Trump appointments raise alarm

In building his new administration, Donald Trump has made excellent appointments, notably “China hawk” Marco Rubio as secretary of state, Michael Waltz as national security adviser, and Elise Stefanik to be UN ambassador. But he cannot ignore deepening criticisms, even from Republican leaders, of appointees such as Tulsi Gabbard as national intelligence director and Robert Kennedy Jr, who has been told by the president-elect to “go wild” as head of the Department of Health and Human Services. As the pro-Trump New York Post noted after interviewing Mr Kennedy, his views are “a head-scratching spaghetti of what we can only call warped conspiracy theories, and not just on vaccines. We came out thinking he’s nuts on a lot of fronts”.

New information about Ms Gabbard, who will be in charge of 18 US intelligence agencies, is deeply troubling. The Wall Street Journal has revealed the former Democrat has consistently taken positions that contradict Mr Trump and mark her as being to the left of the most dovish Democrats. Mr Trump’s strong Iran policy in his first term promoted US interests. Yet it has now emerged that Ms Gabbard argued for years that it would start a war. As the Journal noted: “She had one note on Iran – Obama-style appeasement was the only way to avoid war – and she was wrong.” Mr Trump should not ignore her record. Nor that of Mr Kennedy.

Accomplished diplomat that she is, Mr Kennedy’s cousin, ambassador Caroline Kennedy, while making it clear she has no time for his “dangerous” anti-vaccination views, wisely counselled “calm” and “wait and see what happens – who actually gets confirmed” when she spoke in Canberra on the matter. That is sound advice. But it does not change the need for Mr Trump to rethink some appointments.