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    Trump’s Choices for Health Agencies Suggest a Shake-Up Is Coming

    The picks to oversee public health have all pushed back against Covid policies or supported ideas that are outside the medical mainstream.A longtime leader of the anti-vaccine movement. A highly credentialed surgeon. A seven-term Florida congressman. A Fox News contributor with her own line of vitamins.President-elect Donald J. Trump’s eclectic roster of figures to lead federal health agencies is almost complete — and with it, his vision for a sweeping overhaul is coming into focus.Mr. Trump’s choices have varying backgrounds and public health views. But they have all pushed back against Covid policies or supported ideas that are outside the medical mainstream, including an opposition to vaccines. Together, they are a clear repudiation of business as usual.“What they’re saying when they make these appointments is that we don’t trust the people who are there,” said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and an adviser to the Food and Drug Administration.Some doctors and scientists are bracing themselves for the gutting of public health agencies, a loss of scientific expertise and the injection of politics into realms once reserved for academics. The result, they fear, could be worse health outcomes, more preventable deaths and a reduced ability to respond to looming health threats, like the next pandemic. “I’m very, very worried about the way that this all plays out,” Dr. Offit said.But other experts who expressed concerns about anti-vaccine views at the helms of the nation’s health agencies said that some elements of the picks’ unorthodox approaches were welcomed. After a pandemic that closed schools across the country and killed more than one million Americans, many people have lost faith in science and medicine, surveys show. And even some prominent public health experts were critical of the agencies’ Covid missteps and muddled messaging on masks and testing.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Kim Kardashian exhibe productos de Tesla y desata teorías políticas

    Sale de fiesta con Ivanka Trump y ha convertido productos de Tesla en accesorios de moda en las redes sociales. Pero asumir que se trata de declaraciones políticas podría ser incorrecto.¿Se ha vuelto Kim Kardashian parte del movimiento MAGA?Esa pregunta circuló por internet esta semana después de que Kardashian, la personalidad de la telerrealidad y preeminente influente de las redes sociales, publicara una serie de fotografías suyas en Instagram y X posando delante y dentro de un Tesla Cybercab.Llevaba tacones negros y medias de encaje sobre su característico conjunto moldeador de color nude, con un liguero y una chaqueta negra abultada. Un robot Optimus —que al parecer será capaz de hacer prácticamente cualquier cosa, ya sea manejar un Cybertruck o freír un huevo— iba sentado en el asiento del conductor.Había fotos de Kardashian de pie fuera del vehículo. Había fotos de ella sentada en el regazo del robot. Un representante de Kardashian, quien ha ocultado algunos contenidos patrocinados en el pasado, dijo que no se recibieron pagos a cambio de las publicaciones.El momento elegido para hacer estas publicaciones fue sin duda curioso. El director ejecutivo de Tesla, Elon Musk, ha ganado nueva prominencia como uno de los aliados más notables del presidente electo Donald Trump, e incluso Trump le ha pedido que se una a Vivek Ramaswamy para dirigir un nuevo “departamento de eficiencia gubernamental”.Esa conexión fue suficiente para que la gente empezara a especular sobre sus motivaciones, y algunos llegaron a conectar esos cargos con la aparente amistad de Kardashian con Ivanka Trump, la hija de Donald Trump, para reforzar la teoría de que había respaldado políticamente a Trump.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Elon Musk recibe un curso intensivo sobre cómo funciona el mundo de Donald Trump

