Trump’s appointments of Musk and Ramaswamy spark conflict of interest fears – US politics live | US News

Appointment of Donald Trump Vivek Ramaswamy is a little less well-known outside the USA than Elon Musk.

Ramaswamy is an American entrepreneur who ran against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination and dropped out of the race in early 2024.

His parents moved from Kerala to the United States and he attended Harvard and Yale. The 39-year-old lives in New York, has a house in Ohio, is married and has two children.

According to Forbes, he is one of the 20 youngest billionaires in the United States. His business interests included the biotech company Roivant Sciences, Chapter Medicare and he also worked at the hedge fund QVT.

Ramaswamy also appeared to urinate during a live X Talk with Elon Musk, Alex Jones, Andrew Tate, Matt Gaetz and others.

US political website The Hill reports that the hardline Trumpist Republican Freedom faction in the House of Representatives will drop its objection to the speaker’s re-election Mike Johnsonand will not nominate an alternative candidate.

Instead, the group is expected to force an on-the-record vote on Johnson’s role, which will allow them to voice their objections to his reappointment. The caucus is unhappy with proposed rule changes aimed at imposing better party discipline on the House’s more rebellious Republican members.

Joe Biden will host Donald Trump later today at the White House as part of transition efforts between the current and new administrations.

Yesterday, White House spokesman Karine Jean Pierre told reporters: “[Biden] believes in the norms, he believes in our institution, he believes in the peaceful transfer of power. That’s the norm. This is what is supposed to happen.”

This is reported by Reuters Brian Vancea Trump transition spokesperson said: “The Trump-Vance transition attorneys continue to work constructively with the Biden-Harris administration attorneys regarding all arrangements contemplated by the Presidential Transition Act.”

In an analysis article for CNN, Stephen Collinson described Donald TrumpThe flood of announcements as “a night of MAGA shock and awe.”

He writes:

The selection of people like Elon Musk, Kristi Noem and Pete Hegseth is intended in part to reflect the aspirations of Trump’s voters and to embody the president-elect’s outsider role – as well as his deeply developed desire for loyalty.

His choice of ultra-loyalists stems from Trump’s frustration that established military officers, civil servants and conventional Washington actors have reined in his most extreme impulses in his first term.

But Trump is also taking a risk. While selecting outside revolutionaries to tear down government leadership makes sense, many of his candidates lack in-depth experience and knowledge of the departments they will lead.

In his coverage of the controversial appointment of Elon Musk And Vivek Ramaswamy to head a non-governmental commission to cut government spending, the Washington Post reminds its readers of something the latter said earlier this year.

It quoted Ramaswamy as saying: “We have a fourth branch of government – the administrative state – which our founding fathers did not imagine. “Cutting excess bureaucracy will be good for our economy and our national spirit.”

The Washington Post continues:

A person familiar with the effort, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive negotiations, said details about the organization’s funding would be announced soon. The [Republicans] I have been talking about reducing waste for many years but have not been effective, the person added, leading the campaign to conclude that “outsiders with a much more entrepreneurial approach” would be better suited to the task.

Some Trump advisers see Musk’s order as an opportunity to implement long-held goals of reducing federal spending and regulation. They pointed to the Grace Commission, a Reagan-era panel that recommended billions of dollars in spending cuts. Following that model, which some Trump advisers hope the Musk plan will emulate, the commission identified hundreds or thousands of examples of wasteful government programs and regulations and called on Congress to approve the recommendations supported by the president.

The Constitution gives Congress authority over taxes and spending, meaning any changes to the federal budget recommended by Musk’s commission would have to be approved by the House and Senate.

Philip Wen

Ramaswamy and Musk head the government efficiency department, which raises conflicts of interest

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