- At a rally in Ohio, Donald J. Trump announced his selection of James N. Mattis to be secretary of defense, calling him “the closest thing we have to Gen. George Patton.”
- General Mattis once led the U.S. Central Command, but his tour was cut short by the Obama administration, which believed he was too hawkish on Iran.
Trump’s Potential Conflicts Have a Precedent: Berlusconi’s Italy
By JAMES B. STEWART
As prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi kept majority ownership in his businesses. Scandals ensued as those businesses profited and his fortune grew.
With Wednesday’s nomination of Steven Mnuchin, a Goldman trader turned hedge fund manager and Hollywood financier, to be Treasury secretary, a new economic leadership is taking shape in Washington.
Mr. Mnuchin will join Wilbur L. Ross Jr., a billionaire investor in distressed assets, who has been chosen to run the Commerce Department, and Todd Ricketts, owner of the Chicago Cubs, who has been picked to be deputy commerce secretary. All are superwealthy and to be overseen by the first billionaire president in United States history.
That two investors — Mr. Mnuchin and Mr. Ross — will occupy two major economic positions in the new administration is the most powerful signal yet that Mr. Trump plans to emphasize policies friendly to Wall Street, like tax cuts and a relaxation of regulation, in the early days of his administration.
While that approach has been cheered by investors (the stocks of Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have been on a tear since the election), it stands in stark contrast to the populist campaign that Mr. Trump ran and the support he received from working-class voters across the country.
So far, none of the nominees who will be shaping economic policy have any significant experience in government.