    La persona más rica del mundo, no muy conocida por su humildad, está aprendiendo la despiadada política cortesana del círculo íntimo de Donald Trump, y su influencia final sigue siendo una incógnita.Durante los primeros 53 años de su vida, Elon Musk apenas pasó tiempo con Donald Trump. Luego, a partir de la noche del 5 de noviembre, básicamente no pasó tiempo sin él.Y así, Musk, más que cualquier otro actor clave en la transición presidencial, se encuentra en un entrenamiento intensivo para aprender la política cortesana del círculo íntimo de Trump. Para la persona más rica del mundo —no muy conocida por su humildad o su paciencia— es un reto de ingeniería social mucho más difícil y menos familiar que la fabricación pesada o la ciencia de cohetes.Abundan las dudas sobre si se graduará en 2028 con un título de cuatro años en Trumpismo: en este momento, en Washington y Silicon Valley, es como un juego de salón especular cuánto durará la relación Musk-Trump. La respuesta, como te dirán los asesores descartados del primer mandato de Trump, puede depender de la capacidad de Musk para aplacar al jefe y mantener un perfil relativamente bajo, pero también para apuñalar a un rival cuando llegue el momento.En resumen, cómo jugar a la política en el mundo de Trump.La mayoría de las personas que rodean actualmente a Trump en la transición son ayudantes curtidos en batallas anteriores o amigos personales desde hace décadas. Musk no es ni lo uno ni lo otro. Lo que aporta en cambio son sus 200 millones de seguidores en X y los aproximadamente 200 millones de dólares que gastó para ayudar a elegir a Trump. Ambas cosas han impresionado mucho al presidente electo. Trump, asombrado por la disposición de Musk a despedir al 80 por ciento del personal de X, ha dicho que el multimillonario de la tecnología ayudará a dirigir un Departamento de Eficiencia Gubernamental junto con Vivek Ramaswamy.Musk mostró a Trump y a legisladores republicanos la sala de control antes del lanzamiento de un cohete de SpaceX el martes, en el sur de Texas. Foto de consorcio de Brandon BellWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Stock for Sale by Cabinet Members

    Trump’s picks for Treasury secretary and commerce secretary both lead Wall Street firms. Here’s what that could mean for their finances and businesses.As President-elect Donald Trump takes an unconventional approach to stocking his cabinet, he’s also embracing one candidate pool that has plenty of precedent: Wall Street chief executives.On Friday, Trump picked Scott Bessent, a top economic adviser and the founder of Key Square Group, a hedge fund, to be his Treasury secretary. He previously tapped Howard Lutnick, the chief executive of the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, for commerce secretary.Executives appointed to government positions are often required to make extensive stock divestitures, so the path from Wall Street to Washington can be particularly complex (while also offering an opportunity to avoid certain taxes).Bessent’s potential departure from Key Square may trigger “key man provisions” that often protect clients of hedge funds if top executives leave. And Lutnick is inextricably linked with Cantor Fitzgerald: He was named its president in 1991 and steered the firm after it was ravaged by the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.Here is what we know — and don’t know — about how Bessent and Lutnick plan to unwind.Lutnick would leave Cantor Fitzgerald. He said Thursday that, upon Senate confirmation, he would step down from the company and the two firms it spun out: BGC Group, a brokerage firm, and Newmark, a real estate firm.He’d be leaving during BGC’s ambitious push to take on the exchange giant CME Group — likely a reason that BGC’s shares were down 8 percent for the week. Shares of Newmark were up 1 percent.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Dr Martin Makary Chosen to Head the FDA

    President-elect Donald J. Trump announced on Friday that he would nominate Dr. Martin A. Makary, a Johns Hopkins University surgeon with a contrarian streak, to be commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.In a post on social media, Mr. Trump said: “F.D.A. has lost the trust of Americans and lost sight of its primary goal as a regulator.” He said that Dr. Makary would work under Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the president-elect’s choice for the cabinet-level role as health secretary, to “properly evaluate harmful chemicals poisoning our nation’s food supply and drugs.”“I am confident that Dr. Makary, having dedicated his career to high-quality, lower-cost care will restore the F.D.A. to the gold standard of scientific research and cut the bureaucratic red tape at the agency to make sure Americans get the medical cures and treatments they deserve,” Mr. Trump said in a statement.Mr. Trump announced two other top health picks on Friday evening as well. He chose Dr. Dave Weldon, a physician and former congressman from Florida, to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.For years, Dr. Weldon championed the notion that thimerosal, a preservative once used widely in vaccines, caused an explosion of autism cases around the world. In 2007, he backed a bill proposing to take vaccine safety research out of the hands of the C.D.C. Health officials reject the idea that research shows any link between thimerosal and autism.Mr. Trump also put forward Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, a physician and Fox News contributor, to be surgeon general. She worked caring for patients after Hurricane Katrina, an announcement from Mr. Trump said, and on the front lines of the Covid pandemic in New York City. She also markets vitamin B and vitamin C dietary supplements.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Trump Picks Russell Vought, Key Figure in Project 2025, to Lead OMB

