DONALD TRUMP

NY Times - President-elect Donald J. Trump is keeping secret the names of the donors who are funding his transition effort, a break from tradition that could make it impossible to see what interest groups, businesses or wealthy people are helping launch his second term.Mr. Trump has so far declined to sign an agreement with the Biden administration that imposes strict limits on that fund-raising in exchange for up to $7.2 million in federal funds earmarked for the transition. By dodging the agreement, Mr. Trump can raise unlimited amounts of money from unknown donors to pay for the staff, travel and office space involved in preparing to take over the government.

Mr. Trump is the first president-elect to sidestep the restrictions, provoking alarm among ethics experts.

MSNBC - One quality many of President-elect Donald Trump’s recent picks for his incoming administration have in common is that they are poorly qualified for their positions and primed to try to implement some terrible ideas. But there’s another thing that binds them: They’re TV stars.

It’s well established by now that Trump has a taste for loyalty and ideological allies. But between Trump’s picks of Mehmet Oz for administrator of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Pete Hegseth for defense secretary and Sean Duffy for transportation secretary, it’s apparent that he is also keen to boost people who have developed a following on television and have an eye for delivering entertainment. It’s a grim reminder of how much of Trump’s right-wing populism has the same energy as an infomercial for a janky, overpriced product.