). But in the absence of offsetting evidence, US allies and foes will prepare for a MAGA White House, for better or worse.
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HAITI. Lost in transition
Violence surges as the transitional council replaces the prime minister.
Alix Didier Fils-Aime was sworn-in Monday after the interim government sacked Garry Conille despite having served for only six months. Port-au-Prince's airport was closed after a Spirit Airlines plane was shot at and diverted on approach.
INTELLIGENCE. Fils-Aime, a dry-cleaning entrepreneur, is new to politics, and the laundromat jokes have begun. He is unlikely to