Washington DC:

US President-elect Trump has set up the stage for a fiery “day one” in the Oval Office, with the promise of pardoning January 6 Capitol riot prisoners, sealing America’s southern border and rolling back protections for transgender students. To ensure the swift implementation of his radical changes, the incoming president has nominated individuals who are not only loyal to him, but bring their own ideas about how to enact the Republican’s agenda. 

We look at some of Donald Trump’s most notable pledges and his cabinet picks entrusted to deliver those promises. 

1- Mass Deportation Of Undocumented Migrants: One of the biggest pledges of Trump’s campaign was the largest mass deportations of undocumented migrants in US history. He also promised to complete the construction of the wall at the border with Mexico that was started during his first term as US president. 

To oversee his immigration promises, Trump has picked border hardliners Kristi Noem as the Homeland Security Secretary and Tom Homan as his Border tsar.

A four-term congresswoman who became governor of South Dakota in 2018, Noem is a vocal critic of President Joe Biden’s border policies. She was the first governor to send members of her state’s national guard to Texas to help with border enforcement. 

On the other hand, Homan is a former police officer who was acting director of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Trump’s first term. He was an early advocate of separating children from their parents or caregivers who crossed the border without documentation, which became one of Trump’s more controversial immigration policies during his first presidential term.

2- Moves On Economy, Tax And Tariffs: Trump’s campaign had promised to “end inflation” by imposing new tariffs of at least 10 per cent on most foreign goods. He also pledged sweeping tax cuts. 

To ensure the implementation of his economic agenda, Trump nominated Howard Lutnick as Commerce Secretary and Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary.

Lutnick was the co-chair of Trump’s transition team and has backed the President-elect’s economic plans, including wide-ranging tariffs. He has also advocated for deregulation of cryptocurrencies and the elimination of income tax.

Meanwhile, Bessent is a Wall Street financier who once worked for liberal billionaire George Soros. He supports Trump’s calls for new tariffs on imports, and like Lutnick, has suggested that the US government sees tariffs primarily as a negotiating tool and not as a permanent source of US revenue.

3- Cost Cuts And Dismantle Bureaucracy: Donald Trump has pledged to restructure federal agencies and ‘dismantle’ bureaucracy by announcing a new entity called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). He picked billionaire executive Elon Musk and tech entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the entity.

Though not a federal department, Trump said DOGE will “provide advice and guidance” from outside the executive branch and work closely with the White House’s Office of Management and Budget to propose cuts. 

As part of his new role, Musk has suggested a possible $2tn in spending cuts and vowed to send “shockwaves” through the government. Ramaswamy has also backed the idea of dramatically shrinking the size of the federal government, streamlining agencies and cutting costs.

4- Abolish Climate Regulations: Trump has promised to cut regulations, especially in a way that helps the American car industry. He pledged to increase production of US fossil fuels on day one in favour of renewable energy sources such as wind power.

Much of this work will be overseen by North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Trump’s new energy czar and pick for Interior Secretary, along with Chris Wright, a Colorado-based natural gas fracking CEO and Trump’s pick for Energy Secretary. 

Both are staunch fossil fuel advocates, but each has also worked with clean energy.

5-Foreign Policy Change With Ending Russia-Ukraine War And China Tariffs: During his election campaign, Trump criticised the tens of billions of dollars spent by the US administration on supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia. He pledged to end the conflict “within 24 hours” through a negotiated deal. He also pledged to levy a 60 per cent tariff on all goods from China. 

To oversee his foreign policy and national security, Trump has picked Marco Rubio and Secretary of State, Michael Waltz as National security advisers and Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence.

Rubio, who represented Florida since 2011, is part of the Senate intelligence and foreign relations committees and is known for his hard-line positions on Iran and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, as well as China.

Waltz too, like Rubio, has talked tough on China. As chair of a House subcommittee, he argued that the US should prepare more for conflict in the Pacific.

A military veteran who served with a medical unit in Iraq, Gabbard has routinely opposed American foreign policy. A former Democrat, she blamed NATO for the Russia-Ukraine war and echoed a Kremlin claim that there were US-funded biolabs in Ukraine. As Trump’s intel tsar, her role will be critical for US-backed wars.

6-Affordable Care Act Repeal: Donald Trump aimed to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, and propose its replacement with a system that would lower premiums and expand health savings accounts. 

