Trump tries to quell Romney feud
UNITED STATES: Donald Trump is embarking on a victory tour of the battleground states that propelled him to his shock election win – even as his top aides feud in public over who he should appoint as his secretary of state.
The president-elect dined privately with Mitt Romney yesterday, a breaking of bread between two former enemies that underscored how the competition for the state department job has become a proxy war for rival Republican factions.
Romney, a pillar of the party establishment, is being backed for the role by Mike Pence, the vicepresident-elect, and by Jared Kushner, Trump’s influential sonin-law.
Trump is said to like how Romney, a square-jawed Mormon who made a fortune in venture capitalism, ‘‘looks the part’’ – but Romney would risk a backlash from the GOP’S populist grassroots, bearing in mind how fiercely critical he was of Trump during the primaries.
Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s campaign manager, launched an extraordinary public attack on the former Massachusetts governor this week, saying she had received a ‘‘breathtaking’’ number of messages from Trump supporters ‘‘who feel betrayed to think that Governor Romney would get the most prominent cabinet post’’.
Trump said yesterday that Georgia congressman Tom Price would be secretary of health and human services – a role at the vanguard of the charge to erase President Barack Obama’s legacy.
Price, an orthopaedic surgeon and champion of the Tea Party, will be tasked with repealing and replacing Obamacare. He has already attacked America’s largest abortion provider – setting the stage for a fight with the Democrats. He is close to Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House, who remains a figure of suspicion for many Trump loyalists.
Trump also named Elaine Chao as his transportation secretary, a key job given his plans to radically boost infrastructure spending. She is the wife of Mitch Mcconnell, the top Republican in the Senate.
Trump insiders denied reports yesterday that Conway had ‘‘gone rogue’’ in denouncing Romney, but Karl Rove, a former senior adviser to President George W Bush, told Fox News that her comments had made Trump appear weak.
‘‘When his inner circle, his closest advisers, are publicly telling people ‘This is the advice I gave my chief, and he isn’t listening to me’, it makes him look weak.’’
A giant rally planned for Cincinnati, Ohio today – the first stop on Trump’s victory tour – promises to replicate the large gatherings Trump hosted in the rust belt states of the Midwest as he plotted his path to the White House.
He has maintained his campaign habit of firing off controversial early-morning tweets, yesterday suggesting that Americans who burn the US flag should be stripped of their citizenship.
The Ohio rally promises to reunite Trump with the white working-class voters whose support was key to his victory. Similar events are expected in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Florida.
Romney’s main rivals for the state department job are Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, and David Petraeus, a retired army general and former director of the CIA.
Both have baggage: Giuliani’s business links with controversial foreign entities have been criticised, while Petraeus is on probation after pleading guilty to mishandling state secrets.
Trump met yesterday with Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, who is another possible contender.
– The Times