US President-elect Donald Trump has picked three conservative loyalists to lead his national security and law enforcement teams, Reuters reported on Friday.
Senator Jeff Sessions, whose tough and sometimes inflammatory statements on immigration have reflected those of Donald Trump, has been chosen for attorney general.
Retired Army Lieutenant General Mike Flynn, who has championed Trump's promises to take a more aggressive approach to terrorism, was chosen as his national security adviser.
Mike Pompeo, a vocal critic of the Obama administration's security policy, has been chosen as director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Moreover, the US media reported that the president-elect is going to meet with Mitt Romney, the Republican Party's nominee for the post in the 2012 election, to possibly offer him the role of secretary of state in Trump’s administration.
In his 2012 presidential campaign, Mitt Romney vocally labeled Russia the number one geopolitical threat to the US and pursued a tough policy towards China and Iran.
Commenting on the above announcements, Russian political analysts noted that even though the division of politicians into “hawks” and “doves” is largely conventional, Donald Trump seems to have a goal in mind by putting them in “the same very cage.”
It is not about politics, but Trump‘s peculiar management style, Timofey Bordachev, Director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs at Russia’s High School of Economics, told RIA Novosti.
“Those who have been studying the business biography of the newly elected president have noted that he has always played off his high-ranking employees against each other. While doing so he remained above the fight,” he said.
The political analyst further explained that the Republican has been conducting his presidential campaign as if it was a sales promotion and there is little doubt that he will lead his country like the head of a large corporation: he will listen to all points of view but make the decision on his own.
Gevorg Mirzayan, an assistant professor of the Political Science department at the Financial University in Moscow pointed out two purposes for the nominations.
“Trump needs to consolidate the Republican Party, hence he should nominate representatives of different party groups to key positions in his administration to win the support of the whole party,” he told RIA Novosti.
Thus without an image of a ‘dove” who neglects the national interests, he will be able to normalize Russian-American relations, the expert said.
He further explained that the US and the While House in particular, have certain traditions of political decision- making. It is either made on a compromise or as the result of a combination of different points of view.
For such a decision to become the right one and most effective, it is needed to combine the most diverse points of view. Then the final stance on a certain issue will accommodate the maximum interests, Mirzayan said.