Trump picked a longtime lawyer and anti-vaccine advocate Robert F Kennedy Jr as Health and Human Services. Despite having no medical qualifications, he would have broad remit over US federal health agencies – including those that oversee approval of vaccines, whose use he wants to review.

Washington:

US President-elect Donald Trump nominated fracking magnate and climate change skeptic Chris Wright as energy secretary on Saturday, tasking him with “cutting red tape” which the new administration hopes will drive investment in fossil fuels.

“As Secretary of Energy, Chris will be a key leader, driving innovation, cutting red tape, and ushering in a new ‘Golden Age of American Prosperity and Global Peace,'” Trump said in a statement.

Wright is a founder of Liberty Energy, which serves the energy companies that have massively increased US fossil fuel production in recent years by extracting oil and gas from shale fields in a process known as “fracking.”

“My dedication to bettering human lives remains steadfast, with a focus on making American energy more affordable, reliable, and secure,” Wright said on X after Trump’s announcement.

Read | How Trumps DOGE Co-Head Vivek Ramaswamy Built A Billion-Dollar Empire

“Energy is the lifeblood that makes everything in life possible… I am looking forward to getting to work.”

In a previous LinkedIn post, Wright had denied there is a “climate crisis.”

“There is no climate crisis and we are not in the midst of an energy transition either,” he said, adding that “the term carbon pollution is outrageous” because all life depended on carbon dioxide.

“There is no such thing as clean energy or dirty energy, all energy sources have impacts on the world both positive and negative,” he added.

Drilling

During his election campaign, Trump — who calls climate change a hoax — promised to boost the domestic fossil fuel industry in order to bring down energy prices that have driven inflation.

He also pledged to tear up environmental regulations and the United States’ commitments to combat climate change under the landmark 2015 Paris accords.

Wright will devise policy alongside North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, head of the newly created National Energy Council.

Read | Vivek Ramaswamy Indicates Massive Government Job Cuts In US

“We will DRILL BABY DRILL, expand ALL forms of Energy production to grow our Economy, and create good-paying jobs,” Trump said Friday as he announced Burgum’s appointment.

Wright has repeatedly criticized efforts by outgoing Democratic President Joe Biden to encourage America’s transition to a low-carbon energy model and has downplayed the importance of solar.

His views put him notably at odds with Trump’s key backer and informal advisor Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla, who started the electric car company and invested heavily in solar out of fear of the impact of climate change.

Controversial picks

Trump, 78, began shaping his new administration this week with a series of relatively mainstream Republican choices, including conservative Florida senator and foreign policy hawk Marco Rubio for secretary of state.

But then came nominations for leaders of sprawling federal departments in his new government who have little or no relevant experience — but a history of loyalty to the incoming president.

Read | Explained: The Challenges Facing Donald Trump’s Key Cabinet Picks

Among the most controversial were attorney general pick Matt Gaetz, a former congressman once investigated for alleged sex trafficking, as well as Fox News host and national guard veteran Pete Hegseth, who was nominated to lead the Pentagon despite a thin CV.

Like Wright, they will require approval by the Republican-dominated Senate where Trump has warned lawmakers not to stand in his way or to even skip the oversight process all together.

Robert F Kennedy Jr, a vaccine skeptic and conspiracy theorist, has been nominated to be the new health secretary, while former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who has regularly echoed Kremlin talking points, was offered the job of director of national intelligence.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

President-elect Donald Trump. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

President-elect Donald Trump has selected Chris Wright, a campaign donor and fossil fuel executive, to serve as energy secretary in a second Trump administration.

Mr. Wright, CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking, a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market.

Mr. Wright has won support from influential conservatives, including oil and gas tycoon Harold Hamm. Hamm, executive chairman of Oklahoma-based Continental Resources, a major shale oil company, is a longtime Trump supporter and adviser who played a key role on energy issues in Mr. Trump’s first term.

Hamm helped organise an event at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in April where Mr. Trump reportedly asked industry leaders and lobbyists to donate $1 billion to Trump’s campaign, with the expectation that Mr. Trump would curtail environmental regulations if re-elected.

Mr. Wright has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change and could give fossil fuels a boost, including quick action to end a year-long pause on natural gas export approvals by the Biden administration.

Mr. Wright has criticised what he calls a “top-down” approach to climate by liberal and left-wing groups and said the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight”.