Donald Trump hasn't 'drained the swamp' with his new appointments – he's repopulated it

Who’s draining the swamp?

The answer, surveying Donald Trump’s choices for senior roles in his administration, would appear to be some creatures who might find themselves very much at home in the vague military-industrial-financial-political complex of swamplands the President-elect finds so objectionable. His latest pick, Rex Tillerson for the key role of secretary of state, is a case in point.

As a CEO of Exxon Mobil, Mr Tillerson’s executive experience should not be discounted. It may prove the case that his time doing deals in Russia, and elsewhere, will serve America well. This “transactional” approach is becoming increasingly a theme of this proto-Trump administration, and is not, in and of itself, a ludicrous way to conduct foreign policy. It is though, as we witnessed with the President-elect’s tweets about Taiwan and China, one that can destabilise important relationships rather quickly and dangerously.

Mr Tillerson was recommended by two Republican foreign policy stalwarts, Condoleezza Rice and Robert Gates, respectively former Secretary of State and Defence Secretary, so he is not so far outside the orbit of the Republican elite to be judged a truly radical option. Even so, there are concerns about his extremely dovish views on Russian sanctions – echoing those of Mr Trump – and perhaps the most important fact about Mr Tillerson is that he is not Mitt Romney. After a flurry of activity a few weeks ago, the former Republican presidential candidate will not after all be running American foreign policy.

This appears to be because his views on Russia are incompatible with Mr Trump’s. Indeed, Mr Romney is not alone in this opinion; Marco Rubio, another wannabe Republican president, has implicitly criticised the appointment of Mr Tillerson, while Mr Trump’s public humiliation of House Speaker Paul Ryan also suggests that the splits at the top of the Republican Party will only deepen as Mr Trump starts to exercise power. Or tries to; such is the level of animosity to him and some of his appointments, including Mr Tillerson, in his own nominal party that President Trump may not succeed in having his nominees approved by the Senate – an extremely rare and embarrassing event.

Elsewhere, the doubts about some of the overwhelmingly late-middle-aged, white and male Team Trump continue. Michael Flynn, soon to be national security adviser, once tweeted that “fear of Muslims is rational”, while Alabama senator Jeff Sessions, named as attorney general, has been accused of using deeply offensive racist epithets. The nickname of the nominee for defence, retired General James Mattis – “Mad Dog” – speaks, or barks, for itself. Even the female nominees and those from minorities are known for their very reactionary instincts, though some harbour high hopes for Nikki Haley, Trump’s ambassador to the UN (a poisoned chalice if ever there was one). The Treasury secretary is a prime example of business-as-usual in the swamp – an ex-Goldman Sachs boss, Steven Mnuchin, no less a Wall Street man than predecessors such as Hank Paulson and Robert Rubin.

More broadly, a cabinet and administration more Trumpite than, properly speaking, conventionally Republican, will spell problems for policy-making and any efforts to “make America great again”. The lack of a political base in the Congress will stymie many of Mr Trump’s initiatives, for which his nation and the wider world might be grateful. On the other hand, it seems likely that the sort of stasis and deadlock that has characterised relations between the White House and the Hill will, if anything, become more usual, and bitterer. The swamp, in other words, is unlikely to get cleaned out anytime soon, no matter how smart, experienced or worldly Mr Trump thinks his new team is.