No place for war hawks in my father’s Cabinet, says Donald Trump Jr
Donald Trump Jr said there is no place in his father’s administration for “war hawks” amid growing signs the president-elect will follow through on plans to bring a swift end to the conflict in Ukraine.
Mr Trump Jr, who has taken an increasingly prominent role in Republican politics, backed calls to keep “neocons and war hawks” out of the White House after his father earlier ruled out a return for two prominent pro-Ukraine voices.
Retweeting a post from a Right-wing comedian that said: “We need maximum pressure to keep all neocons and war hawks out of the Trump administration” he responded: “Agreed... I’m on it.”
The president-elect is in the process of selecting his Cabinet and hiring thousands of federal workers to staff his administration when he returns to power in January.
On Saturday, Mr Trump announced that he would not appoint Mike Pompeo, the former CIA director, or Nikki Haley, his former UN ambassador, to his new Cabinet.
Both have expressed strong support for the US supplying Ukraine with the weapons it needs to hold off Russia.
Questions remain as to how the incoming president will address the conflict, with Mr Trump repeatedly insisting that he will end it “in 24 hours”.
He has not explained how he plans to do so, although he has surrounded himself with vocal critics of America’s support for Ukraine, including his running mate JD Vance.
The incoming vice-president argued against Joe Biden providing billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine following its invasion by Russia in February 2022.
“I gotta be honest with you, I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another,” Mr Vance said, shortly after the invasion.
In an opinion piece for the Financial Times earlier this year, he said Europe needed to stand on its “own two feet” with regards to defence of the continent.
“As the American defence budget nears $1 trillion per year, we ought to view the money Europe hasn’t spent on defence for what it really is: an implied tax on the American people to allow for the security of Europe,” he wrote
“Nothing in recent memory demonstrates this more clearly than the war in Ukraine. There is frankly no good reason that aid from the US should be needed.”
Credit: donaldjtrumpjr/Instagram
Mr Trump Jr, who successfully lobbied his father to select Mr Vance, could also have a major role in the Trump administration come January.
Over the weekend, he appeared to mock Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, over losing his American “allowance” when his father returns to the White House.
In a post on Instagram on Saturday, Mr Trump shared a video of Mr Zelensky looking unhappy alongside Donald Trump with the caption: “POV: You’re 38 days from losing your allowance.”
Mr Trump has previously suggested he could stop military aid being sent to Ukraine, complaining that Mr Zelensky’s requests for assistance “never end”. He said in September: “We continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal.”
Elbridge Colby, a Trump ally who is tipped for a return to the White House, said on Sunday that the incoming president would “bring... an end to the Ukraine War and making sure our Nato allies step up”.
Mr Colby, a former Pentagon official, posted a video on social media of Mr Trump speaking in July 2023, in which he declared it would be “completely unhinged” to allow Ukraine into Nato “at this point”.
Credit: TrumpDailyPosts/X
Critics say Mr Trump’s proposed “end” to the conflict would play into Russia’s hands.
Nato’s top military official has warned that Mr Trump “will hurt America” if he allows Vladimir Putin to win in Ukraine.
Admiral Rob Bauer said Ukraine was of “strategic importance” to the US, and warned that North Korea’s entry into the war on Russia’s side was a “problem” for America.
Adml Bauer made an appeal for the US to remain engaged in the Ukraine war, saying: “[The conflict is] connected to the rules-based international order [and to] the heart of Europe”.
“It is connected to the ambitions of Russia, and indirectly, the ambitions of China.
“I cannot imagine that it is in the interest of the United States to allow Putin to come out of this conflict as a winner.”
Adml Bauer, who as chairman of Nato’s military committee is the main link between the alliance’s forces and its political leaders, commands no troops of his own, but is one of the most influential military officers in the alliance.
In an exclusive interview with The Telegraph, he previously suggested that Mr Trump’s idea of a 24-hour peace plan for Ukraine needed to be viewed through “a wider aperture”.
“The fact that Russia and China have allowed North Korea to change from being the most isolated country in the world with a large set of UN Security Council resolutions against it — supported by Russia and China — they are now, suddenly, a player. That is a problem for the US.”
The Kremlin has welcomed what it said was Mr Trump’s openness to a deal that could bring an end to the war.
“The signals are positive,” said spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “Trump during his election talked about how he perceives everything through deals, that he can make a deal that can lead to peace.”
Last week, it was reported that Mr Trump is considering a plan that would freeze the conflict on the current front lines, with European peace-keepers deployed to an 800-mile buffer zone.
In his first term, Mr Trump threatened to pull the United States out of Nato, calling on European nations to increase their own spending on defence rather than rely on the protection of America.
Russia has amassed some 50,000 troops including North Korean soldiers in an attempt to push Ukrainian forces out of its Kursk border region.
They have been attacking Ukrainian positions with missile strikes and artillery fire, but have not yet begun a major assault there, US officials said.
Ukrainian officials say they expect an attack involving the North Korean troops in the coming days.