    President-elect Donald J. Trump on Friday picked a key figure in Project 2025 to lead the Office of Management and Budget, elevating a longtime ally who has spent the last four years making plans to rework the American government to enhance presidential power.The would-be nominee, Russell T. Vought, would oversee the White House budget and help determine whether federal agencies comport with the president’s policies. The role requires Senate confirmation unless Mr. Trump is able to make recess appointments.The choice of Mr. Vought would bring in a strongly ideological figure who played a pivotal role in Mr. Trump’s first term, when he also served as budget chief. Among other things, Mr. Vought helped come up with the idea of having Mr. Trump use emergency power to circumvent Congress’s decision about how much to spend on a border wall.Mr. Vought was a leading figure in Project 2025, the effort by conservative organizations to build a governing blueprint for Mr. Trump should he take office once again. Mr. Trump tried to distance himself from the effort during his campaign, but he has put forward people with ties to the project for his administration since the election.Mr. Vought’s role in Project 2025 was to oversee executive orders and other unilateral actions that Mr. Trump could take during his first six months in office, with the goal of tearing down and rebuilding executive branch institutions in a way that would enhance presidential power.In an interview with The New York Times in 2023, Mr. Vought laid out an agenda of eliminating the independence of certain regulatory agencies that operate outside the direct control of the White House, such as the Federal Communications Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    ¿Quién es Pam Bondi, la nueva elección de Donald Trump para fiscala general?

    Fue la primera fiscala general del estado de Florida, se convirtió en integrante del equipo de defensa del juicio político a Donald Trump y respaldó sus falsas acusaciones de fraude electoral en 2020.El presidente electo de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, se apresuró a dejar de lado los malos titulares del jueves sobre Matt Gaetz reemplazándolo con rapidez por Pam Bondi, una colega republicana de Florida con un perfil muy diferente —pero una reputación similar de lealtad— para ser su fiscala general.Bondi, de 59 años, es una lobista leal a Trump que ocupó el cargo de fiscala general de Florida entre 2011 y 2019. Ha trazado un camino más convencional y menos estrepitoso que Gaetz, con poco del desagradable bagaje personal o político que llevó a algunos republicanos a oponerse a su nominación.Fue fiscala localBondi, hija del alcalde de un pequeño municipio del área de Tampa, empezó a trabajar como ayudante del fiscal del estado en el condado de Hillsborough en la década de 1990. Durante 18 años como fiscala, llevó casos “que iban desde la violencia doméstica hasta el homicidio punible con pena capital”, según la página de su biografía en su empresa de cabildeo.Supervisó un puñado de casos de gran repercusión, entre los que destaca el del exlanzador de los New York Mets Dwight Gooden, quien cumplió una condena de un año de prisión por violar la libertad condicional en un caso de drogas en 2006.En 2010 fue elegida la primera mujer fiscala general de FloridaBondi, demócrata hasta 2000, se impuso en unas reñidas primarias republicanas y ganó las elecciones a fiscala general tras conseguir el apoyo de Sarah Palin, exgobernadora de Alaska y fallida candidata republicana a la vicepresidencia en 2008, y promocionar su firme postura contra la delincuencia durante sus apariciones en Fox News.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Pam Bondi Is Trump’s New Choice as Attorney General. Here’s What to Know About Her.

    President-elect Donald J. Trump quickly swept aside Thursday’s bad headlines about Matt Gaetz by speedily substituting Pam Bondi, a fellow Florida Republican with a starkly different profile — but a similar reputation for fealty — to be his attorney general.Ms. Bondi, 59, is a lobbyist and Trump loyalist who served as Florida’s attorney general from 2011 to 2019. She has charted a more conventional and less clamorous course than Mr. Gaetz, with little of the ugly personal or political baggage that led some Republicans to oppose Mr. Gaetz’s nomination.She was a local prosecutor.Ms. Bondi, the daughter of the mayor of a small Tampa-area municipality, began working as an assistant state attorney in Hillsborough County in the 1990s. During 18 years as a prosecutor, she tried cases “ranging from domestic violence to capital murder,” according to the bio page at her lobbying firm.She supervised a handful of high-profile cases, most notably one involving the former New York Mets pitcher Dwight Gooden, who served a one-year prison sentence for violating probation in a drug case in 2006.She was elected Florida’s first female attorney general in 2010.Ms. Bondi — a Democrat until 2000 — emerged from a crowded Republican primary to win the attorney general’s race after garnering the support of Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and failed 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee, and by touting her tough stance on crime during appearances on Fox News.During her eight-year tenure, she tried unsuccessfully to overturn and weaken the Affordable Care Act, opposed expanding legal protections for the L.G.B.T.Q. community and cultivated a national reputation by supporting anti-human-trafficking efforts.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More